Kyle Lucey Talks THE SECRET SHOW! and Why We Need Comedy

Melody McCune

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Headshot of standup comic Kyle Lucey.

If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us, it’s the necessity of laughter. Toronto-based stand-up comedian Kyle Lucey knows that better than most, and thus, The Secret Show! was born. The objective? To keep live comedy thriving in a safe environment amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Kyle hosts The Secret Show! every Tuesday at 9 pm in a safe speakeasy location while adhering to Coronavirus health protocols. Each week, audiences can expect to be entertained by a versatile lineup of top-tier comedians. 

I recently had the privilege of chatting with Kyle about how The Secret Show! came to be, his comedic influences and why we need comedy now more than ever. 

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This interview has been condensed for clarity. 

Melody McCune: We at GGA love a good origin story. What’s Kyle Lucey’s origin story?

Kyle Lucey: I’m a first-generation Irish Canadian who grew up in rural Canada. I wanted this like it was in a past life, as if I was so close to something, and I woke up in this life and wanted it. At 16, I won a comedy festival. “Best comedian in my region” type of thing. That gave me so much confidence. I was on local TV and stuff at that time. Opened for some pretty big acts in Canada, like the Trailer Park Boys. They’re like our version of celebrities. Do you know the Trailer Park Boys?

MM: I do! I’m a fan of the show.

KL: I was opening for them at 16, and it was really cool. I was doing improv at the time and theater. As it stands now, I’ve been doing stand-up for 10 years, improv for 10 years and theater for 10 years. I’m 26. So, it’s just all overlapping.

At 20, I remember being in university. I had one semester left to graduate, and I was cast in a TV show called Blood and Fury. It was a mini-series, and I was going to be somewhat of a lead. Then, a comedy club opened called The Corner Comedy Club. They said, “We’re going to be open seven nights a week, and you could do three shows a night.”

I had a decision to make. I dropped out of university with a semester left and pursued my dream. The TV show gave me rent for a year, and the comedy club would be how I could do comedy. My standup is a lot of my life experiences and my view on life.

I have a very dark upbringing. Both of my parents, God love them, but … Irish-born parents, drinking problems. We were poor. My dad lived in a van at one point. He taught me so much by just watching him.

He had nothing, and he made it work. I remember they took away our van, and he was a bus driver. He had to literally walk three or four hours to work to drive a bus. It took a few days for his boots to disintegrate. But I looked at him, and I realized with hard work, you can make the impossible possible.

When I saw that, it made me say, “I want to be the best comedian.” I want to be known. The day I die, I want people to bring my name up with the best.

So, when I turned 20, and I went to Toronto, and I started doing comedy, I started doing 20 shows a week every single week. I did 5,000 shows in five years, and I’m at six or 7,000 now. I became the youngest headliner in Canada. At 25, I was headlining about five major comedy clubs.

I signed at the biggest talent agency for stand-up in Canada, which is Yuk Yuks and Funny Business. I had a set last night where I felt like I just started. When you do so much comedy, you’re constantly molting into something different. Especially starting so young, I’m not a kid or a young man anymore. Now, I feel like I’m a man.

With that, there’s maturity. A lot of my juvenile stuff doesn’t resonate. I want to show my wisdom on stage. It’s so beautiful, this art form, that it’s like a constant state of evolution. Because in front of the crowd, you put a mirror in front of yourself, and it’s cool to grow and see yourself in this way.

I can’t be thankful enough that it’s working. My show has been sold out for 12 weeks straight.

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MM: That’s incredible. Congratulations!

KL: Thank you so much! Well, I still deal with the self-loathing aspect of being an artist. I wake up, and I’m like, “I hate myself.” Then, I see the night sold out. I’m like, “What the hell?” These folks like me more than I like me. Every single opportunity I get, I see it as gas in the tank, so I can keep driving this awesome ride.  

Photo of Kyle Lucey doing standup comedy for The Secret Show!
Pictured: Kyle Lucey

MM: Let’s talk about The Secret Show!, which you started hosting in your backyard once government restrictions eased up on outside gatherings. What was the inspiration behind that?

KL: It was sad to see what happened to the comedy community in Canada. The skillset of a stand-up comedian is their ability to wield the crowd. Brian Regan describes it as, “I’m playing the crowd like an instrument,” like an accordion. You bring them up; you bring them down.

We’re not like dancers that can practice in our basement, or artists that can paint at home, or guitar players that can jam in our garage. We artistically starve to death. So many people quit comedy. People who are 30 years in that had families had to be realistic. They were the best, and it shattered lives. It was terrible.

At the time I started the show, there wasn’t anything that motivated me more than survival. I mean that artistically because I had dark moments throughout this quarantine where I was like, “Am I even funny anymore?” I needed to put something on.

My fellow comedians needed it. We all needed it. So, the second we were allowed up to 10 people, that’s when it first started. I said, “Let’s do it in my backyard.” We ticketed the show. It sold out, and then it kept selling out. I felt that a lot of people needed to laugh, especially in Ontario, because our lockdowns were one of the longest in the world. There was a fear of Communism here.

No one wanted to say it, but people were like, “Is everything okay with our country?” Now, I don’t think that’s the case, but there’s a feeling of fear, especially in isolation. An idle mind is the devil’s playground, and everybody was getting paranoid in Canada. 

There’s a little mini-boom happening right now. I was super fortunate to be one of the first — probably will be the first one in Toronto or Ontario. Also, the first in Canada to start these shows, these ticketed, live shows when it was safe to do so because people needed to laugh.

I feel like the people who were coming every week at first were so on edge. Every week they’re almost getting a massage. I could see the stress leaving their body. It’s been like a spiritual experience, seeing everyone’s nerves calmed down.

Everybody’s having a laugh and also coming together safely, and giving people hope that life can resume. That was another big thing — the fact that people could actually get together. It’s not illegal to be doing this anymore. I think people needed that reassurance too.

MM: The relationship between stand-up comics and audiences is such a symbiotic one. Do you find that The Secret Show! has helped with continuing to foster that connection during these turbulent times?

KL: I definitely think so. It’s bringing everybody together in a way that’s viable. I’m trying to phrase this the right way. It made people realize that life can go on. People needed to live their lives again. They needed art. Stand-up is really interesting because it needs to be current.

They’re making all these Purge movies, and they’re making quarantine movies. “Oh no, the vaccine turns you into a zombie.” There’s a Michael Bay movie coming out that’s sort of like that.

That stuff doesn’t happen all at once because movies are such a big project. There’s a budget; there’s this, they got to promote it, they got to release it. By the time it’s released, that has already happened.

But standup is that night. Like the night 9/11 happened, there were comedy clubs open, and people were talking about it. Before that even makes the news, comedians are taking the real stuff that’s happening right now and extracting the truth out of it because that’s what makes it funny. If it’s fraudulent, they don’t really laugh.

But if it’s a Eureka moment — like when you understand a math equation, when you finally solve the puzzle — that a joke gives you, it’s because it resonates. It’s true. People needed truth when there was so much uncertainty. That’s the lock and key mechanism of comics and the audience, I think. So we were able to say some truth in a way that’s funny and entertaining. It’s not too heavy or dark. I think people took a load off and de-stressed because of the show. 

Headshot of standup comic Kyle Lucey.
Pictured: Kyle Lucey

MM: If you could snag a dream comic for The Secret Show!, who would that be?

KL: Dave Chappelle is my favorite comedian. I would say Dave Chappelle or Bill Burr, but it’d be hard to choose. I look up to them so much. Either one would be my dream comedian.

MM: Who or what are your comedic influences?

KL: Dave Chappelle. Probably one of the most apparent would be Richard Pryor because he talks about his pain. That’s where I find that comedy is an art form, or at least it can be. You could get comedians that could make “dick jokes” or whatever. Not that I don’t have those jokes too.

But when you are only that, it’s a bit juvenile. Richard Pryor was able to take his pain and his life and express it. When you watched him, especially when he lit himself on fire and he lit a match, and he goes, “Here’s Richard Pryor running down the street.” He’s bleeding for the crowd. It’s the archetype of being Christ-like in a way, where that’s his source material.

So that he could make people smile. It gave me permission to talk about my life because some of the stories I have are crazy. Also, in a way, I’m like, “Both of my parents have been to jail, and how do I rebel against them?” I put a tie on and get a job. Do you know what I mean?

I felt weird having that past, but when I saw him showing all of his faults, it was so powerful to me. Dave Chappelle because of his truth bombs. Bill Burr is fearless. Sarah Silverman because she could say a dark joke but has this smile about her that you can’t help but laugh at. You’re like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe she said that!” She has her charm. Dave Attell too, but Richard Pryor, I would say the most.

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MM: Do you have advice for aspiring comics looking to get their foot in the door of the industry?

KL: Do stand-up. Go to the open mics. Dive into it as much as you can. The most immediate thing you should do is try to figure out your voice. Connect to your soul, that “warm gooey center” that is you. That’s your essence and your being.

Once you’re able to connect to that, there’ll be nothing else like you. You’ll be the most original. Then it’s all about being comfortable. Any time people say, “You should be a comedian” in your personal life, that’s when you’re surrounded by close friends, and you’re comfortable. But when you go up on stage, it’s completely different cause it’s like, “How do I market myself as this product?”

Then you look at yourself from a different vantage point that isn’t coming from within. I would say connect to yourself, find your voice. Aim to be the best.

I knew a guy who said, “I just want to work the road one day.” He didn’t end up getting that because he aimed too low. It’s one of those like clichés, “Aim for the stars and you’ll land on the moon” type of thing. That’s completely true. Aim as high as you can.

Photo of Kyle Lucey doing standup comedy.
Pictured: Kyle Lucey

MM: Excellent! What’s on the horizon for Renegade Comedy? Do you have plans to expand or modify The Secret Show! once the pandemic slows down?

KL: Absolutely. Right now in Canada, fingers crossed, because, with the Delta variant, there are rumors of a fourth wave. But as it stands right now, The Secret Show! is expanding, and now we’re allowed 30 people inside.

It’s starting to open up. I’m taking the show to a legendary venue in Toronto called the Bovine Sex Club, which is this rock and roll dive bar. Some of the most famous musicians have performed or hung out there. It’s a staple in Toronto, and not a lot of comedy shows happen there.

I want to make comedians into rock stars, like Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy. I want to bring that vibe back. So, we’re going to bring the show there. August 26 is opening night, and it’s going to be a weekly residency there. We’ll continue to grow that, and when it’s the time when things open up, and we’re able to fly, I’m going to tour across the country.

MM: Have you binge-watched anything interesting during the pandemic?

KL: I’m going to out myself as such a nerd right now, but I’ve been liking anime lately. Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia. I binge-watched those for sure. I’m not even ashamed to admit it anymore. This is Geek Girl Authority, right?

MM: Yes, it is! We’re all about the geeky stuff! Lastly, name your top five favorite films or anything that pops into your head right now.

KL: The Departed, Scarface, Step Brothers. The Pianist was a beautiful movie.

MM: That’s one of my favorites.

KL: So moving. Maybe 28 Days Later.

MM: Thank you so much for chatting with me, Kyle! Congratulations on everything.

KL: Thank you for having me! This was so much fun!

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Be sure to follow Kyle on Instagram (@kyleluceycomedy) and on Twitter (@TheKyleLucey) to stay up-to-date on all things The Secret Show! and Renegade Comedy.

https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/m-h-murray-ghost-interview/

 

 

Melody McCune
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