Introducing Pulp Comedy, Julie Nolke’s love letter to the next generation of Canadian comics
Sep 15, 2022 – [[read-time]] minute read
Comedian Julie Nolke is an award-winning actor, writer and creator, with her self-titled comedy YouTube channel recently hit 1M subscribers. During the pandemic, Julie became a breakout creator in Canada when she rose to fame with her viral videos on Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self.
She’s a three-time Webby Winner, was nominated for a 2021 Streamy and has also seen off-platform success including her recurring role as Sam in CBC’s Run the Burbs. Now, she’s using the platform and audience she’s built on YouTube to spotlight other emerging Canadian comics with her latest project: Pulp Comedy, a hilarious new Canadian sketch comedy series coming to YouTube on September 16th.
We sat down with Julie to hear more about the new show and her goal to spotlight established comedic stars and rising Canadian talent, and we even got a look at the show’s first teaser.
We can’t wait for this! Can you start by telling us what Pulp Comedy is and how it came to be?
Pulp Comedy is a digital comedy show that features a collaborative troupe of six Canadian comedy writers and actors. Our team has credits from shows like What We Do in the Shadows, Kim's Convenience, This Hour has 22 Minutes, Workin’ Moms and Abroad, just to name a few!
The show will feature a mix of filmed sketches and hilarious panel discussions focused on different topics and themes each week, and nothing is off limits. A sneak peek: we dive into the uncomfortability of sexting and the necessity of using bidets, among other things.
It’s always been my dream to showcase our unique Canadian humor with talented local artists right here at home. With a global platform like YouTube, we’re able to easily share our talent and creativity with the world.
That’s amazing. How did you land on this cast and crew? What brought you together?
I’ve worked with Christian Smith, Natalie Metcalfe and Sam Larson for several years now. It was a no-brainer to think that we could build something big together. We’re all self-starters and share the same sense of humor. For the remaining cast, we chose individuals who were not only talented actors but who could write and produce as well. The cast is composed of people who have spent their careers wearing multiple hats.
Our focus with Pulp Comedy is just to work with incredibly talented people and make some really funny episodes. The Canadian comedy industry makes it easy because there’s no shortage of hilarious individuals.
YouTube gives the Pulp Comedy team complete creative control to not only write any story we want, but decide how, when and where to tell it”
Julie NolkeTalented group you’ve got! And why is YouTube the right fit for Pulp Comedy?
YouTube gives the Pulp Comedy team complete creative control to not only write any story we want, but decide how, when and where to tell it as well. The whole purpose of this project is to show the world what incredible talent Canada has and the best way to do that right now is on YouTube.
I’ve spent years developing my own YouTube channel but much of that time has been spent solo. With Pulp Comedy, we’re able to get in a room together, storyboard, collaborate and build on each other's ideas. That has been such a special part of this process and I’m so proud of how collaborative the experience has been.
We love that. Beyond showcasing Canada’s star comedians, what do you hope the reaction is when people watch?
I mainly just hope we can make people laugh!
I think we all hope that Pulp Comedy will inspire the next generation of Canadian comedians, and I hope Pulp Comedy becomes something Canadian actors dream of being a part of in the way I’ve dreamt of being on Saturday Night Live.
It’s a new type of show, that features new faces, new voices, new perspectives, and with a new format. I haven’t seen anything like this done before so I hope people respond well to it and I hope there’s enough interest that we can keep it going for years to come.
And I’m so humbled at the response we’ve seen online so far — since we shared our first teaser, the channel is at over 22K subscribers!
Is there anything else you want people to know about Pulp Comedy?
Yes — let us know what you think and we look forward to your feedback! You can check out the Pulp Comedy YouTube channel, and our first episode comes out Friday, September 16. In the meantime, check out the Season 1 Trailer.
