Local comedian hopes documentary can showcase Windsor’s stand-up scene
Local comedian hopes documentary can showcase Windsor’s stand-up scene
A local stand-up comedian is planning to premier a documentary this year that will put Windsor’s comedy community centre stage.
CJ Bernauer says he was always into comedy growing up — watching Saturday Night Live and the Late Show with Conan O’Brien.
He says he couldn’t wait to try stand up for himself.
“They said you can’t go until you’re 19. So it was my birthday on October 14 and I went on the 19th to do my first show,” Bernauer says.
According to him, his first set, at the former Komedy Korner on Dougall Avenue, was not a hit.
“I thought it was good, that’s the worst part,” he explains.
“Then after I got off another comedian said, ‘I told you you were going to suck.’”
Bernauer says many people might not realize Windsor has a comedy scene.
He says people who find out he performs often ask if he crosses into Detroit or otherwise leave town.
The city, however, has had a rich history with the art. It was local comedian Leo Dufour, former owner of the Komedy Korner, who handed Bernauer the mic that first night.
The now-retired Dufour, heralded as a local legend, is one of seven comedians interviewed in Bernauer’s Rose City Comedy documentary. [LINK: https://www.rosecitycomedy.ca/ ]
“I figure I did about 6,000 shows,” Dufour says in the documentary, “and I’m still not famous.”
Bernauer has spearheaded the documentary project alone and is editing himself. He’s hired crews to do some of the filming but says he’s doing 99 per cent of the work.
He hopes for the film to debut at this year’s Windsor International Film Festival — and in the meantime is working on making it possible for interested individuals to provide funding.
His own personal story also serves as a narrative arc through the documentary.
In 2014, about four years after he started doing stand-up, Bernauer’s 18-year-old sister Emily was killed in a car accident.
He says he struggled to perform in the wake of his family’s tragedy, eventually opting to hang up the mic.
“I didn’t want to make people laugh,” he says.
“I was very cynical. I was very bitter. It was not funny. That’s not a funny vibe to have.”
He stopped performing for about seven years, finding humour once again while stuck at home with his kids during COVID-19 lockdowns.
He started performing again in April 2022, but found his old material no longer worked.
“In a way it was like riding a bike, but it’s like riding a bike in a brand new neighbourhood,” says Bernauer.
Aside from discovering the local comedy scene and maybe finding some local comics they want to check out, Bernauer says he hopes Rose City Comedy inspires people to pursue their passions — whether or not that’s stand-up comedy.
“Here’s a bunch of people who are pursuing something that they’re really passionate about,” he says of the subjects in the documentary.
“Some of them are business owners, some have full time jobs, but they still want to do this.”
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
A scientist at CAMH says video games have similar addictive features to gambling which cause social isolation of the individual and dependency on the activity.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
The federal Liberals are trending downward on three key measures while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has surpassed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when it comes to the question of who Canadians would prefer now as their prime minister, according to Nanos Research.
A Toronto police officer's request to explore a theory that a distraught teen he shot was trying to die by "suicide by cop" has been rejected by a coroner overseeing an inquest into the youth's death.
When the store manager at La Noisette Bakery arrived Thursday morning to open the small shop on Oxford Street, she discovered that one of the two large circular windows at the side of their building was shattered.
Dog kennels are bursting at the seams as pet owners forced to give up their furry friends struggle with risings costs of living. Despite a rise in cat and kitten adoptions, dog adoptions are down by over 50 per cent.
There are exciting plans for Knox Presbyterian Church in downtown Sudbury. Built in 1927, the former church was sold after its congregation dwindled and will be transformed into a concert hall.
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
Premier Doug Ford is slamming federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault as a “real piece of work” in the wake of public remarks he made suggesting that Ontario has “no plan to fight climate change.”
Just a week after Airbnb tightened regulations for Quebec listings following a deadly fire, hosts may already be bending the rules. Airbnb now requires its hosts to provide a six-digit policy number with their listing, obtained when a tourist lodging is registered with the provincial government. But a scroll through the Airbnb website suggests users are falsifying their permit numbers to sneak past the authentication process.
A lawyer for the United States government told Quebec's highest court today that the country should be immune from prosecution for the infamous brainwashing experiments at McGill University from the 1940s to the 1960s.
It's been two weeks since a major fire ripped through a heritage building in the heart of Old Montreal, killing seven people and forever altering the lives of families across the globe. For the families of those who died, the grieving process is only starting.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
Gun policy comments made by then-RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki in a contentious call to Nova Scotia RCMP officers after the mass shooting in 2020 did not amount to political interference, the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) final report concludes.
Two Manitoba hunting outfitters have been fined thousands of dollars and lost their licenses after a four-year investigation revealed numerous violations of the wildlife act.
A judge has acquitted a now-retired priest of forcing himself on a residential school student more than 50 years ago, saying she believes an assault happened but could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt who did it.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has yet to answer direct questions about a growing scandal of her alleged interference with the justice system, but her deputy premier has responded the media about the issue.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has yet to answer direct questions about a growing scandal of her alleged interference with the justice system, but her deputy premier has responded the media about the issue.
Police have released video of a suspected arsonist who allegedly caused thousands of dollars in smoke and water damage to a building in Vancouver's Chinatown last weekend.
