Photo of Sophie Haze with Ben Goodman (left, CJSW).

Sophie Haze performed during Sled Island’s Comedy nights at Vern’s on Friday, June 19th & Saturday, June 20th.

Interview Audio:

Interview Transcript:

Ben Goodman
CJSW 90.9fm, Sophie Haze, it’s such a pleasure to speak with you. I loved the show last night, the Metrosexual bit. I love that.

Sophie Haze
Did you connect with that then?

Ben Goodman
I heard about that, like in the 2000s and it’s true, it just disappeared.

Sophie Haze
It did.

Ben Goodman
So it gets awareness out there.

Ben Goodman
And then, in your words, you’re “The number one white lady lesbian Outkast fan under 30” with a great “Ms. Jackson” joke. I was probably one of the loudest laughs. How’s your time been at Sled?

Sophie Haze
It’s awesome. Yeah, we just got here yesterday. My wife and I came up, so that’s been kind of nice to spend some time together and check out Calgary, because I’m from Edmonton. I moved here three years ago, haven’t had much time, so it’s been a great opportunity to check out some bands, and also check out the city too.

Ben Goodman
Yeah, have you caught any bands? Or

Sophie Haze
I think I’m gonna go tonight, because yesterday we got in, and I was, you know what, I feel like Saturday is like the day for Sled Island.

Ben Goodman
There’s a lot of great stuff.

Sophie Haze
Yeah.

Ben Goodman
I know, clipping., that’s one of the big shows at the Palace, lot of cool stuff.

Sophie Haze
Yeah, and some of the other comedians were telling me that they have a bunch of bands that they love that are here this weekend, so tonight.

Sophie Haze
What was kind of your gateway to comedy?

Sophie Haze
That’s a great question. I, I started with improv when I was in university. I joined the improv team at Carleton University in Ottawa, and I competed in an improv competition in the U.S. We did lots of cool stuff, but for me, I feel like I want to be in control of the scene, you know what I mean. So I thought i’m gonna try stand-up comedy, and I started after my first breakup from my first real adult relationship, so that was kind of my inspo to just like sort of find something for myself that I could do, and that was like almost nine years ago now. Oh, wow, yeah, it’s been a while.

Ben Goodman
And what inspired you also like to make comedy yourself? Do you have any inspirations?

Sophie Haze
You know what, the first comedy album I ever paid for, this was back on iTunes, was Mae Martin’s first album, they’re a great Canadian comedian too. I just saw their show in April here in Calgary, actually, and they haven’t done a Canadian tour in a long time, so that was really cool.

Ben Goodman
They are blowing up,

Sophie Haze
Yeah, it’s like a full circle moment for me. And then the other one actually is Debra DiGiovanni, because I used to watch Video on Trial all the time. I was telling my wife that yesterday, and I have a photo of her with me when I was 15, and then I saw her at the Grindstone Comedy Festival in Edmonton two years ago. So that was another big full circle moment for me.

Ben Goodman
She’s still great, but Video on Trial. Talk about throwback, so good.

Sophie Haze
So many great Canadian comedians. Yeah, Sabrina Jalees, Trevor Boris. It was awesome.

Ben Goodman
You mentioned you live in Alberta for a couple years in Edmonton. Who have been kind of some of your favourite comedians you’ve worked with on in this scene?

Sophie Haze
That’s a great question. I’ve been really fortunate to work at a comedy club since moving here, so I’ve seen a lot of great Canadian acts. I love working at a place where we really prioritize Canadian comedy. Yeah, Jon Dore has been an amazing person to work with

Ben Goodman
A legend!.

Sophie Haze
Exactly, yeah, there’s been lots of awesome people in terms of people that live more here. Casey Corbin is hilarious. He’s awesome. Scott Dumas lives in Calgary. He’s hilarious too. And there are guys who have been doing comedy for a long time, and they actually also come originally from Ottawa. So it’s been nice to connect with some Canadian comedians who are from the same area as me, but live out here now. It’s been cool.

Ben Goodman
You released your first album, Normal Married, last year. I saw one of the great jokes referenced in the title. How was experience recording the album, and where’d you record it?

Sophie Haze
Yeah, it was great. I recorded it back in Ottawa, so it was kind of nice, because I’d moved to Edmonton about a year before that, so I kind of got the opportunity to go back, share my comedy with people who I knew and who were around when I started doing comedy, and I recorded with Howl & Roar Records, which is another Canadian comedy recording company based out of Toronto. They work with a lot of women and people of color, kind of prioritizing marginalized voices in comedy, and they were amazing to work with. I definitely recommend them, and they have a lot of comedians who have been nominated for Junos that are on their label, too, not me, but lots of people.

Ben Goodman
You mentioned what makes the Sled Island bill so great. It’s nothing but exciting Canadian comics. Being at the show last night was just so fun. What kind of inspires you about the Canadian comedy scene?

Sophie Haze
You know, what I think the Canadian comedy scene is really underrated. And I’ve spoken with a lot of people who say, oh, you know, to make it, you have to move to the U.S., and I don’t think that’s true. I think that people just don’t give Canadian comedy a fair shake, and that’s why we really have to sort of platform these sorts of festivals and comedy clubs that prioritize booking Canadian acts, like in Edmonton, there’s I would say like three comedy clubs, and one of them, like, only books Americans, and that’s not something that I can support, because there’s so many amazing, talented people here that don’t get the opportunity because they just want to bring in audience members who see a name that they recognize from social media, and they go. They don’t even care about comedy. I like going to places and working at a place where people who come to the comedy club actually like watching comedy. So they’re coming, they don’t necessarily know the performer because they’re Canadian, but they’re gonna watch it and be like, “Wow, like we have so much talent here in Canada” and they might follow them and come back next time, and they come for the experience, right?

Ben Goodman
It’s so true. Like the Sled Island bill, just great Canadian comedians, diverse, just amazing.

Sophie Haze
Yeah, it was awesome. It was really exciting for me too to see some people for the first time, comedians that I’ve never worked with before. And the show last night, honestly, was amazing. And even my wife said, like, that lineup was fantastic.

Ben Goodman
Just a great variety. Just really cool. And it also makes it makes me feel really good about the comedy scene, is I don’t like the certain, like, bro-y pockets, that’s not my thing at all. But again, last night was just great diverse voices.

Sophie Haze
Everybody’s a little bit different, it’s all different styles of comedy too, which is nice. I hate going to a show where everybody sort of has the same structure to their jokes, and the presence on stage is the same. So it was a nice mix.

Ben Goodman
You were one of the finalists in the 2025 Funniest Person with a Dayjob competition at The Comic Strip. How was that?

Sophie Haze
That was fun. It was interesting. I decided I wasn’t going to do any comedy contests this year because I was like, it’s too stressful, you know what I mean. But being in the finals was nice, like obviously every year only one person can win, but making to the finals is I think, just as good as winning, because it shows that people want to hear your comedy, and that the club actually is interested in what you have to say too, because they obviously have a little bit of influence around the competition and who judges all that stuff, right? So, it’s validating for sure.

Sophie Haze
You’re going to do the Queer Agenda show with Leif Oleson-Cormack.

Sophie Haze
We’re in Saskatoon next weekend. We wanted to do something different for us, like we’re both stand-up comedians. Leif has a theater background, he has an amazing French show that he does called The Disney Delusion, that he takes on tour. He did the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so you know we wanted to mix it up a bit with my improv background. So our love line is during the show, people can submit anonymous questions, and then at the end we kind of sit down, we answer some of their questions we try to joke around a bit, but also give a little bit of real advice and we piloted it about a month ago in Edmonton, and it went really well. So, we’re excited to take it on the road.

Ben Goodman
Was there some fun from that show? Any fun advice that you saw?

Sophie Haze
Someone wanted to know what kind of art they should hang above their couch in the living room, which I think is a fun and interesting question.

Ben Goodman
I wouldn’t have thought of that.

Sophie Haze
Do you have art about your couch?

Ben Goodman
Above my bed, honestly. But a couch is interesting.

Sophie Haze
I know, right? I was like, I don’t know, maybe a GoodFellas poster is all I could think of.

Ben Goodman
Funny, you should say that, not to do my stupid thing, at a University of Calgary, like poster sale

Ben Goodman
There was like a comedic poster of like Scarface, Tony Soprano all together I was like, I’m buying this for the bit

Sophie Haze
Exactly!

Ben Goodman
I bought it, hung up on my bed. The poster was so heavy, it literally fell on me when I was sleeping.

Sophie Haze
You’re like I can’t do this.

Ben Goodman
Sleeping with the fishes, literally, that’s

Sophie Haze
That’s funny.

Ben Goodman
Anything you want to tease in the next year coming up?

Sophie Haze
That’s a great question. You know, what I’m moving back to Ottawa next month, so I don’t really have anything out here, but I’m hoping to come back, maybe apply for some festivals again, or just come out and do some of the clubs in Calgary. I haven’t had much of an opportunity to do comedy in Calgary, actually. This is only like my second chance, so I do want to come back out this way.

Ben Goodman
Calgary loves you, we love to have you here. And then have a great show tonight. Enjoy the rest of the festival.

Sophie Haze
Thank you so much. Yeah, I hope everybody has a great time.