Sad, sad news this week: comedian and former 22 Minutes writer Irwin Barker passed away. We spoke to him in 2008, right before the all-star The Cancer Monologues, at the Rebecca Cohn. During the interview he said:
“We’re going to use comedy in our fight against cancer. That’s what we have to fight with. Other people have the skills that they have, to fight it directly through their research and work, and we have comedy, the weapon that’s at our disposal. Comedy gives you a sense of mastery over things. You’re joking about something, it’s like putting your foot on the sword. Comedy gives you a sense of control. That’s why employees make jokes about their boss, or people make jokes about things that make them nervous, like flying.”
On Saturday at 8pm, CTV will air That’s My Time: A Comedian’s Stand Up to Cancer. The funny and moving documentary, which screened at the Atlantic Film Festival, was shot by Halifax’s Adamm Liley.
Related Stories
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.
It’s a shame he passed away. I loved his work and the CTV doc is a great way to get a sample of what he’s done for Canadian comedy.