Vancouver’s Kyle Bottom is a man who wears many hats. Aside from nearly a decade and a half of stand-up experience, Bottom’s also the artist booker for downtown favourite The Comedy Mix and showrunner for Comedy Bucket, a monthly riffing show he started at Hot Art Wet City. (Even as I meet up with Bottom for our interview, he’s working on a script for an upcoming The Debaters episode, where he’ll be arguing that video games are not a waste of time.) Read on to learn more about how stand-up in Vancouver’s changed since the early 2000s, what to expect from his monthly comedy show, and why it’s Comedy Bucket instead of Comedy Jar.
How would you describe your comedy to someone who’s never seen it?
Onstage, I’m just a big weirdo, I’m super sure of myself, very opinionated, arrogant, and with a little spice of offensive. I don’t really tell a lot of stories; I react to whatever’s going on in my life. My stand-up’s very personal or derived from personal experiences, more inward-focused.
How has the stand-up scene in Vancouver changed since you started in 2001?
It’s changed in that some people are missing. A lot of them have moved on, because if you’re good at stand-up, there’s no real future in Canada. So a lot of people have left to go to the States or to England — those are the two big options. I also feel like there are more people who do stand-up now. The group of amateurs is a lot bigger than when I was starting out, and it’s become more social over the last couple of years.
If you could, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to 19-year-old Kyle Bottom regarding stand-up?
I’d probably tell myself to get a recording device sooner. I only started recording my sets when I got an iPhone, so I missed out on six years of recording my sets. I would also tell myself to not take any breaks, because when you take breaks from stand-up, it really wears down your skills.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give 19-year-old Kyle Bottom, not regarding stand-up?
Don’t wait to have sex. Love is not important.
Where did the idea for your monthly show, Comedy Bucket, come from?
It’s based off of a show by Paul Provenza called Set List, where they take a bunch of really top-level comics (who aren’t allowed to prepare anything in advance) and Paul uses a projector screen. The comics get onstage and he just throws up a random string of words, like “necromancer gangbang,” and the comedian has to talk about that until Paul’s satisfied and puts another thing up there. I saw Set List in Montreal and thought it was the best show ever, and I wanted to do something like that. I wanted to do a riffing show, which is getting more and more popular in the stand-up world. People like riffing. Prepared material is great but it’s nice to have a change of pace.
Is there any submission you’re tired of pulling from the bucket?
Sometimes people want to do the show, they want to riff, but then they get a suggestion that they weren’t expecting and maybe it’s something a little dark or weird, and they freak out about it. One that we’ve gotten in the past that people just lose it on is “breast cancer.” Someone pulls out and reads breast cancer and their brain melts. They have nothing they could possibly say that would be funny. And yeah, it’s a dark and messed-up topic for jokes but if you just let your mind wander and start talking, you never know what you’re going to find. That’s why I like doing Comedy Bucket. It forces me to talk about things that I would’ve never even considered talking about in front of people. So I’m not sick of anything. In fact, I like the mix. I like that people put in normal, every-day stuff like “cookie” and then the next one is breast cancer. That’s such a weird arc for a set to take.
How does one go about doing comedy or making light of something that is serious, like breast cancer?
What it comes down to is whether you can find something that’s funny about it to you. So if you have a dark topic and you can find an angle or way of approaching it that’s funny to you, then you can pass that onto audiences. It’s a lot of trial and error because the first time you tell it — especially if it’s a dark joke — there’s a good chance it’ll bomb, because you don’t have the right confidence going into it. You need a little bit of perseverance. If you can find an angle on something that’s funny to you, then you can make it funny for an audience, even if it’s some messed up topic like necromancer gangbang.
Is the “comedy bucket” a literal bucket?
Yeah. I bought it at the dollar store. It’s a little metal garden bucket with a handle. It’s an actual bucket, if just for the ease of reaching into. It can’t be Comedy Jar, because what if someone’s hand is too big and they have trouble getting in and out?
Do you have any advice for someone who might be interested in entering the Vancouver comedy scene?
If you want to get into comedy, try it and be honest about it. Some people are good at comedy and never pursue it, and some people are bad at comedy and pursue it anyway. Just because you can do comedy doesn’t mean you should. You can form a band that makes bad music, but that doesn’t mean you should be in a band. Try it, be honest with yourself, and if you think there’s something there, that you have the ability to look at something with a fresh perspective and you’re actually being funny, then yeah. Go for it. But don’t just dip your toe in and say, “Look at me! I’m a comedian! I’m doing it!” There are levels of progression and it’s a horrible journey, but it’s alright.
Fill up on laughs with Kyle Bottom’s Comedy Bucket, happening November 12 at Hot Art Wet City in Vancouver.
