Pete Johansson: Good People

A prime example that you should never judge a book – or Canuck – by its cover, the now slightly chunkier Pete Johansson looks like your typical tree-felling backwoods Canadian but, as becomes increasingly apparent during this enlightening hour, he’s all about pricking male stereotypes. Even if it makes audiences clench.

“Who likes to touch his own ass?” he booms to the guys in the room, and looks a little perplexed by the lack of hands thrusting skywards. Well, those particular arms are perhaps best left folded.

Johansson is a born again ass-lover; his own ass, that is, which he talks about rather a lot. There’s a tremendous tale about the time his wife had to karate-chop him right in that hairy cleft, which only sounds reasonable in context, admittedly. The show’s official theme is whether the increasingly bear-like comic is a good person, but his wider gender material is more interesting.

There’s some impassioned, well-informed stuff about male/female sexual dynamics, a jaw-dropping stat about US shootings, and an intriguing aside about his wife getting a gun. Although actually, that’s really about his friends’ reactions, and he omits the actual reason she bought it. This is one of those shows that could do with a Q&A at the end.

In truth, Good People is still a bit rough and ready, and Johansson admits that it might not fully fly until later in the run, but then his between-stories patter and audience repartee are arguably better than the pre-planned jokes. Go figure.