North By Northeast begins today, and this year NXNE Comedy is a huge draw… more than 100 comics are participating in the fifth year of comedy at the event. Barry Taylor of Comedy Records has been a regular at NXNE, and offered a glimpse into what attendees can expect from this year’s instalment of NXNE Comedy.
CraveOnline: Tell us about your involvement with NXNE.
Barry Taylor: There was one comedy show before us – we weren’t the first-ever, but I was on it four years ago… and then the following year we produced five shows and then six, and then it exploded to a lot of other comedians and producers putting on shows at NXNE.
What types of fans turn out for NXNE Comedy?
It’s been really cool – last year was the first year we noticed that people came just based on the festival. We get some of our standard people we’d expect but last year was really cool. We get a bit more of a diverse audience because we get some people who are there for the first time, but then we found that they leave happy so that’s great.
So what’s on the schedule?
We’ve got five showcases at Free Times Café, we’re doing a show at Vapor Central, and we’re really excited for a rooftop show at the Bovine Sex Club (Thursday, June 19th at 10pm), which is a free show. Nick Reynoldson is headlining and it’s hosted by Keith Pedro as well as myself.
Any other gigs to speak of for yourself? Still doing stand-up?
Definitely – after NXNE from there I’ll go to northern Ontario, and I just did a tour out west. I definitely do stand-up but if I’m producing I try not to headline. I just don’t want to be the guy who produces his own shows (laughs).
Photo: Comedy Records
