Local comedian Lars Callieou has a show he designed to be enjoyed by deaf and hard of hearing people.
“I always wanted my jokes to read funny so this is a test to see if they’re as funny on paper as I’d like to think they are,” said Callieou.
“Typically hard of hearing people can never go to comedy, we miss every punchline. We hear the joke up to it, up to it, and miss everything," said Cindy Gordon with Canadian Hard of Hearing.
Callieou got the idea for the show after seeing a message from Crystal Jones, a fan who is hard of hearing. Jones said she had always wanted to perform and asked if he’d be interested in doing a show.
“I’m really excited because I have never been to a comedian show so it’s going to be a firsthand experience for me,” Jones told CTV News Edmonton.
Callieou’s first show at the Yellowhead Casino was to a sold out showroom.
“There’s obviously an appetite for this,” said Gordon. “We need it, we want to be part of society, we’ve been cut out for too long.”
Callieou said he is happy to keep the jokes coming for any audience, whether they are reading or hearing them.
“The jokes will play, it’s a universal language. I think that’s one way to say it.
Callieou has another show with a captioner Thursday at the Spotlight Cabaret.
