Comedian Ed Hill is set to take the stage at the Ā鶹AV Fringe festival in September.
Hill was born in Taiwan, but grew up in Vancouver, B.C. Heās the first Taiwanese-Canadian comedian to get a full-length comedy special with Comedy Dynamics. The special āCandy and Smileyā received critical acclaim, making the top 15 comedy specials of 2021 by Paste Magazine, and NPR radioās āBest of 2021ā list. The special can be found online or streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Hillās performance in Ā鶹AV will be part of his new special Stupid Ed.
āI am not a blue comic; I am not a setupāpunch type of guy. Iām not a storyteller. I donāt fit into those categories. But what I am is very introspective,ā said Hill.
Hillās comedy is unlike most comedians that are performing. He goes āinside rather than outside,ā which was a decision he made early in his career following the advice of his late-great mentor, Louie Anderson.
ā[Louie] came to me early on and let me know ātalk about youātalk about your family. These are the things that will transcend time and barriers because we all have families and we all have struggles,ā said Hill.
Hill measures his crowd not strictly by their laughs, but by their silence, too. He reflected on a time when he watched a colleague who had a successful set in New York City. The comic made the audience laugh, but the comic was also able to get them to go quiet again, so they wouldnāt miss a word.
He also measures his success in how people interact with him.
āPeople coming up to you, letting you know they have similar experiences in their lives, or people walking away just remembering what the moment felt like for them. Thatās the essence Iām trying to give to people,ā said hill.
The festival wonāt be Hillās first outing in Ā鶹AV. In fact, the comic often comes through every six months or so, but he expects this time to be different.
āA comedy club performance can be different than the theater performance, because they only give you 45 minutes compared to an hour,ā said Hill.
The title of Edās show āStupid Edā is also introspective. Hill recalled how the name came to him based on a comment from his dad. While perusing family photo albums of Hill as a kid, his dad glanced over his shoulder.
āAnd he just goes āstupid kidā and walks away,ā said Hill with a laugh.
Rather than take offence at the comment, Hill heard it differently.
āI know the reason why that was such a touching moment for me, because I think that was acceptance,ā said Hill.
The comicās set is filled with humorous introspective insights into his own life.
Hill will perform on Sep. 1ā3 at the Mary Irwin Theatre in Ā鶹AV. For tickets and showtimes, visit the festivalās website.
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zach.delaney@revelstkokereview.com
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