While most of the upcoming Just For Laughs comedy festival in Vancouver is for humans, a pair of shows will have something else in attendance: Dogs.
Big Dog Energy has two shows as part of the annual comedy festival, offering dog owners a chance to head to a local show with their furriest (probably) roommate.
Big Dog organizer and Irish comedian Amy Walsh says the idea came to her a couple of years ago as she worked as a dog sitter and spoke to clients who wished there were more activities they could do with their dogs.
"I was like, 'Why don't I bring my two loves together?'" she tells V.I.A. "So I started it off at The MOTN."
In 2024 there was one Big Dog show at Just For Laughs. This year there are two.
"This year the first show was selling so good I was like f*** it and booked a second," says Walsh.
The first has since sold out.
The Just For Laughs shows will feature local and visiting comedians with some late additions possible. Jesu Trejo and Abhay Nadkarni popped in last year, Walsh notes.
"Jesu dropping in was huge for me because I'm a big fan of his," she says.
A comedy show for dogs?
The dog-friendly comedy shows work like any other comedy show, but with audience members bringing dogs.
"It's regular comedy; there are just dogs in the audience," Walsh says. "They don't like to disrupt the show."
She notes that some comedians steer into the dog audience with themed mutt-terial, but it's not a rule. Others might throw in loaded words like "walk" or "treat."
"It's more about giving these people an opportunity, a place to bring their dogs too," says Walsh.
Occasionally dogs will wander up to the stage, if they escape their leash.
Unlike typical comedy shows, the Big Dog audiences often connect before and after the shows, chatting about the dogs they've come with.
"Audience members always interact with each other," says Walsh. "It's a very nice energy."
While the dogs are often excited to meet new people and other dogs at the beginning of the show, things always come down before the comedy, she adds. Sometimes they nap.
Tickets for the show that isn't sold out, which is Feb. 22 at Little Mountain Gallery, are $26. Dogs get in free. Treats are allowed. Cats aren't allowed.
"You don't have to have a dog to come," adds Walsh. "You just have to be ok being in a room full of dogs."
