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Winnipeg Free Press

Toronto comedian headlines Gay AF tour

When Toronto-based trans comedian Ava Val decided to call her debut comedy special So Brave, she was making a half-ironic joke. It's a tongue-in-cheek title that reflects her material that poke fun at overzealous allies — 'I know they mean well but, you know, being called brave in public isn't the compliment some of you think it is,' she says over Zoom — but there's some earnestness there, too. 'When you zoom out and look at the full special, and all the material that I'm doing about coming out and about pursuing my own brand of happiness and transitioning — all that stuff does, unironically, take a lot of bravery.' SUPPLIED Toronto's Ava Val brings her first comedy special, So Brave, to Winnipeg. Val — who performs at Prairie Theatre Exchange on Saturday as part of the Gay AF Comedy Tour with Robert Watson — has been doing comedy for 18 years, but So Brave, which came out last year and is available on YouTube, represents an evolution for her as both a comedian and a person. Val, who is in her 30s, officially started transitioning four years ago. It was a time of deep personal contemplation and growth — but also, comedy. Writing her way through that process was healing. She didn't have to hide anymore. 'It's cliché to say this, but comedy really, truly is therapy. It's so therapeutic. Coming out provided a kind of a slingshot effect. After being so closeted for so long and over-projecting this masculinity, this bro-yness, coming out was so liberating. I felt like I wanted to just put my cards on the table at all times,' she says. Before she transitioned, Val inhabited a party-boy persona in her comedy, counting Dane Cook among her influences. 'My material was very, very much a projection away from myself. None of it was personal. I never spoke about how I felt or what I observed in the world. It was all just kind of silliness, goofiness, characters, a lot of crowd work — just stuff that had nothing to do with me,' she says. Looking back, Val says she felt more like a party host that left audiences feeling like they had a good time, but not much beyond that. 'It's forgettable in that sense,' she says. Val is still a high-energy and physical comedian, but being her authentic self has meant more authentic — and memorable — comedy. And the material is flowing; she's already in post-production on another special. The struggle, triumph and heartache she felt during her transition are all rich emotional places from which to mine, Val says. 'Comedy is so human and that honesty just came naturally because I was so excited to speak honestly for the first time in my life.' And humanity is sorely needed these days. In the U.S., an uptick in anti-trans discrimination and policies — such as U.S. immigration only recognizing identification that corresponds with a person's sex assigned at birth — has meant many trans artists across artistic disciplines are reconsidering their plans to tour south of the border. Val was originally planning to move to New York City and is waiting on her work visa. Now, she's not sure what the immediate future holds. 'It's a very precarious time for me right now,' she says. Some of her loved ones are begging her not to go to America at all. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. But the best way she knows how to fight back is by being funny — and being visible. 'I always roll my eyes whenever people use the words 'Now more than ever,'' Val says. 'But there is definitely an element of truth that, like now more than ever I think trans voices need to be humanized. There's this culture war, this massive campaign to dehumanize us and to make us out to be predators and all these other things that we truly are not. 'And so, I think comedy has an especially powerful ability to humanize and to disarm people's notions about what kind of a threat I might be. I unapologetically lean into the trans stuff because I feel a higher calling to educate people and sort of help people understand a little bit more.' Jen ZorattiColumnist Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen. Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. 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