Nine years ago I spent nearly 24 hours straight at Comedy Bar in Toronto Live-Blogging Pat Thornton’s 24 Hours of Stand Up, a fundraiser for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Thornton had been approached the year before by the Foundation and asked to participate in the A Dare to Remember Challenge, where folks are challenged to do a specific dare to benefit the charity. He decided his dare would be to do a Stand-Up Comedy set for 24 hours straight. It ended up being so much fun for Thornton and the comedy community in Toronto that they continued the event for five years in a row, raising a considerable amount of money, all for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Friday night (November 29th) at 11:00pm Thornton will return to the Comedy Bar and he will be there doing Stand-Up until 11:00pm Saturday night. Again, all the proceeds go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
This is how the event works: Thornton begins the evening with his own stand up comedy set (he was nominated for a 2019 Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year for his stand-up comedy album Chicken!), and once he has exhausted his own material, he begins to rely more and more on a team of comedy writers who continually feed him more and more jokes, which he then reads aloud. Many of these writers are in the Comedy Bar venue with him (many staying up all night and into the next day with him), and some writers from away send their jokes in as well. Some jokes are submitted by those following along on social media. The more tired everyone gets the less the jokes make complete sense, the odder and stranger they become, and the more hilarious folks in the room find absolutely everything. Audience members pay $10.00 when they arrive and everyone (except Thornton) is free to come and go as they please within those 24 hours. Stay as long as you’d like, go home and take a nap, or grab brunch, and then come back. Thornton has food to eat while he is onstage and he takes short bathroom breaks (in case you were wondering).
Usually themes will emerge out of the jokes, sometimes providing the writers’ hours worth of inspiration and material. In 2010 jokes about Kevin Sorbo (TV’s Hercules), The Riddler, and McDonald’s Grimace dominated all 24 hours, so much so that Sorbo ended up coming to The Comedy Bar in 2011 for an event called Kevin Sorbo Garbage Weekend. There is something really magical that happens around ten or twelve hours into the event where most people in the building are very sleep deprived, and the thematic rabbit holes have been well defined and everything becomes this beautiful mixture of the absurd, the sublime, and the utterly ridiculous. If you want to come and go, I found the energy in the early morning is fun, and you certainly want to be there for the last two hours or so to help celebrate Thornton’s triumphant finish. In 2010 he reached his goal of $8,000 after 10 hours of Stand Up and set a new goal, which he then surpassed by raising over $11,000 in all. This year the goal is much larger: $24,000 and before even beginning his set, he has already raised over $5,000. If you’re even more curious about the nature of this event, you can read my Live-Blogs from 2010 HERE. If you don’t want to do a deep, deep, DEEP dive, here is a little sample from somewhere between 3:00am-4:00am November, 2010: ““Hey guys did you see me on Dexter?”- Kevin Sorbo talking in his sleep. We are all laughing until we collectively choked about a free Tibet joke- “If you have a sign saying “Free Tibet, don’t get mad that people are coming around looking to eat a Tibet.” Seriously, this audience is dying of laughter. Crying. Stomping. At jokes that barely make sense. Hyper sleep deprivation, it’s like a jokefest slumber party where everything is hysterical just because it is 4:00am. Best. Best. Best.”
This event is a truly unique experience and one that I’m so glad I was able to take part in when I lived in Toronto. I have so many fond memories of being in that room with some of the funniest and the kindness people in Toronto buoyed up by the feeling that we were collectively working toward helping community-based organizations turn the tide of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, and really honouring the playful, silly, improvisational, and community building aspects of performance at the same time. I have so much respect for Thornton that he continues to dare himself to take on this performing marathon (especially this year, as I know he has a young infant at home, so I wonder how well rested he will be going into the 24 hours this year). He is a champion. You can donate at any time HERE.
This year’s event is special for two other reasons: 1. Thornton is recording his 24 hour set and making an album, so that is sure to be fascinating. 2. Graham Clark is also doing 24 Hours of Stand-Up for the Stephen Lewis Foundation at the exact same time at the Havana Theatre in Vancouver. You’ll also be able to Stream both Thornton’s show in Toronto and Clark’s show in Vancouver from wherever you live. Please visit this website for more information.
In Toronto: Pat Thornton’s 24 Hours of Stand-Up begins at 11pm on Friday, November 29th and goes continually until 11pm on Saturday, November 30th at Comedy Bar (947 Bloor Street West). Admission is $10.00. Additional Donations Appreciated. Text JOKES24 to 20222 to donate $5.00.
In Vancouver: Graham Clark’s 24 Hours of Stand-Up begins at 8:00pm on Friday November 29th and goes continually until 8:00pm on Saturday, November 30th at the Havana Theatre (1212 Commercial Drive, Vancouver). Admission is $10.00. Additional Donations Appreciated.
