A Q&A with Edmonton’s All-Female Sketch Comedy Group, Girl Brain

In April 2018, Ellie Heath, Caley Suliak and Alyson Dicey started Girl Brain, an all-female sketch comedy group. Their quick success has continued well past their first anniversary, including the Philly Sketchfest in June, and being a part of the Citadel’s House Series this November. Avenue spoke with them after a Grindstone Theatre show.

How did you meet?

Ellie: Alyson and I have known each other since 2012.

Caley: And I’ve known Ellie since we were 15. We met at a drama camp. And then — well, to avoid dating ourselves — we kept in touch for… a while.

Ellie: Although we are dating ourselves, in more ways than one.

And dating, of any kind, is where you get your material?

Alyson: Absolutely. When Caley got back from San Francisco we were catching up and telling all of our dating stories and laughing our heads off. Every time we’d go out together, we were the table that was just bursting out laughing at each other’s stories.

Who has the funniest dating story?

Caley: Oh my god.

I’ll caveat that with, the funniest dating story that can appear in Avenue.

Caley: Going on a date with somebody who it turns out had been to jail. I let on that my nose has been broken and he was like, ‘yeah, I can tell.’

Alyson: It’s a great compliment.

Caley: And I was like, thank you. Then he let me know that his back had been broken because he had fallen asleep in a tree, and then fell onto a newspaper box.

How do you fall asleep in a tree?

Caley: I don’t know! But he was still married to a girl from Vegas. So then I put that all up on stage.

Ellie: The good thing about Girl Brain is that you can hear all these stories and your dating life will feel good by comparison!

So I know it’s brought up a lot, with the #metoo movement, and specifically comedy, but is it even possible for men to be funny?

Ellie: Yeah it is! Because people are funny.

Alyson: We’re so past the gender thing. We talk about what we’re interested in, and it just so happens we think dating and period blood is funny, but it doesn’t matter what gender you are. There’s something for all walks of life to appreciate.

What’s the biggest advantage to having a girl brain?

Alyson: It’s powerful! It’s awesome. It’s a way to conquer the world.

Ellie: It’s a perspective, and it can be interpreted as whatever you want. Also, we are intelligent females, so we use our girl brains together. It sounds so pretentious, but Girl Brain for me is a state of mind. You don’t have to be a girl to have a girl brain. It’s just approaching comedy in an inclusive fashion, in a way to empower people and make them feel that what’s going on inside their brains is OK and relatable and funny.

This article appears in the July 2019 issue of Avenue Edmonton