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.”
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet with Vladimir Putin in a political boost for the isolated Russian president after the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes in Ukraine.
Even at one of the tallest natural peaks on Earth, humans have left their mark in a trail of bacteria as researchers have found germs from coughing and sneezing that have been potentially preserved for centuries on Mount Everest.
A community is in mourning after a 10-year-old girl was killed earlier this week when flames tore through her family’s camping trailer southeast of Brantford.
St. Patrick's day street parties in Waterloo, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau making an announcement in Guelph, and a woman charged with defrauding doulas round out the most-read stories of the week.
Lane restrictions are now in place on Wellington Street as construction gets underway on Phase 1 of the Wellington Gateway and Municipal Infrastructure Improvements project.
The first day of spring in the London region will be a beautiful one. The daytime high is forecast to be 6 C, slightly warmer than the average high for this time of year.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
The Rideau McDonald's Farewell March brought people from across the city, some dressed in costumes, who wanted to say goodbye to a part of what they say makes Ottawa Ottawa.
If you are yearning to walk the trails around Mud Lake in the Britannia Conservation Area, be aware there are wild turkeys looking for mates. A gang of three have been chasing and pecking at visitors to the nature trail for weeks.
March 20 marks the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, and, after a long, grey winter, Torontonians can soon look forward to warmer temperatures and sunnier days.
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Two families were displaced early Monday morning after a fire ripped through a building in Montreal's Quartier Latin. No one was injured, according to the Montreal fire department (SIM).
The University of Prince Edward Island Faculty Association says its staff has gone on strike after what it says are failed attempts to enter additional negotiations with the university's administration.
The student union president at Cape Breton University said food insecurity has become a concern for many students and the on-campus food bank cannot keep up with demand.
The University of Prince Edward Island coach is defending the team’s actions, after the University of Alberta team skated off the ice without handshakes at the U Sports Men’s Hockey National Championship in Charlottetown.
One person has been confirmed dead and six people remain missing as police continue to search for victims after a fire swept through a building in Old Montreal on Thursday.
The Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation hosted the first Lead By Example Powwow this weekend in honour of a young Indigenous man who was shot to death four years ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
Vancouver firefighters were called to the Downtown Eastside Sunday evening after a fire destroyed multiple tents in an encampment and spread to a building near Main and East Hastings streets.
An international student was swarmed and beaten by a group of people who ripped off his turban and dragged him across the sidewalk by his hair in Kelowna, B.C., Friday evening, according to a local politician.
