Because Camp! Comedy Fundraising Night Featuring Gavin Crawford

15 time Gemini Nominee and Host of Because News on CBC Radio, Gavin Crawford is returning to Sudbury with special guest Martha Chaves for an amazing night of stand-up comedy in support of Rainbow Camp.

Gavin’s work has garnered significant critical acclaim. In 1998 he was the recipient of the prestigious Tim Sims Encouragement Fund award for outstanding up-and-coming comedic performer. In addition to numerous nominations, Gavin has received many awards for best male performance, television writing, and ensemble performances from 2003 to present.

Gavin has also guest starred on many of Canada’s most popular television shows including, Corner Gas, Robson Arms, The Red Green Show, CTV’s Sonic Temple,Made in Canada, Heartland, and Murdock Mysteries (for which he won a Gemini Award for Best Guest Role in a dramatic series.) Gavin was also the host of CBC’s successful version of the British talent search program, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?

Martha Chaves, (a regular on Because News) will join Gavin on stage. Martha Chaves is a veteran of multiple Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, and of all the other major comedy festivals in Canada, like the Winnipeg, Halifax, Edmonton, and Vancouver Comedy Festivals. She has also performed in Boston and New York Comedy Festivals, in Toronto’s SheDot Festival and in Colombia’s Festival Del Humour. Martha’s infectious, candid style, and her natural ability to relate to any audience has made her a very popular headliner comedian at clubs, colleges, festivals, fundraisers, and corporate functions. Her versatility has granted her to do shows all over the world and to entertain a wide range of audiences. For example, she performed for the Canadian troops in Alert, Egypt, Israel, and Afghanistan and also for a delegation of women, led by Nobel Peace Prize recipients, in Mexico and Central America. In 2015, she performed at the opening ceremonies of the Toronto Pan Am Games, at the Rogers Centre in front of 45.000 people and in 2016 she hosted the ACTRA awards. Her Stand-Up TV credits include her two national comedy specials: COMICS! On the CBC, and There’s Something about Martha on CTV and The COMEDY NETWORK; plus her multiple TV appearances in Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival and many others. You often hear Martha on Laugh Out Loud on CBC Radio and on The Debaters, also on CBC radio.In her film and TV career she has worked with Whoopi Goldberg (Strong Medicine), Chris Rock, (Down To Earth) and even had scenes with Denzel Washington in “John Q”. Her One-Woman show, “In Times of Trouble”, was the opening show of Aluna Theatre’s CAMINOS Festival in November 2015. Martha performs mostly in English, but also in Spanish, French, and Italian.

A portion of net proceeds from this event will support Welcome Friend Association’s Rainbow Camp. Rainbow Camp® is a one-week camp for young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer questioning, 2 spirited and plus (LGBTQ2+) and allied youth, their siblings and children in Queer families. WFA’s Rainbow Camp® is committed to developing a camp community which honours creativity, individual choice, and social justice while having fun!!!

WFA’s Rainbow Camp® provides opportunities for campers to make new friends and develop skills through traditional camp programming and innovative curriculum. More than anything, our Rainbow Camp® is a fun place to come OUT and be yourself!