A Sketch Comedy Podcast For Kids Launches to Give Families Some Laughs (and Comedians Some Work)

Live comedy shows have been on pause, understandably, these past few months. It’s been a bummer for the comedy dabblers among us who like to blow off steam by bullying our friends into coming to our improv shows (guilty as charged), but for those in the scene who make some or all of their living off of performing and producing live comedy, the cancellation of so much work has been no laughing matter.

Even during non-pandemic times, it was a struggle for comics to earn a buck—make it through the open-mic circuit to headliner status, and you’re still rallying non-committal Vancouverites to come out to shows, fighting to convince the government that comedians should have access to performing arts grants, or crossing your fingers that Sirius XM doesn’t change their stand-up channel royalty rate again.

All of which is to say: the latest Kelly&Kelly podcast, The Plop, may be aimed at kids, but it’s actually a lifeline for the creative comedy community. The producers of CBC’s past hit satire news series This is That and the true-crime spoof This Sounds Serious, Kelly&Kelly have deep roots in the Vancouver comedy scene, and with The Plop, they intend to create 50 paid writing and performing gigs for comedians.

The 20-30 minute weekly audio sketch comedy show will be aimed at kids aged 7 to 12—the first episode features a goofy old-time detective show, a list of terrible podcast ideas and kid-approved toilet-humour poetry.  

Check out the pilot episode of The Plop yourself here and chip in to the crowdfunding campaign to help with those production costs. (Comedians interested in contributing to The Plop are invited to get in touch with the team.) There are a lot of important causes out there that need your help right now, but think of this as an investment in a little bit of laughter for the future—we’re going to need it, after all.