Chris Bryant: laughing at the painful truths
07 Feb 2019.

“My boyfriend’s Canadian and he’s always talking about Kids in the Hall,” declared comedian Chris Bryant, recognizing my credentials. The up-and-coming stand-up has been busy, appearing in Dekkoo’s Out on Stage as well as in his own show, Enemies of Dorothy, which co-stars that Canadian boyfriend, Ryan Fisher. “Whenever he visits his family, I do a set at Comedy Bar. That place has one of the best vibes ever.”

Chris started doing musical improv about eight years ago, “For a kid’s birthday party. I did that for a few years until someone pushed me into stand-up and I fell in love with it immediately. It’s a cool, raw, honest art form, I like that you’re completely alone and whatever happens falls on your own shoulders. There’s no character, it’s just you, and you can talk about really intimate things.”

So far he’s had a charmed career. He’s very funny and hasn’t had any backlash yet. “But everything I say is about laughing at truthful, painful experiences. Most people who experience backlash get it from making fun of other people. If you’re honest on stage, audiences can understand it.” Chris says he is “Fine with gay audiences. I learned how to play to them. It was difficult at first. As long as you’re discussing hard truths that no one else is talking about, they’ll go for it. No one can deny truth, or your pain, so the more personal the better.”

Before we hung up and because of his familiarity with Toronto, Chris mentioned that he keeps up with Canadian politics. We talked about the elections of the Ford brothers, and he was surprised when I told him that both of them had defeated out queer candidates (George Smitherman and Kathleen Wynne). Sadly the electorate prefers vulgar blobs over gay people. Lucky for him, he lives in the States.