Playing to the stereotypes: comedy that pushes to the edge

We made it to three productions of Eastern Front Theatres Stages Festival. The first two were Unconscious at the Sistine Chapel and She said/He said.

The third was Yours Truly, Cape Breton starring Bette MacDonald and Maynard Morrison with Joe Waye Jr. and special guest Jordan Musycsyn.

This show was in the Schooner Room at Casino Nova Scotia — where I've never been! We did go downstairs after the show because we took a wrong turn and I said to Dan, “Stop here so I can look around.” And Dan said, “Here we are, in the belly of the beast.” We were definitely in Slot Machine City. I asked later if there were other forms of gambling – blackjack, baccarat, roulette – and Dan said there may be a little but there’s not much demand. There were a handful of people playing the slots but it wasn't crowded.

Bette MacDonald is a well-known Nova Scotia/Cape Breton actress, comic, singer. Her character, Mary Morrison – "How are ya, dear?" – is as loved as anyone who ever came out of Cape Breton.

Mary, who talks about her husband Gordie and her sister-in-law Tookie, is not Bette's only character but I think of her as Bette's alter-ego.

Comedy is a funny thing. (Ha ha.) It goes without saying that we often use humour to express things that can't be easily expressed otherwise. And I'm – surprisingly enough – one of the people who believes that maybe we take offence at too many things a little too easily.

But I think it's fair to say that by any measurement, if someone other than Bette MacDonald were doing her material, she'd be seen to be, to put it mildly, politically incorrect.

Mary Morrison – and Bette's other characters – make fun of aging and of being old, of being fat, of being ignorant. They – the characters – do all this with the absolute joy of being Cape Bretoners, laughing about being unemployed, about being on welfare, about being in court for one thing or another.

I ask myself a few questions whenever I see her: does the fact that she comes from Cape Breton make her comedy acceptable to Cape Bretoners? Would she be able to get away with it if she were from away? And do the people in her audience identify with her characters or do they just have the vague feeling that they might know someone like that? The audience that we saw the show with was made up of lots of Cape Bretoners – she asked – and they cracked up and roared with laughter at her jokes many of which I suspect they'd heard before.

There are other comics in Atlantic Canada who play to the stereotypes in the same way Bette does: Mary Walsh, Andy Jones, Cathy Jones and other Codco and This Hour Has 22 Minutes veterans have pushed the stereotypes of Newfoundlanders right to the edge; The Trailer Park Boys have often pushed their stereotypes over. They're all capable of making us feel uncomfortable, cringe a bit. Is that an important function of comedy?

Back to Bette's show: Maynard Morrison – her husband and often producer/director – is also a performer and he's really funny too.

They play together very well on stage and it's fun to imagine what it's like at their home! They both sing and they were joined in this show with musical performances by Joe Waye Jr. and Jordan Musycsyn.

Joe Waye Jr.

Jordan Musycsyn

They're both really talented musicians and added a lot to our evening.

Besides being a funny Cape Bretoner, Bette MacDonald is a lovable character in her own right. That may be another reason she can get away with some material that a less lovable person might not manage.