On Friday and Saturday, the Mary Webb Centre for the Arts in Highgate hosted its first ever Comedy Fest, which was truly wonderful. Hosted by Steve Patterson, who brought with him on Friday night Elvira Kurk and Arthur Simeon and on Saturday Kate Davis and Dave Hamstad. Each of these comedians had their very own sense of humour and kept the audience laughing throughout both evenings.

 Each evening, there were 30-40 people who had never been to the MWC which was great for the centre. Not only were they impressed by those on stage, but also by the MWC itself, which is certainly not an unusual feeling.

  Steve opened each show with his own comedy, picking on several of those in the audience, especially about where they were from. Friday night, he got quite a response picking on someone who in their words, lived “just down the road”. He finally got it out of him that this meant Ridgetown. Steve also read excerpts from his book Letters I wrote but Don’t Know Where to Send.

  Elvira Kurk, who is openly gay, bases much of her comedy on that fact. She has been on The Debaters with Steve Patterson. She talked about the reaction folks have when they discover that she is gay is proud of that fact.

  Arthur Simeon is a Uganda-born but Toronto-based comedian who has travelled all over the world with his unique voice and comedy. He is a good story teller and bases much of this comedy on the reaction people have to his Ugandan heritage. He talked about his trips back home to see his family and some of the interactions he had with the border security.

  It was good for the MWC that after the Friday night show, several audience members went to the ticket office and purchased tickets for Saturday night.

  Steve opened Saturday night with his usual short time on stage, telling of his decision on Saturday afternoon to drive to Blenheim and being stuck behind some farm equipment, travelling in his opinion very slowly.

  First up on Saturday was Kate Davis, a mother of three, who provided her with lots of material for this show. She has been a comedian for over 20 years and has had 12 Canadian Comedy Awards. She has toured globally and been on an impressive number of radio and tv shows.

  Finishing off the Festival was Dave Hemstad who was a Academic All-American golfer who was hit by lightning at a tournament which changed his career path. He interacted with the audience and had the crowd loving every minute of it. A favourite on The Debaters, it was not hard to understand why.

  Overall, this was a funny and totally entertaining two nights, some that we hope to have again! Next year’s program is being put together and we will let everyone know soon. Thanks to our festival sponsor TekSavvy, as well as Handy Bros and all the volunteers who made this weekend and the 2024-25 concert season a great success! 

l-r:  Arthur Simeon and Steve Patterson

Missing:  Elvira Kurk

l-r: Steve Patterson, Kate Davis and Dave Hamstad