Comedy Now!: Levi MacDougall

Imagine a comedian standing on stage trying to figure out if Navy SEALs could breathe underwater if they used the holes in a giant piece of floating Swiss cheese. That is the kind of logic at play here. The performance depends on a specific brand of deadpan absurdity, where hypothetical scenarios are treated with the seriousness of a courtroom trial.

Taped in Toronto in 2004, the set caught the comedian just three years into his stand-up career. Because he was told he could perform as long as he wanted, he ended up throwing almost every joke he had into the routine. The kitchen-sink approach worked. He covers the physical distress of moving from Canadian Celsius to American Fahrenheit air, fanning the stage with his hands like a fish on the sidewalk, and questions why people bother donating to save Earth when they could be earmarking their charity money for Saturn. There are no oceans on Saturn, but at least there is no air pollution.

The televised performance went on to win a Canadian Comedy Award for Best Taped Live Performance and secured a Gemini Award nomination. It is a snapshot of a writer finding a distinct, odd voice before moving on to write for US television.