Friday, November 19, 2021, at The Biltmore Cabaret, Dead Weight Productions is putting on a unique stand-up showcase that will be professionally filmed and edited into part concert film, part documentary.

Therefore, I am running an Indiegogo campaign to help facilitate this project, and pay the comedians, crew, and all relevant expenses. If you have spare money to contribute, I am appreciative beyond words, and you will receive a discount code on tickets. There’s plenty of cool merch and perks like posters, T-shirts, credits, exclusive sketches and music, and much more. If you can share it with your friends and family, that is wonderful, and I thank you.

https://igg.me/at/themixtape

Meant to hearken back to the specials of the 70s and 80s, I want to present these people, my friends, as what they are – artists. This live stand-up special will be part documentary on the challenges, hills, and valleys of independent comedy and art in Canada, and featuring some of Vancouver’s top rising comedians. It will then be submitted to film festivals and theaters to bring this to a wide audience.

Over the last year, everyone has lost so much, and had to conquer deeply disturbing hurdles – artists among them. In Vancouver, live stand-up comedy has suffered a lot – clubs have closed, businesses were lost, careers put on pause, or on the verge of imploding. And while music can be practised, mastered, recorded, and sold in a home studio, stand-up comedy, by its very nature, cannot. By contributing to this project, you are lending credence and legitimacy to aspiring professionals.

But perhaps more relevant than that, The Mixtape seeks to be a document in an ongoing battle within Canada. The Canadian arts sector is anemic, and sadly, has been for a long, long time. Our media is dominated by the US, and we lose a lot of our talent to them, understandably. More frustratingly, it is kept anemic by the government and large, risk-averse telecommunications corporations that monopolize the kind of media, art and performances that Canadians get to see, and interfere with or water down the creative goals. Whereas American entertainment is a blank slate, Canadian performing arts is kneecapped by the mandate: “Uniquely Canadian”. Lastly, stand-up comedy is not considered a legitimate art form (by many), but most troubling, by the Canadian government. Therefore, this eliminates the ability to receive grants and other funding, as well as facing a confusing and extremely costly process in trying to get any work in the US while remaining a Canadian citizen. While the CASC (Canadian Associating of Stand-Up Comedians) has done amazing work in this direction, there is ever an uphill battle.

Thank you anyone who cares about my noise.

❤ Taylor