Comedian, Says If He Could Choose Any Career to Follow for the Rest of His Life It Would Be Stand-Up

Photojournalism Program Edition Vol. 47 · Issue #12 Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 Loyalist College · Belleville, ON · Canada Photo by Alyssa Lloyd Corner Gas writer, producer, and front-man, Brent Butt, brings the crowd to tears at the Empire Theatre Wednesday. Butt, a lifelong comedian, says if he could choose any career to follow for the rest of his life it would be stand-up. Comedian the ‘Butt’ of many jokes By Alyssa Lloyd ing a show that we liked and we thought cision. If we kept going, the show would nal material and performed standup for comedy is the only thing I could never was good, and I think people responded have started to falter, and it was too spe- the first time and the response was better walk away from. Everything else is fantas- to that. I think they could tell they weren’t cial to me to let it whither on the vine and than I could have ever hoped. It gave me tic and I feel blessed that I get to do it, but, “I think it had something to do with a bit being sold a bill of goods,” Butt says, hum- die, get old and sick. all the encouragement I needed to think if I could only do one thing, I know that of authenticity,” Brent Butt explains about bly describing the approach they took to “At a certain point, you have to step ‘Well, maybe I can do this for a living’, and I would be miserable if I was in a posi- why he thinks Canadians were so drawn create Corner Gas and why people may away and let something be what it was, that was a huge pivotal show for me.” tion where I couldn’t do standup comedy to Corner Gas. have enjoyed it so much. but it was very difficult.” Although Butt has been a writer, pro- any m ore .” “When we were making Corner Gas, Asked how hard it is to let go of the On the road again for a standup tour, ducer, actor, director and performer in He pauses before adding: “I’d probably we didn’t think anybody was going to Corner Gas cast and crew who were prac- Butt recalls days gone past and some of many of his projects, if he had to choose go mad.” watch. We kind of thought we were trick- tically family, Butt says, “It was difficult. It the highlights along the way. one, he would choose performing stand- Butt is currently travelling Canada ing the network into giving us money for was something very special that we had, “I had wanted to do standup since I up on stage for a live audience. performing standup in a lot of the small a TV show no one was going to watch,” and you don’t know if you’re ever going to was 12. That’s when I made the decision I “I think I’m a performer first, either on towns where he got his start. Butt jokes. have anything like that again. wanted to do this, or at least try to. When camera or on stage. If I could only do one “We just ended up concentrating on do- “But I really believe it was the right de- I was in high school, I wrote some origi- of those two things, I know that standup ...See Comedian, page 2 No overnight place to go for Belleville’s homeless By Maggie Naylor community,” says Marlene Gray, Bel- leville’s Police Inspector. A lot of the time the public doesn’t The news of the homeless deaths in To- understand what makes people home- ronto has confronted Canada’s re- less, and why certain people need sponse to our homeless population, homes if even just temporarily. and what we are doing to stop these Communication from the Red events from continuing. Cross and the hospital is necessary Lack of effort may come to the because sometimes people come mind of an individual but I can assure in, like a caller this Christmas Eve you that is not the case. who was from out of town, needed The nearest official homeless shel- to get cancer treatments at the Bel- ter to Belleville is in Kingston about leville General Hospital for near a an hour drive away, and fifteen and a week, and couldn’t afford accommo- half hour walk. dations. They didn’t know anyone In total, Kingston has 86 beds to in the town to house them so they offer the homeless, 111 if you in- called the Red Cross rather than clude housing for domestically abused sleeping outside. women and their children. “It’s really hard to generalize and a Belleville on the other hand, thanks lot of people do. They have this par- to the Canadian Mental Health Asso- ticular stereotype in their mind and ciation has 33 beds available with only it probably relates to you know, a 18 beds designated for adults. panhandler on the corner you saw or This is not a case of lack of need. something and its much more com- The Red Cross, in charge of disaster plex than that.” says Allester management in the area (including Many times it’s a family that can’t personal disasters: homelessness) can pay their rent and are in the process of tell you that. finding somewhere new. The Red Cross Hastings County “The sad part is,” says Sandy Sid- Branch takes one third of the calls for sworth, Executive Director for the level one disasters (homelessness) in CMHA, “as broad as you try to make all of Ontario. Considering Ontario Photo by Maggie Naylor that safety net, it doesn’t always reach takes up more of Canada’s population out to people, and then we hear the Doreen and Phenix Hewitt stand in the lunchline in the Salvation Army building on Thursday Jan. 15, 2015. Salvation than any other province, it’s safe to stories in Toronto and it’s horrifying. Army is one of the many organization set in Belleville to help those who need it and opens their building to many assume it has one of the highest call It’s not always about money. Some- people for lunch at 11:30 everyday but Wednesday. volumes in all of Canada. times it’s about community will, and So why aren’t we the community police and the hospital, so we try to ly patrolling the community, it only one wants to see here what happened when you have a community willing with the same problem on our streets? make sure people don’t fall through makes sense they would find people in in Toronto. “We understand that that to work together how can you sup- “Our service and the service of the the cracks,” says David Allester lead tough situations and call up the Red could be a reality, we’re trying as best port it at [a federal] level to make sure Salvation Army and other partner volunteer for the Red Cross. Cross, sometimes driving them to the we can to put steps and safeguards in things happen? That’s my wish in a agencies work very closely with the Considering the police are constant- location of their accommodations. No place so that will not happen in our perfect world.”.

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