Toronto Fringe Review: Nearly Departed

3 pm on a weekday afternoon in an overheated, under-air conditioned second floor venue isn’t ideal conditions for a Fringe comedy show — especially when it’s your first time mounting one. 

But stand-up Cathy Boyd is used to persevering. After all, she began doing stand-up in her 60s, and much of her act consists of making droll, quietly cutting comments about life from the perspective of someone who’s seen it all and no longer gives a crap.

She opens with several jokes she did on Canada’s Got Talent several years ago, where she made judge Howie Mandel give her a standing ovation and say “You’ve found your calling.” 

That may have been true, but the Fringe is often where stand-up comics try out more personal approaches to their material. And Boyd, alas, sticks to the set-up punchline rhythm of her stand-up act.

She makes little attempt to get to know her audience, and keeps her jokes on pretty much a superficial level, taking shots at younger male comics and the little humiliations of aging. Her jokes aren’t just aimed at herself, however. When she brings up the trucker convoy protests in Ottawa during the pandemic, quoting the men’s anti-mask, anti-vax slogan “My body, my choice,” she drily says, “Those bodies couldn’t have been their choice.” 

Touché. 

There’s lots of hard-earned wisdom in her show, and the references are sharp and specific. (A joke about Optimum Cards really hit home with this points collector.) 

But hopefully for her next show she’ll modulate her voice a little more and allow herself to get — or at least appear — more vulnerable. As is, too many questions pop up about her act; if she and her husband of 35 years are still together, why does she talk about dating websites? 

Still, if you’re a comedy fan, swipe right on this one.  

Nearly Departed is now on until July 12 at the Toronto Fringe. Show times and tickets.