''We're Funny That Way'' began as an annual charity comedy festival in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, in 1996. Launched in 1996 by Maggie Cassella, the festival featured stand-up and sketch comedy shows by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender comedians. It ran until 2012 when it took a five-year hiatus, returning in 2017 (produced by Ford Cassella Productions). The festival has grown to a broader performance festival and now includes musicians, story-tellers, burlesque artists, plays, drag performances, generally following the genres associated with live cabaret. The inaugural festival was held in April 1997 at Toronto's Buddies in Bad Times theatre. Proceeds from the festival support the We're Funny That Way Foundation, aimed at making transformational donations to LGBTQ charities across Canada. The festival was the subject of the 1998 documentary ''We're Funny That Way!'', a film by David Adkin,"Laughing out loud: Gay and lesbian comics go the extra comedic mile on TV special". '' The Gazette'', February 9, 1999. which interviewed and featured performance clips of various performers who appeared at the inaugural festival. A short-run television series produced by Maggie Cassella for OUTtv also aired in 2007 in conjunction with the festival's 10th anniversary, using the same format to profile comedians appearing at the 2005 and 2006 editions of the event.Jesse Kohl
"OUTtv launches fall sked with pride"
''Media in Canada'', August 10, 2007.

Film

Comedians profiled in the 1998 documentary film included Steve Moore, Christopher Peterson, Scott Capurro, Maggie Cassella, Kate Clinton, Jaffe Cohen,

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. She portrayed List of Orange Is the New Black characters#Carrie "Big Boo" Black, Carrie "Big Boo" Black on the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'' ...

, Elvira Kurt, Bob Smith, John McGivern and The Nellie Olesons. The film was screened at various LGBT film festivals, but was distributed primarily as a television special on Bravo Canada,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

and

Citytv Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...

Television series

A spinoff television series, also titled ''We're Funny That Way!'', aired on Canada's OutTV in 2007. The six-episode series featured highlights from the 2005 and 2006 We're Funny That Way festivals, including performances by Kate Rigg, Dina Martina, Maggie Cassella and Trevor Boris. In 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...

, a virtual edition of We're Funny That Way! was produced for streaming by CBC Gem.Pahull Bains
"11 Virtual Pride 2020 Events Taking Place Across Canada"
''

Fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

'', June 25, 2020. Performers included Maggie Cassella, Katie Rigg, Carolyn Taylor,

Gavin Crawford Gavin Crawford (born 2 April 1971) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for ''The Gavin Crawford Show'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He currently hosts the panel show, ''Because News'', on CBC Radio One. Early life Crawford was bo ...

, Lea DeLaria, Colin Mochrie, Kinley Mochrie and Deb McGrath, who were all collectively nominated for Best Performance in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series at the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

. The special won the award for Best Performing Arts Program.Rachel West
"‘Canada’s Drag Race’, ‘Property Brothers’, Jann Arden Among Canadian Screen Awards Lifestyle And Reality Winners"
''

ET Canada ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'' (commonly shortened to ''ET Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series that aired on the Global Television Network from 2005 to 2023. Its branding and format were based on the American entertainm ...

'', May 17, 2021.

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 0157179 1998 documentary films 1990s English-language films Canadian independent films LGBTQ-related comedy films 1998 LGBTQ-related films 2000s Canadian stand-up comedy television series 2000s Canadian documentary television series 2000s Canadian LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2007 Canadian television series debuts LGBTQ organizations based in Canada LGBTQ culture in Toronto 1997 establishments in Ontario 2012 disestablishments in Ontario Comedy festivals in Canada Canadian documentary television films OutTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming 2020s Canadian stand-up comedy television series Canadian LGBTQ-related television specials 1990s Canadian films Canadian LGBTQ-related documentary films 2020s Canadian television specials English-language documentary films