Brent Ayton is a funny guy who keeps his material close to his chest, so to speak. The oil and gas research engineer who moonlights as a stand-up comic admits that a lot of his material isn't exactly “Gazette ready.
Brent Ayton is a funny guy who keeps his material close to his chest, so to speak. The oil and gas research engineer who moonlights as a stand-up comic admits that a lot of his material isn't exactly “Gazette ready.”
That didn't stop him from taking the crown at last month's Funniest Person with a Day Job contest at The Comic Strip. Humour has always been an integral part of his life, he notes, despite his line of work not affording much in the way of exploring one's sense of humour.
“Nobody that I work with even knows that I do stand-up,” he said, adding that he's been participating in open microphone comedy nights at various bars and clubs around the metropolitan area for about a year now. It's a pretty vibrant scene actually, with a lot of encouragement for newcomers.
That encouragement is necessary because the experience of being a first-timer on stage is undeniably unpleasant. Ayton remembered his baptism by fire at the Druid Pub on Jasper Avenue: it was terrifying.
“I didn't tell anybody I was going to do it. I was freaking out the whole time I was up there, pacing back and forth. It was just a blur for five minutes, couldn't hear anything. I don't even know what I said. It was a pretty brutal experience.”
It's incredible that anyone would subject themselves willingly to such an experience. It was something that he always felt like he had to do. Joking around is not only genetic; it's part of his family's culture. Every one of his immediate family is a yukster and taking it to the next level was something he had to do.
“Just being the youngest of four, you gotta do something to get attention and get fed!” he joked. “You don't bring much to the table otherwise. If you crack a joke every once in a while then they'll keep you around, I guess.”
“Everybody in my family has a good sense of humour so you have to come to every dinner … ready and armed or else you'll come under fire. Then everybody else will just start picking on one person in a fun sense, but you gotta come prepared or you'll get buried at the table. Be ready to defend yourself: deflect the jokes that are coming your way and put the highlight on someone else so you don't get too much.”
After that initial devastation of his first stand-up set, the shock wore off and he went back for more. The panic tapers off and you get less and less freaked out each time you take the stage.
“Eventually, you come out with something coherent to say,” he professes. “It's still pretty nerve-wracking though.”
Ayton won first place on May 19 after several rounds of comedic competition with 10 to 12 competitors in each round. The Funniest Person is a popular contest among the other amateur comics that he's met through open mikes.
Paraphrasing a quote from Jerry Seinfeld, he said that he considered some of his competitors to be more experienced and possibly even funnier than himself, but that's part of the job.
“You like your own material the least because you're sick of saying it all the time. Everybody else's material always sounds better than your own.”
The competition stipulated that each comedian needed to keep within a strict time limit: going under or over time meant that there would be penalties. Of course, getting the audience to laugh was a big bonus.
In the end, the judges decided that he was the best of the best. Taking the top spot meant winning $1,000 plus a prize jacket, and bragging rights. The biggest gift for him, however, is that he gets to be the opening act for one of the Comic Strip's concert series when comedian Bert Kreisher will do five shows in three days in October.
