The Current - Did you hear the one about the old comedian?

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Getting older isn’t always easy, but sometimes it can be hilarious. As part of our series As We Age, we talk to older comedians about finding humour in everything from senior sex to Old Age Security — and tackling aches and pains when stand-up is literally the job description.

How do you know when an idea is worth your time? I'm Nala Ayed, host of Ideas. Join me as we deep dive into the stories and ideas that shape us. No topic is off limits, from the allure of authoritarianism to what we can learn from the average cat. Find and follow Ideas wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast.

You don't need me to tell you that it's not easy getting older. We have been exploring the challenges of aging in our series As We Age, but not everything about aging is bad. Sometimes it can be really, really funny and some people have a lot of fun finding the humor in it all. I just paid off my student loan. It's tough getting older. Went into an antique store, they wouldn't let me leave. I tried using that face aging app.

They said, no now you're good. The comedian Andy Huggins is not alone in playing with getting old. And so today we're gonna take a break from talking about all that is tough about aging and have a look at some of the good that comes with getting older. Joining me now in studio, three comedians,

Evan Carter, Deborah Kimmett and Crystal Bartolese. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Great to be here. Evan, what is so fun or funny about getting older? Just the fact that I can, every time I get out of bed, there's a new sound, and it's not coming from the bed. So that's part of it.

And if there's no sound, that's a good day. Deborah, for you, is there, can you find humor in aging? Oh yeah, yeah. I hit 55 and they gave me the discount a month before I turned 55 and I made them take it back. And then you can't get a millennial to do that kind of math, that 10%.

And then I realized, oh, we're being put out to sea. So I started to write like crazy. And this, like I've written three albums on it because I think it really relates to a lot of people. And it's something that you're comfortable with writing about? Oh gosh, yes.

And it's so funny, the things you say, like as soon as you get to a certain age, everyone calls you young lady and you're like, what the young lady and isn't that cute? My kids are like, that's so cute. As if I've been able to get out there in the world. Yeah, so I've been able to be more honest as I get older because I don't care as much about what the impact is. Should we say how old people are, how old each of you are? Does that matter? And it matters in part because of you being here.

We're fine with that. I'm fine with that, yeah. Okay, so you are? I'm 46. 46 years old. Yes, and I get made fun of a lot because people think I'm not old, but I've started to become aware of my age. Okay, we'll come back to that.

Deborah? I'm 67, almost 68. All right, I'm 68, almost 69. Excellent, so as the youngin' here, the relative youngin', younger than me even, which is shocking, you put age into your work, right? You've created this program that is about kind of aging. Age ain't nothing but a number.

Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, so that's a show that I came up with because, as I said, I started to become aware of age. I started noticing people weren't booking me for shows, especially a lot of the younger comics or they hadn't heard of either myself or older comedians that had been doing it forever. And also I noticed I started to become invisible. That was just as a woman as well, you know, just no heads are turning anymore. I just became aware of that. And I also wrote a show, just no heads are turning anymore. I just became aware of that. And I also wrote a show, A Woman of My Age, which is just about this because I think as we turn 40, especially

as women, we start to realize in society that women are looked down upon. That's in the entertainment industry. That's by other performers, younger performers. I work with a lot of younger students who I feel they look at me like I'm 95. So that's where I came up with the concept, just to put this together, to give aging performers a platform to come and do their brilliant material. None of that sounds particularly funny, though. Do you know what I mean? Like, there's humor in it.

But when you talk about people being aged out of their profession or looking at them saying, you know, I'm not going to call you because you are over a certain age or women over the age of 40 or what have you, that can all be hard stuff. Yeah, but we find the humor in it because I think we have to laugh at it and find the joy in it and also celebrate age. I'm actually somebody that doesn't like to say, I know I'll get laughed at again, to say that I'm old, but I like to celebrate getting older because with that comes so much joy and wisdom and discovery and we're all still doing it. And I look up to these two so much too because they're killing it at their age and they're nowhere near stopping

and they're amazing. And we can find the humor in that. The nowhere near stopping thing is really interesting because you could get to a point where you could stop. She's shaking her head. I know. Well, it's amazing because when people come up and they go, wow, are you retired? And I go, no, I'm not retired. And then they tilt their head the way that a dog tilts their head when they're kind of trying to figure out what you're saying to them and you have to explain to them, no, I don't want to retire. I'm still enjoying what I do.

I'm still doing it at a good, at a wonderful level. I'm still writing out new material and as Deborah was saying, you sit down and you just start writing, writing, writing because you look at the world in just such a bigger picture and you can start to compartmentalize things that are really wonderful and it just things just open up and you go yeah there it is I'm not worried about what others are going to think about me at this point that I might have done 30 35 years ago but right now you're just going it's mine it's all mine right now yeah also you look at the old-age security check the first time you get it you're like oh I guess I

should have saved and every time you talk to your investment guy, he's like, you know, if you'd put more money in at 25, and you're like, I think that train's left the station. How about I'm desperate? I find working and also like what you were saying, working with 20 years younger, 30 years younger, all the people that direct my shows, I decided I didn't want to be outdated about seven years ago. I said, I'm going to work with young comedians because their voice is different than mine. Their rhythm and also what is a, just the rhythm of comedy has changed. And some of it's a political correctness, but I didn't want to be one of those old, like, in my day we were.

Nobody can say, yeah. Yeah. And I find they, oh my gosh, I've just had such great directors, 20, 30 years younger than me, and then, of course, they might visit me in the nursing home, so I kind of play in my cards right there. Have you had what Crystal talked about? I mean, the idea that maybe the phone doesn't ring or people don't see you as somebody who is relevant is this weird word, but do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's funny because I said that, but then when I hit 60, I've never been busier.

I've written three albums, I've written a book. I think I thought that was going to happen. But there is a sense that you walk into a room and no one sees you're there. And I always say, you know, you could be a woman who split the atom or went to the moon and people are like, well, all I hear is she went out and got some milk. Like it's like we're relegated to, we know nothing about technology. We're cute, we're patronized. And I just love that I have this little sort of Catholic Women's League face that looks like I'm up to nothing just walking my dog.

And when my friends in the apartment building I live in go in there, I'm like, I go out and be funny and I kill. And it's also if I fail now, I'm like, what can they do to me that I haven't already had done? That's just a bad day at the office. Yeah, yeah. I think when I was younger, I thought if I had a bad set, I'm not funny. But now I think I'm funny. I just had a bad night. Like somebody that works at an office has a bad day. And that freedom has just allowed me to say a lot more. That's like the wisdom of age. Like kind of the insulation that it gives you in some ways. When you tell people that they are old enough to be in one of your productions, how do they react?

How do you break it to them that, you know what, this actually could be for you now? Yeah, I had that recently where a great comedian, Chris Gibbs, he was on my show and he's like, I only discovered I'm old because Crystal asked me to be on this. But no, I approach it with respect because the people I asked to either be on the show or that wanna be on the show are people that have been doing it for so long. And I think we're not shying away from the fact that we're of a certain age. The mandate is you have to be over 40. So there's a beauty to have had 38 year olds, 39 year olds asked me to be on the show and there's a pleasure of me saying, not quite yet, you're not old enough. Yeah. And then just people, we've been doing it so long.

So I just approach it. I just ask people, I say, I respect you. I think you're fantastic. And the beauty is they can do it because, well, I mean, Deb's an example, she's super busy, so she's turned me down many times because she doesn't have the time. But other people, they can find the time to do the show and they want to do it because we're, again, we're celebrating age. What do you think the audience is looking for when they come to one of these performances? To laugh, I think more than ever, we need to laugh now, but also to be in a room full of people that they can recognize. I've got a great story about one of the first shows, I think, Evan was there,

where the entire audience was literally, you know, 70-plus, I think, and we actually didn't have enough chairs for all of the audience. So some of the audience members had to stand, but you have to remember people over the age of 70, nobody could stand. So we were running around trying to find more chairs, but there was a beautiful connection about the entire audience being in their 70s, 80s, all the performers being of a certain age, because you don't see that as often at a comedy show, especially. And they're accepted. They feel that acceptance and they're still relevant, they're still

on the chessboard and able to be part of the game and it's wonderful. And they all sit there and they go, yeah, okay, yeah. And they don't feel like they're being pushed to the side and left to, you know, watch reruns of Ed Sullivan. They just sit there and they enjoy the material, they get the material. And when you think about it, you know, Deborah and I are of an age where we grew up in the like the 60s and the 70s. So you know, you talk about the summer of love, you talk about the music and the movies

that were going on at the time. Now when you've got a whole room full of us, it's unbelievable and people will say, well, can you talk about drugs? Are you kidding? You know, it's funny, CBC, laugh out loud, I've been on a couple of those specials. And during the pandemic, they played that because nobody had anywhere to go. And I got so much mail from people. And one of the things was, it was called Downward Facing Broad.

And this whole idea that you don't get usually much mail from people. And one of the things was, it was called Downward Facing Broad and this whole idea that, you know, you don't get usually your story told from a comedic point of view. You do musically, like we roll out the Rolling Stones, they're still going. But as a comedian, I didn't have women 20 years older than me doing it. There's the one or two people you name like Joan Rivers or somebody like that, but you go, now you see many women and men my age still doing it and getting stronger. Pete Slauson Yes. Pete Huston Getting stronger, you said this a couple of

times. That's such a thing, right? Jodi Bolling Yes, it is. Pete Huston It's this idea that you get weaker, that you're kind of on the planning to land kind of thing as you get older and you're kind of flipping it around. Well, except for that when they say, do you want to come to a 10 PM show? And I'm like, no, thank you. You mean 10 in the morning? Yeah, the strength is, there's two things. One is when you're younger, I gave away so many chances because I didn't realize they were that precious. Now they're very precious.

So when someone says, do you want to do this? I'm like, yeah, why not? And this year in particular, I've learned, I take dance twice a week, and I put that in my comedy. I've learned to sing. And I said, I feel like I'm really a bad singer, but I don't care. There's a way to do all this and be okay

with just being mediocre. And years ago, if I took horseback riding, I was imagining going to the Canadian riding Olympics or whatever. Now I'm just like, you can go out and just have a lot of fun. And people really want that, as you mentioned. They need to laugh right now and they're really hungry for it. What is the message for that, Crystal, do you think? In seeing people who are getting older, who still, like, part of it is they don't care what other people think, but the other part of it is

they know that they have something that perhaps younger people don't. Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that I am so grateful for is just being able to see these comedians and people that I respect and that I still want to aspire to and that they're still doing it because I think this is the one community and one time we don't want to stop. And I think the people that have stopped doing it, unfortunately a lot of people did give up because they were tired of maybe the hustle

or stuff like that. But I just don't think you need to stop and I think we have to keep going. And me at 46, I've been doing this a long time, but I feel I'm just getting started. I've learned so much of all the past mistakes I've made. When I see people like these two, I'm like, oh my God, I have so much still to work towards. So you never stop and you just keep going. And there's so much more material, so much more life experience to laugh at and to experience. You know what's funny too is I heard this, I went to a musical and they said comedians are kind of see the truth before everyone else. And I think at 46, you can write material about

pending menopause. And at 55, at 54 and a half, I could write about the seniors discount. I wasn't getting it yet, but it's a good way because you'll have material for 10 years. Right now I'm writing nursing home just so I can get used to it, right? But the thing is you are always kind of a little head of the curve because, not because you're so bright, but I just think comedians never belong. Like we're more the people that look above and go, this is what's going on with the aging population and you know, things like that. So you kind of say the fear that is going

on in the audience. I don't want to be the person that, you know, goes from being mom's feisty to she's being difficult. Like it's a short walk there, right? And people laugh at it because they go, oh my God, you said exactly what I've been afraid to say or I'm afraid I'm going to be invisible or I'm going to be put out to pasture or my kids don't call, you know. But it's also the whole thing is that we are able to calm the fears of individuals because, you know, I can get out on stage and I can talk about looking after my parents and also

looking after the kids at the same time. You're part of that sandwich generation and people are going, oh, it's just not happening to me. And then, you know, as, you know, parents pass away and you talk about that, they're going, oh, it's just not happening to me. And then, you know, as, you know, parents pass away and you talk about that, they're going, oh, it's just not happening to me. And the other one is a lot of kids that are like my kids age, they're not having kids. So I do a whole bit about I just, I'm going to be a great grandmother to their cats. And then I talk about I really don't like kids. And I just say all the rotten things that

I've really thought like, oh, but I'd like Instagram cats because if they start, you know, those Instagram babies if they start crying you put them on airplane mode And all of a sudden you don't want Deborah near your kids No, I can hardly raise my kids are in the audience like this usually now They've been other arms cross since he was five But that's the whole thing is like like, I felt like I got a divorce and all of a sudden couples would not ask me to come anymore to the events. And I was like, I guess I just can't do

an uneven number of plates. You know, because, but it hurt. And it hurt that I wanted grandchildren. I don't, you know, and all of a sudden you could say this thing and there's a third of the audience experiencing it. Yeah, I just also want to add though, it's also the fact that people are getting up on stage in their 60s or 70s.

I think a lot of people have this image when they're in their 20s that, oh, and then at a certain age you stop doing it. That's not possible to do that. Yeah, absolutely. It's impossible that somebody who's 68 would be standing on stage. Yeah, and then to stand there on stage and deliver and to have so much energy. It's it's fantastic. It's fabulous I just did a show and I was really physical and I was like I still got it the next day I was a hundred and seventy years old, you know, I was like I couldn't walk and I went what did I do yesterday?

I literally was on stage for an hour my hips. I had to go get a massage Yeah, turn us away from stage, we turn into 100 years old. At the time, you look good doing it. No one needs to know about the next stage. I just want to, are the things that you say on stage that would surprise you from 20 years ago, are the things that you talk about now that you're like, I can't believe I would talk about that? Oh, yeah. When I'm on stage now and I'm talking about the fact that individuals will come up when you get to a certain age and I'm talking about the fact that individuals will come

up when you get to a certain age and they think you're the oracle and you can answer every question. And, you know, I do a bit on somebody coming up and going, do people over 65 still have sex? And me just saying, yeah, have you seen the STD numbers in retirement villages? Yes, it's just not some guy walking around going, hey, I'm paying seven grand a month, I want more than Jell-O. You know, it's just, it's, you know, like 20 years ago, I wouldn't have thought of even addressing that. But then talking to friends

and also going into retirement homes and senior villages and doing shows there, you go, yeah, this is what's happening. Pete Slauson And in those venues, when you tell those kind of jokes, how do people respond? Oh, they laugh. And they laugh hard because they're going through it. You know, you talk about, we love to have sex, we just don't finish because somebody is going to get a leg cramp. The compression socks are going to be too tight. Yeah, you have the dirty thoughts, but yeah, I should really get okay I've seen you do that bit. It's very physical. I know you need an ice pack the next day

But you know, it's funny too. You said this Matt is like well you have an idea of how 65 year old or 67 I have that going on in my head a lot is, oh, am I still allowed to do this? Really? Yeah, I do. Like you're asking yourself this question. I'm my own inner critic. The voices in my head are loud. But I'm like, I don't, sometimes I put myself in the wise role when the young, let me tell you. And then I'm like, the comedy comes from

that shaming too that I've done of myself. I'm supposed to belong and supposed to be a certain way. And then I'm like, screw that, I'm going to be this. So I remember Ron James saying to me early on is comedy comes from anger. And when I get on stage and I say those things that make me furious inside And I can make them funny then everybody else in the audience to say we feel that way too. So there's this kind of communal thing of like we've got this rage that this I say like You know we put old people over to the side at 50 They start going to seniors fitness and then it's called independent

living which is what other people just call living. And then you go to a nursing home and they go, we do that with society. We put the poor there and the garbage there and I'm not saying old people are garbage. I'm just saying if your kids say, let's go on a road trip to Sudbury, keep your eyes open. And people just like, there's an applause break there because we all feel it's the only time in life where people really want to get rid of you. And so you're like, even if you forget something with your kids, you're like, no, I found it. It's all good. Meanwhile, I don't know where my keys are, but you feel like they're like tow truck operators on the side of the highway, just waiting

to tow you away. And when I do that on stage, I feel liberated to tell that kind of truth. Hey there, I'm David Common. If you're like me, there are things you love about living in the GTA and things that drive you absolutely crazy. Every day on This Is Toronto, we connect you to what matters most about life in the GTA, the news you gotta know, and the conversations your friends will be talking about. Whether you listen on a run through your neighborhood or while sitting in the parking lot that is the 401, check out This Is Toronto, wherever you get your podcasts. Do you worry about what is awaiting? I mean, you can be at whatever age you are and be kind of living at maximum,

but we are, as we get older, things will slow down. There is stuff that's waiting for us down the line. Do you worry about that? Yeah, because I think there's an end date. There's an expiration date to actually doing this. I sometimes bring my notes on stage a lot more than I used to, and I always say I don't want to become the fat Elvis where everybody's like, geez Louise, get off the stage, get

the hook But there's also a place where? Energetically, I want to make sure that I can keep doing this at my best And I don't think you get a memo like game up, you know, like I think you sometimes do one too many, you know Like you're like, oh, I really should have backed off that one. Yeah, so I do fear that. Yeah for sure I've been one of a few doing part of getting older is that you're getting older and that things will change and you can be healthy and fit, but there is something that's going to happen down the line that could impact that. Do you worry about aging? I mean, you can make light of it and you can poke fun at some of the things about getting older,

but what scares you about it? Nothing scares me about it, but I do have an inner voice that will tell me, okay, you're not doing it at the level that you want to do it at, so it's time. It's time to pack it in and do something else, not stop, but just do something else. So right now, I'm my toughest critic, and as long as I can do it at the level I Want to do it where the audiences are being entertained where people are laughing where I'm writing material I'll do it. But as soon as I come off stage one night and I go, you know what kiddo? Yeah time to Put all your stuff in the trunk and go off and do something else.

I'll do something else and I want to go out when I say it's time to go out. Hopefully that won't be for a long time. Oh, I'm hoping that. I always turn to George Burns and the fact that he worked right up till he was like 99 years old. And you think of Betty White, who was 99. And you think, think yeah as long as you're going at a real good clip keep going and I hope to be going I'm 68 now

gonna be 69 and if I can go another 20 years at a good level I'm still gonna go another 20 years. There's a good lesson in this I mean part of this whole series is like talking about getting older right and what happens as we get older and the things we don't talk about when we get older. And a lot of that, as I said in the introduction, can be bad, that it's not easy. But having conversations like this about people still thriving and still being funny and still entertaining audiences, there's a lesson somewhere buried in that, right? Absolutely, yeah, that you just got to keep going.

And again, it's about community that we need to talk about this stuff. I'm also of an age now where all of my friends' parents are, you know, they're becoming caretakers. I'm aware that's going to happen to me soon. So there's grief, divorce. These are themes happening to me right now. So no one's talking about it, but we have to talk about it. I think that's the lesson, that we have to talk about these things,

laugh at it, come together and find the humor in it, because it's going to happen to all of us. That's what I say. You can't deny aging. So it's going to happen. It's inevitable. Yeah, I think I had to redirect the way I approached comedy before. When I was younger, it was always,

did I get a laugh? Did they like me? And this is going to sound corny, but this is what I believe, is when you can say, what can I do to make them better, I don't find you fail them as much, because you go, that was just one day at the office, and I was, and I don't mean it like a religious thing, but it's kind of like that's my calling or my ministry. And I've been doing a lot more things, like I teach online, you teach, I know you go and do other things with Motown. Like you have very many different things and I realize, yeah, maybe I won't be doing an hour of stand-up, but I can do 20 minutes still, and I can do debaters and go back and forth. So where can I use this energy?

And also I want to pay this energy forward. So I love mentoring people in the business and out. And I always say like I finally know what I'm talking about. No one wants to hear it. But if people ask for help, I will do anything to help them. And for some reason that's galvanized me more like maybe it's gonna come out in a different way but it's still gonna be my sense of humor. That's really excellent. It's a great way to end as well. Thank you all for being here.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Evan Carter, Deborah Kimmett and Crystal Bartolez, all comedians there with me in our Toronto studio and if you happen to be in the Toronto area, tomorrow night, Crystal Bartleys is hosting another one of her Age Ain't Nothing But a Number series. This happens at the Burdock at Bloor and Dufferin in Toronto. What is it about aging that makes you laugh? You can let us know. The Current at cbc.ca. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.