From men and women to children and seniors, improv comedian Jennine Profeta believes there’s a place for everybody in comedy. That’s why she’s sharing her love of making people laugh by leading classes to nurture the next generation of comedians right here in the Kawarthas.
But, proving her passion for community-building extends beyond comedy, the Bobcaygeon performer can be spotted at plenty of local events, including leading line dancing classes and organizing “girls’ night in” game nights. Next week, she’ll even be getting dressed up to lead story time at the Bobcaygeon Public Library and the Thriller Dance Party at the Globus Theatre Box Office on October 21 as part of Harvest Haunt.
“I want to take what I have to offer and use it in the community,” says Profeta. “You can get very isolated up here, depending on where you live, so we’re all looking for connection and it’s great to see it happening.”
As for her own performances, Profeta is currently touring in Ontario with Girls Nite Out, her all-female ensemble of stand-up and improv comedians. Joined by Elvira Kurt, Karen Parkerl and Diana Frances, the group is making a stop at Bobcaygeon’s Globus Theatre on Saturday, November 4th for an already sold-out show.
Stopping at the theatre at the Lakeview Arts Barn will mark a return to where the show — which features a rotating line-up of female cast members — was first born 16 years ago. Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic director Sarah Quick, a performer herself, came to Profeta with the idea to gather a group of these talented women in the community.
“It was one of those things when you hear something and just know you’ve been waiting your whole life to hear it,” Profeta says, adding that she may not have thought of it on her own. “These are unlike any other show that we do. There’s something very different about it.”
Though usually not a phrase to be taken literally, Profeta really had been waiting her whole life. While growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she looked up to the female comedians who were “taking charge” like Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner, Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers, and Carol Channing.
“They come from a time where guys ruled the roost and they had to play at a certain level to compete and be seen and they did it,” Profeta notes. “Through history, women have been able to use comedy to assert themselves — not in a negative way, but a very positive, very empowering way. I think I’ve always been drawn to that.”
Watching these women ultimately inspired and influenced Profeta to move to Toronto after studying theatre at the University of Winnipeg. The day after moving, she signed up for classes at Second City. Considering she met her husband and many of her friends within that first week of arriving, Profeta describes Second City as being her “home base ever since.”
Unlike a lot of the other improv comedians with whom she interacts and works, Profeta didn’t grow up with the “comedic flair” or innate funny bone as the class clown. Instead, she was more introverted, but had the right amount of dedication.
“I was just bullheaded about it,” she recalls. “I wanted to learn how to do improv even though I felt like I was terrible. I had a dream, but I didn’t think I would necessarily make it. I was just in love with this format, and I knew I needed to know how it worked. I think I’m only just starting to figure it out.”
It’s evident she figured it out a long time ago, spending years with Second City, where she even had the opportunity to entertain internationally on a cruise ship. For 12 months, Profeta and her husband Dave Pearce toured the world on the ship, with six months spent in the Caribbean and six months spent in Europe, where she performed to all kinds of crowds.
“There, you start learning about how comedy translates or doesn’t translate between different cultures,” the comedian explains. “It’s not just a language barrier. Some cultures like more physical comedy, whereas others rely on cerebral and witty stuff.”
Since then, Profeta has made acting appearances on television shows, films, and commercials for The Comedy Network, CBC, and NBC, including as a cast member on Howie Mandel’s Howie Do It.
An entertainer of many talents, Profeta has also been credited with writing awards shows and episodes of animated children’s shows for CBC, and has bylines in magazines like Chatelaine and Today’s Parent from her time spent as a freelance writer upon first moving to Toronto. Though it was her way to make some income while she was going to auditions, writing also became beneficial to her craft as a comedian.
“At Second City, you’re not just a comedic actor — you need to be a writer as well,” she explains. “I could see how the two were helping each other. Even with what I was doing in comedy would just feed into my writing, and I think helped me get more work because I was developing my voice.”
Finding your voice is one of the many things Profeta now teaches through her work as a theatre and improv facilitator based out of Bobcaygeon, where she moved with Pearce in 2016. After being introduced to the region by Quick and her husband, Globus Theatre co-founder and artistic producer James Barrett, and wanting to escape from Toronto to raise their son, Profeta and Pearce relocated without so much as a thought of what they would do for work.
Fortunately, the local theatre community was very welcoming and had a place for the duo.
“It’s great to see how many kids want to get involved,” Profeta says about Globus Theatre’s new School of Dramatic Art where she teaches. “Many of them are on the hockey teams and it’s cool to me that we don’t live in a community where you either do hockey or you do art. You can do both and there’s not a weirdness — there aren’t people picking on each other. So I really admire that families here are open to letting their kids try the art.”
Profeta adds the same goes for the large retirement community that exists within the region, who are only now getting the opportunity to experiment with their creative passions.
“People are just taking that dream from the past and blowing the dust off it and trying out this thing they’ve always wanted to do and to me that’s amazing,” she says. “That’s something they’ve just never had a chance to and, because there’s now this opportunity for them, they’re taking a risk and they’re finally doing it.”
Profeta is also facilitator for classes at Lakehurst Hall in Buckhorn and with Linda Kash’s Peterborough Academy of Performing Arts (PAPA) improv classes and camps.
“I’ve learned so much more about improv and comedy through watching and working with my students and, in particular, working with people that are starting off like I did,” she says. “They’re shy and don’t necessarily feel this is their gift or their talent, but they’re just drawn to it and they want to try it. It’s a great joy to work with them, because I see a lot of myself in them.”
While Profeta continues to share her passion and build the community around theatre, she and Pearce are regularly hosting improv shows in town at Bobcaygeon’s Just for the Halibut, where she’s determined to make people laugh.
“It’s all about nurturing that positive part of yourself, and the joy in yourself,” says Profeta. “We all have a lot of stuff to do deal with but if you can just laugh for 30 to 45 minutes a day, what a privilege that is.”
