Daniel and Fred are accompanied by comedian Lucas Waterfill for a post CripTrip discussion on disability and comedy. Lucas, along with his cat Sarah-tonin, shares insights into his beginnings. The three arts majors delve into the topics of integrity and accessibility within their respective fields.
Daniel and Fred are accompanied by comedian Lucas Waterfill for a post CripTrip discussion on disability and comedy. Lucas, along with his cat Sarah-tonin, shares insights into his beginnings. The three arts majors delve into the topics of integrity and accessibility within their respective fields.
Watch the Cat Photobombing that charmed a nation on YouTube Shorts
Chapters
See more of Lucas in episode 4 of Crip Trip 'Merica streaming now on AMI+
Guest Bio
Lucas Waterfill (Chicago) - Website: http://www.lucaswaterfill.com
Lucas Waterfill is a seriously brilliant comedian. He is able to make big points about society, while being sure to make it plain that he doesn't have the answers either. He doesn't hide his mistakes, and he has a great vocabulary at his disposal to help describe them. He's won several contests and been in several festivals. He's opened for several famous people, making their job more difficult, as the audience falls in love with Lucas every time.
Article - "Indy Comedian Growing Stand-Up Career with Cerebral Palsy"
Follow Lucas Waterfill online:
Stream Lucas’s first comedy special “Lucas Waterfill: Public Inconvenience” now: Amazon Prime, YouTube
Hold on and 3, 2, 1.
'It's Danny and Fred. They have a Crip Trip podcast.'
This podcast contains strong language
and adult themes that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Danny and I are in Edmonton, chatting over Zoom
with our guest Lucas Waterfill,
who's in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of
Crip Trip, the podcast.
We are joined here today by Lucas Waterfill,
Indianapolis, native
and comedian
legend,
Legendary comedian.
Absolutely.
Yes. Thank you so much.
Hi. How are you guys?
We're doing pretty good.
We're, we just got back not too long ago,
so we're shaking off some of the post trip blues,
getting back into the swing of things.
We don't hate each other anymore.
Our annulment is getting,
you know, reviewed in court.
So we're doing, we're doing good.
We got married.
Yeah.
And then divorced.
Wow.
And then now we're reconsidering
divorce. That was the bet.
Was I drunk when that happened?
I, I don't remember getting married, but maybe
Did you, did you guys conconsummate it?
Yeah, of course.
We're saving it for season two.
Yeah.
Yeah. Consummation,
I have idea.
I have ideas for season two.
Ooh. Ooh.
I, I think you,
I think you and me and other electric
wheelchair users should drive across America
Just like one massive Mad Max, Crip Trip convoy.
Yeah. I don't hate it.
And that, and like,
and like get, so we carry
chargers with like,
we carry batteries with us.
And like, that would take so long now.
I mean, that's
Essentially what we did you see electric wheelchairs,
Is that as opposed to like,
are there gas powered wheelchairs?
I don't even know.
I mean,
there's gotta be, there's gotta, yeah.
Some, some crippled redneck somewhere.
This is a lawnmower.
They, they invented disabled shooting.
I, I remember looking into that.
Oh, I'm not, I'm not gonna use some electric
(indistinct)
I'm rolling coal in the middle of my house.
It was solar powered grids
Your whole house just smells like diesel.
(Danny laughs)
I grew up in Alberta. That's just,
Yeah that's. That's called going outside.
(group laughing)
But um, yeah, we should like, take paths.
I'm sure there's a path like across
some part of America or Canada.
Do you mean Like a
Do you mean in an RV
or like just driving the power chairs down the road?
No, just driving the power chairs.
That's wild.
I want faster chairs then.
We're definitely going gas powered for that.
Well, do you have to run behind you the whole time?
Like yeah, you gotta Terry Fox it,
but you're not Terry Fox, but you have heart problems.
So I'd get, I'd get, I die,
But I'd get in shape while doing it.
You're gonna need to work on your cardio.
Try not to have an aneurysm on the way.
That would be a great episode four though.
We would be your snow, like your huskies.
Yeah, I, I've got, I've got the
barrel thing around my neck.
Yeah, that would be a bad look to me. That'd be a bad look.
Is it kink, is it problematic? No one really knows.
(group laughs)
You guys have to wear leather.
Everybody's like, I think I'm offended,
but I don't know why. (Fred & Danny laugh)
I'm also partially aroused. I don't... [Fred] I'm really turned on.
(Lucas laughs)
But thank you for, you know,
taking the time to chat with us about comedy
and specifically, you know,
the disabled community within the comedy scene.
You know, I am more curious now than I've ever been
after, you know, having done a mildly successful set.
Oh yeah. Wow. How, how, how does it feel,
you know, being away from it now
and you're, you're recollecting like retrospectively.
How, how do you think you did? Did it, did it go well?
I've had the advantage of watching some of the footage,
some of the raw footage of us doing comedy.
And your jokes really landed. Mm.
Mine, mine didn't really land. A couple of them did.
And I honestly, I don't think it was the content.
I think it was me not memorizing it
and staring at my phone the whole time.
Mm. Being nervous. But I, I don't know. I listened to it.
I, I actually found what I did. Pretty, pretty funny.
It's pretty mean. It was pretty funny.
And I, and I it came off like being
supportive of you in the end.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So I, I tried to So
You it did it right.
I did it right. But I was, I think was so scared
and so unprepared that my, the
Audience taps into that energy.
For sure. What did you think of us Lucas?
Were we dog shit? Were we,
I, no, I was mad at you Daniel, that you did so well.
I mean, that, that's
how you know you did well is when
a comedian is mad at you so.
Yeah your jokes landed.
And I just think,
I just think the other side came from a place of love.
Yeah. Came from a place of honesty.
I mean, it wasn't like set up punchline,
but it was, you know,
for a first time it was good.
I've seen a lot worse. I, in my,
I was preparing for the worst mentally I was like,
I was like, Yeah,
I've never heard of someone doing good
their first time doing comedy, so I'm just gonna like,
accept the fact that I'm gonna bomb.
You did great. The audience was really
on your side. Yeah.
And I think, yeah, that, what that translated
to was like a vague amount of confidence.
'cause I was prepared
to just bomb fully and then I did all right.
And I was like, okay, I can, I can relax a little bit now.
Yeah, now, you just have to dedicate the next 10 years
of your life to it
Well,
you'll be good.
And then yeah, then, then I'll then I'll be passable.
Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, and shout out to you
and Dylan for both helping, you know, kinda refine my set
that, that, that a afternoon
While you guys are doing that.
I did Danny's laundry. Yes.
Dylan's a comedian writer, so totally. Right, right.
So he, that's not his first rodeo.
Not his first rodeo.
But you know, like narrative work is a little different
than, you know, wrought standup. But
Yeah.
But we,
the fundamentals are the same.
Yeah, Yeah. Yeah.
We did great.
Set up, set up punch line.
Well, so, you know, we gotta ask then Lucas,
'cause we got to see you perform in Chicago
and it was wildly funny.
How did you get into comedy in the first place?
Could you just tell us a little bit about your career?
Yeah, so I started comedy
after school.
I have a degree in political science
and I couldn't get much work
with my degree being crippled
and a liberal arts degree.
It's like a double whammy.
This is, this is my, my psychology
and research certificate sitting above me.
Relatable.
Yeah. Yeah.
And now I'm a documentarian, so,
So, you know, if I was in sales
or something at my MBA maybe it would be different.
But yeah, I, I,
I love politics.
I love like theory and stuff, but I love performing.
I've been performing all my life.
Like I was in a hardcore band. I was in punk bands.
Do you have any footage of that? Yeah,
Yeah. There's a,
Oh, you need to send that to us.
You need to send that to us of Vimeo
that we can download directly from
Yeah. That's
Where are you gonna be using that?
Yeah, we're downloading that. It's, we need link spot.
My gosh. It's embarrassing.
But, so I love being the center of attention
and I love, like, you know, just
having my voice heard.
So I couldn't get a job outta college
and I tried open mic
and I fucking fell in love with it for better or for worse.
And like it, that was 10 years ago, 11 years ago.
So since then I've just been at it
and like, I still love it
and like, like as a comedian, you're never
where you wanna be, but as long as you still love it
Cat meows
and still have a passion for it, it is, you know,
still happy doing it.
You keep doing it. (Danny & Fred laugh)
Hey buddy.
Hey, hey Sarah!
[Lucas] Sarah!
Crap. Do you have cats?
I got two.
Being crippled, being crippled
and having cats, they don't listen to you.
Get down, get down. I love you. Get down. Okay.
(Danny whispers) That's very funny
Yeah. So it just, I love telling jokes.
I love figuring out jokes. It's just a puzzle piece.
It's just figure it out a puzzle.
And like, I love the art of it. I love the performing of it.
I love, I mean, the hustle can get kind of
Yeah.
Nerve wracking at times.
Like making sure your calendar is full.
Yeah. Can get kind of nerve wracking that, but
besides that, besides the business part of it,
I love the art part of it.
So I've got a question for you.
How, what have you noticed about your own comedy
as it's developed over the course of like 10 years?
Are you focusing on different topics?
Are you picking up on different things?
Are you approaching certain subjects that you
maybe wouldn't have tried to tackle?
Yeah. Yeah. That's a good question.
I think my earlier stuff were more straight up about my
disability and more like me wor working
through like am I special is like me working
through like a lot of disabled like tropes
and like prejudice that I see on a daily basis.
And I kind of had to get that outta my system.
Like I had to like say that shit, you know,
and like get it outta the way.
And now I can do more daily stuff.
More like stuff that revolves
around daily life and like maybe wider politics.
You know, it's still lot politics about wider
stuff and Well,
That's what I found so relatable about a lot
of your comedy is, you know, you're jock joking about,
you know, being in an old folks' home and like
Yeah. You know,
Just like the imminent reality of just kind
of being warehoused
and like all of these really important visceral
topics, but approaching it in a comedic way that, you know,
not only lands for people with disabilities,
but also able bodied audiences who, you know, are,
are having to be confronted with the fact that like,
that is something society does.
They do warehouse people.
Yeah. And making people laugh about it.
And like, when people like groan, I be like,
Aw, like I'm like, you guys did this shit to me.
(Danny & Fred laugh)
Why? Why are you groaning at me?
You should be groaning at yourself, you know?
But it's, yeah.
So right now I'm like thinking of my disability more
as a character in my life
and not like the main focus.
Just like, I have a new bit about like, getting
to fighting the bus on the city bus
and like, it's like part, partly disabled
because it's my life.
So like, I'm gonna talk about my disability,
but it's like based around how people react
to it and, you know,
and I don't know, I just want to grow.
I just want to push myself
and not be afraid of my disability.
Not like, never be ashamed of it
or be like, you know,
like I can do other stuff.
Like, I'm like,
So you're trying to decentralize it a little bit without
like, you know, you'll, you'll address it when it comes up,
but you don't want it to be like the main focus
of the work anymore is kind what you're
Saying.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I relate to that. Yeah. Like the setup punches are all
about being crippled, you know,
and yeah, I'm just trying to grow
and like everyone else doing this.
Like, I want it, I want my next hour
to be different than my first one. So
Yeah.
Danny and I are often talking about how in
television there's a bit of a
disability renaissance happening.
There's, there's more, you know, documentaries
and shows being made where there's actual real
representation and, and it's finding a
foothold with audiences.
Where, where are we at in standup comedy?
'cause comedy's often the forefront
of pushing these edgy things forward in a
sort of palatable way.
Like where is comedy, standup comedy having a renaissance?
Are we there? Is it, is it passed?
I mean, yeah, I, I think it, I mean there are times of
crippled comedians, great ones
and, you know, shows,
it's weird that I, this is very complicated for me
because if I'm gonna be honest, like performing
with a disability is like, you gotta be very careful
about what the intentions are
of the producers and what the intentions are of the show
You're On.
And like, if you, I mean, I have a lot of friends
that got big from, you know, America's Got Talent
Yeah.
And Kill Tony.
And like, and I
have no hate for them.
Like, if I had the opportunity I would use it too.
But it is, it's a weird thing where it's like,
okay, what's the joke though?
Like, what are you laughing at? Why are you laughing?
Like who's in control of the narrative?
Yeah. Like, and like,
I think a lotta, I mean, not to get controversial,
but like Kill Tony and those are under a lot of fire,
like for other things.
But I've had an issue with that show just
how they use disability in a way
that's kind of like
Reminiscent of like freak show, right. Where
Yeah.
Like a side show. Yeah, yeah. Like a freak show.
Like, but that being said, it's like,
and I hesitate to say anything
because if I had that opportunity, I'm like,
they get like six grand, I'm,
I'm like there touring around the country.
So it's like, this is the hustle, man.
Yeah.
Like, it's hard.
Like it's hard to make a living doing this.
It's hard to, yeah.
It's hard to disparage anyone
for getting their bag when they can.
Yeah. You know,
but I, Or discouraging,
I, I can relate to what you're saying though,
'cause I've seen some of those clips on
like, you know, Facebook or YouTube
Yeah.
And they leave you vaguely. Like, that was funny. But but
Yeah, I'm left feeling uncomfortable
and kind of questionable about this moment. And
That's, it's weird.
And that's, and you know, a lot of that, the format of
that particular show where it is meant to be Instagrammable
and you can instantly turn it into a reel.
Right. But like, then you don't have context and Yeah.
I've seen it handled, you know, problematically and Well,
and I, I feel kind of ambiguous really,
but you knows, it's, it's, it's,
it's this precarious spot as, you know, disabled creators
of like, this is why it's important to have,
you know, disabled people behind the camera on our end
of things or producing shows.
Right. So that
yeah.
It's not, it's, it's, it's within the hands of the community
to, to handle the stories responsibly.
And, you know, I've even talked
to like Erin Novakowski about online presence
and like, you can't control, who's,
uh, you know, taking these jokes in.
So if someone disabled is watching another disabled comedian
talk about being disabled,
they're getting something out of it completely different
than an able-bodied person who's like, ha ha,
this is the cheap laugh.
Right? And I don't know if there's any particular
right answers as to how someone should go about that,
but especially in comedy where it is. So
I I feel like you just answered it though.
Yeah.
Right. It's like having that representation
behind the camera in the producing area.
So at least somebody is there saying,
Hey guys, wait, wait a minute.
Like it, you know, I, I think that's exactly what it should,
the answer should be,
which is also
Why things like
surface level representation doesn't really work.
Right. Because then, you know, they're,
they're using a disabled person to be like, well,
we're not ableist,
but, you know, that person doesn't really have any
creative control,
But it's a, but I feel like this renaissance right now is
about getting away from that.
Yeah.
And that the previous generation was like the,
the crime scene investigator who's in a wheelchair and the,
and his backstory, his sad backstory and all that.
Like, we're past that now.
Like I feel like we're in a new era.
Yeah,
Yeah.
I do too. I I, I agree with you.
I mean, I think Tik Tok really helps it.
Instagram really helps it where you like, strip down
the, you strip down the produce, like
you strip down the gatekeepers
and like that big wigs that are like, no,
this doesn't work, this doesn't work.
And you're getting more raw footage
of crippled people being like, you know,
this sucks about being crippled.
Like, like just
because I'm, you know,
I love my life doesn't mean this doesn't suck, you know,
and like, just example, like,
so it's like,
and I mean, I try
to be conscious of that stereotype
and that cliche so I can flip it on the head.
Yeah. Flip it on its head, you know.
And I think I'm, I
I think it's a, what I've told jokes where I'm like,
they laugh, but did they laugh at the way I want them
to laugh or like, you know,
and sometimes I get groans not laughs
and I'm like, I like that.
Yeah. That, that one's for me.
So, you know, it, it just,
and I don't wanna hate on anybody that's getting money,
but like, er getting famous.
But these productions I think need
to be aware of how they're doing.
And it's like, okay, you wanna be,
you wanna be, they're like, okay, you want
to be on the shows, but you don't like how we present you.
Like, which is it? Like, I don't know, it's just like,
I don't wanna like argue my way out of exposure.
I'm like, no, it's not the kind of exposure I want.
And they're like, okay, we'll move on
to somebody else that wants it.
I'm like, no, wait. Yeah.
Well, yeah. And then you get the fomo,
but it's like career fomo.
So you're like actually doing damage when you're turning
Yeah.
On opportunities. But you know, it, it is, you know,
we gotta be responsible with who we're working with.
Right. And, and you know, the unintended consequences
of like, finding out someone come, comes out
to say something you don't like. Right.
Wait, our conversation started talking about Nico.
Yeah. Nico or
there you go.
Or, you know, Hinchcliffe right now
or whatever the case might be.
Right. But yeah, so like, what are some of the things
that you've noticed change in the comedy scene?
Like has it gotten more accessible?
Has it gotten less accessible?
What are some things that the comedy scene can do to be like
More disability?
And, but to put this into reference too,
we were like in New York
and that place has the most accessible taxi cabs
in the world, but the least accessible buildings.
Yeah. Like, every place had a narrow staircase.
So like, and,
and I imagine comedy is pretty known
for being in weird little hard to reach places.
Yeah. I mean, I think I said this on when we were filming,
like it's like a lot of the,
the more exclusive a venue is, the more
like popular it is
and the more inaccessible it is,
so like you have,
you have the Comedy Attic, you have the Comedy Cellar,
you have the Comedy Underground,
you have the back door and you know, alleyway.
And it's like, those are all like, like cute
and fun and like
It's an aesthetic that they're tied to that
results in inaccessibility.
But it is like, dude, like I can't get
to the back, you know, the underground
because there's too many steps to get underground.
So it is, I I like strip malls.
Like, I like performing strip malls and colleges.
'cause I'm like, okay, those,
those prefab like those like modern
places will be more accessible.
Yeah. They're stripped of their cultural significance.
Yeah. I was gonna say guilt of gentrifying
and being like, Yeah.
But it's more accessible though.
I, like, cripples hate a heritage building. I cannot.
And it's not just for the artist,
it's also you're losing an audience with that as well.
Yeah. Yeah. You're, you're,
you're losing the elderly, you're losing pregnant, uh
people, you're losing like,
all these things that you,
I mean universal, you know,
universal design helps everyone. So it's like,
Well, and then it's the absurdity that they use, the fact
that those demographics weren't showing up
because it wasn't inaccessible space.
Yeah. As a reason
to justify it still being an inaccessible.
And it's like, well, if you don't build it,
they won't come. You know, so like
Yeah. Kind.
So the cycle,
It's the, it's the field of dreams, logic, you know.
But yeah. I, I think it's getting better.
I just did a great festival in
Minneapolis called 10,000 Laughs
and they have a comedy underground
and I couldn't do shows there, but they had other theaters
and they're like, you can't do a show here,
but we got, you know, on this show, this show this, like,
they made up for it.
So it's like, it's like,
and my local club has a upstairs room,
my local and (indistinct) has an upstairs room
that I can't get to,
but they make sure
to put me on more main room shows.
And I'm like, Hey,
(Danny and Fred laugh)
Sometimes it works out. You know,
It's like I can't complain about that.
And like, so it's getting more,
they're getting more understandable.
And I think if it's, if you prove you're funny
too, which this might be bad, but if you prove you're funny
and they know you, they're willing to make a little more
adaptations.
Yeah, yeah. Effort
Toward and which is terrible. Which, you know.
Yeah.
But, but you know, it's the way it is, I guess.
I mean, I think it's the way, you know,
the way they treated women in the, in the beginning
and black folk in the beginning, like, it's like they had
to prove they were worth their space, which
of course they were.
But you know, it's like, I don't know,
maybe I'm going down the
Well, no, it's, it's, it's a, a thing that,
like a hurdle that every marginalized group has had to face.
Right. It is like,
Yeah.
Proving something you don't need to prove
because it should have just been like innately recognized.
You know, this kind of like natural talent
Where, but it, yeah.
I'm sorry. And I've made fun of like, I've made fun
of things inaccessibility during my set
and that like, like the club is like,
yeah, we are like that.
Isn't that crazy? No, he got us.
You're like, maybe use this as a, as a,
as a self-reflecting tool.
Yeah. It's like he's doing it as it is, but like, okay.
But yeah, it's getting better. It's getting better.
And I think, I think,
I think having shows on TV
and having awareness
and like just having crippled people in,
in places helps.
Yeah. The more visibility we have, the more that,
you know, we're
Yeah.
Harder to, well the more we push to,
The more, the more it happens,
the better the comedy's gonna be.
Yeah. And you know, like, I love, like
what I loved about your set Lucas was
that making me uncomfortable, making me think.
But the whole time I'm pissing myself laughing.
Yeah. So it's like fundamentally
entertaining. I love it.
Yeah. You know, everybody loves to laugh.
Nobody dislikes to laugh. I don't think
I've had some crowds.
Oh. Oh, I've seen some crowds.
The the
am I, why are you here
When, when you're there just to like sit down
and look angry and to be like,
Hmm,
you don't have to be here. You know?
That was the crowd in New York, honestly.
One of the roughest crowds I've ever seen.
'cause they were all tourists
and we saw a bunch of disabled comedians go up.
Oh. And the audience was rough.
We were like, the only ones audibly laughing.
And I'm like, this is hilarious.
What's wrong with you people?
like, who stumbles into a comedy show to just like,
Stonewall every comedian that went up
and there were some like heavy hitters there, like New York,
New York locals that like, do this every day.
And I'm like, man, this crowd is, is
Unlike the Chicago crowd.
Which was like, Oh the Chicago crowd was,
Amazing. amazing.
Do that audience was your Drake joke.
Oh, that landed.
That was the last minute to rewrite too.
Had somebody crying.
How was the New York? How was New York?
Well, the, like, the comedy, the level
of comedy was outstanding.
It was fantastic.
But like I said, the,
the crowds were just tourists who weren't from around there.
Just, 'hey, a comedy club I'll go in.'
And it was like they didn't react to it.
One, one of the guys had killed somebody in the audience.
Yeah. And the community was like,
I'm gonna stop talking to the audience right now.
(Danny laughs)
Yeah. When crowd work goes wrong
and you're like, oh, I'm learning
something that is liability.
Like a sailor
A liability. killed somebody.
No, I, the comic was like, I'm gonna,
Like, I'm a sailor.
And then he is asking what's the craziest thing?
And I'm like, don't ask a sailor that ever, like
what you doing weird, far off ports and what not.
That, that Chicago, that whole place,
the four theaters in one, that was surreal.
Yeah. I, I was, I was surprised
by the crowd size and intimidated.
I was surprised we were doing an
actual standup comedy night.
I hadn't been anticipating that.
That whole thing caught me by surprise. Cool.
You, you orchestrated all of that.
Did, did you interview? I forgot his name.
Steve Way?
Yeah. Yep.
Yeah.
Yep, so we met with him and a Puerto Rican director.
Yeah
And a group of comedians. There was like
Four or five
You said that was like the most power
wheelchair users in a room you'd ever seen.
Yeah.
And then like, most of 'em were comedians.
It was wild.
Yup.
And that's, that's what having 30 million people in a city
is, you know, is statistically there are more cripples.
Oh yeah, yeah. I did, I did a spine
like spinal injury benefit show
and it was the most crippled people.
Yeah. I've seen
And that was in New York too, right?
Yeah. Yeah. That was at Gotham.
And that was so fun, dude.
Well, as we're kind of...
Crippled people have great sense of humour.
Oh yeah. I mean, it's a coping mechanism, so it's like,
Yeah.
Some of the people I know are, are disabled, but
Because we're like, this sucks.
(Danny and Fred laugh)
This is, this is awful, bro. No, I'm okay.
But we're, we're, we're kind of like
wrapping up a little bit here.
So what's one massive change you'd like to see in
the comedy community to make it more open
and accessible to disabled people?
I would like to see, like,
I would like to see, I mean,
I would like to see clubs being able to put up
crippled comedians more like give them hotels
and maybe, I don't know,
maybe this is a national thing where,
Well, I need, like, I, I don't even,
I don't, I don't only need a,
an accessible hotel room, like my aide does
And That comes out of my pocket.
Yeah. So I wish there was a way to like, subsidize that
or like have the, like,
take a more risk with me.
Yeah.
And with handicapped performers in
general, just to take more risks with those.
Well, yeah. And it's, it's like when you're,
when you're traveling, all of your travel costs are
doubled if you're flying.
'cause now I need a care worker.
Now all my hotel costs are doubled.
For anybody watching this podcast
and wants to learn about what you're talking about,
watch Crip Trip because we will explain.
You'll, you'll see why it's so expensive.
Travel is hard. The
Power.
Yeah. 24 hour.
Especially when you're on the (indistinct)
You're on this.
I forgot about that.
That's crazy. That was crazy. That's crazy.
But yeah, I, I think just like take like
clubs and bookers taking more of a risk with us
and like, or not even a
risk, risk is the wrong word. It's like
Investment into, you know, giving them the opportunity.
So like in in Canada we have the disability screen office,
which is starting to come up with programming that like,
you know, if we want a director on set who has a disability,
maybe kicking some money for a stipend for care work.
Yeah. Or, or travel costs
Or, You know, so like you were saying, subsidizing
that somehow
It's, it's happening.
It's just like it's happening right now is the first
time it's ever happened. It's kind of
Cool.
And, and we live in Canada, so it's a different kind
of market than America
where like we have governmental organizations kind
of starting to step in and create that equity.
Yeah. I mean, and, and once somebody says government
organization in America, they're like, get your
hands off my money.
Yeah, yeah.
And then, you know, it's,
it's crazy Inflation and all the rest of it
All, that's what you have to do in Canada.
If you want to get like a successful comedian
with a disability to come to your show, you're gonna have
to pay this extra money and the government should
help it. Like it's,
which, you know, so like, you know,
disabled content creators we're watching, you know,
and we're ponying up for it too.
Right. So all of that stuff is coming out of our budget
and we're, we're investing specifically in making sure
that we have, you know, extreme
severely disabled people who use power wheelchairs
and, you know, care work, have the opportunity to like,
come out and hang out with us
Because they're like the most talented people I know.
And the people, our people in power chairs. It's wild.
You funny.
It's true.
It's, I like, again, he is buttering us up.
Well it's like Erin, Erin, like Steve's in a, in a,
in a world famous TV show,
Erin has a billion Tik Tok followers.
Like, I mean, I'm not just saying, you know,
I mean are they're demonstrably successful at their art.
Like, it's, it's cool and like, you know, it's, it's true.
Like, you, you,
you made me piss myself just a little bit laughing.
Like that's, that's a, that's a fact, you know?
Yeah. And it's, I mean I, I, I think that's a big thing.
Take, be understanding
and, you know, have clubs, you know, maybe pony up
and be like, okay.
And that's hard. And, but
Yeah.
Really to be done hard for
Any indie art scene.
But yeah
on that note,
hopefully in the future one time we could fly to Edmonton,
we should do a, a a like a wheelchair
comedy night in Edmonton. But
Dude, yeah.
You know. Let's, let's, let's keep the conversation going.
Lucas, it was such a pleasure meeting you
and thanks for following up with us. So funny.
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Yeah. More, more to come.
Yeah. More to come
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