The Sled Island Comedy Show began on Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22, 2024, kicking off at 7 p.m. Taking place at the BLOX Arts Center in downtown Calgary, the space was an intimate choice, seating sixty audience members in front of a cozy spotlight stage.
The show was composed of three opening acts and concluded with the headlining comedian. The effortlessly funny Sudanese Canadian comic, Faris Hytiaa, hosted the show. Known for his mix of storytelling and improvisational stand up, Faris has been named as a “New Face of Comedy” with Just For Laughs (JFL) and has been featured at all Canadian JFL festivals and appeared at the Winnipeg and Halifax HubCap Comedy Festivals. While hosting the show, he made jokes about his time in Lethbridge, his Sudanese heritage, and connected with people in the audience. He held the show together and kept it running act by act, leaving no space for silence, just laughter.
The first official act of the evening was Sam Benty, a Calgarian comic, who was featured on Canada’s Got Talent. Sam brought out an OmniChord and explained that it was a kind of electronic music synthesizer from the 80s that he uses to create his own unique variety of comedic songs. His act included playing a few of his self-made songs about his farts and picking fun at the Reddit lore about the Chicken On The Way basement. His humor was an innocent, yet adolescent, addition to the opening atmosphere of the show.
The next comic to take the stage was Dokota Ray Hebert. Dakota is an actor, comedian, and writer, raised in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Dakota has performed across Canada, the US, and Mexico, including a sold out show headlining at Just For Laughs Toronto. She was recently selected among a small group of rising comedians named in JFL’s New Faces, which showcases the best new stand-up talent from around the globe. Unsurprisingly, Dakota’s talent shone through her stage presence and humour, which revolved around her experience being a new mother, growing up in the trailer park, the trials and tribulations of having ADHD, and an honest story about going to Toronto for the first time.
The third act was Jacob Balshin, a Toronto-based comedian. He has recorded sets for CBC’s New Wave of Comedy and CBC’s Laugh Out Loud. Balshin was also featured in the comedy special Thirty and Breathing Funny, released in 2023 on YouTube. Jacob Balshin’s act was dripping with the most raunchy and explicit humor of the night, creating chaotic laughter through many sexual jokes, relatable mental health stories, and other more explicit topics.
The final, and well-anticipated headliner of the night was Courtney Gilmour. Courtney Gilmour is a JUNO-nominated stand-up comedian, television writer, and finalist on Canada’s Got Talent. Born as a triple amputee, Courtney doesn’t let anything keep her from bringing herself, and everyone else in the room, joy and laughter. With a sassy and live-your-best-life attitude, Courtney cracked jokes about dating as an amputee, the luxury of living life as a person with disabilities, and her career as a Nelly Furtado look-alike.