If laughter is the best medicine, then comedian Don Burnstick must be one great doctor.
The comedian and public speaker has been involved with healing and wellness for over 20 years and uses humour as his approach.
“I could have went into mainstream comedy and probably could have done very well with that, but I wanted to keep it really wellness-based at the grassroots level,” said Burnstick.
Burnstick is of Cree decent from the Alexander First Nation found outside Edmonton and has post-secondary training at the University of San Diego in holistic urban youth development. He also has certification as an alcohol and drug abuse counsellor.
He said when he first started to get into comedy he went and asked for guidance from an elder and the elder told him two things not to do – do not swear and do not do your shows in bars.
“Here I am trying to be a comedian and OK, I can’t swear and I can’t do comedy clubs. Where do I go? They said to go into our communities and our events,” explained Burnstick. “When I first started the gist of it was just for First Nation people, and over the years there has been this transition where it has gone mainstream.”
He said he began selling out venues and he found that almost 40 per cent of his audience was white.
“What I do is I can do both. I can do a mainstream audience and I can do just a res (reserve) comedy show. I have that versatility, where as a lot of comics don’t know how to do that,” he explained.
Burnstick pointed out that a lot of people don’t realize that laughter is a really important part of First Nation culture. He said they just see “stoic Indians or protectors” and those who are very narrow-minded may just think of them as “drunks and welfare cases.”
But he explained there are four values that are really integral to his people – prayer, sharing, crying, and of course, laughing.
“Those things, they have seen us through centuries and are still a very important part of who we are,” Burnstick said. “What I do is I incorporate the laughter in my career, but those other three things are a part of my life.”
And laughter has become an important way to reach youth and keep their attention according to Burnstick, which is essential in trying to engage them in important topics.
It also allows for different cultures to begin understanding each other.
“When I go into these communities and these areas, everybody knows who I am,” he explained. “In the last 10 or 15 years there has been a strong cross-cultural awareness that we need to work together.”
You can see Don Burnstick at Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino Thursday, Nov. 13.
