Commemorative e-book recounts the history of comedy in Ottawa 

Humber College’s Comedy: Writing and Performance alumnus Ryan Belleville hosted the Canadian Comedy Awards in Ottawa on October 6, 2013. The ceremony, which was the culminating event for the  weekend-long Canadian Comedy Awards Festival, also featured a performance by a fellow comedy program graduate Nikki Payne.

To commemorate this year’s festival, Humber commissioned John Mazerolle, a graduate from the comedy program, to write an e-book about the history of comedy in Ottawa. Ottawa: Gateway to Carp – Comedy in the Nation’s Capital features anecdotes and memories from Ottawa comedians including Tom Green, Mike MacDonald, Norm Macdonald and Rick Mercer. Ottawa: Gateway to Carp is published by the Humber Press and edited by comedy program co-ordinator Andrew Clark.

“We’ve been involved with the comedy awards for years, and we thought that a history of Ottawa comedy would be a unique contribution to this year’s event,” said Clark. “There hasn’t been a history like this one up until now. Ottawa’s an interesting place – it takes itself very seriously, of course, but it’s also just a little wild. Many of the comedians that come from Ottawa take that serious side and completely flip it over.”

The book is composed exclusively of first-person anecdotes from 26 different people. The e-book is available for download directly from Humber Press.