Culture The Ticket

Access

comedy—and

Power Punchline

The CDC recommends a monthly dose of The Sasha Ha-Ha Show to cure the winter grumps.

by Alyssa Hirose

Comedian Sasha Mark is full of jokes, but when he says he dropped out of school because an old guy in a dream advised him to do it, he’s not kidding. Mark was in his final year of education—with the goal of being a high school English teacher—when an elderly man entered his subconscious and showed him a different path. “I dropped out of school literally the next morning. It was such an Aries move,” says Mark.

Mark is Cree-Métis and was born and raised in

Winnipeg—and no, he’s not one of those famous Manitoban nepotism babies you’re always hearing about. “We didn’t have heat growing up as kids, so we had to go to bed in our parkas and our ski pants,” he remembers. He credits his sense of humour to his quick-witted younger brother: “I don’t think I’m funnier than him to this day.”

After taking a comedy writing class and stepping into Winnipeg’s stand-up scene, Mark soon found success in his radically honest humour. “Thomas King says, ‘The truth about stories is that’s all we are’— for me, it’s really important to talk about the experiences that I’ve had, and to bring those on stage,” he says.

When he moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver in 2019, he brought his self-produced show, The Sasha Ha-Ha Show, with him. And when it comes to choosing lineups for these standup showcases, Mark’s refreshingly diverse arsenal of funny people reflects his values as a communitybuilding comedian.

“Barriers to access to comedy—and to stages alone—are difficult, and I’m trying to help dismantle that as best I can,” he says. “I want to emulate a fun, chill, backyard barbecue hang—a show that people aren’t intimidated to go to.”