10 Canadians Who Crushed in Comedy in 2022

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2022 in Canadian comedy saw the return of the stand up comedy album, full capacity venues and a renewed love of the craft created ideal conditions for some monster releases.  2022 in the Toronto scene especially was a year of growth, grief and learning how to move on.  This list not only reflects great comedy albums but albums that served as a marker in the career of the comics that made them.

Comedy albums are beautiful, highly personal,  and with every album I have the pleasure of listening to over the course of the year it is never lost on me how they are the culmination of years of work.

Comedy is a talent I do not possess a talent I remain in awe of.

With that said, here are the 10 album deserving special recognition this year from Canadian artists.

John Mostyn: Scottish Cunt. (Cottage Comedy)

Scottish forged and Toronto based, Mostyn is at a point his career where everything he has earned has been gained without cutting corners. He built his reputation as a host and has a mild personality off stage juxtaposed with this Scottish rockstar from Mars who was released on the audience the moment he walked on stage to record Scottish cunt. It’s high energy but always controlled. Scottish Cunt is an entirely polished body of work that took years to perfect while also being simultaneously raw and effortlessly cool.  Released on Cottage Comedy (the label headed by notorious roaster and stand up Tyler Morrison) as both a special and a album. It was recorded and shot by the multi talented Tyler Shazma. Scottish cunt is an album that pushes out space in the Canadian industry for what kind of comedy can exist.

Juliana Rodrigues: Natural Sloucher. (Comedy Records)

It’s been a huge year for Juliana Rodrigues! She opened for Whitney Cummings. She had a run of headlining shows at JFL Toronto. She got into dressing like a “French Girl” and released Natural Sloucher on Barry Taylor’s label Comedy Records. This album makes it all look so easy but is rooted in the comedic perspective of understanding what she isn’t just as much as what she is. Clear disdain without ever being mean or hyper feminine- a bench mark of early to mid 20’s that is distinct and relatable.

Rodrigues has a quiet confidence when addressing topics that have clearly had hard won healing like divorce and OCD. A very enjoyable record from a comic on the rise.

Courtney Gilmour: Let Me Hold Your Baby. (Comedy Records)

Courtney Gilmour has the potential to be the next big Canadian star. She is a festival darling, a very hard worker and clever writer. 2022 was a year for Gilmour that was many in the making.  As a finalist on Canada’s got talent, her performances evaded the expected gimmicks of comedians in televised talent shows. Instead the nation got to see what Toronto stand up audiences have known for years. Courtney is a beautiful endearing performer. Her album Let Me Hold Your Baby is a collection of her most polished material that is versatile and whip smart. It captures the command Gilmour has over an audience with her blunt and adorable persona that is always watching.

Moe Ismail: Homeroom Habibi. (Independent)

Moe Ismail has a contemporary cool you cannot teach despite that teaching is his day Job.  This album was brilliantly released fresh off a run at JFL Toronto. Homeroom Habibi is an account of being the flyest Egyptian in the staff room. The most skillful bits on this record play with the notion that his students are innocent and helpless. Emerging from the scene created by Toronto clubs like The Corner and Backroom comedy club. There is an excitability and heat to his comedy. This record is in the pocket and top of its class.

Jason Allen: Known Alias ( 

This record is very good. Jason Allen’s comedic style was forged in Hamilton a working class city outside of Toronto who’s audiences consist of college kids, junkies and all sorts of people looking for a reason to smile. Allen himself is a humble serious comic who will take almost any gig, do his best to shake hands and leave.  Known Alias is an undeniable body of work that covers the brutality and monotonous pace of life. Peppered with an almost 1940’s delivery at times in moments of sly wit. This record is real stand up without the need to shock or show off.

Jackie Pirico: Splash Pad 

Jackie Pirico is a performer who delightfully resides in a world of her own creation.  A member of the long standing alt comedy collective Laugh Sabbath, she is a force of pastel coloured bliss. Her second record Splash Pad is a glimpse into the maturation of her comedic style. There is a subversive refreshing satire to everything Pirico does on this record that goes to almost filthy places with skill. The very real pressures of being a woman in your 30’s are called out by Pirico in a way that makes you laugh, and feel warm, fuzzy and silly as her beloved Cat Nutland.

Marito Lopez: Beautiful Papi (Cottage Comedy)

This record is a piece of soulful art and the second release from Cottage Comedy to make this list. Marito  is one of the most unique and stylish voices to come out of Canadian comedy in a decade. Marito Lopez starts out this record with not quite a robot but not quite a beautiful woman repeating Papi. This primes the listener for a journey about life, loss, overcoming addiction and Lopez falling back in love with himself and all the places  he has been. High energy punctuated with his larger than life, higher self Papi. You can see whatever you want to in this record and it’s the many layers of beauty and evolution.

Dakota Ray Hebert: I’ll Give You an Indian Act (Howl and Roar)

There is an exciting and important scene of indigenous comics from all over the industry emerging. The Got Land showcase at JFL Toronto that featured Dakota Ray Hebert (who also had a full run of solo shows) Paul Rabliauskas, Janelle Niles among others was a bold and necessary statement that the talent is undeniable and stereotypes and oppression will no longer be tolerated.  Dakota Ray Hebert is at the forefront of this scene and was interviewed quite extensively for Kliph Nesteroff’s book “We Had a Little Real Estate Problem” about indigenous people and comedy. Her record, I’ll Give You an Indian Act released on the ever progressive Howl and Roar label headed by Allison Dore is a timestamp of this moment. She does not shy away from speaking truth to power. Laughing in the face of capitalists , liars and the history  they have written and perpetuated. This record really shows there is great power in making art about what oppresses you.  The importance of this record cannot be fully understood until time passes to solidify the cultural moment in Canada around it.  Listen to it. Laugh. Learn something.

Salma Hindy: Born on 9/11 (Comedy Records)

Salma Hindy had a great year. She opened up  for Chelsea Handler, and she appeared on a Just for Laughs Gala. She also had a fierce television appearance on Roast Battle Canada. And she’s proof of the adage that comedy is tragedy plus time. Born on 9/11 pokes fun at one of the largest absurdities in Hindy’s life: that as a devout muslim woman, 9/11 was her tenth birthday.  Hindy is a brilliant comic who remains truly authentic by being at ease and flux with a complicated identity. This record feels like secrets when Hindy goes off with comedic vulnerability about contradictions to religious life, her strict up bringing and Bidets.  Hindy is the sort of talent the comedy world has needed for a long time and this record should makes listeners curious about what’s next in what will be a very long career.

Sarah Hillier and Inessa Frantowski: Inessa and Sarah Get You Through the Day (Howl and Roar)

This was a delightful record. Many comedy insiders know Inessa Frantowski who made the New faces sketch comedy showcase 2023 at Just for Laughs this summer. She is known for being incredibly talented with hilarious characters who are well meaning and trying their best. Frantowski is also known for being the kindest warmest person on and off stage. Never neglecting the friendship and bonds she made in Toronto. This record reunites Frantowski with long time friend and collaborator Sarah Hillier, an improviser and sketch comic with 1000 watt energy very much in the traditional Toronto sketch comedy style.   The record is a spoof on the meditation apps and self help culture that at once brought us comfort and drove us crazy in the pandemic. It’s a record that encourages listeners to not take life too seriously after surviving a very serious thing.

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