The Ottawa-based group Provides put on a live talk show at LIVE! on Elgin on Jan. 9. The group of young Ottawans put on an evening full of digital shorts, live sketches, local music, and interviews with local talent, under the billing RIGHT NOW Tonight.
Nader Kaddour and Chloe K. Barker were the hosts for the evening, and featured live sketches, including parodies of The Price is Right and CNN’s nightly newscast. The show also included audience participation, and charming home-made sets.
In one live sketch, Barker had to contain her laughter as Kaddour controlled a muppet-esque puppet named “Sweaty Ralph” who was enthusiastically—and hilariously—showing her how to make mayonnaise.
Barker and Kaddour also sat down with C*4 (Capital City Championship Combat) wrestlers, Michael Von Payton and Cecil Nyx, who discussed their rivalry inside the ring.
Adam Saikaley, a member of local band The Acorn, was the evening’s featured musical guest and performed some stripped-down versions of his own material.
Kaddour described Provides as a “collective of arts” that throws parties and events throughout the year, and builds various installations for festivals—such as Up Fest in Sudbury—during the summer.
“It’s basically just everyone we know, doing what they do best, to make something for our friends,” Barker said. “Friends making stuff for friends.”
The idea for a talk show was a way of providing an event the city lacked, Barker said. “Ottawa doesn’t really have a talk show—Canada doesn’t really have a lot of late-night talk shows. We kind of decided, ‘Okay, we’ll sleep on it, and if we wake up tomorrow and it’s still a good idea, then we’ll do it.’ ”
Throughout the creative process, the group said they worked hard to create a safe, respectful space for their audience.
“We tried really, really hard to write jokes where we weren’t punching down, and where no one would feel isolated or ostracized because of the jokes,” Barker said. The group wanted to provide “a good, fairly clean time for everyone to come and not have to worry about, ‘Oh, is there going to be a sexist joke? Is there going to be a racist joke? Is there going to be a joke that’s going to offend me?’ ”
While the members have been working on different creative projects for the last few years, it was only last summer that the group began officially operating under the name Provides.
Barker said the idea of Provides stemmed from people often describing Ottawa as being a boring city.
“But it’s not,” Barker said. “We personally know many people in the city and in the community who work very hard to make really cool stuff happen. We just kind of wanted to add one more thing to the roster of, ‘Hey, screw off, Ottawa is a really fun place.’ ”
It’s not a full-time endeavour, but they hope to continue to make others laugh.
“As long as our friends show up and meet our other friends, and laugh and have a good time, then we have succeeded,” Barker said. “That is it, that is the beginning and end of our goals—to make people laugh and to make more friendships happen.”
