Image Credit: Ed Hill

By Adam Donnelly

LIVE AT THE EFFIE

Comedian Ed Hill brings one-man show ‘Stupid Ed’ to Kamloops ahead of NYC off-broadway run

Mar 7, 2023 | 4:09 PM

KAMLOOPS — Just like the old joke about the way to get to Carnegie Hall, the route to New York for comedian Ed Hill is through practice.

Luckily for folks here in Kamloops, that route goes through the Effie Arts Collective this Saturday (Mar. 11), as Ed will preview his one-man show before it heads off-broadway at the end of March.

“Stupid Ed is a show that I have toured extensively through the fringe festival circuit since its first development, for about the last year-and-a-half,” Hill explains. “Currently, it’s heading to an off-off-broadway production at the end of March/beginning of April as its final run, and then it’ll be recorded as my second special after the New York residency.”

Hill, who has played in Kamloops several times, wanted to bring the show here because he says the city has been kind to him and his art on those previous visits.

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Stupid Ed will be the comedian’s second special, after his first hour, Candy and Smiley — which was taped during the pandemic — came out in 2021.

“The show is really about self-acceptance,” Hill says. “It’s a discussion of love, which I start with within the family, then into the specific female figures of my life — so, my mother, my grandmother, my wife, and also metaphorically, Canada. I’m originally from Taiwan, so Taiwan is my father, who gave me my identity. Really, Canada is my mother, who nurtured me and gave me the values I actually have today.”

For folks familiar with Hill’s previous appearances or with traditional club-style comedy, Stupid Ed will have a different feel than those shows.

“I will not be talking to the crowd at all,” Hill says. “I mean, I’ll be talking with them, but I won’t be talking to them, specifically. People at comedy shows are always afraid to sit in the front row — sit in the front row for this. I’m not going to address you at all. You can wear whatever you want, just don’t be intrusive. Other than that, I’m not going to acknowledge you, so you’ll be completely safe.”

Hill says he’s made a conscious effort to “parallel his work to real life,” which is why he says he’s avoided trying to end the show on a laugh.

“My material is so much about intimate moments in my life — it’s rare that anybody dies laughing,” Hill says, with a bit of a chuckle. “The story really doesn’t end on a laugh, usually. Usually, it ends either on a note of acceptance, which I’m hoping to reach or on a note of regret. Either way, you’re not laughing. That’s just a purposeful mechanism I’ve decided to employ.”

Like life and Ed’s other work, there should be some laughs along the way.

Stupid Ed is in Kamloops for one night only, this Saturday, March 11 at the Effie Arts Collective. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.