Content Creation, Comedy, and Cats: An Interview With Janis Irwin and Caroline Stokes
This summer, your very own Victoria Voice co editors set out to Borden Park to meet with local figures (and friends) Janis Irwin and Caroline Stokes. We wanted to know more about their very different journeys as content creators, as well as how COVID has impacted their work and communities. The two come from very different backgrounds (one in politics, one in comedy) but have both found an outlet over social media fairly recently.
Name, Pronouns, Title
C.S: I’m Caroline Stokes, she/her, comedian/artist
J. I : Janis Irwin, she/her, MLA for Edmonton Highlands/Norwood
How and when did you begin creating content?
Caroline Stokes, local comedian/artist.
Photo credit: @imcarolinestokes, instagram
C.S: I started a lot of this at the beginning of the pandemic, it’s always something that I’ve really loved to do. There are some videos on YouTube that I’ve now put into private mode that I did way back then. I’ve definitely dabbled with character work and putting on little sketches and things, but the pandemic really was the boost for me. Everyone was at home, I wasn’t working as a massage therapist, and I had all these ideas flowing to me so I took it upon myself to really go for it. So for the last year, year and a half, I’ve been supercharging my content. It was making me feel good, and I was getting responses from people that it was making them feel good so those two things made me want to keep going.
Janis Irwin, MLA for Edmonton Highlands-Norwood
Photo credit: https://www.albertandpcaucus.ca/your-mlas/janis-irwin
J.I : Obviously, the focus of my job isn’t content creation. You know, I don’t take social media quite as seriously as the average politician. I’ll think to myself “should I post this video of me dancing with my cat? Probably not, but I’m gonna do it anyways” because that’s who I am. It’s real, you know, I like to dance in my living room and hug my cat. These are things I just do and I think it’s important that people see that politicians have a personal life and that authenticity is important to me too. I don’t like to censor a lot of who I am so I put myself out there to the world and some people hate it and that’s okay.
How has COVID affected your platform?
J.I : Like Caroline, I think for lots of people the pandemic opened up opportunities. People are on their phones, people are on their screens, and as much as that can not be a healthy thing, that’s the reality, right? I know [there were] a number of people who reached out to me and were grateful for me and for folks like Caroline for bringing light into their lives. Isolation and mental health have been challenges, and they continue to be. For me, as a politician, if I can highlight serious issues but also bring some light to people’s lives, I think that’s a pretty cool thing.
C.S: At the beginning, I was doing a bit of pandemic humour, which I found to be a scary thing. It’s something that I definitely talked to my friends and family about behind the scenes because it’s such a delicate balance, and like Janis said, bringing light to something that’s really serious is so important to do but also I don’t want to lessen the fact that it’s very serious. Laughter and comedy, they exist in the world for a reason. I believe it’s a form of therapy and a way for people to come together as well. And of course, with everyone on their phones, engagement was crazy, so it was good in that way. I also went from performing on a stage to performing through your phone so that has its own challenges and celebrations as well.
How do you keep creating content with negative feedback/hard times?
J.I : For me, I think if I post a video of me dancing or something like that, the responses will be overwhelmingly positive but then there’s somebody who’s like “don’t you have a job? You’re just a politician getting overpaid and not doing any work”. It’s like, okay, anybody who knows me knows that I pack my days with many things, most of which are not all fun and games. As I’ve said before and have been posting about lately, haters are gonna hate regardless, it’s not gonna stop me from being who I am or cause me to censor myself in any way. For every hater there’s a whole bunch of people who are kind and supportive and loving, right?
C.S : It’s hard though, right? The negative ones are the ones that really stand out, that you remember, likely you have them all memorized, whether that's on the internet or in person. I really believe that those comments just come from a place of jealousy or wishing they could do what you’re doing. It’s hard and it’s great. It’s both things at once, they can exist at the same time but being someone that’s different, being an other, doing something that’s out of the norm, regardless of what it is, it’s always met with that jostling of how it makes another person feel. For me, as long as I believe in and am proud of the work that I’ve created, that keeps me from being too affected by [negative comments]. And of course, going behind the scenes, crying to my friends and family and getting their reassurance.
What is the importance of making people around you laugh?
C.S: It’s a butterfly effect. If you’re brightening someone else’s day, that lights up something inside of them and in turn they pass it on to someone else. And who doesn’t want to feel good and laugh? Sharing a laugh with someone is like the best handshake or a really great conversation. It says so much without saying anything at all. For me, personally, when I have a good laugh with someone it’s a point of connection and I feel like we can build off of that because we’re on the same page.
“Sharing a laugh with someone is like the best handshake or a really great conversation.”
J.I: Making people laugh, comedy, it’s not my focus, it just sort of happens. But I agree, it’s about connection. Politics at its core is about connection, it's about relationships. I think any way that I can engage people is great. I get it a lot, you know, people saying “I never paid attention to politics before I followed you”. The plan is, I’ll trap them with my dance TikTok, then I’ll get them interested in the horrific cuts to our healthcare system.
(Nearly two minutes of commenting on a dog that walked by. This is a necessary part of the journalistic process).
How has your content impacted your local community?
C.S: When I’m creating, I like to highlight really lovely spots in the city. So being able to capture these wonderful views, or parks, or gardens, or different spots around the city and make it look really beautiful is important to me. People will be like “where’s that spot?” which makes Edmonton look really great. So by appreciating these spots that people might not have been to before, it’s drawing attention to the landscape.
Local artist AJA Louden painting his mural “Sure Shot” on the Avenue Theatre
Photo credit: Ed Kaiser/Postmedia
J.I: Similarly, I love to highlight spots in the neighbourhoods I represent. Just today, I was biking back here from downtown and saw the amazing graffiti artist AJA Louden (Louden's website) doing a beautiful new mural on the Avenue Theatre so I stopped in traffic to snap some pictures. Art is just such a big part of our community, so if I can highlight that and highlight local artists, then why not?
What advice would you give to yourself in high school?
J.I: I definitely think that I took highschool and university too seriously, I was very task-oriented and focused on doing well. I just think that young people, students, are under a lot of stress. We didn’t have to deal with social media and the pressures that come with that. Oh my gosh, I’m overwhelmed by social media half the time and I’m an adult who’s pretty comfortable in their own skin. I would just say, you only get to do it once so enjoy it and try not to take it all so seriously. Take time to enjoy and be in the moment.
C.S: I would say “Caroline, it’s okay that you don’t know what you want to do. Surround yourself with great people and try everything and see what feels good.”
