YYCOMEDY FESTIVAL FIRE- CRACKIN’ FEMMES Naomi Sniekus’ female-focused podcasts go viral By BRAD SIMM N aomi Snieckus is a busy, connected Canadian actress and director but she wanted more than air kisses and friendly waves exchanged between all of the dynamic women she casually meets in the Canadian TV and film industry. She wanted to connect, a chance to talk with them in depth, so she invented a podcast. “I wanted an excuse to meet them there. I’d see some of these people in passing at parties and wanted to sit down and talk with them. Someone like Kat Barrell from Wynonna Earp. It’s great to see her, but let’s hang out!” These people, of course, are women in the film, music and entertainment industry. Women, like Snieckus whose well-rounded career as an actress, comedian, writer and director includes her tenure with Second City in Toronto, winning the Canadian Comedy Award as Best Female Improviser and her role in CBC’s Mr. D as Bobbi Galka, the no-nonsense, manipulative gym teacher. In 2016 Snieckus created the Firecracker Department, a podcast production company, not simply to meet women she admired but also to engage in bigger conversations about their history, challenges, inspirations FIRECRACKER DEPARTMENT with Naomi Snieckus & Jann Arden Wednesday, <strong>May</strong> 22 The Grand Tix: $25, yycomedy.ca and what makes them tick. “I wanted to celebrate in-depth stories of women in this business. You get a lot of resume talk, a list of credits and shows that you’ve done. But there’s not a lot of in-depth discussions about, ‘How did you do that? What did you say?’ There’s just so many amazing stories we all can learn from.” In the past three years the Firecracker Department has grown globally from a three-person operation based in Toronto to a 25-person team that reaches from London to Los Angeles where Snieckus now resides. Thousands of dedicated listeners are dialed in to their podcasts, newsletter and events. Reflecting on the upward curve, Snieckus acknowledges that the timing for a femme-fueled production certainly paralleled the #MeToo movement, but her charm and approach conducting interviews can’t be overlooked. “My ignorance,” she chuckles, “is sometimes the best part of it. I’m an improviser and now have become an interviewer who can bring in that level of spontaneity. And that’s helpful. But God, I think it’s just such an exciting time to have women’s stories percolating in the ether. If you look at the fanbase we’re creating, it’s not only for women to get inspired, but educated.” The tremendous community building around Firecracker’s followers and their shared experience also factors large into the discussion. Snieckus jokes about how that sometimes plays out. “I often hear, ‘That’s me, I also went through something like that alone.’ We’re all so desperate not to be alone. Aren’t we always? Like I have a weird pain in my shoulder, and someone says, ‘Oh, me too!’ Whew, that’s good, at least it’s not shoulder cancer!” YYComedy Festival is flying Snieckus to Calgary to do a live podcast performance with Jann Arden, the city’s charismatic singer-songwriter who’s a firecracker in her own right. Snieckus looks forward to the bonding occasion. “Jann is very present on social media and said something about one of my tweets. Both our mothers suffer from Alzheimer’s and dementia, and there’s a couple posts she made that rung true for me. I reached out and said, ‘Hang in there, it’s not an easy ride.’ And that’s how we connected. She’s so lovely and I’m so enamored with her.” , TOP 5 YYCOMEDY FESTIVAL One person’s John Mulaney is another person’s Carrot Top. Fortunately, the YYComedy Festival has booked a diverse lineup of comedy voices from home and abroad. These are our 5 picks. By Tony Binns 1 THE EL-SALOMANS Wednesday, <strong>May</strong> 22, The Grand Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini are a married couple on a hot streak. Saloman has just come off a Tonight Show appearance and El-Husseini has toured America with Patton Oswalt, among others. The El-Salomans are appearing with headliner and rising star DeAnne Smith. 2 COURTNEY GILMOUR Friday, <strong>May</strong> 24, The Grand Toronto comic Courtney Gilmour delivered a breakout set at the 2017 Just for Laughs festival that garnered her a win in the Homegrown competition, one of the first female comics to achieve that in the event’s 19-year history. She’s headlining a stacked line up that features local favourite Lisa Baker. 3 <strong>AB</strong>DUL BUTT Friday, <strong>May</strong> 24, The Grand Best known for his work as a correspondent on This Hour has 22 Minutes, the award-winning Montreal-based comic is doing two shows, in French with headliner Derek Serguin. Butt’s web series is in development with Kevin Hart’s LOL Network. 4 PETE ZEDLACHER Saturday, <strong>May</strong> 25, The Grand Fresh off another one of his sold out Snowed In tours, Calgary’s favourite metalhead Pete Zedlacher has long been considered one of the top headliners in the country. He’s as at home onstage as he is in a writer’s room, and he always packs a big crowd. 5 MARITO LOPEZ Saturday, <strong>May</strong> 25, The Grand Calgary native Marito Lopez is coming home to light up the YYComedy crowd. Lopez is a bundle of pure energy on stage, a consistently likeable performer always worth seeing. 42 BEATROUTE MAY <strong>2019</strong>
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