More than 19 months after wildfire rewrote Jasper’s story overnight, a comedy trio is hoping to bring some levity to the town’s current chapter.

The Talk of the Town Comedy Tour is a multi-city romp through Saskatchewan and Alberta that makes its ‘one-night-only’ Jasper stop on Wednesday, March 18 at The Stand Easy (Jasper Legion), bringing with it a lineup that has collectively played Shanghai dive bars, Canadian television studios, and everything in between. 

At the centre of the event is Scott Porteous, the tour’s producer and its most gloriously strange act. Under his alter ego Herbert Henries – the country’s first, self-proclaimed “Comedy Dangerist” – Porteous earned four yes votes on Canada’s Got Talent and a devoted following at Yuk Yuk’s by doing things no reasonable person would describe as planned out. Audience members throw plastic knives at him. Straitjackets are involved.

“Of course, some people’s interpretation of danger may be different to his,” Scott says of Herbert Henries.

Joining Porteous is Dewey Parker, a high-energy storyteller who spent five years building a fanbase in Shanghai’s underground comedy scene before returning home to be crowned Winnipeg’s Funniest Person With a Day Job in 2024. His loose, improvisational style provides a sharp counterpoint to Porteous’s controlled chaos.

For the Jasper and Rocky Mountain House legs specifically, Edmonton’s Cindy Rivers rounds out the bill. A Newfoundland-born trans comedian, activist, and artist who found her voice after coming out in Fort McMurray at age 30, Rivers has since become a festival circuit fixture, sharing stages with some of comedy’s biggest names. Her material is built on sharp observations about modern life’s many absurdities—delivered, by all accounts, with the kind of effortless crowd connection that makes a room feel like it was always supposed to be together.

That sense of connection is precisely the point.

“Comedy is tragedy plus time,” Porteous said. “It’s a form of healing, a form of coping. Someone will come up to me after a show and say, ‘I had a bad day — that really helped.’ And you know, it’s still a form of healing. We’re not fixing the scar. But we’re definitely making it easier to cope.”

The Talk of the Town Comedy Tour picks up the mic next Wednesday, March 18 at The Stand Easy (Royal Canadian Legion) in, Jasper, AB. Tickets are $25. 

Cameron Jackson // info@thejasperlocal.com