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Ivan Decker is truely a man of many talents. Whichever term you prefer (Renaissance Man, Jack of All Trades, Human Swiss Army Knife) it’s hard to debate that they all describe Ivan Decker. First and foremost, he is one of the city’s funniest stand up comedians. Decker is so funny that you need to be medically pre-approved to see him perform (a sad result of one too many laughter-induced hospitalizations). Second, he’s also a bonafide nice guy. If he had a lemon poppy seed muffin and he knew you liked lemon poppy seed muffins, he would probably offer you at least one bite. One of Decker’s lesser-known charms is his mastery of the Chinese yo-yo (not to be confused with the Daiblo, which has a much shorter axle, duh). Watch. Be amazed. But first consult your doctor.

On May 26th, Ivan Decker will perform in GIANTS VI: THE FINALE, the sixth and final installment in the GIANTS Comedy series in The Cultch‘s Historic Theatre. The show features comedian and author Charlie Demers who will debut a brand new comedy he wrote for Main Street Theatre. GIANTS VI: THE FINALE also features performances from Graham Clark, Ivan Decker, Sister Act and 2011 Vancouver Pick of the Fringe winners The Progressive Polygamists. For more information, guest bios and funny videos, check out giantscomedy.com.

GIANTS VI: THE FINALE runs for one night only on Saturday, May 26th. Tickets are still avialable from The Cultch.

Charlie Demers and Ryan Beil are two of the funniest men in Vancouver. Demers is a much-loved stand up comedian, author and regular fixture on CBC’s The Debaters. Beil is a prolific actor, member of The Sunday Service and A&W guy. But just because they’re both funny dosen’t mean they always get along. Check out this exclusive look at one of thier rehersals for GIANTS VI: THE FINALE, happening on May 26th.

On May 26th, the final installment in the GIANTS Comedy series will burn up the stage at The Cultch’s Historic Theatre. The main attraction is stand up/author/activist Charlie Demers who, in an epic comedy collaboration, is writing a brand new comedy for the Jessie Award winning Main Street Theatre, featuring Ryan Beil.

The show also features performances from Graham Clark, Ivan Decker, Sister Act and 2011 Vancouver Pick of the Fringe winners The Progressive Polygamists. For more information, guest bios and funny videos, check out giantscomedy.com.

GIANTS VI: THE FINALE runs for one night only on Saturday, May 26th. Tickets are still avialable from The Cultch.

Archaeologists trace the origins of the “Hoop and Stick Game” back to Ninth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt.  Heiroglyphics show young Egyptians giddily rolling their hoops up and down the pyramids. Particularly, the hieroglyphic symbol for “chill hang outs” was often found in association with the symbol for “Hoop and Stick”. Fast forward a few thousand years, to the Industrial Revolution, Hoop and Stick was the world’s second most popular game for children aged 6-11, surpassed only by “work”. In this video, we see Devin “Rollie” Mackenzie and Tom “Donnie” Hill of improv group Hip.Bang! having a great deal of fun playing Hoop and Stick.

When not playing with a hoop or a stick, improv group Hip.Bang! just plays . They play with the space of the stage, they play with the audience and most importantly, they play with each other. The results are hilarious, as if they’ve taken the most joyous and innocent moments from their childhoods, subjected them to intense research and reproduced the results with exacting professionalism. Hip.Bang! craft powerful and immediate scenes but they never lose thier sense of play. Watching Hip.Bang! reminds you what fun is really like.

Hip.Bang! is performing in GIANTS V: MURDER BY DEATH, a big-thinking comedy show at The Cultch for one night only on Saturday, March 24th. The show also features sketch group Furious Anger Fun Hour, stand up Katie-Ellen Humphries, a hilarious old-timey radio play by Caitlin Howden and more!

Location: The Cultch – 1895 Venables Street

Tickets: Only $10. Advance tickets available online at The Cultch.

Follow GIANTS Comedy on Twitter: @giantscomedy

Like GIANTS Comedy on Facebook

Find out more: giantscomedy.com

There are certain qualities that I really appreciate in a salesperson. Great hand-eye coordination, a strong jaw, and the ability to make me irrationally excited about whatever it is they’re selling. Here, Furious Anger Fun Hour member Bryan Nothling is selling jokes. And I’m buying.

Furious Anger Fun Hour is sketch comedy group made up of four charmingly disillusioned theatre grads. They bring all of the professionalism, powerful performances and unnecessarilty complex vocal warm ups that you would expect from formally trained actors. But they come off like your four best friends just having fun on stage (if your four best friends happened to be profoundly funny and extremely talented gentlemen). They make great sketch comedy look easy at their regular appearance on East Van Comedy at Commercial Drive’s Havana Theatre.

Furious Anger Fun Hour is performing in GIANTS V: MURDER BY DEATH, a big-thinking comedy show at The Cultch for one night only on Saturday, March 24th. The show also features improv from Hip.Bang!, stand up Katie-Ellen Humphries, a hilarious old-timey radio play by Caitlin Howden and more!

Location: The Cultch – 1895 Venables Street

Tickets: Only $10. Advance tickets available online at The Cultch.

Follow GIANTS Comedy on Twitter: @giantscomedy

Like GIANTS Comedy on Facebook

Find out more: giantscomedy.com

Stand-up comedian Katie-Ellen Humphries is known and loved in in cities like Vancouver for her smart observational humour and charming stage presence. She’s also known and loved in large bodies of water (oceans, etc) for being the three-time Canadian National 5k Open Water Swimming Champion. Well world, get ready to know and love Katie-Ellen Humphries for a whole new reason: sales. As you can clearly see in this video, she’s mastered the proven sales technique known as “the nudity guarantee”.

When she’s not coaxing labels off of cans or dodging dolphins in the open ocean, Katie-Ellen Humphries spends her time telling jokes. She’s performed at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival, Vancouver’s International Comedy Festival and opened for Bruce McCulloch (Kids in the Hall). You’re not allowed to tell jokes in those kinds of places unless your jokes are funny. Therefore, by the power of logic, Katie-Ellen Humphries tells funny jokes. Don’t believe in logic? Then see for yourself.

Katie-Ellen Humphries is performing in GIANTS V: MURDER BY DEATH, a big-thinking comedy show at The Cultch for one night only on Saturday, March 24th. The show also features improv from Hip.Bang!, sketch from Furious Anger Fun Hour, a hilarious old-timey radio play by Caitlin Howden and more!

Location: The Cultch – 1895 Venables Street

Tickets: Only $10. Advance tickets available online at The Cultch.

Follow GIANTS Comedy on Twitter: @giantscomedy

Like GIANTS Comedy on Facebook

Find out more: giantscomedy.com

Modern life can sure get you down. Sometimes all the hustle-bustle of motor cars, the pressure of what to cook for dinner and the acute fear of immenent nuclear war can be too much to bear. Fear not! Three-time Canadian Comedy Award winner Caitlin Howden has just the thing to turn all you Glum Gladys’s into Jolly Jills: hats.  Wear them at home, at the store or host a hat party and become the envy of all your friends!

Comedain Caitlin Howden (Second City, Uncalled For, Ghost Jail Theatre, Sunday Service) stars in this lovely hat-vertizement, produced by Weekend Leisure and GIANTS Comedy. She is also the star of GIANTS V: MURDER BY DEATH, a big-thinking comedy show happening on March 24th at The Cultch. MURDER BY DEATH is a new old-timey radio play staring a hand-picked selection of Vancouver’s funniest comedians, improvisors and actors. Overflowing with wise-guys in slacks and dames in beehives, MURDER BY DEATH is jounrey to a simpler time when murder was murder, radios were radios and comedy was comedy.

GIANTS V: MURDER BY DEATH is at The Cultch for one night only on Saturday, March 24th. In addition to Caitlin Howden, the show features Katie-Ellen Humpries, Hip.Bang!, Furious Anger Fun Hour and more!

Location: The Cultch – 1895 Venables Street

Tickets: Only $10. Advance tickets available online at The Cultch.

Follow GIANTS Comedy on Twitter: @giantscomedy

Like GIANTS Comedy on Facebook

Find out more: giantscomedy.com

Some people are really good at the internet. You know the type: a hilarious tumblr that’s obcsure but not too obsucre, immecibly witty hashtags, and what seems 20 likes on every profile photo. Others have mastered this whole ‘real life’ thing: appearing calm and composed in any situation, full of charming stories about thier pets and exuding a glow that screams: “yes, I am a successful human person”. Vancouver comedian Dave Shumka is pretty darn successful in both worlds.

Online, Shumka is one half the the extremely popular podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself (with Graham Clark). He’s also a prolific tweeter, CBC Radio 3 host and creator of a hilarious tumblr that compiles the silver screen kid-versions of all your favourite actors. In person, Shumka is one of the most beloved stand up comedians in Vancouver. He combines well crafted, intellegent joke-telling with his instantly recognizable brand of absurdist physicality. The result: great comedy, online and in the flesh.

Dave Shumka is performing in GIANTS IV: EPIC SEX ED, a comedy show for the ages. The video above features Cam Macleod and Colin Cowan as a time-travelling, sex-educating sketch comedy duo.

GIANTS IV: EPIC SEX ED is at The Cultch for one night only on Saturday, February 18th. In addition to Dave Shumka and Cam Macleod/Colin Cowan, the show also features Sean Devlin, DuoTone and Ivan Decker, as well brand new video from Weekend Leisure and more!

GIANTS IV: EPIC SEX ED – February 18th at 10:00pm

Location: The Vancity Culture Lab – 1895 Venables Street

Tickets: Only $10. Advance tickets available online at The Cultch.

Follow GIANTS on Twitter @giantscomedy

Like GIANTS on Facebook

Find out more! www.giantscomedy.com