Mark Your Calendars: The Sasha Ha-Ha Show Has the Laughs You Desperately Need

Comedian Sasha Mark is full of jokes, but when he says he dropped out of school because an old guy in a dream advised him to do it, he’s not kidding. Mark was in his final year of education—with the goal of being a high school English teacher—when an elderly man entered his subconscious and showed him a different path. “I dropped out of school literally the next morning. It was such an Aries move,” says Mark.

Mark is Cree-Métis and was born and raised in Winnipeg—and no, he’s not one of those famous Manitoban nepotism babies you’re always hearing about. “We didn’t have heat growing up as kids, so we had to go to bed in our parkas and our ski pants,” he remembers. He credits his sense of humour to his quick-witted younger brother: “I don’t think I’m funnier than him to this day.”

After taking a comedy writing class and stepping into Winnipeg’s stand-up scene, Mark soon found success in his radically honest humour. “Thomas King says, ‘The truth about stories is that’s all we are’—for me, it’s really important to talk about the experiences that I’ve had, and to bring those on stage,” he says.

MORE MARK: The Vancouver Comedian Is Also Featured in This New Docuseries

When he moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver in 2019, he brought his self-produced show, The Sasha Ha-Ha Show, with him. And when it comes to choosing lineups for these standup showcases, Mark’s refreshingly diverse arsenal of funny people reflects his values as a community- building comedian.

 

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“Barriers to access to comedy—and to stages alone—are difficult, and I’m trying to help dismantle that as best I can,” he says. “I want to emulate a fun, chill, backyard barbecue hang—a show that people aren’t intimidated to go to.”

Watch The Sasha Ha-Ha Show, sponsored by Blind Tiger Comedy, at Just for Laughs Northwest on February 22 at China Cloud Studios—and catch monthly Ha-Ha shows on the third Wednesday of every month at the same venue. Keep up with the comedian on Insta at @sashmark.