University improv teams practise together for the comedy festival.
This year, Cracking up the Capital is celebrating 10 years of supporting mental health with the biggest comedy festival Ottawa has ever seen.
John Helmkay, president of Cracking up the Capital, says the goal for this year’s festival is $30,000, totalling over $150,000 raised in the past 10 years. The festival takes place until Feb. 8.
Proceeds from the festival go towards community organizations such as The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre and Women for Mental Health.
“We’ve always thought there was a strong link between comedy and mental health because comedy is very therapeutic and healing for those with mental illness,” says Helmkay. “So the opposite of depression, obviously, would be laughing.”
The festival began 10 years ago when Helmkay and a friend, Jim McNally created a one-night comedy festival to support the Royal Ottawa volunteer association. Back then, the one-night comedy show consisted of two comedians and an audience of 250 people.
The festival has expanded to a four-night event ran by 12 volunteers. Helmkay says he anticipates more than 3,000 people with a lineup of 20 comedians including Rick Mercer, Mary Walsh, Patrick McKenna, Martha Chaves and the Carleton University and University of Ottawa improv teams.
For Patrick McKenna, a Canadian comedian, cracking up an audience is something he’s done since he was a young boy. This is McKenna’s third year hosting and this year he will be co-hosting the finale with comedian Mary Walsh.
“(The finale night) is my favourite night because that’s when you get to see all the volunteers together,” McKenna says. “You get to see a lot of the people that are benefitting from the experience, so it’s a real reminder of why you’re doing it.”
McKenna says he does the most he can to offer laughs to support a good cause. But he says Ottawa audiences can be a tough crowd.
“You better be on your toes because it’s a very intelligent city. A lot of rude comedy doesn’t work well,” he says.
But sometimes a serious discussion is needed to get the message across in Ottawa.
It was Rick Mercer’s rant about teen suicide that received a huge response. Mercer, who will be receiving a Comedy Icon Lifetime Achievement Award, ranted about the 300 suicides in Canada in 2011, the year that Jamie Hubley, Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley’s son, took his own life.
This year Hubley is the honourary co-chair of the festival.
Hubley says adding humor to mental health is a great way to help people better understand the serious issue that affects one in five Canadians.
“It’s very good for increasing awareness and having people understand the finer details of what it means to live with a mental illness. It also gives the message that life’s not over just because you have a mental illness to deal with,” he says.
Hubley says he loves going to the festival every year to see so many people enjoy themselves, something that the festival organizers are planning to enhance for 2017.
For Canada’s 150th birthday, the festival hopes to bring big names to the stage, such as Jim Carrey and Mike Myers.
“It’s good for all of us to have a good laugh now and then,” he says. “Laughter is the best medicine.”