Cochlear Implant

Imagine for one second, if you will, the idea of being funny for a living. I think we all dream of it a little bit and some of us even show glimmers of that humour sparkle from time to time but it’s nothing that’s going to make us any money. Hilarious for a living? A little far-fetched, no? It’s not even worth imagining.

Matt Alden, improviser, sketch-comedian and a large part of the Edmonton humour elite, admittedly just scrapes by, but he’s found his fortune in funny. Alden is the head writer forCaution: May Contain Nuts — a 22-minute weekly sketch comedy series that doesn’t hold back the comedic vitriol. Alden has noticed the transition from the stage to the screen isn’t as seamless as he and his troupe might like.

“We totally try to do social and political commentary. It’s funny though: the more we want to say something with a sketch, the harder it is to get on the air. We’ve toned down our show quite a bit — that’s just what happens. The stuff we would get away with on stage really pushed the lines — but when it’s bigger and there are legal implications, it is more difficult. It’s a total pain in the ass,” laughs Alden. “It’s frustrating, especially when you’re starting out because you really want to do the sketches that you want to do. People are scared of crossing the lines — offending a particular religion or something. Family Guy is 30 times worse than our show.”

As the Gemini-nominated show enters its second season, Alden is learning that he and his colleagues have a little more artistic muscle to flex now — and as this happens, the show improves. And, in all likeliness, ‘improving’ means becoming edgier as a show — and trust me, edgier and funnier sketch ideas are pretty much all Alden wants to talk about.

“It is so funny. The lawyers we work with say, ‘Well, you can’t do Gandhi because we’ll all get sued,’ but we’re like, ‘by who? Gandhi?’,” says Alden. “The more we move up as a show, the more people who don’t know comedy at all are in control. But we’re getting more control as we move along — so that’s nice.”

And the more the show increases in popularity and importance doesn’t affect the roots of Alden and the May Contain Nuts family. He and his troupe are among the top shelf in Edmonton — something he is very proud of. “Everyone says that if you want to make it you have to go to Toronto or Vancouver and I just refused — I’d rather be living poor and living in Edmonton. Although the $100,000 opportunities don’t come up that often here, you do get to play more often than you would in those cities. I can do Theatre Sports on Friday, Chimprov on Saturday, and Rapid Fire on Wednesdays. We stuck it out and we’re an example of a group from Edmonton that actually got a show. And we’re from the West — this never happens.”

So what do we think?

Although it has obnoxious and slightly annoying theme music, Caution: May Contain Nuts is quite the gem of a show. In the sketch-like vein of SCTV and Kids in the Hall, Nuts is a well-versed piece of political and social commentary — topics that, when touched by comedy, have a tremendous appeal.

Ranging from the Israeli-Palestine conflict to Aboriginal rights and issues, Matt Alden, Howie Miller, et al deliver. The improvisational aspect of the show might be slightly askew — because it seems to be lacking a lot of improv — and the “live audience” and laugh-tracks become a bit nauseating at times, but the program makes up for it in certain laugh-out-loud moments. Matt Alden promises that the second and future seasons will contain more improv, more risqué topics and, as a result, more hilarity. Of course this can only mean that if/when network executives loosen the restriction of what makes it on air and what doesn’t (and how this is done), the show will continue to flourish, be nominated for more Gemini awards, and gain new fans. Changing the theme music wouldn’t hurt either — just saying.