If you don’t know Graham Clark, are you even from the lower mainland? You know, the Juno-nominated guy from Stop Podcasting Yourself, The Laugh Gallery, Ring-A-Ding-Dong-Dandy? He’s hosted events, including the Vancouver Comedy Awards. Maybe you remember him from the last couple times he did 24 straight hours of stand-up comedy!
You’ll recognize Clark. He’s been on every telephone pole in the city at one point or another. If you’ve ever hung out on Commercial Drive, Clark’s probably flashed you a smile. He’s a pretty distinctive guy, his beard enters a room before he does. Stand-up fundraisers aren’t the only work Clark’s done for charity: he’s used that beard to create paintings that he’s sold to benefit various causes over the years.
Always advocating for others, Clark pushed back against Just For Laughs’ exploitative contracts for Canadian comics, and successfully campaigned for the return of the Juno category for “Best Comedy Album”.
In 2021, Little Mountain Gallery, the beloved volunteer-run Mount Pleasant comedy venue, were evicted from their building on Main Street. So shortly after the closure of Toast Collective, another comedy venue, the eviction brought the future of local live comedy into question. That’s when Clark decided to stand up for local comedy in a major way.
For a full 24 hours, Clark performed at LMG as a fundraiser for the Little Mountain Gallery Eviction Fund, reading jokes written for him by a rotating panel of comedians seated at a table and people on Twitter to a rotating audience. For accessibility and to expand reach, the fundraiser was also livestreamed.
The success of the first “24-Hours of Stand-Up” fundraiser inspired the comedy community and created global buzz, with remote viewers and donors from all over the world. So Clark did it again. Last year, in the new Little Mountain Gallery in Gastown, Clark raised $3000 for WISH Drop-In Centre Society with another 24 hours of stand-up comedy.
This year’s fundraiser is for Filipino BC, in response to the attack on the Lapu Lapu Festival. The event will start at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 23 at Little Mountain Gallery, and continue until 8 p.m. the following night. The panel will once again be made up of local comics, including Dave Shumka, Clark’s partner and co-host of Stop Podcasting Yourself, at noon on Saturday. Funds are accepted through GoFundMe or ticket sales. Tickets are sold as 75-minute blocks. Multi-hour passes are also available.