Comedy Monday Night
- David Reuben
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
Twenty Years of Comedy Monday Night!
God Bless James Moore and Comedy Monday Night
Running an open -mic or booked open-mic in Canada for a year or two is a daunting task. Running the best comedy show in Western Canada for twenty years seems like an impossible task.
Mr. James Moore a life time resident of Calgary Alberta has been booking and running the longest running open-mic in Canada since April 2005.
James started his comedy journey approximately twenty-two years ago and quickly became a fixture in the Western Canada Comedy Community. Mr. Moore is a charming man with an easy and intelligent stage presences who has toured throughout Western Canada entertaining audiences and networking with other comics who have become life long friends.
I first heard about James Moore from our mutual friend Mr. Daryl Makk. Daryl told me about this new show James started in Calgary Alberta called “Comedy Monday Night.”
Not long after I reached out to James and we talked on the phone about how The Comedy Green Room dot com could help promote his new show. In 2005, I was running Happy Hour Comedy at Ein-Stein’s in Toronto, running The Hogtown Comedy Festival, paid weekend shows, and two other open mics.
James and I became fast friends bonding over the work it took to run weekly open-mics and through the stand-up comedy friends we had in common. Many e-mails and phone calls happened, and The Comedy Green Room promoted “Comedy Monday Night” in our Newsletter & Online.
“Comedy Monday Night” was a labour of love for James Moore right from the beginning and The Comedy Green Room dot com was happy to donate our time and occasionally let James know about a Toronto comic that was coming through Calgary.
Like life comedy shows take twists and turns, and with James hard work and the quality of comedy constantly improving many avenues opened up for “Comedy Monday Night". Some include radio tapings, comedy festival showcases, and major Canadian and International Comics making a point to either come to Calgary a head of their shows or stay on a bit after the gig to do “Comedy Monday Night”.
I feel one of the many strengths of “Comedy Monday Night” and Mr. James Moore was giving new comics in Western Canada an opportunity on stage and then if they had the desire a place to develop their acts. So many newbies from “Comedy Monday Night” have become major headliners, writers on Canadian Television or have moved onto International success. Some of the alumic include Malik Elassal, Brittany Lyseng, Chris Griffin, Dale Ward, Amy Bugg, Marito Antonio Lopez and Matt Foster.
On of the thing that has impressed me over the last twenty year is that comics kept coming back to visit “Comedy Monday Night” and James whenever they were in Calgary. But then, James as always been the same person who loves the artform of Stand-Up Comedy, is happy to give stage time, and only required you to do your time and be polite to the staff, audience and other comics.
Due to comedy, health, and work obligations, I was unable to get out to visit James, but we stayed connected and spoke often. In fact, I have a boat load of “Comedy Monday Night Swag” and James is on my exclusive Christmas Card list.
In 2020, I had started working on the 25th anniversary show for Happy Hour at Ein-Stein’s set for May of 2021. The first name on the list was Mr. James Moore. As we know Covid hit and many venues did not survive, and Ein-Stein’s was one of the casualties of the pandemic. We ran for twenty-flour years when the comedy show was halted at Ein-Stein’s after the March 8, 2020, show. The owner paid the rent for a year and a half during Covid but was unable to continue as the pandemic dragged on.
In March of 2021, I had a life changing accident, and James Moore was one of the first people that reached out. He stayed connected all through my recovery and was one of the many comic friends who kept my spirits up. During one of these calls, I told James I wanted to come to the 20th anniversary show, not to perform but to see the event and finally meet him in person.
Since I had nothing much to do other than physiotherapy between operations, I really looked forward to being in Calgary in April of 2025. Luckily, I was able to start back doing stand-up in 2022, and in the summer of 2024 got the official date for the Anniversary Show.
In January of 2025, I called Mr. James Moore to let him know I was coming to the 20th Anniversary Celebration… I even told him I did not expect to be on the show; I just wanted to support and enjoy the festivities. Being the gentleman that James is he insisted I do a spot on the show, and I insisted that I will do major advertising in our newsletter and social media. Having produced the 20th Anniversary show at Ein-Stein’s, I understand the amount of work is required to produce and co-ordinate such a big show.
The “Comedy Monday Night” Twenty Anniversary Show took place on Monday April 21st at Modern Love. It was an amazing show with a who’s who of Western Canadian Comics.
It was a full house and many comics that were not performing also stopped by to celebrate. The show was amazing, and every comic killed, a great song by Scott Dumas, and Sterling Scott destroyed as the closer.
Then Mr. James Moore did a heartwarming speech and announced that the 20th anniversary show was the final “Comedy Monday Night” Show. What a run for James who never canceled a show, brought a legitimate independent comedy night to Calgary. “Comedy Monday Night” is the playbook on how to run a weekly booked open mic, nurture stand-up comedy, and have a hell of a lot of FUN!
The after party included a huge cake supplied by James lovely sweetheart; James said, “the door would be locked until all the cake was eaten”. It was wonderful to see all of Mr. Moore’s friends and family at this event.
Mr. James Moore is the Godfather of Calgary Comedy and will continue to run the Wednesday Night Amateur Night at The Laugh Shop.
Yet, there is so much more to Mr. James Moore, he is not only a superb producer, an excellent comic, and accomplished in his career outside of comedy. Mr. James Moore is a loyal friend, who picked me up at the Calgary airport, took me out to breakfast, got us into the Laugh Shop Friday Night Show headlined by the amazing Glenn Wool, and made sure that Daryl Makk, James and I had a fun lunch of Saturday afternoon. And then took me back to the Calgary airport on Tuesday May 22nd after a very late night at the anniversary show.
I had an amazing time spending the Easter Weekend with the one and only Mr. James Moore!
Next time you see James at a show or riding his motorcycle say hi! If you are lucky enough his will call you a "Young Fella". He is a great person!
**All images in this article are owned by either James Moore or Ya Hump Photography**
Mention you found out about Comedy Monday NIght on The Comedy Green Room dot com
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