Music
Live Review: Josh Johnson's Comedy Band Camp
People are familiar with Josh Johnson's regular weekly YouTube drops featuring hours of material, his fans eat it up and comedians grumble in jealous wonder at how he achieves this feat. People may also be familiar with him as a regular host and correspondent on The Daily Show, where he has made quite the impression. Maybe they also know him for his HBO special. But as of tonight, I know him as the man who taught me to love jazz (and made me laugh at the same time).
Josh Johnson's comedy is a pretty well-known factor: he takes hot-off-the-press news items, weaves in stories of his life, and creates hilarious and relatable moments of comedy. At tonight's show, he talked about the state of the world being... maybe not so great... actually, definitely not so great, and in fact terrible in so many ways it's hard to mention. He also discussed how Canadians are polite and what that actually means (and he is ever so right about that). I don't want to ruin this as it will inevitably make its way onto YouTube, but it was an absolutely amazing experience. So, "how did this comedy show teach you to love jazz?" you are likely not asking yourself. Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.
Part of this experience was the theme of the show, "Comedy Band Camp". When you get your tickets, you can take a survey where you will find out what camp troop you are in. (I am a Fuchsia Flame – we're described as "it takes a lot to start your fire but once you're on you burn bright and no one can stop you"). Right off the bat, this is clearly something more. There are themed merch bundles with t-shirts, slap bracelets, key chains, bandanas, and enamel pins (not unreasonably priced, either).
When you arrive at the show you settle in and video footage of rules for the camp (like howl when you see the moon) are shown up on screen before a video of camp cheer squad members is played. It starts with the opener Mandal (aka Tevin 'Mandal' Williams) as the camp director telling us to settle in and sit down. This is followed by "camp counsellors" who were making their way around earlier and getting pictures with the crowd, telling us the rules (a mix of turn off your phone, not mixing gummy worms and real worms, and the previously-mentioned howling at the moon). We then get further video fun with Mandal before he comes on the stage and does an amazing 15 minutes getting the audience warmed up and ready. Mandal's style couldn't be more different than Josh's, but it's incredibly complimentary. Where Josh's style is at times slow burn and subtle, Mandal's is rapid fire, high joke density, and just plain fun. It's an excellent way to rev the engines of the audience to get them tuned up.
But what came next after a brief video introduction was not what most comedy audiences would expect. We were introduced to multi-instrumentalist Julius Rodriguez (also known as Orange Julius), a White Plains, NY native who came to jazz early in life, enrolling in the Manhattan School of Music's pre-college division before attending Juilliard. I have family who are quite fond of jazz, and my exposure to jazz is generally in the older "classics". During my youth, there was a lot of scorn heaped on jazz and I honestly never really gave it much thought. While I'd never actively scorn jazz, I also really wouldn't seek it out beyond the tracks I knew and already appreciated. But watching Rodriguez along with his drummer, bassist, and saxophonist create a live improvisational set was like magic. To see subtle gestures and hand signals letting the band know the direction they were going to head – all flowing along with the moment and never dropping a beat – was amazing. As a fan of improv comedy, this was like watching a scene where everyone just clicked and found the game and entered the flow state, but instead of stories about some silly get from the audience, it was playing instruments that take a lifetime to learn with no safety net of sheet music. This is where you insert the mind blown animated gif.
You're probably thinking "that's a lot", but that's not all. We were then introduced to two drummers from different troops competing for whose troop had the best drummer. This was broken into two 30-second rounds with the audience deciding. I was not in band, I did not attend sporting events, I was largely unfamiliar with the amazing feats drum line drummers can achieve, and I was educated tonight and frankly amazed.
Finally, before Josh took the stage, we were entertained by the cheer squad, dancers in band jackets who took us through a multi-song set culminating in a step dance routine. Again, I have not had a lot of experience with hip-hop dance, nor have I had the opportunity to watch stepping, but it was an amazing experience. The atmosphere was electric and the dancers truly blew our socks off. This is all before Josh even took the stage, and what it did was create an atmosphere. The smile on my face was so wide it hurt, and I was so charged I was primed for whatever Josh could bring.
And bring it he did. We got an amazingly tight and as-always-impressive hour of comedy atop the already amazing warm-up acts. The audience found their way to their feet several times for both the band and Josh, and the energy was palpable. If you have an opportunity to see Josh Johnson perform live, do it. If you have an opportunity to attend a Comedy Band Camp show, do not wait! Buy your tickets today and you will leave with a smile so wide it hurts.
Tags: Josh Johnson, Tevin Williams, Julius Rodriguez, Orange Julius, Massey Hall, The Daily Show, Comedy Band Camp, Stand-Up Comedy
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