In Couples Clownselling, comics’ partners finally get the mic

Comedians Aaron Campbell and Cass Furman, seen here at Little Mountain Gallery April 26, produce and host Couples Clownselling. The next show is scheduled for June 6 at the Commercial Drive Legion. Photo by This Thing On/Mitchell Johnson /Aaron Campbell.

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Couples Clownselling

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When: June 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Royal Canadian Legion Branch 179, 2205 Commercial Dr., Vancouver
Tickets: $31.95 including fees at couplesclownselling11.eventbrite.ca

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If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to date a comedian, Couples Clownselling has the answer.

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In the monthly show, comedians Cass Furman and Aaron Campbell lob questions to comedians and their partners about their relationships.

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Sometimes, the partner is funnier than the headliner.

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“It happens more often than you might think,” Campbell said. “They’re more relatable to the audience.”

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“The cool thing about this show format is that we’re not asking the comics to do standup,” Furman said.

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“We’re just asking questions about their relationship. And the non-comedian partners answer honestly. They’re not necessarily trying to do bits or riff or make people laugh. And sometimes that ends up being the funniest part of the show.”

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Furman and Campbell came up with the idea for Couples Clownselling a year-and-a-half ago, in a competition for new show ideas at a comedy club.

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Each show features two or three couples.

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“We thought of this idea because so many comedians tend to go on stage and talk about their partners, but their partners never really get to have a say,” Furman said. “So we thought it would be fun to bring the partners on stage as well.”

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The questions are crowdsourced. “As people are sitting down, they’re invited to ask anonymous relationship questions to the couples,” Campbell said. “We give them a little cue card and some pencils and say, ‘Anything you want to know about them — relationship, intimacy, sex.’”

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It’s up to their own discretion as to what questions they’ll answer.

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At the Just For Laughs Vancouver Couples Clownselling show on Feb. 14 at Little Mountain Gallery, Aaron Campbell proposed to co-host/partner Cass Furman. Photo by This Thing On/Lizz Kerschbaumer /Aaron Campbell

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“I always tell the couples before the show that if there’s something they don’t want to talk about — which often is their sex life — to let me know, and then we just don’t ask that couple questions of that nature,” Furman said. “So it can get raunchy, but we can also avoid that at the request of the couples.”

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A question that comes up a lot is, “On a scale of one-to-10, how much do you enjoy spending time with your in-laws?”

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“That comes up almost once a show,” Campbell said.

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“People really want to know about the in-laws,” Furman added.

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The show has sold out all 11 of its iterations, including its appearance at the 2026 Just for Laughs Vancouver comedy festival. Local comedians who have participated include Ivan Decker, Ola Dada, and Graham Clark.

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“The show was a hit from Day 1,” Campbell said. “The very first show sold out and we turned people away at the door. There’s definitely a demand for it, and the non-comedian partners, like we hoped, really did shine through immediately.”

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The comedians don’t necessarily share any traits or proclivities, like hoarding or hogging the remote.