"Softie", created and performed by Timothy Felton, is a hard to describe show. Part stand-up comedy, part clown, part group therapy. Completely enjoyable.

Softie begins with extended audience participation, with one recurring bit that almost overstays its welcome but ends just in time. From there, it goes into a standard stand-up comedy set, with random oddities interspersed throughout. At one part, while doing a normal stand-up set, he slowly pulls a full bandana out of his hat without addressing it. That tells you a lot about what kind of show this is. It is, mostly, stand-up comedy with some charming/strange moments which differentiate it from a standard comedic show.

Audience participation in comedy shows is a very hit or miss field, and for the most part, this show hits with them. A very large portion of this show is audience participation, sometimes with one individual and sometimes in collaboration with the entire audience. Felton is well versed in awkward-style comedy and he plays off the audience well, leading to some big laughs and instantly getting the crowd on his side. His "Softie" persona is built around consent and creating meaningful relationships, which plays much funnier than it sounds, and lends itself well to a show with so much audience participation. Without giving away too much, there's a truly touching moment towards the end where Felton speaks about the meaning behind the show, and you can see that meaning throughout, even in the bizarre parts.

As for his traditional stand-up material, there are some big laughs in there too, especially as it is not a typical stand-up show. He is unabashedly honest, and adds some physical gags which hit well. Though, while his audience participation led to many genuine laughs, there was much more shocked laughter in his stand-up section, as he occasionally seemed to go for crude surprises. This is all a matter of preference, as most comedy is, though some of his stand-up seemed inconsistent with his "Softie" persona and felt out of place within this particular show.

That all being said, there was a lot to enjoy with Softie. Well done crowd work, a backpack full of surprises, and even a genuinely playful game of spin the bottle (not the way you're thinking of it) where myself and a friend were able to come onto stage and play the game. In the current landscape of stand-up, Softie is a refreshing and very welcome change of pace.

SOFTIE AT THE FACULTY EVENTS LOUNGE. FOUR MORE PERFORMANCES.

Andrea Noga, Alberta Youth Theatre Collective.