It’s an all-lawyer comedy show, but it won't be all lawyer jokes

The jokes begin before the interview has even started. In an email exchange finalizing plans to meet at a downtown Toronto café on Thursday morning, mediator Christine Kilby asks whether Law Times will be photographing herself and Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP partner Michael Currie for this story. “Crossing fingers for no,” Kilby writes. Upon learning that no, there would be no photographer, Currie immediately writes back: “I’ll cancel my hair and makeup appointment.”

Currie, in particular, has been warming up, comedy-wise. Over the last few weeks, the litigator – in between shepherding clients through matters like class actions and contract disputes and raising two young children – could be found practising the time-honoured craft of standup comedy at a handful of the city’s comedy clubs, all in the service of ensuring that the jokes hit hard at one upcoming event: the fourth lawyer standup event, Good Laughs.

Set to take place at the Comedy Bar Danforth on Thursday, May 21, Good Laughs will feature an all-lawyer lineup that includes Kilby and Currie, along with a former Crown attorney and partners from some of the country’s largest law firms: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Miller Thomson LLP, and Lerners LLP. Comedian – and non-lawyer – Martha Chaves will host the event.

Tickets for both Good Laughs shows that evening are sold out; a wait list is available for those who missed out. Proceeds will benefit the Michael Garron Hospital, where Currie’s children were born.

Kilby characterizes this year’s lineup as an “amateur, hobbyist group of performers for the most part.” But Currie insists that by participating, each performer is honing their legal practice, too.

Standup is pretty much “cross-training for lawyers,” he says, noting that the success of both comedians and many types of lawyers relies on strong writing skills and stage presence. One analogy might be “a hockey player who takes up figure skating to work on their edge work,” Currie says. Another might be “a runner who picks up swimming to help their lung capacity.”

Of course, there are some differences. In comedy, for instance, you’re looking for an immediate reaction: laughs. In court, “there’s less interest in laughs,” Currie observes. “And the gratification is delayed because normally judges will reserve [judgments].”

But there are also striking, devastating similarities. In both comedy and in court, “You can… tell when you’re bombing,” Kilby says.

“And the outcomes are both very public,” Currie adds.

Despite these risks, finding lawyers who wanted to participate in this year’s show was not hard. When Currie began organizing the event in 2023, Good Laughs largely featured comedians-turned-lawyers; since then, lawyers have reached out to Currie to express interest in performing. In some cases, they’ve taken a standup course; others are doing standup on the side or want to try it out for the first time.

The overlap between comedians and lawyers makes sense, Kilby says: “If you’re a litigator or any kind of lawyer, there is probably a tiny part of you that’s really attention seeking and loves performing.”

Comedians and lawyers also serve as messengers. Historically, Kilby says, the court jester’s role was to be a truth teller to the king; the jester’s job was to package the truth in a palatable form. As a mediator, Kilby’s role often involves telling “the truth to a party about what their case is like or what litigation looks like in real life,” she says. “But I have to do it in a certain way.”

This leads to the question: Will there only be lawyer jokes at Good Laughs?

“No,” Currie says.

The problem with lawyer jokes is that law is so specialized, Kilby says. She recalls how once, she wrote material for a set “that was super specific to being a corporate litigator on Bay Street for large corporations.

“It's like, yeah, most people could follow it, but it wasn’t going to hit as hard as… jokes about lost pets,” she says.

Kilby and Currie met in 2019 at another comedy event involving lawyers. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the shows moved online until Currie began organizing in-person Good Laughs events. Both say they hope to continue pursuing comedy on the side while they continue working as lawyers for a long time. But who are the funniest lawyers they know?

“The performers at Good Laughs,” Currie says.

“Nice,” Kilby says.