Inverness Oran Entertainment

Entertainment

Rolling in their seats for comedian Jonny Harris’ Still Standing

 -by April MacDonald

Mabou wasn’t Still Standing last Friday night; they were doubled over, laughing in their seats.

It was the final episode of the second season of the CBC show about rural small towns that have seen better days but, as the title hints, are still standing on their own two feet. 

The star of the show, Jonny Harris, originally hails from Pouch Cove in Newfoundland and Labrador, a town with a population size that is very similar to Inverness (in and around the 1800 -1900 mark).

Harris went to theatre school and eventually wound up becoming one of the co-stars of the hit Canadian TV show Murdoch Mysteries. 

Now living in Toronto, Harris decided to wrap up the second season of his own stand-up show, and he and his team decided to go out with a bang, right here in Mabou.

Harris and the show’s writers, along with the film crew, descended upon Mabou in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the end of February-early March.

They got to know some of the locals, the local celebrities and the happening hot spots – which can be hard to find at this time of year.

Do not despair because former Premier of Nova Scotia and celebrated fiddler/stepdancer Rodney MacDonald, musical sensation Heather Rankin, Gaelic teacher Joanne MacIntyre and single malt whiskey distiller Daniel MacLean were just a few of the people on-hand and responsible for showing the Newfoundlander a good time. It was their job to show Harris what Mabou was all about.

All this is done in preparation for the final stand-up show in which Harris weaves in what he has learned about the community (and the locals) into one heck of an entertaining evening.

From “little A.J.” to how to make a perfect cup of tea to the Gaelic and musical history that is stronger than any cup of tea that Mabou can make – and Mabou is known to make the best cup of tea around – the show had it all.

Harris also wowed the audience with an almost perfect impersonation of A.J. Campbell; it was tasteful, amusing and all in good fun.

Harris was approachable and personable and, most importantly, hilarious.

He got his audience. The show was not about scrutinizing the area, it was about a common understanding of what makes people and tiny communities tick.

For Mabou, music was a common thread that wove the show together. 

There was a VIP event held at the Red Shoe Pub the evening prior to the Still Standing taping at the Mabou Parish Hall. Harris and his crew got the royal treatment complete with fiddlers, step dancers, square sets and, of course, a few pints. 

Heather Rankin took Harris touring around on a couple of quads throughout Mabou, where apparently he learned that she may be small but she sure is mighty, and may have a certain need for speed.

Rodney MacDonald introduced Harris to Mabou’s AJ Campbell, and the three men drove about town commenting on how many houses contained a fiddler and a piano – which was almost every home.

Daniel MacLean, master distiller, gave him a tour of the Glenora Distillery.

“We tried some single malt, we laughed, we fought, we cried and then we became best friends…” joked Harris during his stand-up act.

Jonny Harris has appeared regularly at The Halifax Comedy Festival, The Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and on CBC Radio’s The Debaters.  He has appeared as both a stand-up and sketch comic at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival.  He has been a staff writer for the award-winning This Hour has 22 Minutes and was a contributing writer and star of Mary Walsh’s Hatching, Matching and Dispatching.

Jonny is a member of St. John’s sketch comedy troupe The Dance Party of Newfoundland, winners of the 2007 Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival’s “Best of the Fest” award. Harris did a more dramatic turn for the feature film Grown Up Movie Star, with which he attended the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.  He currently plays Constable George Crabtree on CBC’s, The Murdoch Mysteries, for which he has garnered two Gemini nominations for best supporting-lead in a dramatic series.  His stand-up special for Comedy Now! earned a Canadian Screen Award nomination.

Coming from Newfoundland and Labrador, he is the perfect person to take audiences on a tour of small-town Canada.

Warming up the audience prior to Harris taking the stage were two comedians and writers for the show.

The age of those attending the show ranged from about 14 to 84, but that didn’t impede the hilariousness of the comics or the common ground that was found.

Harris also made himself available to all his fans after the show and signed autographs on glossy photo paper with his signature pose with his hand on his hip.  

It was a great evening and all in celebration of the small towns of Canada and the people who live and love them. 


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15767 Central Avenue. P.O. Box 100
Inverness, Nova Scotia. B0E 1N0
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