Ron James brings laughs, Canadiana to Blyth performance

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

On Oct. 3, acclaimed chuckle-causer Ron James brought his peculiarly Canadian brand of comedy to Memorial Hall in Blyth, and found himself amidst an audience looking to let loose with the laughs. 

 

For two hours, James riffed, ranted and reminisced about the rapidly-rotting relationship between our nation and our neighbour, the United States, until life on either side of the line felt like nothing more to worry about than the punchline to an infinite joke.
James is a comedian who can make a molehill into a mountain and a Mountie into a metaphor. On Saturday night, his latest material moved merrily from the mundane to the ridiculous, swinging swiftly between funny takes on familiar familial foibles and risqué criticisms of the whole damn system. James’ set was both complex and built on easily digestible contrasts. One does not need to understand his prefatory reference to 17th century English philosopher Thomas Hobbs to understand a joke about Canada versus the United States, or urban versus rural, but if one does, it adds just one more flavour to the comedy gumbo. 

 

And Blyth was clearly ready for it. Memorial Hall was absolutely packed with people, and from the show’s very first moment, the hall was filled with crack ups, chortles and guffaws of all shapes and sizes. James has the rare ability - to make an audience feel as though it is sitting around the kitchen table with the funniest person in a very funny family. His delivery is as important as his jokes. James had a loose, conversational style that obscures a precise comic rhythm. He knows when to pause, when to pounce and when to pile one punchline on top of another until the audience is helpless. That being said, he also does not hesitate to admit when he’s lost his train of thought.

 

His national observations were particularly well received. There was, of course, plenty of affectionate teasing about the things Canadians do differently than Americans, but James also underscored the differences between our two countries that look insignificant on paper but enormous in practice. 

 

On Oct. 3, for two hours, James kept the jokes coming, and at the end, the audience left lighter than they arrived. Because, for two hours, all the stress and strain that marks our modern age was nothing more than something to laugh about.