Jon Lajoie's transition from online to screen
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
December 3, 2008
 More than just a regular everyday normal guy, Montreal comedian Jon Lajoie is setting out to prove his live shows are just as amusing and weird as his online videos.
Famous for his music videos, ranging from a gangster rap, “Everyday Normal Guy,” to the sweet love ballad, “2 Girls 1 Cup Song,” and the hip-hop classic, “Show Me Your Genitals,” Lajoie has been recognized by FunnyorDie.com owners Will Ferrell and Adam McKay as being one of their personal favourites.
Lajoie’s stage show consists of his own version of stand-up, which he says serves to make fun of traditional stand-up. He also plays videos and skits as well as songs—some new and some from his online videos. “I have this course on creating successful online videos, although it’s not really a course, it’s just me being retarded,” Lajoie said.
Lajoie, a graduate of Dawson College’s drama program, began as an actor in Montreal where he played the part of Thomas Edison the Anglophone bartender on the Quebecois soap opera L’Auberge Chien Noir (The Inn of the Black Dog). “Although I was very happy to have the work, it wasn’t, you know, creatively fulfilling,” Lajoie explained.
Lajoie, a self-taught musician, was also in a band for four years where he was the songwriter and lead singer. The experience came in handy after his band broke up, giving him some free time.
“I’ve always loved Monty Python and Kids in the Hall and all those guys. I thought maybe I should try some stuff, so I started writing sketch comedy, but then it was sort of hard to write jokes. I wanted to show people,” he said.
That’s when he invested in some cheap video equipment and began shooting his videos. “At first I was terrible, and then after like 10 videos I got the hang of it. And then it sort of got weird,” said Lajoie.
His low-budget videos have been viewed millions of times, something that still surprises Lajoie.
“I was on vacation and I came home and checked my YouTube account. One of my videos, I think it was at a thousand or two thousand views, and I was like, ‘Holy shit, people are watching my videos.’ Really, I did not expect any of this to get where it is today. I still go, ‘Really? What the hell is going on?’” he said.
Making videos for the Internet provides Lajoie with the kind of creative control he craves and would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
“There’s no one looking over my shoulder, no one giving me money to make them. Now I’m getting into TV and film and that’s a completely different thing. I’ll never give up this Internet stuff because I’ll think of something and the next day or two days my audience sees it without a filter, without anything, and I absolutely love that creative control,” he explained.
Transitioning from online to stage is a work in progress for Lajoie. “It’s two very different things that are very similar in some ways,” said Lajoie, pointing out that both the online content and live performance content reaches his audience unfiltered and uncensored. He admits the live show is more difficult, though.
“I don’t want it to just be me standing there doing my videos live, because then people just go home and go, ‘Ah, well, his live show is okay, but his videos are funnier.’ I try to shape the show in terms of some bits no one knows, a song that no one knows, then perform live a song they know but in a way that’s sort of new or just fun. This isn’t something they can see online,” he said.
Lajoie has signed a deal with HBO to develop a project that will become The Jon Lajoie Show, which is in its early stages. He is also set to record an album in February. A DVD of his music videos will accompany the album, but Lajoie has hit a few snags along the way.
“When you look at my videos on a big screen or a high-definition television or even a 30-inch screen, they don’t look as good as they do on a tiny screen because they’re made for the web as cheaply as possible. As soon as you put them on a big screen, it’s like, ‘Holy shit, this looks bad.’ I’m very critical with that stuff because it’s always meant to be on the web so it would be weird on a big screen. It’d just be like, ‘Wow, this guy really does have no money,’” Lajoie said.
Lajoie has been concentrating on making music videos lately, which means there hasn’t been any of his classic commercials (see: “Rapist Glasses”) lately. “The reason I do songs is really funny—it’s because I don’t have audio recording equipment for film. Whenever I make a commercial I either pre-record the audio or the sound is pretty bad. If you check out any of the videos where I’m talking, the sound isn’t so good,” said Lajoie.
Although he’s limited by his equipment and resources right now, he hopes that will change for him soon.
The best part of Lajoie’s career happened recently when he was hanging out with the Kids in the Hall.
“I performed a show in Vegas, which was not really my audience. It was old German couples celebrating their anniversaries. But, the Kids in the Hall were there and they came to see me backstage. We ended up hanging out all night. I was having drinks all night with Kids in the Hall. I could have died after that and been happy. I love those dudes,” said Lajoie.
Additionally, Lajoie learned that British comedian Ricky Gervais is a fan of his work. “That also made me want to freak out. I didn’t believe it. I was like, ‘You better not be lying to me.’ But, it was the director of his latest movie that was telling me this,” said Lajoie.
Catch Jon Lajoie at the Magic Stick, located at 4120 Woodward Ave. in Detroit, MI, on Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10, available through TicketMaster.
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