For anyone familiar with the comedy of Mike Cannon, it’s no secret that at least one of his glowing abilities is to be genuinely game for pretty much anything on stage. And as he makes his way back to Boston this weekend, it’s that same energy he gets from the crowd that has him most excited to come back.
Unleashing his highly personal stand-up force over the course of three weekend shows at Laugh Boston starting tonight (August 12), Cannon is beyond excited to get back in front of the local comedy crowds. Aside from the city’s legendary comedians whom he considers some of his favorites, Cannon is in awe of the scene’s audiences, where he feels the meshing of “cultured meets blue collar” creates another level of excitement in a live setting. And with the pressure of getting right back on the road to turn over new material following a stand-up special, he couldn’t be more excited to try out the fresh jokes and stories out on the quick-to-engage Boston comedy fans.
“I love trashing material and then turning over the next bit and trying to find out what’s going on in my life and what I want to talk about,” Cannon tells Vanyaland. “I’m generally getting all of my feelings out through personal experiences, because I’m not a ‘take’ comedian and I don’t have a hard take on everything because my mind is constantly changing, and I don’t find myself intelligent enough to stick to my own opinions. So, I’m just telling my jokes through the perspective of my own life, and hope that people can gravitate towards that and maybe share similar experiences, or they can just be entertained by someone who is clearly unraveling in front of them.”
While he might refer to it as “unraveling,” Cannon has woven his onstage musings into quite the tapestry over the past few years between his first three stand-up specials (2017’s I Think It Just Kicked In, 2020’s Life Begins, and White Privilege Homeless, which he released earlier this year as a DIY project on YouTube), but as a comedian who is always looking for ways to better his craft, he’s taking his next project in a bit of a different direction.
Mike Cannon’s Huge Mistake, which joins its predecessors on YouTube on Wednesday, August 17, will present an entirely different facet of Cannon’s comedy chops as he unleashes more of a focused edition of his crowd work abilities on record. The twist, however, is that he recorded the special after ingesting edibles that equaled out to 150mg of THC. While he certainly does let it rip once he hits the stage in his forthcoming project, it’s the foundational creative freedom to venture into unknown territory that has Cannon pumped for the project, much like it has him excited for the 25 to 30 minutes worth of new material he already has prepared for his Boston audience.
“In this time of developing material, I always have to give myself the freedom to go into other areas and talk to people, because the amount of times that a brief crowd work interaction has turned into something solid is pretty great,” says Cannon. “When I go into a show, I go in there open with some stuff that I want to do, and make that show special for that specific audience, and hopefully that gets people to continue to come around.”
In being an artist that would rather take from the well of comedically rich personal experiences as opposed to taking any sort of political stance for the sake of being edgy, Cannon feels the ability to create jokes from those personal experiences, and getting up close and personal with his audience via crowd work, in turn makes him a stronger comedian than he would be if he were to take inspiration from the headlines.
And while he could say he’s excited to visit Boston again just as easily he could say it about somewhere like Topeka, the connection that Cannon feels to Boston is unmatched by almost any other city he’s performed in, and as long as the crowds are feeling the vibe, he’s going to give it right back to you with everything he’s got from start to finish.
“Every single time I come back to Boston, it is not a disappointment, because the crowds are just so energetic and into comedy, and It’s rare that you get people that are fired up from the start,” says Cannon. “Once in a while, you have to really earn certain crowds in certain markets, but Boston crowds are just ready for a good time immediately, and that makes my job easier because once they like me, then my best side and my best stuff can come out from that.”
MIKE CANNON :: Friday, August 12 and Saturday, August 13 at Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. in Boston, MA :: Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 7:30 p.m. & 9:45 p.m. :: Tickets are $29