By: Kelly Chia, Staff Writer
Content warning: Racial trauma, genocide
The Vancouver Public Library featured Dakota Ray Hebert and Kliph Nesteroff in a discussion of Indigenous comedy history in North America. Hebert is a long-time Indigenous comic from Saskatoon, co-hosting the show Crazy Like a Lynx on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Nesteroff came into this conversation with Hebert as a comedic historian, having just published the book We Had a Little Real Estate Problem. The book is a thorough history of Indigenous peoples’ work in comedy, hoping to shine a light on their legacy and influence.
Hebert and Nesteroff discussed Hebert’s experiences as an Indigenous comic and the immense history of Indigenous comedy as a way to heal and expose colonialism.
Having watched a lot of stand-up comedy as a kid, Herbert was particularly inspired by Craig Lauzon. Hebert would watch the Indigenous comic on the Turtle Island Festival, an Indigenous comedy festival airing on television. Lauzon was the first comic she saw that incorporated both acting and comedy, which made her believe comedy was a truly viable dream. “He was pretending to be a wrestler, dressed in his Indigenous garb, and he was telling the story about the stereotypes [of Indigenous peoples] in Hollywood.”
Eventually, Hebert became close friends with Lauzon, who inspired her to talk authentically in her work about her experiences as an Indigenous person.
When Hebert began performing as a comic in Saskatoon, her approach was one of confidence. Her attitude was: “I feel ready, so therefore I am ready.” According to Hebert, “In comedy, [that’s] not always true.” Hebert did a few open mics where her friends attended. Hebert joked she felt successful because she didn’t know whether her friends were laughing at her or with her.
Hebert’s experience in comedy has also required fighting against stereotyping of Indigenous peoples. She criticized comedians like Don Burnstick, who infamously used racial slurs in his work and played into these stereotypes. Hebert recalled the harm of these stereotypes in her early life. As a 10-year-old, she needed to get headgear. When her white friends found out it was mostly covered by her Status card, they ostracized her for it. Experiences like this pushed Hebert to internalize a lot of racism growing up.
“I think [this humour] doesn’t serve anything other than to make crappy white people feel better about their own racism, and it doesn’t help further our work in trying to be seen as human beings,” she said.
Nesteroff added We Had a Little Real Estate Problem sucker punches the reader in the beginning. “It is a book about comedy, but it starts off talking about things like the doctrine of discovery and colonization [ . . . ] It gets into that idea of comedy being a counterbalance, or a way to transcend the most tragic of things,” he explained.
The two lingered on how necessary and appropriate comedy was in heavy moments about history and colonization, especially with the discovery of children’s remains at the Kamloops residential school.
“I think [comedy] is 100% necessary to heal and to move on,” Hebert said. The news was overwhelming, but she also found it fueled her motivation to continue her comedy to buck against the government’s incompetency.
While Hebert said “there isn’t any humour in genocide,” she says there is humour found when considering the “bumbling” people that continue to make calls and remain in power.
The event can be viewed on Facebook Live. Dakota Ray Hebert and her work can be found on Facebook and other social media platforms. We Had a Little Real Estate Problem by Kliph Nesteroff can be ordered from Indigo and other bookstores across Canada.
