Stand-up comics have to be ready for anything before they step onto the stage and when they’re onstage for their seven-minute or 45-minute mission of making people laugh. That means preparing their material in advance, and mentally preparing themselves for anything unpredictable that could – and usually does – happen. That could range from joke(s) that fall flat with the audience, or even worse, defending yourself verbally from those loudmouthed gremlins known as hecklers.
Montreal-born comic Hunter Collins has had his share of such experiences. But what if your next gig involves sharpening those comedy knives as a means of preparation to slice and dice (figuratively, of course) a fellow comic who is just as prepared as they are, in an arena that resembles a UFC cage match or a gladiator fight in ancient Rome?
Welcome to the world of the Roast Battle. And Hunter will step into this arena on the October 25 episode of “Roast Battle Canada”, which will air at 10:30 p.m. on the CTV Comedy Channel. During each 30-minute episode, two pairs of Canada’s best-known comedians face off in a no holds barred comedy free-for-all, where the insults fly and the rules are nowhere to be found. Each roast battle is judge by a panel of three veteran Canadian comics – K. Trevor Wilson (a former Roast Battle champion), Sabrina Jalees and Russell Peters – and a winner is chosen from each battle to advance to the next round until a champion is determined.
Hunter admits that he is in a constant roast mode, and began to get himself entrenched in the roast culture by watching practically every Comedy Central Roast and original Roast Battle shows that took place several years ago at Just For Laughs.
“I would always get excited watching the Comedy Central Roasts, seeing all those comics on the dais and watch them slice up those celebrities who never saw it coming, like (American conservative political commentator) Ann Coulter,” he said in a recent phone interview. “For me, the roasting never stops.”
Hunter admits that he had a weird roundabout entry into the comedy world, which began for him in his native Montreal as a kindergarten student, when he told a funny joke in front of his classmates and sat on that early taste of 15 minutes of fame for two years. “My goal was to be the class clown in school and elicit a lot of laughs from the class,” he said. “Then I went into the cinema program at Dawson College, but my fellow students were more interested in doing black and white short films that featured a lost clown on the highway, when I was more interested in filming comedy sketches. From there, I went to Toronto and enrolled in the comedy program at Humber College and never looked back.”
Although it looks almost natural and improvisational when you see the two comic combatants go at it against each other during Roast Battle, Hunter admits that there is a great deal of preparation work involved before those insults are hurled at their intended target just a few feet away. “We get between two weeks to a month to prepare our jokes for the roast battle. When the writing deadline passes, we have to submit our jokes beforehand and get them approved for the broadcast. Most of my jokes did get approved, except for one that was dropped because I used the “C-bomb” in it,” he said. “I also get to work together with my roast partner, so I get to know them beforehand, and there will be no surprises nor blindsiding when we are onstage.”
And for those who aspire to enter the roast battle arena in the future, Hunter has these pieces of advice from both the defensive and offensive points-of-view. “On defense, you have to have a sense of humour, and when you make jokes, they are meant to be laughed at. If you approach these vicious digs like a poor sport, it becomes more awkward for yourself and the audience,” he said. “On offense, if your opponent is a bad person, the one main thing is to tell that person you hate them, so that they can get the impression that you’re a psychopath. Let that natural vitriol squeeze out of you like a well-squeezed boil.”
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