Canadian artist and comedian Anesti Danelis brings his show Artificially Intelligent 2.0 to this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival 2026. He started by taking classes at The Second City. He graduated from their sketch and improv Conservatory program, and also took some improv classes at Bad Dog Theatre. For him, things started to click when he threw himself on stage and just started performing comedy.

What he finds to be incredibly valuable is watching other comedians. Locally, there are so many talented folk doing great work. Internationally, it blows his mind to see how comedians in other countries approach comedy so differently. 

He’s proud of himself when he says, “I noticed things starting to click when I threw myself on stage and started doing it.” 

Anesti is also known as a musical comedian. he’s also known as a musical comedian. He’s also done stage work in Toronto area theatre productions. In an email conversation I held with him, he told me he actually started in musical theatre by mistake:

“I got an audition flyer in my spam folder and thought I’d give it a try. I somehow managed to get a part in A Chorus Line. From there, I was hooked and ended up in almost 25 productions around Toronto before pivoting to working primarily in comedy. It [musical theatre] was a lot of fun.”

This year’s Toronto Fringe website and promotional material for his upcoming Artificially Intelligent 2.0 calls Danelis a viral comedian. How is this any different from his work as a comedian?

It fluctuates.  

Danelis calls himself a normal comedian most of the year, and a viral comedian when he has an infection like strep. For some reason, this explanation made me smile. If he has strep (or any virus that might be contagious), it appears he’s not one to rest. He’ll continue performing anyway he can. Going viral (no pun intended) is the way he does it.

I asked Danelis how being a comedian is similar to performing in a theatre production.

His answer reminded me of something actor Craig Lauzon told me in a profile over five years ago about comedy and theatre.

Anesti says, at their core, comedy and theatre are both about storytelling and creating a shared experience with a live audience. Whether an artist performs in a play or a comedy show, that individual tries to take people on a journey and make them feel something: “even if it’s for a fart joke.”

Comedy and the theatre require stage presence, timing, vulnerability and a willingness to be fully present in the room.

But there’s one difference:

“Comedians get immediate feedback. If a joke isn’t working, you know within seconds.”

Very true, as audiences watching a play are a bit kinder in the moment if a production isn’t working. But stage actors will undoubtedly hear about it later if a show doesn’t work. 

Artificially Intelligent 2.0’s genesis sounds intriguing.

Danelis explains that in 2022, when AI first became publicly available, it was still, what Anesti calls: ‘cutesie’. Many were all generating photos and jokes and messing around with AI out of curiosity.

Anesti took it one step further:

“I asked ChatGPT to write me a comedy show, and after reading the material, it gave me my optimism for this AI thing was quickly shattered. I fully went Tyra Banks on it when I read what it gave me.” 

The comedy show’s AI text was so bad.  Anesti says he has never in his life yelled at AI as he did at the result.

He then wrote a workshop version of the show for Buddies Queer Pride Fest and debuted it at Toronto Fringe 2024. Anesti honestly thought it would be a flop and didn’t know whether audiences would respond well to a conceptual musical stand-up show.

He was mistaken:

“It ended up selling out the run, winning awards, got great reviews, and even ended up selling out most dates at Edinburgh Fringe and London too. The same happened on my recent tour of Australia. It’s been really nice to see how this material has resonated with people.”

After trying AI, what has Anesti learned about himself and his creation work?

The biggest thing he’s learned is that the cliché “It’s about the journey, not the destination” is pretty accurate for him. Seeing AI evolve over the years and how everybody appears to be focused on getting to the finished product has made Anesti really appreciate and be aware of how much people learn and grow when the play, the art, the creation is actually being created by the person.

Danelis also shared how the show started that way. In 2023, at the Bad Times Queer Pride Festival, the tech booth just shut off. Projection and sound cues all stopped. To facilitate, while the tech people were running around trying to check and fix, Anesti stood there and improvised standup for 25 minutes, and it went really well.  Audiences didn’t know whether all this running around was part of the show

He added further:

“That experience made me rethink the entire show and incorporate this element of ‘what happens when the technology we’re so dependent on fails us?’. I wouldn’t have been able to get to that point if AI was this magical thing that gave me a finished product. 

Artificially Intelligent 2.0 moves on to the Edmonton Fringe after Toronto. He’ll then tour it to some cities. What he’s most looking forward to is bringing the show to Greece and performing it there for the first time. His grandfather was a touring violinist, and Danelis calls this moment in Greece a full circle. 

While he has been performing the show for the last three years, he’s excited to begin preparation for the next one.

As we concluded our email conversation, he doesn’t think the learning ever ends in the arts, especially in comedy:

“Early on, there are classes to take to learn the mechanics and structure of improv, sketch or standup. Eventually, the real learning comes from doing it: getting on stage, trying things, failing, adjusting and slowly finding our voice.  There’s a period where you’re awkward and clumsy, and then one day things start to click.”

Artificially Intelligent 2.0 runs at Toronto Fringe from July 2 to 12.

Learn more at https://www.anestidanelis.com/.

Photo credit of Anesti Danelis by Dahlia Katz

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