By David DeRocco

 In a world on edge, the need for comic relief is greater than ever. And thanks to the Trumps, Wynnes, Putins and Trudeaus of the world, you’d think there would be a rich and endless vein of comedy gold waiting for comics to mine on stage. The question many comics are asking, however, is how much reality is too much when it comes to politics and comedy.

“This is something I’ve been wrestling with lately,” said legendary Canadian comic Glen Foster, who’s bringing his ‘That Canadian Guy’s Canadian Guys Canada 150 Comedy Tour’ to the Seneca Queen Theatre February 25^th. “I wonder sometimes, especially when things are fairly horrible in the world like they are right now, if people are looking for an escape. If you walk into a comedy club and you’re looking for an escape and you’re hit with a wall of Trump jokes and jokes about global warming, it’s like ‘this is the stuff I came to escape from.’ I do a joke where I say I know people come to a comedy club to forget their problems, but you do not come to a comedy club to forget my problems!”

Foster agrees that the current problem facing comedians is a wave of anger and frustration clouding people’s sense of humour, thanks in part to the self-righteous push for political correctness pervading all levels of society. The days of delivering the kind of scorching social commentary perfected by comics like Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce or George Carlin are disappearing because people are becoming far too sensitive.   

“It’s a lot harder in the States because you really have to be careful not to set off a Trump supporter or a non-Trump supporter,” said Foster, an eight-time headliner at Montreal’s Just For Laffs Comedy Festival. “Plus everything is so politically correct on every level these days. It’s just nuts. It’s getting harder and harder to do any social commentary whether it’s comedic or not. Unless you’re extreme left wing, then it never seems to be a problem. Anything even a little right wing and it’s like, oh you’re a fascist.”

When everything is a trigger and every group is screaming out about their rights to avoid being the butt of a joke, where does a comic like Foster begin when sitting down to write material?  

“That’s the thing. I don’t sit down to write things that are funny but not offensive. We draw these lines now where it’s, ‘that’s not funny that’s offensive.’ And I go, no, it’s funny AND offensive. It’s two separate things and I wish people could get that through their heads. I do a whole routine about people who get on their high horse now that they don’t find something funny. Well who cares. A thousand other people think it’s funny, so who the hell are you.”

With legions of social media trolls armed with cell phones patrolling every public event for new inflammatory content, Foster agrees that cell phones have become an enemy of performers in all forms of live entertainment.

“There’s a video from three or four years ago of me snatching a cell phone from a girl in the front row, then proceeding to text whoever she was texting with all kinds of nonsense. It’s very frustrating.  You look out and see a row of 10 people and the first one is texting the one on the far end. It’s become such a ubiquitous thing. Guys like Chris Rock, you go to his concert, you have to bag your phone. Partially so you don’t record, but partially so you’ll pay attention.”

Is Foster ever worried about getting burned by an audience member with an agenda and a cellphone?

“I don’t live in fear of it yet. But we’ll be having laws in place soon against Islamophobia. There was that comic in Quebec (**details below) who was taken to task, sued by the human rights commission. Come on. What is the government doing policing jokes? It’s ridiculous.”

Despite the challenges of his profession, Foster has remained one of Canada’s top comics for nearly three decades. Besides being a very funny and accessible comic, Foster says he owes a lot of his success to timing.

“I got into comedy early. When I started there wasn’t wall to wall comedy on television or wall to wall comedy on the internet. People can just go get what they want for free on the internet, why should they pay when you can get it free. That’s what we’re up against with all forms of entertainment. But when I started out there were 10 of us. We worked every night. Saturday’s I’d be doing three shows a night. If you’re familiar with Malcolm Gladwell, he suggests it takes 10,000 hours to get competent at anything. We worked every night, but it’s so much harder to do that now.”

 ‘That Canadian Guy’s Canadian Guys Canada 150 Comedy Tour’ features Glen Foster along with Ron Josol, Lawrence Morgenstern and Drew Hayes. For tickets visit www.senecaqueen.ca.   

 (** Click hear to read the Quebec comic story http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mike-ward-verdict-1.3688089).