'I like to come out to low expectations': Get to know comedian Jacob Samuel
Well known to CBC Radio audiences for his appearances on The Debaters, Jacob Samuel is a standup comedian with talents that lie on stage and beyond.
Besides appearances at Just for Laughs, and the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, as a cartoonist, Samuel has also had several cartoons published in The New Yorker.
Samuel is one of the featured comedians in the CBC Gem special The New Wave of Standup and is available to watch online here.
We invited Samuel to take our questionnaire, and here's what he had to say!
1. Where do you come from, and what were you like growing up?
I grew up in Toronto and growing up, I was very serious. When I was a child and people asked me what I wanted to do when I was older, my answer was either historian or psychiatrist. I think that probably says enough about what I was like.
2. What kind of first impression do you hope to make on audiences when you step on stage?
When I step on stage, I hope the audience is unsure of whether or not I'll be any good. I like to come out to low expectations. It is a lot more fun to win an audience over than to have their initial excitement for you dissipate.
3. When did you first know you wanted to do comedy? When did you decide it was a career?
While I was always very interested in writing comedy, I only knew I wanted to try performing in my early 20s after watching an amateur standup show for the first time. That's the first time I thought, "I could probably do better than at least some of these people."
I can't say I ever "decided" that comedy was a career. For me, comedy has gradually transitioned from a hobby to a career. But, I did feel pretty soon after starting that comedy would be one my main pursuits. To me, it has always felt like the right form of creative expression. It's so amazingly difficult, you get to hang out with super funny people, and you never know when you are about to humiliate yourself in front of dozens of strangers. What's more enjoyable than that?
4. What was the greatest moment you've experienced on stage? How about the worst?
I don't have a single greatest moment on stage. To me, the greatest moments on stage are when a new idea you have for a joke works better than you ever imagined. That's what keeps me going in standup. The things in comedy I'm most proud of is my album "Horse Power" which was just released this year. It is my first full length comedy album and, ultimately, it took almost ten years of writing and performing to craft it. It's available to listen to on every streaming service and, if you're still reading this, you should listen to it or trick your parents into buying it on iTunes.
My worst moment was last year when I bombed so badly in front of a group of Irish construction workers that one of them yelled "next song!" Then, at the end of my set I tripped and fell off the stage.
5. Who are your comedy heroes? Who do you look to for inspiration?
I love so many comedians, writers, and cartoonists. My all-time comedy heroes are Steve Martin, The Muppets, Flight of the Conchords, and Mayce "The Dirt Bike King" Galoni.
The more I do standup, the more I look to all my peers and friends for inspiration. For dirt bike jokes though, I always go to Mayce.
6. What other fellow comics should Canadians know about?
There are too many to name. I think that there are so many good comedians in the Vancouver scene especially. The name I most often bring up to people outside Vancouver is Aaron Read, who is genuinely one of the funniest people I've ever met and is also featured on CBC's New Wave of Standup.
