Anishinaabe comedian back in front of live audiences at Just For Laughs Montreal festival

An Anishinaabe-Lithuanian standup comedian from Manitoba is getting back in front of a live audienceat the Just For Laughscomedy festival in Montreal on Friday.

Paul Rabliauskas, who is from Poplar River First Nation, about350kilometres north of Winnipeg,will be performing two showsFridayat L'Astral in Montreal as part of theCTVComedy & Crave standup specials series.

He saidhe wants to go out and "make my people proud."

"And, you know,that's what ultimately I'm here for."

Rabliauskas moved from Winnipeg back to Poplar Riverwhen COVID-19 hit. Earlier this year, he recorded an Anishinaabemowin podcast with his mother, and said being in his home community was good for him.

"I got to spend a lot of time with my family,"said Rabliauskas.

"I got to spend a lot of time writing jokes. I got to spend time working on my mental health and my physical health."

As he preparedfor his shows on Friday, he saidit was hard not to think about the peopleathome, as the community is one of several in Manitoba at risk from forest fires and dealing with power outages.

"It really is still survival for us out there,"said Rabliauskas.

"It's like day-to-day.We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know if they're going toget evacuated. We don't know what's going to happen with all our stuff."

'No limit to what we can do'

The taping of Friday's performance will beRabliauskas's first solo TV special.

To prepare for performing in front of live audiences again, Rabliauskasleaned on his colleagues in Winnipeg to help him shake off the rust prior to his shows in Montreal.

His friendMike Green, a Winnipeg comedian who runs local comedy shows, helped him set up three private outdoor shows in Winnipeg last weekend.

"Paul said that he had this great opportunity to do a taping, but he wasn't going to have any opportunity to practise and I wasn't going to let that happen," said Green, who travelled with Rabliauskas to Montreal.

Green,who hosts open mic nights in Winnipeg's comedy scene, saidhis friend is one of the "top-tier"standup comedians in the city and is often the show's closing act.

Chad Anderson, a standup comedian from The Pas/Opaskwayak Cree Nation, openedfor Rabliauskas at last week's outdoor shows and wished him the best of luck in Montreal.

"I've always looked up to Paul, and I think it's good for the young Native comedians to see that you can make it mainstream. Like, there's no limit to what we can do with our comedy and our humour," said Anderson.