An evening of laughter filled the Algonquin Commons Theatre on Friday with Mary Walsh’s wit and humour as she celebrated 30 years of her show This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
The evening started off with Walsh walking through the aisles of the audience cracking jokes about Parliament Hill, the LRT and U.S. President Joe Biden visiting Ottawa.
Throughout the evening Walsh played a few of her old TV shows and comedy skits on the stage for the crowd, such as Codco, Hatching, Matching and Dispatching and the Missus Downstairs.
“I have been a fan since her show Codco and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. I remember going to line up in Halifax for tickets. It is really awesome to be a part of this tour for her,” said Heather Sibley, an audience member.
Walsh is known for many iconic costumes and characters during her career, and one audience member, Cheryl Feild, expressed her favourite character.
“Personally going way way back to Codco days it would have been the Friday night girls,” said Feild. “Marge was so fierce, foolish and phenomenal, but so relatable.”
The theatre never had a quiet moment as Walsh always had the crowd laughing.
“I’m not great with technology. I once accidentally sent an email to my entire address book, asking if anyone knew how to turn off autocorrect,” said Walsh.
The audience broke into a standing ovation with Walsh concluding her show with one of her songs, Life Gets Better With Age, on the screen behind the stage.
“I find as a Newfoundlander and living away from home, it’s nice to see someone from home doing so well on the national stage,” said Karen Pedal, an audience member.