Comedian Steph Tolev has been described as one of Canada’s funniest exports. Splashing on the scene as one-half of the comedy sketch duo LadyStache, with Allison Hogg, Tolev pivoted to stand-up where she won Best Female Stand-Up at the 2015 Canadian Comedy Awards.
After relocating to L.A., Tolev continued to build an audience through shrewd social media engagement and caught the attention of comic Bill Burr. He has said it only took a few moments of watching one of her Instagram stand-up posts to ask her to open for him during his Netflix comedy special, “Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill.”
When Tolev was a kid growing up in Canada, she was always inspired by comedy and performers who went over the top to get a laugh, she told WPR’s “BETA.”
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“Honestly, a lot was from ‘Kids in the Hall‘ because I watched a lot of Canadian content,” says Tolev.
Tolev said she was also inspired — mainly thanks to her grandma — by a ton of British comedy that was popular on Canadian TV — shows like, “Mr. Bean,” “Are You Being Served?” and “Keeping Up Appearances.”
“’Keeping Up Appearances’ with that woman, Hyacinth, who was like a 65-year-old nut, and she would be so physical and she’d like roll down hills and stuff,” Tolev said. “That’s all that I watched growing up. I like goofy. So, I think when comedy can be so over the top, it just becomes funnier to me.”
It should come as no surprise then that Tolev’s live on-stage presence is brimming with energy and brashness. Her current tour is called “Filth Queen” for a reason.
“Somebody this weekend really worded my comedy very well. She’s like, ‘You’re so gross, but you’re so goofy that it makes it not as gross,” Tolev said. “Also, I am gross. I think like this: It’s not like I’m trying to be gross. I’m a very open person. I’m very sexual. I talk about that stuff very openly/ And I think people do, too, but they just like to say they don’t.”
Tolev has described her comedy as “painfully real” and admits nearly all her material is based in reality.
“Every single thing I say on stage has happened to me,” she said. “And the amount of people that DM me after shows relating to the stuff I’m talking about and thanking me for being this open about it, that’s why I keep doing it.”
That combination of high-energy frankness might be Tolev’s secret sauce. Not only does her openness work when she’s poking fun at herself, it also has the effect of disarming her audiences.
“I just think I have an energy around me,” she said. “Even in my stand-up, if you see any of my crowd work clips, I’m not pulling these things out of people. They’re just bluntly saying very personal, very strange things about their life to me, in a public way.”
Crowd work is really where Tolev shines. But heckle her at your own risk.
Like many of today’s comics, Tolev can archive the once ephemeral tactic of crowd engagement for her online social media audiences. Her most viral video is of a man who overstepped and then left the theater when he felt the heat.
“It was the Comedy Store, and I was in another room, so I missed what happened at the beginning of the show. So, I came in and I was talking to this couple, and they ended up not being couple. They were like boss and employee. And then somebody else yelled out, ‘He sponsored the show, move on’ with this tone that was so disgustingly rude for no reason,” Tolev said.
While Tolev never shies from how crude her comedy can be, she was not being offensive or vulgar at all during the time. When she turned to address the man, he abruptly left and hid out in the bathroom for a few sets.
“He was so rude. And he left and I got so pissed because I was like, ‘You can’t heckle me and leave. Sorry, I know how this works. You want to kill me, you stay in the room, you deal with it,’” she said.
The kicker of the clip is that Tolev hatched a plan to address the situation one way or another.
“Then, I convince the host at the end of the show to bring me back up,” she explained. “I was so pumped to go back on stage. The crowd went nuts, too. They couldn’t believe I was back up there.”
The heckler once again slunk away from Tolev. But t it wasn’t without one last failed attempt at getting in the last word.
“Then he ended up being rude to me after — texting the guy whose show it was, still making fun of me. I was like, ‘You had your chance and you wasted it. Sorry. You can’t be a troll. You trolled me to my face. This is what happens,’” Tolev said.
Steph Infection
In addition to her shoe leather comedy touring work, Tolev hosts a podcast called “Steph Infection” where she interviews guests about body ailments, accidents and other things doctors can’t figure out.
“I always have something wrong with me,” she said. “I’ve always had a rash. I always have hives. There’s always, like, a bizarre body issue that happens with me. So, I thought, what better way to talk about these things.”
Tolev said that sometimes the podcast platform has solved issues for her and her audiences. Plus, it allows for fellow comic guests to open up a bit more.
“I was at the point where every single comedy podcast I was doing, we were having the same conversations,” she told “BETA.” “So, I want to find something comedians can talk about that they haven’t talked about. Where they can be super open and gross and just say whatever.”
Tolev is currently working on putting together a comedy special and working with Hogg again on a Canadian TV series from the producers of “Letterkenny.”
She’s also slated to appear in the upcoming season of Max’s “Hacks” where she’ll get to play herself.
“It’s big and I get to play myself. They wrote me in as Steph Tolev,” she said. “So, it’s pretty cool to play yourself on a TV show that I love.”
