Comedy trio the Deadly Aunties are aiming to revitalize Indigenous culture by empowering the youth with grassroots support, humour and modern representation while on their cross-country tour.

The Deadly Aunties have been performing for over ten months and the are heading to Toronto in a few weeks. The group rotates members with Stephanie Pangowish being the through line. The current line-up consists of Panogwish, social media influencer Sherry McKay and stand-up comedian Cheyenna Sapp. While they are on tour in Ontario, only Pangowish is from the Province. Mckay is from Manitoba and Sapp lives in Saskatchewan.

At every show the Aunties perform, a portion of the ticket sales goes to a Indigenous youth groups or charity in the location of their performance. Stephanie Pangowish, a Deadly Auntie, says that they support these groups because they are providing a solid foundation for the future of their communities.

“Being a Deadly Auntie is being a good community member that supports the community in any way you can,” says Pangowish. “We want to acknowledge [youth groups] about the great work that they’re doing - being so young and revitalizing culture in their communities is so important.”

But being community-focused does not end at raising money: it extends to giving new Indigenous comedians a platform to start out, according to the group. While on their tour, Pangowish says that they put callouts “for people that haven’t otherwise been able to perform.” The goal is to provide an opportunity for those who are new to the industry to perform in front of a largely Indigenous audience.

“We try to not gatekeep those spaces to just us and actually share the stage with people and inspiring them. We offer any type of support and knowledge we can,” says Mckay,

The main effect of the callouts has been an increase of Indigenous representation in the Canadian comedy scene: Sapp says that representation is important not just for the Aunties but for Indigenous people as a whole. McKay says that when growing up there were only five Indigneous actors in shows and movies with none being in what she was most interested in, comedy.

“One of my favourite things about being a Deadly Auntie is being able to inspire other Indigenous people. Sometimes I'll get comments from women saying they always wanted to try stand up and that [I'm] inspiring them,” says Sapp. "They're seeing a representation of themselves in a space that was largely occupied by non-Indigenous people. That's really important to me because now they are gonna go out and try."

The Deadly Aunties will be performing at the Native Earth Performing Arts and Aki Studio on July 22.

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