Spilling tea with Pride-a-Palooza headliner Andrew Johnston

So many gifted Canadian comics have moved to New York and L.A. over the past couple of decades that I couldn’t possibly list them all.

One of the most missed, however, especially when June rolls along here in Toronto, is Andrew Johnston, the Video on Trial/Laugh Sabbath regular who hosted and produced the annual Bitch Salad comedy night for years.

A Tim Gunn-level arbiter of taste, the Brockville-born Johnston regularly cut through the noise of pop culture to provide scathing critiques and commentary on important topics of the day that made us feel witty, informed and above it all. He also hand-picked talent that wasn’t appearing regularly on mainstream comedy club stages — but should have been.

Based in Los Angeles for the past several years, he’s returning to headline the Gay AF Pride-a-Palooza night this Friday (June 20), hosted by producer Robert Watson and featuring a lineup that includes Ajahnis Charley, Anasimone, Heather Mariko and Viza. See ticket details here.

We spoke via Zoom last week. And because Johnston, who has a Green Card, is in the midst of finalizing his U.S. citizenship, we avoided anything specific about the current administration.

So when you first moved to L.A., what was it like getting onto comedy stages?

I moved here in June 2019, which I affectionately describe as the Titanic setting sail. My goodness, was the band ever playing beautifully, really, for eight months before March 2020. It was like Emma Stone in La La Land, where you hopped off a bus, and Gangway, world! A producer was at a show that I did and booked me for a Hey Qween! comedy special. I would be at a show, and someone else would ask if I wanted to do their show because, ya know, I was competent — or more than competent.

What was the effect of the pandemic?

After the lockdowns eased, there was a little bit of a boom. But really, everything shifted in 2022. The old system collapsed. And now it’s like your live act is kind of tertiary to what you do. For a while, it was all about people who had lots of followers on social media. But most of those people who broadcast their every mental queef online... I’m sorry, but they fucking sucked onstage. And they don’t account for anyone in the audience. Their fans don’t actually show up.

Another thing that happened was all the venture capitalists backing the streamers dried up. Everyone was trying to compete with Netflix, and was producing so much — there was a lot of work, but it paid less. And then basically that stopped, too. That bubble was always going to burst, because things couldn’t keep growing without ad revenue.

All of that dovetailed with the strikes. So: the pandemic, the strikes, Netflix and TikTok. Tiktok has destroyed people’s attention spans. What’s really interesting right now is that Americans are getting a taste of what it was like to be a comic in Canada. Only legacy acts are getting stuff now. I’ll talk to Americans who were on a clear trajectory in the old system, and they’ve either plateaued or nose-dived. That’s what I moved from Canada to escape... but, well, whatever. At least the weather is nicer.

Speaking of TikTok, you’ve begun posting short video clips on Instagram, YouTube and, I believe TikTok. These seem like a natural fit for some of your comedy and commentary.

I’d rather just be doing stand-up. I think all of us would rather be doing that. But that’s the world we live in right now.

They’ve allowed you to sound off on things like the lack of people of colour in the original Sex and the City series; you’ve dream-cast a film adaptation of the Sondheim musical Follies... these don’t seem like pandering at all.

I’m doing them just as a proof of concept. I am literally doing whatever the fuck I want. I did some videos discussing the most notable emissions from Oprah’s Legends Ball, which was divisive. One woman commented that this issue wasn’t mind to speak about, which set me off. I felt, “You just voluntarily watched something at no cost to you that I made for free. While I am not being platformed by anyone, while I am making this for free, I will speak on whatever the fuck I want to.” That was an epiphany. Maybe one day my nieces and nephews will look at them and think, “My God, my uncle was an unhinged queen and could not be stopped.”

Last year, you took part in a special all-Canadian lineup as part of the Netflix is a Joke series of live shows there. Do you still keep in touch with everyone?

[redacted about the specifics of that Netflix show]. One thing you can print is that I think that festival has drained audiences — it’s killed comedy in this city. People were like, “I just saw Dave Chappelle at a bar show for $30. So is he going to be there tonight?” I think it’s really kneecapped things.

Anyway, you were asking if I was still in touch with the Canadians here, and yeah, almost exclusively. Everyone’s really spiraling. I’m actually doing much better mentally than a lot of people.

I talk to Debra [DiGiovanni] a lot. I’m still friendly with Matt [O’Brien] and Julia [Hladkowicz] but they live in Alhambra, which is quite a ways out, so I don’t see them very often. Rebecca Kohler just moved back to Canada.

I’m part of a weekly show here called Superbloom, which Inessa Frantowski often co-hosts. It’s one of eight weekly shows in the city of Los Angeles, which has a population similar to the entire province of Quebec. Eight weekly shows outside clubs like The Store and The Laugh Factory!

What are you going to be bringing to Pride-a-Palooza show?

The business has never been worse, but I’ve never loved my material more. It’s like this belligerent, kamikaze homosexual act. My feeling is, “What do you think you can take from me? Like, what is it at this point that you think you’re going to take from me?” I really could give zero fucks, you know? It’s silly, it’s inventive, it’s got a beginning, middle and end. What a concept, right?

In your last album, Pomp & Circumcised, you had a really clever track about gay male comics. You’ve written about the subject, too. It feels like like gay comics are having a bit of a moment right now, with stand-ups like Matteo Lane, Joel Kim Booster and Guy Branum breaking through — and that’s just in the US. Why do you think that is?

I think if you were to talk to any of them, they wouldn’t agree. Everyone feels very short-changed right now. Did you see Billy Eichner’s movie Bros? Yes? Well, you were one of three people who did. Nobody saw it. I loved it — it was great. I speak with Guy occasionally, and I got to tell Billy that if that’s the only thing that we do for a generation, it was worth it, and we probably won’t get another chance to do something like that for a while.

Did you read that CBC arts article last year that Peter Knegt wrote, where he wrote that the queers are here to save the culture, and they’re all American?

Yes. But he did include Mae Martin!

Who probably hasn’t paid Canadian taxes in decades. I had a very pointed exchange with him about that and... we’ve unfollowed each other! I still pay Canadian taxes. I still help fund the CBC. And he’s like, No, Canadians are not part of the conversation. I told him I’d worked with half the people on that list, and I was sure they forgot his fucking name five minutes after he told it to them. They would step over his corpse in the street.

Do you ever look back and think that what you created with Bitch Salad was special?

I still hear about that show all the time. I produce Katherine Ryan’s podcast, and I didn’t realize how instrumental Bitch Salad was for her until I read about it in her book, The Audacity. I think the show got her in front of an audience that she really vibed with.

I’m happy that it made a bit of a scene, especially because back then there was usually just one woman on a bill. Here, you had them all together, and for some it was the first time they got to do a show together. It was wonderful to see some legitimate friendships started that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, because they just wouldn’t have been on the same lineup.

I’m also really proud of my involvement with Laugh Sabbath for about five years. That show was like a blank cheque for creative mayhem that really helped me form my voice. To be with comics like Tim Gilbert, Marty Topps, Tom Henry, James Hartnett, Jackie Pirico, Sara Hennessey, Mike Balazo... we were doing such insane shit back then.

We were all just trying to best each other. Iron sharpened iron.

Gay AF Pride-a-Palooza takes place Friday (June 20), 8 pm, at Buddies in Bad Times (12 Alexander). See info here.

Overcompensating with fine Toronto actors

If, like me, you binged all eight episodes of the very funny and quite poignant series Overcompensating (now streaming on Prime Video), you will have noticed some local talent in the cast. (Not to mention some Toronto locales; hello, Victoria College campus at U of T!).

Yes, that’s current Dora nominee Akosua Amo-Adem as the tough-as-nails economics prof whose class lead Benny (Benito Skinner) wants to drop because a cute guy has caught his eye in a film class, which incidentally is headed by a tweed-coat-wearing John Ralston. And apparently Great Comet ensemble member Tyler Pearce is in the show, too.

I’m not done with the Friends-for-Gen-Z series Adults yet, but besides Canadian series co-lead Jack Innanen, I’m loving the appearances by local actors Sergio Di Zio, Ashley Comeau, Julie Nolke, Sharjil Rasool, Paul Bates and Brendan Wall. Hope y’all got paid in U.S. dollars without having to cross the border.