'I want people to be as excited as I am': Get to know comedian Al Val
Kinetic and compelling, Al Val is a comedian who takes the stage with a force rarely seen.
A seasoned performer who began their comedy career at 18, Val has headlined all over North America, and has appeared in Off-JFL/Zoofest, Laughfest, and more.
Val 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 Val to take our questionnaire, and here's what Val had to say!
1. Where do you come from, and what were you like growing up?
I grew up in Whitby, Ontario (a suburban city just outside the Greater Toronto Area). Growing up I always had a vivid imagination and kind of lived in my own quiet bubble around my family; in fact, my siblings used to call me "Space Cowboy" because I would be so lost in my own thoughts that I'd be oblivious to almost everything happening around me.
Growing up second-youngest in a big, overachieving family (four siblings) meant sharing and competing for the spotlight, which undoubtedly influenced my desperate need for attention and validation. I was always a particularly sensitive kid and would cry a lot, until I learned that wasn't "cool" and subsequently developed a neat, sophisticated way of internalizing all those inconvenient emotions.
I think Freud would have a field day with my defense mechanisms if he could just get past his fascination with the genitalia part.
Outside my family, I was always a natural at school and athletics, and stayed out of trouble for the most part. What else do you want to know? I was a cute little kid with a big head.
2. What kind of first impression do you hope to make on audiences when you step on stage?
I've honestly never thought about that. I like to attack the stage immediately with a lot of energy, so I'd say I not only want the audience's undivided attention, but I want the enthusiasm they give me in return to have a life of its own; I want people to be as excited as I am to share this experience, and to engage with it viscerally.
Right off the bat, I also want to give them the impression that I'm neither afraid of them, nor am I above "taking the piss" out of myself, which gives the audience full permission to not hold back, to laugh with me at the painful, vulnerable parts of my act, to laugh at themselves, and to give me everything they've got, because like it or not, they're a part of the show… or, at least the way I do it, my show. I don't want my audiences to feel like they're anonymous, and that I'm just broadcasting to them; I want them to feel seen and involved.
In the end, people will more likely remember you for the way you made them feel than for what you've specifically said, so when I take that stage I want them to feel enthusiastically elated at being involved in what lies ahead, right down to their bones. Let's get silly together.
3. When did you first know you wanted to do comedy? When did you decide it was a career?
Up until grade nine I'd been telling everyone I was going to be a surgeon like my father because it was what I thought everyone wanted to hear. But around that age I suddenly had this fascination with comedy. I would download from Kazaa (I'm THAT old) whatever standup I could find -- with a few accidental viruses on our family computer in the process -- and I would gobble up as much of it as I could.
I remember looking forward to mowing the lawn because it was an opportunity to put on a new album I hadn't heard and to just be perfectly alone with this beautiful, exciting artform called standup.
Then something about Dane Cook's Retaliation album made me decide I wanted to make this a career. The energy in that recording -- between his electric performance style and the audience bouncing off the walls losing their minds -- it hit like a drug and I wanted it for myself.
4. What was the greatest moment you've experienced on stage? How about the worst?
Greatest: This is a really, really tough call, and I'm sure some readers are going to think I'm copping out on this one, but I tend to live in the moment onstage. Sure, I have my material but I'd get really bored and depressed if any bit of my act became personally redundant. Which is why my greatest "moment" is really just a collection of all the times I've been "surprised" by something: whether it's by something I've improvised on top of an older joke, a fun exchange with an audience member, or a mishap with the show (the setting, the tech, the audience), and on and on…
It relates to what I said above about having the audience more directly involved in this collective event. I live for the moments that make what I do special on a moment-to-moment basis, and the idea that only the people in the room at that moment get to walk away with this shared experience is an intimacy I really cherish. I think it's profound.
The first "worst" moment I can think of is this: Shortly after I came out, I was invited to do a set at an LGBT+ open mic in Toronto. I was still deeply depressed, confused, and self-loathing, and I brought all that energy up onstage with me. I wasn't getting any laughs because the material was still dripping with insecurity and raw, unforgiving spite for myself. Despite the level of support that was still shown to me externally by that community, I couldn't accept it for myself because I was in such an emotionally desolate place that I felt I didn't belong anywhere, really. It was a pretty rough, lonely time.
Also, one time I performed for a women's appreciation show at a legion and did sooooo poorly that after the show a woman passed me, then felt compelled to march back just to point her finger inches away at my face and say "Bad! BAD! I'm sorry, you're BAD!"
5. Who are your comedy heroes? Who do you look to for inspiration?
I love Patton Oswalt, and I'm inspired especially by his ability to take a devastating tragedy and conquer it in an empowering way through his Armageddon special. I also adore Eddie Izzard because, not only is he incredibly hilarious, unique, intelligent, quick-witted and silly, but he was a normalizing, calming voice while I was growing up with all these shameful, repressed emotions regarding gender expression.
I also adore comics like Dave Chappelle, Steve Martin, Rowan Atkinson (my family has all the Mr. Bean VHS tapes! We're all HUGE fans in my household), Mitch Hedberg and Dane Cook for their innovation.
As much as all those names inspire me, I'm most inspired by my peers in the Toronto scene because I know them personally; when I know these people as friends and acquaintances, their achievements make my own aspirations that much more tangible. When I see a friend accomplish something cool, I think, "Why can't I?"
6. What other fellow comics should Canadians know about?
Jeff Leeson is one of the most underrated comics in Canada. He is a crowd-work wizard, a brother to me, and took me under his wing when I started out. I'm in awe of the guy and recommend him highly to anyone.
Otherwise, check these folks out: Patrick Haye, Paul Thompson, Nitish Sakhuja, Mark Little, Jason Allen, Steph Tolev, Alex Pavone, Dave Merheje, Ali Hassan, Matt O'Brian, Tamara Shevon, Lars Classington, Dylan Gott, Kate Davis, Adam Christie, Rob Pue, Taylor McWatters.
