Paul Snepsts

Paul Snepsts has spent over 20 years writing comedy, performing it, creating opportunities for brilliant comedy artists, and convincing curious, like-minded weirdos to get onstage themselves. As the creator and executive director of The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, he has been championing Canadian comedy since 2005.

Paul has toured throughout Canada and the United States with sketch troupes Boiled Wieners and The Majors, including appearances at the Montréal and Chicago Sketch Comedy Festivals, and he earned a Gemini Award for Best Comedic Ensemble for the television series Three Chords from the Truth. Closer to home, Paul is a writer and performer with The County Roundup, the County’s own satirical newsdesk, delivering big-time laughs at small-town news. He produces and hosts The Sneptic Tank on 99.3 County FM, an award-winning program celebrating alternative pop and Canadian indie rock.

Having taught comedy and improv everywhere from his own basement to Loyalist College, and from town halls to corporate retreats, Paul’s passion turned to building a homegrown comedy scene in Prince Edward County through teaching and mentorship, and he continues to create opportunities for local audiences and performers.

Comedy Country is the result of this passion, bringing live comedy and homegrown talent to stages across Prince Edward County since 2015. As the County’s live comedy series, Comedy Country reflects this mission through classes, showcases and performance opportunities, while  helping County residents discover and develop their own comedic chops through The County Comedy Project, an 8-week project which begins October 1st at the Baxter Arts Centre led by Lenny Epstein and Gavin North of comedy duo, Short Attention Spa.

This month, you can catch Paul in Nassim Soleimanpour’s internationally acclaimed White Rabbit Red Rabbit. Presented by County Stage at The Andrew on three consecutive Thursdays this October, each performance features a different performer, with Paul performing on October 23, 2026. At each performance, an actor walks onto the stage having never read the play they are about to perform. Waiting for them is a sealed envelope containing Soleimanpour’s play. Once the actor opens it in front of the audience, the performer and audience discover what happens together. 

Read on to learn more about what Paul has coming up next, his advice to new artists, and more.

Tell us a bit about your upcoming projects:

The fall session of The County Comedy Project begins October 1st at Baxter Arts Centre in Bloomfield. For eight weeks, Lenny Epstein and Gavin North of Short Attention Spa will work with a new group of locals on sketch, stand-up and improv, leading to their first live show on November 26. I love the moment when somebody who came in saying, “I’ve never done anything like this,” starts to trust an idea enough to try it in front of other people. I love watching people stretch, and take risks, and fail, and laugh (hard) … then edit, repeat and eventually stick the landing at a sold out show. Ask anyone who’s done The County Comedy Project. It’s the best. So glad to have added a second intake this year. (If you missed this one, there will be another intake coming in April).

On October 23rd, I get to be the one taking a leap. County Stage has invited me to perform White Rabbit Red Rabbit at The Andrew in Picton. There’s a very fun handle to this play: the rules are that I can’t read it, see it performed or rehearse it beforehand. I’ll walk onstage, open a sealed envelope containing the script and find out what happens along with everyone in the room. Folks think improv is scary! It’ll be magical … or it will be an epic car crash. Either way, it can only happen once.

Then Comedy Country closes out the year with Holiday Hijinks, an all-local live comedy variety show at Mt. Tabor Playhouse during that strange, liminal space between the holidays in December. It’s a chance to gather, laugh about the year we’ve had and collaborate with the people making comedy right here in the County. Building that community has become as important to me as putting on the shows themselves. I’m looking forward to ending the year in a room full of it.

Where in the County do you find the most creative inspiration?

I find my greatest inspiration in the company of other weirdos. I’m the kind of creator who loves to be in a room full of people jamming on an idea. I think that’s why I’ve always gravitated toward sketch comedy in particular. Improvisation is here, then it’s gone. There’s magic and fun to that, and it has a big place in my heart too. But working in a team, committing immense cognitive and creative powers toward one, gloriously ridiculous premise – that’s my happy place.

What advice would you give to artists just starting out in their careers?

Look – the prospect of living a life in the arts will likely never thrill your parents (let alone potential in-laws). I never have to worry about offending people with the smell of all the money I have lying around.

By way of advice, I’d say that the best creators (in my view) behave like a good scientist. Be curious. Explore. Inquire. Question. Experiment. Fail. Repeat.

And never be afraid to try ALL THE WAY.