Born in Cold Lake, Alberta, Bonnie McFarlane’s career started writing comedy before starting on open mics in Vancouver, developing her career throughout Canada before moving to NYC. Bonnie is no stranger to the Just For Laughs Festival. This year she will be featured in both The Nasty Show as well as her own production, “Would You Bang Him?”, a hilarious reverse-stereotyped one-night game-show as part of OFF-JFL.
Bonnie’s career has led her to become one of the leading comics on the Canadian and American professional comedy circuits, with a strong presence in major comedy clubs as well as on TV and web. A multi-talented artist, Bonnie’s work includes much more than comedy, having also written and directed “Women Aren’t Funny”, an independent film that premiered in 2012. Bonnie’s style of comedy can be described as candid, feminist, and very much related to her own views, experience and life. Bonnie’s comedy focuses on female empowerment, but she is not one to be affected at all by hecklers who think otherwise. Edgy, sexist and confident, Bonnie’s humour reaches all audiences and holds nothing back when sharing her views, experiences and jokes.
Marie Claire Magazine listed her as one of the 50 Funniest Women Right Now. McFarlane also co-hosts a national radio show on Sirius XM with her husband, Rich Vos, based on her podcast My Wife Hates Me.
Bonnie’s developed a strong career as an NYC-based comic. Among many other regular professional appearances, she has been featured on Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show, has recorded an HBO special, 2 Comedy Central specials, and is no stranger to the Just For Laughs Festival. She will be featured on both The Nasty Show this year, as well as in her own feminist, ironic game-show style production in OFF-JFL, “Would You Bang Him?”, in which each of 5 male comedian contestants each do 5 minutes of stand up for 4 female comedian judges. After each male comic finishes his five minutes, the women judges determine if they would in fact ‘bang’ the comedian. They communicate this with witty, sexist and hilarious comments. The show is best described as part comedy show, part roast and all female empowerment.
To talk more about her unique style of comedy and some insight on her upcoming performances at this year’s Just for Laughs festival, Curtains Up takes the time to chat with Bonnie during her recent Montreal press tour.
Curtains Up: As a regular headlining comedian, how would you describe your style of comedy for audiences?
Bonnie McFarlane: Well, I would describe it as autobiographical, but also socially relevant, I guess! I try to tackle topics that people are thinking about, talking about and attach it to my real life.
With your comedy documentary “Women Aren’t Funny”, what would you say causes stereotypes against professional female comics? What do you think led to this?
Well, there’s a lot of guys who have been doing comedy from the beginning, and then that’s those who have always gone to see the shows like guy comics, It’s still sort of like that, over however many years stand-up comedy has been around and popular. That’s the audience that these comedy clubs have curated. Every time a woman goes on, or someone who’s not a “bro” comic, I think that it’s just a little bit harder!
As a woman, you’re trying to laugh at things outside of their sensibility, so sometimes I think when you’ve been catered to your whole life, as I think a lot of men are, that they go “oh, that’s not funny”, even if it’s just not what they think is funny. I always try to tell them “oh, it’s not that it’s not funny, it’s not what you think is funny”. I think a lot of guy comics think that they don’t know how they’ve benefitted from that kind of thing, they often think they’re just better than everyone else. I bet if you went into Hannah Gadsby’s audience, you’d have trouble! There are different audiences for different people.
How do you strive to break the norms and stereotypes of women comics? What approach do you take in comedy, to break the norms?
I just wanna do what I wanna do. I used to a lot of catering to that audience. I just feel like that I don’t want to do that anymore. I just want to do the things that I think are funny. I don’t care as much anymore if people are offended. I know who I am and I know I’m on the right side of things. That’s my thing right now, doing what I want to do and hopefully the audience likes it too.
With the sexist and really hilarious comments that you give, how do you approach female empowerment, and does this usually trigger hecklers?
Well, I do get a lot of hecklers… I mean, I get a LOT of hecklers! I watch other people and I often think “how do they—I don’t get what it is about my personality, that people like to heckle me, but I feel like I’m just talking the way I’m talking now, and they get the feeling that they’re invited to talk back. I don’t mind it, I really don’t. I think about 90% of hecklers are not trying to be mean, but they’re just trying to be a part of the show. Yeah, I’ll talk to people who talk to me, I have no problem with that. I also have no problem with putting someone in their place if I feel they’re trying to be mean.
On Twitter/Instagram when people are trying to be mean, I usually don’t respond to them at all and just ignore it, because I don’t know who that person is. It could be a 14-year old for all I know, and maybe his mom and dad don’t talk to him. I try not to deal with trolls and I certainly don’t get into arguments with them—a lot of people do. [laughs]
You were a finalist on the second season of Last Comic Standing, and I know you didn’t last too long, but did that affect your view/outlook on your developing career as a professional comic?
I was a little disappointed in that show, because I thought I was going to love hanging out with comics, which I do –It’s part of why I love coming to Montreal for JFL and hanging out with comics, nerding out about comedy! On that show, I was misled by my own mind, I thought it was going to be fun like that, but people were really serious and really competing, really wanting to win! I didn’t have that approach. I was more naïve, thinking we were going to have fun on the show. People were really cutthroat! I mean, I still think back to that experience, like “why are they being so mean!”. It was crazy. I guess I’m Canadian—winning isn’t always the number 1 thing at all costs for us here. On reality shows, no one ever gets anything out of being honest or kind. It’s always just winning at all costs!
With you and your husband (Rich Vos) both being comics, would you describe his humour as being close to yours, or very different?
He really makes me laugh, a lot. In real life, he just says things sometimes that are just the most perfect thing. I belly laugh probably 6-7 times a day from him and his jokes. We have a similar sense of humour in that way, but on stage, our approaches are very different. He loves to get on stage with no game plan and just talk. I love to have a game plan for each set I do. I like knowing what I’m going to do. I actually really love to follow the rules—I know that sounds crazy as people think of me as edgy and ballsy, which I guess I also am. But if I do a show and they tell me not to swear, I try not to swear… I just don’t want to get in trouble at the end of the day, I’m still Canadian!
With your upcoming OFF-JFL show, “Would You Bang Him?”, what do you and your husband hope to get out of the performance, and what do you hope to accomplish with the show?
Well, I love the show because it is super-sexist in the best possible way. We call it a “slut-shaming game show”, and we slut-shame these guy comics after they perform their sets. We have four female judges who are all comedians, and these four guys come on and each do five minutes, really good ones, and then the judges decide if they would bang them or not based on their comedy. As you can imagine, it’s all these witty people on stage, so its very funny. I was talking to Michael Che (SNL) who did it, we just did the show in New York last Saturday, he said he had never been so scared in his life. He goes “I’m judged on how I look…”, and I responded (sarcastically) “Oh my gosh, that’s what female comics go through!”
With The Nasty Show, in your own opinion, is there ever anything that would be taboo or off-limits to talk about?
Well, I’d say no. I think if you have an intelligent approach to every subject. If you’re just making fun of something, that’s different. If you have a take on something that’s intelligent, or makes people think “I never thought of it like that!”. I say no, but I do censor myself. I think we all should. There’s certain subjects I just don’t want to joke about. Like what’s going on at the border, it’s just too much, too emotional for me. I wouldn’t be mad if someone else did it, but for myself there’s certain things I wouldn’t joke about.
What made you start doing comedy, and who are your major inspirations?
I actually really started to write comedy for comedians, I was working at a comedy club as a hostess at a club in Vancouver called the Punchline and I had no idea until I started working there, how much I would love comedy. I just really loved it. I loved being around all those funny people and wanted to be a part of it in some way. I was already a writer at that point with my own little weird freelance writing business already established. I was trying to write comedy for comics, and they were all like “look, we don’t have any money, it’s not how that works, you gotta just do it”. After a year, I finally went on and did it myself. Performance is the hardest part of it for me, but obviously, I’m better at it now—I hope!
Janeane Garofalo was one of my earliest inspirations. The first time I saw her was on the Dennis Miller show, years ago. I was like “That’s it! That’s how you do it!”, and it’s funny, she lives in NYC, I run into her all the time, and I love to see her do stand-up. She’s very honest, real and to me she makes me belly laugh. She’s the best!
———–
Bonnie McFarlane’s appearances at this year’s Just for Laughs festival include The Nasty Show, which runs from July 17 to 27 at MTelus, and also Would You Bang Him? which runs for one-night only as part of OFF-JFL on July 26th at Mainline Theatre. More information and tickets for both productions are available at www.hahaha.com
