Have you ever considered couples counselling, but are super turned off by how serious and humourless it can be? Wouldn’t you rather get half-drunk off red wine and laugh at other couples as they laugh at themselves? Well then, Vancouver comedians Aaron Campbell and Cass Furman have just the event for you, with their travelling comedy show, Couples Clownselling.
“I feel like a lot of stand-up comedians, or comedians in general, have a lot of material about their relationships,” says Furman. “We just had this idea of doing couples. We wanted to see what it would be like to bring on stand-up comedians and their partners, most of whom are not comedians, onto the show, and see what happens.”
The format of the show is simple. Campbell and Furman are a scrappy couple who find other scrappy couples and improvise answers to audience questions about their relationships.
“The audience gets to ask anonymous questions at the start of the show and put them in a bucket,” says Campbell. “We quickly sort them and try to match them to people we think would answer them funnily. The questions range [from] anything from relationship advice to what people are going through.”
Part of the dynamic tension of the format is that often one member of each guest couple is not accustomed to performing on stage, which increases relatability with the audience, and accordingly, the humour. Furman and Campbell are skilled at doing the heavy lifting in moments where anxiety or awkwardness cause guests to stumble, and they often use their own relationship as a scapegoat for laughs by pretending to argue with each other.
“I tell all the couples is that if they can’t answer a question or they’re struggling to answer a question or come up with an answer, Aaron and I will answer it,” says Furman. “And we’ll usually—more often than not—fight or bicker on stage to take the heat off of the other couple.”
The off-the-cuff honesty behind the show’s format allows for the audience to ask anything they can think of, and, usually, the performers are game.
“We do give the couples a chance to give us the no-go zone, and we always respect that,” says Campbell. “We give them the out, but for the most part they are pretty down with anything, and what’s cool is that they don’t have to be funny answers, because honesty is sometimes the funny thing.”
As social creatures, part of what makes humour funny is the mutual release of tension or discomfort. As the show progresses, the guests become more familiar with being in the spotlight, and the audience becomes more familiar with the guests as people.
“The audience can feel the tension, and the tension also helps create comedy, right?” says Furman. “When the person does say something funny, or does ease into the role of, you know, being on stage, people get really excited about that.”
The real curiosity of the format is the demystification of relationships as a social experiment. The audience may be comprised of people who have had their own experience with the highs and lows of long-term relationships and are curious what it’s like for others, or they might be people who are unfamiliar with love and what it means to be in love… for better or for worse.
“People are very curious about what it means to fall in love and stay in love, and when that looks authentic and when it doesn’t,” says Furman. “I think people are just very curious to see those relationships in front of them, because no matter if the couple is the funniest couple on the show, or whether they’re nervous, or whatever’s happening, you get a glimpse into their relationship, and I think people just like to voyeur that dynamic.”
Couples Clownselling
7 pm Saturday, September 19
$30, The Mint
linktr.ee/couplesclownselling