Nathan Macintosh JFL42, Toronto ON, September 21

As originally published by Julianna Romanyk on Exclaim!

"You don't like Canadian comics until the U.S. likes them," Nathan Macintosh said in the middle of a rant. It's one of the bittersweet truths of the comedy industry: in order to find mainstream success, Canadians have to move to America. Macintosh initially moved from Halifax to Toronto to further his career, but sadly he found that there wasn't enough support for standup even here, our country's largest city.
 
Now coming back to visit the Six after moving to New York, Macintosh showed us all why we should all be sorry for underappreciating him and every other Canadian comic who had to cross the border for more respect and better work. His animatedly fiery hour will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of JFL42.
 
Macintosh's stage presence is explosive. With bright ginger hair, a voice that jumps octaves without warning, flailing arms and rivetingly rapid-fire ranting, he's a modest Nova Scotian boy who periodically morphs into some sort of comedic animal that resembles Bill Burr on cocaine.
 
It's a hell of a thing to witness, but Macintosh makes it work. Sometimes he light-heartedly discussed being made fun for being redheaded, or earnestly talked about body positivity. Other times, he furiously accosted an audience member for thinking St John's was in Nova Scotia, or passionately yelled about how his mother ruined his innocence as a child. Overall, Macintosh's hour was a rollercoaster that kept even the shortest attention span captivated by his every word.
 
Patrick Hakeem was also an enjoyable opener. His story about how everyone at his wedding thought he wasn't good enough for his new wife made him the embodiment of the everyman, while his material about the conflicting nature of being half Latino and half Middle Eastern gave his perspective a more distinctive twist.