Ahead of the next Eden Comedy Club, Jo Caruana meets very funny femme Dana Alexander, who proves that, yes, of course, women can make you laugh.

Dana Alexander

One of the oldest ‘jokes’ in comedy is that women can’t tell jokes. In fact, as far back as 1695, playwright William Congreve commented that he had never seen or heard anything he believed to be “true humour in women”, while, as recently as 2012, American radio personality Adam Carolla said that “the reason why you know more funny dudes than funny chicks is that dudes are funnier than chicks”.

Of course, I beg to differ, having spent many a happy evening laughing out loud to the likes of Victoria Wood, Ellen Degeneres and Miranda Hart. But, as a woman in the business herself, what does popular Canadian comedienne Dana Alexander think of people who say women are less funny than men?

“It’s a lie. They are just as funny,” she says vehemently.

“Look around you. There are countless examples of hilarious women. Lucille Ball, Sarah Siverman, Whoopi Goldberg, Sarah Millican, Margaret Cho, Jo Brand, Wanda Sykes, Phylis Diller, Lili Tomlin, Marla Gibbs, Joan Rivers, Gilda Radner, Bea Arthur, Joanna Lumley, French and Saunders, Rosanne Barr, Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler, Gracie Allen, Bette Midler. And the list goes on and on.”

On her way to lead the line-up of the seventh edition of the Eden Comedy Club, the outspoken Alexander – who has visited Malta before – certainly promises to wow audiences with her passionate approach to just about everything.

To this day, she loves the fact that comedy gives her plenty of creative freedom and she loves to talk about the things that are important to her.

“I went to a very artistic high school and trained in dance, musical theatre, acting, directing and improvisation,” she explains.

“That’s what got me started but also taught me what I liked and what I didn’t. In any of those endeavours, you’re not in control of the project as a whole. Comedy allowed me to have control. If something went wrong, I could fix it.”

My hand shook the whole time but I knew after that performance that comedy was what I wanted to do

Originally from Toronto and now based in the UK, Alexander began her comedy career aged 18. She quickly started making her mark in Canadian comedy clubs, universities and festivals, was later voted among the Best Discoveries of 2006 by Now Magazine and has since been included in their Best Of category more than three times.

“I remember that my first gig was at the Edmonton Yuk Yuk’s back when it was in West Edmonton Mall,” she says, thinking back to her home in Edmonton, Canada. “It was the graduation of a short comedy course I had taken. My hand shook the whole time but I knew after that performance that comedy was what I wanted to do.”

Having now been in the business for 13 years, Alexander has learnt to draw her inspiration from everything around her and is known to touch on hilarious topics that include her diverse lifestyle, gay friends and “crazy” Jamaican family. She also loves various comedy genres, including slapstick, political humour and observational comedy.

Explaining where she sources her material, she says it mostly stems from the people around her and her travels, but it certainly doesn’t stop there. “It’s not a terribly complicated process,” she smiles.

“Anything that gets me fired up – whether social, political or just lifestyle-related – goes in the set. I don’t really get into the specifics of politics, as I find that sort of material dates pretty quickly and doesn’t transfer well to my international gigs, but I always try to tell my own truth – after all, it’s the only story I have to tell.”

As a result, her set often feels very personal, although she’s quick to alter her material depending on her audiences. For instance, she recently took a show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she dissected 90s hip-hop music and Disney every day for a month.

“Different people respond to things so differently – some knew hip hop but had no idea about Disney, while for others it was the other way around. The thing about comedy is that it goes down differently every night, and for the most part that show was really popular. Things change from audience to audience, and that’s what makes this job so interesting.”

Alexander’s love for all things different has taken her to over 20 countries, where she has performed for police officers and the troops, to name just a couple.

“I think the audiences that stand out most in my mind are when people were drunk and unruly – that’s a challenge, as you have to come out of your set to deal with someone who’s been aggressive or nasty.”

She has also worked on television, with highlights including a set on Russell Howard’s Good News, which pokes fun at current events and presents a platform for comics to try out their stuff.

“It was a good experience and the viewership on shows like that is great, especially as people tend to take you more seriously after you’ve done TV,” Alexander says.

“But it doesn’t change me, and I treat TV gigs the same as every other gig. I believe being a good comic stems from staying down to earth, so that unpins a lot of what I do.”

Now in the run-up to her stint in Malta, the comedienne is looking forward to her time here.

Dana Alexander will be performing together with Martin Evans and Matt Dwyer at the Eden Comedy Club on Saturday at 8.30pm at The Eden Cinemas, St Julian’s.

www.edenculture.com.mt