A good sense of humour is often described as an important skill to leading a fulfilling and successful life. For Ottawa native Graham Kay humour is a lifestyle and career.
As an award-winning stand-up comedian, actor and TV writer, Kay has been described as “quick, clever, deliciously sarcastic and brilliantly funny” by the Huffington Post. Graham Kay brings his observational humour and sarcastic charm to Just For Laughs where he takes on everyday topics from surviving a breakup to tracing-paper pornography in this hilarious one-hour stand-up comedy special on Crave.
Graham Kay’s Crave special “Stupid Jokes” is about his family, friends and those who have known him for a long time. “Stupid Jokes is about making fun of my parents, my ex-girlfriends and cats. Basically, everyone or thing who has ever loved me,” says Kay.
During Kay’s childhood, he experienced bouts of depression and suffered from OCD. He used his struggles as an inspiration to enter the comedy business as he realised that he enjoyed making others happy.
“I used humour to prove that I wasn't stupid. I think having trouble at school and having a disabled brother taught me that humour is a great escape and coping mechanism. Using my brain to make others happy was a huge rush. I used to love making adults laugh. But not laugh at me in a "look at that silly kid being cute, but in a "wow, he got me. I'm impressed.'' It felt good to make people impressed when in school everyone, including the teachers, treated me like an idiot. It's frustrating when everybody thinks you’re dumb and you know you're smarter than most of them,” says Kay.
Kay hosts the world's top rated autism podcast called Autastic with fellow comedian Kirk Smith, who lives in Los Angeles. Kirk has a teenaged son with autism and Graham has an autistic adult brother. Together they talk about the lighter side of living with and coping with autism.
Recently, the comedian has performed stand-up on The Late Show with Steven Colbert with great success. He has also won the Just for Laughs 2013 Homegrown Comic Competition, and was nominated in 2014 as Best Stand Up Comedian at The Canadian Comedy Awards. Appearing on HLN’s On Call With Dr. Drew, Fusion’s Video On Trial, and the 2018 hit summer movie Super Troopers 2, Graham Kay has had experience with many different audiences. As well, Kay has written for the sitcom Spun Out on CTV, starring comedy legend Dave Foley. Graham’s comedy can currently be heard regularly on SiriusXM Radio and seen on CBC and The Comedy Network.
Living in the U.S., practically next door to the epicentre of COVID-19, Kay is tucked away in his Brooklyn home. Despite the difficult circumstances, he is working on a new web series that will be released online.
“I'm eating a lot of pasta. I wonder if Louis CK ate this much pasta when he was out of work for a bit? Food for thought. Also I've been working on a web series that I'm going to release later this month on my Instagram,” says Kay.
Check out Graham Kay’s “Stupid Jokes” on Crave and keep up to date with web series on Instagram!