Just For Laughs – A talk with Nasty Show comic Liza Treyger

Liza Treyger

Comedian Liza Treyger’s past experiences at Just For Laughs include performing at the prestigious New Faces showcase in 2014 and selected as one of the Variety Top 10 Comics to watch for in 2017. And this year, she can add to her JFL CV as one of the performers for the festival’s perennial hot ticket the Nasty Show.

“This year’s Nasty Show line-up is filled with great people, many of whom I looked up to, and I can’t wait to perform on the show with them,” she said during a recent phone interview. “This is a fun crew to be a part of. We might fight with each other, but I am sure we will go to strip clubs together, talk some shit and indulge in some crowd work. These are comics who like to live in the moment, and I am looking forward to a series of exciting shows with them.”

Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Liza and her family emigrated to Chicago in 1990 following the break-up of the Soviet Union, and settled in the suburb of Skokie. The lure of stand-up affected Liza while she was a student at North Park University, when she was invited to perform during an open mike night event. From there, she began performing stand-up in her hometown of Chicago, where she built up a cult following, before she made the move to New York in 2014.

Although she was known to be self-deprecating and use her comedy to make heavy women feel more comfortable when she is telling jokes dealing with weight, Liza adamantly emphasizes that particular subject matter doesn’t dominate her material. “Although I do tell jokes about weight, I never advocate putting yourself down. Either you love your body or you hate it; it comes in phases.”

As well, according to friend and fellow Chicago comic Natalie Jose, Liza possesses a comedy style that she describes as “sneaky-smart”. 

“That’s a skill I developed. My delivery is very casual and unassuming and I use normal speech patterns, yet there is a point to be made,” she said. “The trick is to make someone laugh at stuff that they don’t want to laugh at. Like I said, it’s a skill.”

Besides the Nasty Show, Liza, along with comic Kara Klenk, will do a live recording of their podcast “That’s Messed Up: An SVU Podcast” on July 29 at 4:30 p.m. as part of the Acast Presents the ComedyPRO Premium Podcast Series. The podcast focuses on the long running Hit NBC series “Law & Order: SVU”, in which Liza and Kara will take a certain episode of the police drama and present a fun-filled rundown of the episode, along with games, gossip and interviews with people involved with law enforcement, the legal profession, social issues, and even some members of the SVU cast (Marcia Gay Hardin, Dianne Neil, B.D. Wong and Eric McCormack were past guests on the podcast).

“I am beyond thrilled that we are getting the opportunity to present this podcast at Just For Laughs. Kara and me are obsessed with SVU. Even though the podcast is a fun show, it’s based on real crimes, real victims and real people. We don’t talk about horrific things, but we always do advance research before every episode, and so far we have done between 80 and 90 of them,” she said. “We have a fantasy of doing an episode of the podcast on the set of SVU with Mariska Hargitay (who portrays Detective Olivia Benson). We also hope for a casting opportunity for us on the show, such as portraying a dead body or being an annoying person in a crowd. If we get that Benson moment, it would be amazing.”

* * *

The 40th anniversary edition of the festival was kicked off on July 14 the only way they know best with the premiere of the Just For The Culture show (which was previously known as The Ethnic Show). I was always a fan of this show, because it always offered a consistently strong lineup of comics that represented cultural diversity and backgrounds, and without a weak spot to boot. And this year, the show kept batting .1000, as it did in previous years.

Host Alonzo Bodden, a festival veteran since 1999, constantly entertained the full house crowd with his unique brand of observational comedy on any issue he decided to tackle, whether it be white supremacy, abortion, guns and subways in New York, or the fact that “the United States is the #1 reality show in Canada.” Other highlights included Canada’s own David Merheje, who spoke about feeling like a dad at 40, nut allergies and growing up Lebanese; Yannis Pappas hit the ground running with his take on Bill 96 (and called Quebec “Fake France”), hockey and judging people according to the shoes they wear; and Jessica Kirson hit it out of the park, as she shared with the audience her experiences losing weight and attending fat camp (where such activities included breathing, chafing and trying hide and seek) and performing her stand-up comedy in front of an audience of seniors in Florida, created waves of uproarious laughter and earned her a well-deserved standing ovation.

The Just For The Culture show was a terrific way to kick off Just For Laughs #40, and it continues its hitting streak as a must-see show, which you can catch at Club Soda and the MTelus until July 28.

* * *

And in other Just For Laughs news, the festival recently unveiled its first group of recipients of its prestigious awards for their respective achievements and contributions to the world of comedy. They will be presented at the annual Just For Laughs Awards Show on July 29, 3 p.m., in the Grand Salon of the festival’s official hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal, which will be hosted by Jay Pharoah of Saturday Night Live fame.

The 2022 award recipients so far are the following: Amy Schumer (Comedy Person of the Year), Hasan Minaj (Stand Up Comedian of the Year), Taylor Tomlinson (Breakout Comedy Star of the Year), and Jerrod Carmichael (Comedy Special of the Year). The list of the remaining Just For Laughs Awards recipients will be unveiled at a later date.

Also, local comics Walter J. Lyng and Reese Turner return to the ZooFest/Off-JFL series after a three-year absence to share even more fatherhood experiences – especially during the COVID pandemic – with Rad Dads Forever. After playing to sold out crowds in 2018 and 2019, Walter and Reese mark their return as the Rad Dads for two shows on July 22 and 24 at Café Cleopatre on St. Laurent Blvd.; show time is at 7 p.m. Joining Walter and Reese are fellow dad comics Lawrence Corber and Morgan O’Shea …and popular Montreal comic Derek Seguin as a special guest (who is also a dad in his own right). So if you’re a dad, a grand dad, a dad-in-law – or even if you don’t fall into those three fatherly categories, beware, because the Rad Dads are back!

For more information about, or to purchase tickets to, any Just For Laughs show, go to www.hahaha.com

Other articles from mtltimes.ca – totimes.ca – otttimes.ca

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