A lot of fun things happen when you’re over 40… You look down at your belly and realize you’re not as svelte as you used to be; you can no longer wear ironic cat T-shirts without seeming very weird; you’re easily irked by younger generations… It’s with blistering, spot-on humor that Canadian comic Gavin Stephens deals with the indignities of middle age on All Inclusive Coma — nominated for a 2022 JUNO award for Comedy Album of the Year.
“My process on this one was very Yoda,” Stephens reveals. “I think at surface-level, this is an album about age, but also creatively it was my age that helped to create it. I was very patient working on bits for months at a time until I felt they were exactly how I wanted them. It was an album where I really began to know myself.”
Stephens jokes on All Inclusive Coma about being reclusive now that he’s “old,” but the discipline to stay in rather than go out worked to his advantage; home became his sanctuary, which allowed him to concentrate.
“I’ve been in comedy for a long time,” he shares. “I’m at the point where younger comics refer to you as a ‘legend’ — which is a nice way of saying you’re old.
“It’s fine; I’m old,” he continues. “What are you gonna do? But with age comes craft, I think, because as an older comic there’s less reason to go out and grind.”
Besides dealing with the topic of age, Stephens employs a stream-of-consciousness style on All Inclusive Coma to riff on topics as diverse as corporate HR departments, the uncoolness of Ottawa, late-night tattooing, Millennial business ideas like axe-throwing locales, and some of the unexpected, um, messiness that comes with childbirth. The result is non-stop, side-stitching laughs, no matter how random or even gross the topic.
Some of the randomness he jokes about even recently proved itself to be wholly true: “I riffed about Ottawa being an HR town so, for me, it was funny to see that HR mentality in real-time with the Truckers Convoy,” he said. “Ottawa didn’t riot or burn down buildings to get the truckers out — they filed papers.”
Stephens regularly hosts Uncolonized, a comedic leftist podcast that deals with topics of racism, social issues, and politics in Canada. When he’s not performing or hosting his podcast, he can be found practicing his knitting or cheering on the Raptors. His perfect day includes watching cartoons, reading comic books, and watching indie wrestling.
Stephens was voted by Star TV as one of the “10 Funniest Canadians” and, for five seasons, he was a star and writer on the Gemini-nominated sketch show Comedy Inc. on CTV. A multi-media sensation, Stephens has filmed multiple one-man specials for The Comedy Network and has appeared at international festivals like Montreal’s Just For Laughs and Austin’s SXSW with indie comedy legends Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofalo, and Andy Kindler.
He has toured throughout Canada, England, the United States, and South Africa as a highly sought headliner with his one-man show “Meeting Of The Audio Visual Squad,” his Lenny Bruce tribute nights “The Ghosts of Lenny Bruce,” and as an acclaimed opening act for Russell Peters. He was also chosen as “Best Local Stand-Up Comic” in NOW Magazine’s Readers Choice poll.
