Jube Fest
Do you remember the old days of going to a Drive In and being given a bulky speaker to place on your rolled down window so you could hear the movie?
No?
Then you’re too young. ha ha ha.
Terry and I are truly feeling for the performers out there who have no audience and almost no way to make money in their field. We can relate except that we are performing for the love of it and can afford to be ‘retired’.
When we heard about “Jube Fest” at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton we decided to support two comedians and also have a different night out on the town.
After purchasing our tickets online we showed up at ‘the Jube” and were directed to the back of the massive auditorium, near the stage door entrance.
We arrived early and we had a spot very near the middle and very front of the lot facing the rooftop. This is where the two comedians would perform and our view was great!
We were also directed to put our radio onto a certain station so that we could hear the performers. And although we brought dinner (Salads from The Chopped Leaf") we decided to also treat ourselves to snacks offered from the Jubilee volunteers in the form of two cookies, flax chips, some Jube Jubes (of course) and a soda for Terry. (I can’t have sodas anymore so I was happy with my water.)
The show started with a wonderful female comedian named Cory Mack. In all honesty we thought she was even funnier than the headliner, Lars Callieou, but we were thoroughly entertained by both.
It must have been SO hard to deliver jokes to people you can barely see and certainly can’t hear. They encouraged us to flash our lights or honk our horns if we liked the jokes. That part was a bit annoying because of all the noise.. The neighbourhood must have thought there was a major wedding group passing through!
But we DID like the show and they did a darn good job of delivering the jokes no matter what.
The weather was absolutely perfect, not too hot, not too windy or cold, and no rain.
We enjoyed our dinner on our laps (a very dangerous proposition for me as I’m SO messy! ha ha) and the snacks were fun too.
Cory is originally from Saskatchewan and a lot of her jokes were from her days as a farm wife there. SO funny.
Lars (or “Extra Lars” as he likes to be called with some sort of reference to his prowess) was fairly funny. My favourite joke was when he told the story about how the headliner comedians were encouraged to give back to the community (I believe he was the opening act for Joan Rivers) by volunteering at McDonald’s one day. He hadn’t been told of this . So when a representative from the chain called him and asked him which shift he would like, Lars said that his career was going pretty well and he didn’t think he actually needed to ‘pick up a shift’ at Mickey D’s. ha ha ha.
How clever of The Jube to figure out a way for comedians to perform and all of us to gather safely. There were only about twenty cars (unfortunately) and we were all separated as well. It was a beautiful evening to relax and be entertained.