VIDEO: Laughter is finally returning to downtown St. Catharines

For St. Catharines and the Niagara Region in general, the last two years of daily pandemic numbers have been anything but funny.

But if the month of May has one definitive movement, it’s the dedication to bring the laughs back to downtown St. Catharines.

Early response to John Cleese’s one night coming to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre forced the venue to add a second show so he’ll kick off the month on May 3 and 5 at 7:30 pm both nights.

While he has gotten somewhat curmudgeonly at 82 years old, recently railing against a steaming service that yanked a couple of now considered offensive episodes of Fawlty Towers, as a founding member of comedy troupe Monty Python in the 1960s and 1970s, people should recall that no institution, especially religion, was sacred to the six performers.

Showtime Comedy and Entertainment, the tiny venue at 92 St. Paul St, really got back into the swing of things at the beginning of April and are rolling into May with even more laughs.

Pro Am Night, their weekly showcase featuring Niagara’s best comedians and hosted by Chris Jarvie, is back in full swings and the laughs will be coming May 5 and 12 with the shows kicking off at 8 pm.

Kyle Brownrigg, an LGBTQ comic based out of Toronto, hilariously spoofs both the gay and straight communities in his set. He’ll be coming to Showtime on May 13 and 14, hitting the stage at 8 pm.

And Showtime is closing the month big with former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows (“The Ladies Man”) with five shows from May 26 to 28, hitting the stage on the 26th at 8 pm and then double shows at 8 and 10:30 pm on the 27th and 28th. For a tiny club, that’s landing a pretty big fish.

Tickets for FirstOntario Performing Arts shows can be found HERE while tickets for Showtime Comedy can be found over HERE.

Meanwhile, here’s a quick snippet from Brownrigg’s show where he hilariously claimed the gay community wants “all the letters!”