Front Burner - What it’s like being a performer during a pandemic

Episode Date: August 25, 2020

Over the weekend, German researchers held a concert with over 1500 music fans to study how COVID-19 could spread at big indoor events. Here in Canada, provinces are still capping numbers at indoor shows and many venues are staying closed. Some have permanently shut down. This has been a huge challenge for musicians, and performing artists more widely. Today on Front Burner, we convene a panel with two Canadians who work in the arts, and depend on live audiences for their livelihoods. Miranda Mulholland is a Juno-nominated fiddler and singer, label owner, and a musician’s rights advocate. Nour Hadidi is a professional stand-up comedian who has written for This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. The sound of 1,500 excited fans packed into an arena for a classic summer concert. Only the cheers are being muffled by masks, the fans are wearing location trackers, and have fluorescent dye on their hands. On Saturday, German researchers held this concert to study how COVID could spread at big indoor events.

Until we understand those risks, Canadian artists have been finding alternatives, like this. That's R&B duo Division performing an outdoor drive-in show in Toronto earlier this month. Drive-ins are one of the few ways that artists can stage shows these days. Provinces are still capping numbers at indoor shows, so most venues are staying closed, some permanently. And that's why today I'm talking with two artists about how they've handled a month-long lockout on their passion and their livelihood. I'm Josh Bloch. This is FrontBurner. With me today is Miranda Mulholland. She's a Juno-nominated fiddler and singer,

label owner, and musicians' rights advocate. Hello, Miranda. Hi there. And also joining me is Noor Hadidi. She's a professional stand-up comedian, and she's been a writer for shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Hello, Noor. Hi, Josh.

So I know both of you are used to doing a lot of performing for live audiences, and five months ago when the pandemic began, that basically stopped. How much of a struggle was it when live shows disappeared? It was such a big struggle because as stand up comedians, we're out every night working on our act and polishing our jokes. And to have that be taken away completely and not know when it would come back was really hard on the soul. It's how you are a lot of comic is how we process our lives. So the fact that we were going through this pandemic without the ability to process it in the way that we do

was just, yeah, it was just really difficult. And I imagine even your creative process requires trying out material in front of people like really having a live audience there to to respond to and bounce off of. Yeah, there's nothing like that live audience reaction to a joke you wrote, like just the adrenaline and the rush and the highs. Your name is Stu? That's cute. I like that. That's a nice name. Short for Stuart? They don't make Stuart, they were discontinued in the 1970s, weren't they? So to go from that to just writing jokes into the abyss or online was very difficult for five months. Not to mention the fact that this is your livelihood.

Yes, exactly. I mean, in 48 hours, all of my gigs got cancelled. It was just one email after the other. Miranda, what about you? I mean, how difficult has it been for you and the artists that you know to try and make a living without live shows? Well, Noor, I mean, exactly. We're in such a similar boat. The pandemic arrived in Canada just around the Junos, which obviously is sort of the big celebration of Canadian music.

celebration of Canadian music. And so it not going ahead was a real, oh, this is real. But obviously, yeah, exactly. I mean, same New York. Like all of my shows were canceled for the whole year. I'm in a band called the Herald Fair and we had an album that was coming out. I pulled out to the train. All the seats were unknown. Obviously, there's sort of that triple threat, you know, the financial abyss for artists who are in live.

You know, we were the first out and we're going to be the last back, really, because we just can't gather. And then there's the creative side where so many people are just facing, you know, perhaps eviction, not knowing how to pay their rent or bills. How can you actually feel like writing the great Canadian novel, the best jokes ever, the best album you've ever done? You know, that that myth of sort of tortured artists. I mean, I wish I could just dismantle that every day of my life. I mean, I wish I could just dismantle that every day of my life. Right. I mean, I know musicians have been streaming performances online instead of doing live shows. But what's that been like to have to play without that in-person audience? Well, I'll tell you just from a personal experience, my band, we were really careful, but not just doing kind of a live stream.

That didn't feel like we could be artistically us, you know? And so we waited until just probably the first weekend of August, I think it was. And I got to tell you, I have never played a show that made me that anxious in my whole life, because we just did it to a camera with no clapping, nothing, just looking at each other. And we're, you know, we put out so much energy, it's like playing into a vacuum. And then we would just look at each other with the silence, the deafening silence. And I can't even imagine as a comedian how that must feel, too, to not even have any kind of indication that your jokes are landing. Oh, my God.

The first time I did an online show, I was more nervous than when I had performed for hundreds of people at a theater. There's really there's just something about it where it's like, you feel so seen and there's nowhere to hide. what makes a better online show. So when we started doing the Zoom shows, the producers would have some of the audience members at home unmute themselves and turn on their cameras. Do what the rest of us do. You're lonely. I get it. You post a photo. It gets six likes. You lose two followers. You take a dump, okay?

That was a shame. So it was the closest it could come to a live show so I was at least able to hear a response from the people that were listening yes yes and maybe and even if they didn't have their microphone on they'd have their camera on and I could see them smiling which was it's so much better than just me talking into a camera. Over the course of the summer, there have been venues that are slowly starting to open up, obviously with all kinds of safety protocols. Most importantly, that the capacity is drastically reduced so that people can socially distance, you know, be seated two meters apart from each other. I know in Alberta, indoor performances can take place

with as many as 100 people if you have that two meter spacing. In Toronto, here in Toronto, the Comedy Bar reopened a couple weeks ago. And Noor, you actually did a set on its first night back. I mean, what was that like performing under these kind of COVID safety measures? So it was really weird. It was empty and they took down my name and phone number for tracing. And they were like, we hope we never have to call you.

Like, ha ha, you know, like you said, it was reduced capacity. So it was a third capacity. And then when I go up on the stage, I have to stay on the back part of the stage like they have a rope which is counterintuitive as a comic because you want to get close and personal with the people and emote and they were far away and they had their masks on and they were socially distancing a lot of the aspects you know that make comedy fun were taken away but I will say

you know, that make comedy fun were taken away. But I will say, I had such a good time on stage, the people who were there, they wanted to laugh, they were supporting live comedy. You know, last week in Toronto, Mayor John Tory announced that there would be a $1.7 million in property tax breaks for music venues. But music venues are still and all venues really are still struggling with rent. The famous Orbit Room has already closed permanently. I know that in Vancouver, Fox Cabaret and Rickshaw are really struggling. Miranda, if small and mid-sized clubs start disappearing, what does that mean for Canadian music? It's a really big problem. It's been a problem for a number of years, too, pre-pandemic. I mean, I guess the thing about this global event is it's really highlighting things that have been problems systemically forever.

For artists not to have a venue ladder, that is really difficult. That's one of the key components of being a great music city is if you can have places where musicians can play, whether just starting out all the way up to you know our key places like Massey Hall and so it's hitting the most vulnerable it's hitting emerging artists people of color it's hitting women we as part of my advocacy work we've been doing a lot of studies on on how artists are going to feel about touring again. And especially some of the smaller venues, they won't have the infrastructure to be able to make sure that artists are safe if they're touring across the country.

I mean, I don't really feel like getting back in a touring van anytime soon with all of the contact points across the country. You know, that's pretty scary. And that's the whole purpose of those, you know, many of those small intimate spaces is to be almost touching the performer. Yeah, that's the bragging rights, right? That's what you get to say. I saw the sheepdogs when I was in the Dakota.

And so I'm hoping that there's going to be more support. I've seen in the UK, there's been a lot of support for grassroots venues and smaller venues. It's all about the ecosystem and keeping that healthy. Well, I know that the federal government is giving financial aid to artists. In April, Heritage Minister Stephen Guilbeault announced a $500 million fund to support arts and sports. It will be administered by Canadian Heritage with the support of many of our partners, such as the Canada Council for the Arts. How helpful is that in terms of helping struggling artists

through the pandemic? They've been right on the nose about trying to keep lights on in organizations. I think that's really important, obviously. One of the things I do keep advocating is just making sure that again they remember the most vulnerable who are at the heart of our ecosystem as music it's the musicians it's artists so some of that money is not getting to the artists it's keeping the organizations alive which is great but we can't forget about our artists so i'm really really pleased you know

serv was introduced and that we were able to negotiate uh that royalties were were able to be exempt from that and and also the new parallel program which just got announced uh recently so that's really really heartening that they're actually hearing that you know we're not even allowed to do our jobs you can't just play a show at the horseshoe with one third capacity and think that anyone's going to be making any kind of sustainable income. So support is necessary. I mean, look, there's a huge economic factor to the arts. I mean, artists not only contribute to, I think it's something between like 10 jobs per artist that they, whether part time or who they support. And then also creatively.

I mean, look, this is a time when artists should be processing. We're living a global trauma, a global event, and this is a time when artists should be thinking about this and working on things and trying to process this event in order to make better sense of it and perhaps imagine a better future. So Noor, I know that comedians technically can apply for funding with some of the groups that are getting that $500 million from Canadian Heritage, although they often have to apply as theatrical performers. And that's because the Canada Council for the Arts doesn't recognize comedy as an art form. So how well do you feel that the government is supporting comedy right now?

Honestly, I don't. Because, like you said, it's not a recognized art form. And I have to apply as a theatre artist. So what does that say about the value that we're putting into comedy? You know, I remember when the pandemic first started and we would all watch Justin Trudeau talk to us every morning from his home in Ottawa. And there was one day where, in French, he said that artists are the sunshine of our lives. And there was one day where, in French, you said that artists are the sunshine of our lives. And to put a little sun in our daily lives,

and we always make them recognizable. And it made me tear up, and a lot of other sketch and improv and stand-up performers in Canada. For us not to be included in the definition of art is just very excluding and disheartening and i think we also as a community benefit from what the musicians um fight for like they fought to not have royalties be included for the serb cutoff but we benefit from that because a lot of stand-up comics how they earn their living is they record comedy albums they get get them played on SiriusXM, and then they get royalties.

So it feels like kind of trickle down whatever other artists in this country are able to get. We're just kind of at the bottom and we're just scraping for what we can get. We're always just fighting to be here. And it's really exhausting when we work so hard and we get so little in return I just want to say newer I went to McGill as well and I played at Hurley's and I used to go to at the comedy bar that was just across the parking lot I duck in there and see my friend but like you know comedy is such an incredible art form It's one of those things where I think I could, I could never do that. And so,

you know, anytime you need an advocate, I'm on your side. So there you go. Thank you so much. We'll go, once the pandemic's over, we'll go to each other's shows.

Okay. And we'll have, you have at least one, you have at least an audience of one. Yeah. I love you. of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here.

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listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Cops. Of course, you know, art, especially music and comedy, is even more important to so many people as they're stuck at home, as they're disconnected from other people. What do you think that music, for you, Miranda, you know, what's the service that it does offer Canadians in this time? Well, it's been quite amazing working with Music Canada and Abacus Data doing this survey of consumer response. And one of the things that we're hearing is people have discovered more new music that they didn't know before than this pandemic. I think overwhelmingly saying that digital will never replace live. That's very good. saying that digital will never replace live that's very good streaming subscriptions are up i just think that it's certainly proven the value of the arts because people have from day one turned to comedy to to music to theater to uh podcasts and any kind of thing that can take

their mind away and whether it be that it's exploratory of this time or whether it's actually escapism, but the arts are just so valuable, not just as an economic driver, but also culturally. Noor, what about you? How important is comedy and especially live comedy during a pandemic? Oh my God.

I think, I mean, I want everyone to be safe, but I think it's so important. I think people need to laugh. And, you know, comedians, we love making people laugh. If I can, if someone's having a bad day and they come into a show and I make them laugh for 10 minutes, like that brings me so much joy.

So, and there's just something so powerful and unifying about comedy. Like I am so different from so many of the audience members who come to my shows. And there's just a connectedness in the room when we're all, you know, laughing at the same thing or we relate to it. So I think it's really healing. And if people feel safe, you know, please support live comedy. We really need it. The venues need it.

The comedians need it. Port Life Comedy really need it, the venues need it, the comedians need it. I'm really hopeful, like Miranda, that we'll come out on the other side and we'll all still be here because you have to. I think it'll happen. Well, I

hope it all comes back soon and you're able to get back to your creative work in front of live audiences. Thank you so much for speaking with me today. Thank you. Thank you for having us. After I spoke with Miranda and Noor, we reached out to the federal government about their concerns over the $500 million emergency fund. We received a response from the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

The statement says that this fund is meant to complement broader programs like CERB, and that over $3 billion has been allocated to the cultural and sports sectors through several governmental emergency programs. The office also says it has multiple funds that support the training of, quote, humorists and comedy festivals, and that humor is an eligible category for the Canada Cultural Investment Fund. That's all for today. I'm Josh Bloch.

Thanks for listening to FrontBurner.