6 Questions with China Cloud Studios Founder Colin Cowan
The Vancouver comedian hosts the bi-monthly Comedy World at China Cloud
Colin Cowan spent over two decades traveling the world as a comedian and musician, so when he arrived in Vancouver permanently, he knew what he wanted out of a comedy show. Now in its third year, Comedy World is China Cloud Studio’s bi-monthly stand-up show, featuring the smartest and funniest that Vancouver has to offer.
We caught up with Cowan – who also plays bass in Vancouver indie stalwarts Destroyer, among other bands – to discuss the show’s origins and why it matters…if at all.
How did Comedy World start?
I grew up on the East Coast seeing all sorts of comedy. There was the East Coast scene, the European scene, the American scene. I'd always come to Vancouver and there’d be some cool clubs here, but they're all closed, and none had that American vibe. Where was the show that had three or four – maybe five comics max – where everyone's not just doing five or seven minutes, but 10-to-15 minute sets.
Comedy World is that scene where you walk upstairs into the China Cloud, where you can feel like you're in daddy’s bootleg basement, but for some reason it's an Eighties dad but still had the budget to get proper theater curtains.
Comedy World has been bringing a lot of stage time. It's scratching the itch for the comics who come out. They love this show. They can get in, they’re guaranteed pay that's decent, and get some time in front of a killer audience.
Why did you want to bring that American-style comedy out here – why was that important to you?
It’s needed out here. It seems like cocaine energy. I don't touch the stuff, but it's just East Coast silly man energy.
Americans don't get grants. Canadians meanwhile try to get on three television shows that maybe have some actual funding. Americans are like, “I might fail and die, but at least I know I tried to try to make a living that will actually maybe pay for medical and for a home.
Canadians are like, “I'm just trying to check the boxes to get on the CBC thing.” Nothing wrong with that. I get that. And that's a wonderful route to get to America for some people, depending on the type of voice.
But in general, the Canadian thing – look, I'm a Canadian comedian. The CBC is great, it injects money into creativity. There's nothing wrong with that. We're lucky to have that stuff, but the American edge is something like, “I'm doing this not for anything, but the meaning behind it, because I believe in it. I've got problems and I need a comedy club to sort them out.”
Did you find that the Vancouver scene was, like, a little bit tepid?
Yeah, and I thought that there's a lot of people trying to create multiple voices, but in the end it all just sounded like one voice. But I’ve noticed since after COVID, now that we all got our brains pummeled a bit, I noticed everybody's material getting stronger, better. They’re working on things, not doing echo-chamber-style bits with no punchline. I think we're getting smarter.
Do you think that's because the actual comedy clubs, Comedy Mix and Yuk Yuk’s, have closed and there's been this proliferation of DIY rooms that have allowed comedians to embrace that freedom? They didn't have to vie for the attention of the Yuk Yuk’s booker now, because the gig is literally just a room somewhere.
Not to give a simple answer, but yes. It is exactly that.
There's been no one to appease and that means liberation. That’s gone on forever in all art scenes. I mean the whole wave of stand-up comedy in the early 90s with Kathy Griffin, Bob Odenkirk and all that – the whole alternative scene – was this whole other way to do comedy. That’s what’s going on with everything right now. We see it in music, we see it in visual art and fashion. It's this idea of going, let's try something without having to appease a larger thing. Let's do the simple flea- market version of this because that's where it all started anyway.
Without having to appease figures at the Comedy Mix, you're able to go, hey man, we're just renting the room. Selling tickets. All we need to do is sell 20 or 25 tickers and we're good. We're not trying to impress a little white man who's maybe gonna invite us back into and dictate what our career is gonna be. That's a nice thing. I only became who I am because of that.
How much of this perspective is informed by your other job as a working independent rock musician, for bands who also kinda thumb their nose at “the man”?
I see it as the exact same thing. They help one another. I'm always able to see either one. I see the envy of musicians in comedy. I see the envy of comedians in musicians. I think that being in music and being in comedy helps both of them because I see all of those similarities of how you need independent spaces for it to develop and always become the new thing and the better thing. And the reason why stand up comedy is bigger than ever again right now is because of all those tiny little spaces around the world that harnessed all of these voices that have been around forever, but needed a room to try a different angle.
Are there any Comedy World shows that stick out where you thought, “oh yeah, we’re really onto something here”?
There have been so many! There was the first one we launched in our second year. My good friend Ivan Decker came back and headlined, and it was just packed. It was just insane. By the end, Ivan was raving about the show I’d created. It was so flattering – he didn't have to say those things and it was really nice about it. It was really nice to see an old friend who's crushing it on all sides of the border, to come back and be like, “This is something special.”
Then later, also seeing the need to not just do it once a month, but do it at least a couple times a month, because of the long list of those who want to be on it, and the long list of those who I want to see on it. At this point, it's great to see people coming through this room because I do feel like it’s another angle for them, which is the fun part of having multiple rooms in a city. It’s nice to see how people react in different environments.
Comedy World is happening on Friday Nov. 8 and Friday Nov. 22 at China Cloud Studios.
Get tickets here!
