BAD STOIC premieres at the 40th Annual Victoria Fringe!
Multiple award-winning storyteller Andrew Bailey will premiere his latest “hilarious and heart-wrenching” storytelling show, Bad Stoic, at the 2026 Victoria Fringe Festival.
“Finally, a storyteller with something to say.”
-The Edmonton Journal
Bad Stoic follows Bailey, a new parent, earnestly training to be a better, more stoic person. When he is finally successful, it turns out to be a terrible mistake.
“Bailey has perfected the formula for funny.“
-Monday Magazine
“Stoicism is often misinterpreted as mere self-improvement,” says Bailey, who has a degree in Classical Studies. “For the ancient Stoics, cultivating logic and reason was only good if it helped the wider community. My own father, without studying Stoicism, embodied this. Me: not so much. But I did study.” While delving into serious topics including the aftereffects of a medical error, Bad Stoic is ultimately an uplifting show. As Bailey states, “Nothing is funnier to me, nor more heart-warming, than someone trying and failing to be a better person. Especially if, after the failure, you try and fail again.”
“Bailey really is a master of the monologue.”
-Culture Vulture
Bad Stoic plays at Site B, The Other Guise Theatre, 716 Johnson Street (Same Venue as 52 Stories)
Performance Schedule:
Friday, August 28 – 8:15pm
Saturday, August 29 – 6:30pm
Sunday, August 30 – 7:45pm
Thursday, September 3 – 6:30pm
Friday, September 4 – 8:15pm
Saturday, September 5 – Noon
Saturday, September 5 – 6:30pm
Sunday, September 6 – 2:00pm
Tickets: $16
Running time: 60 minutes
Suitability: 13+ recommended (coarse language, adult themes, death and dying)
BIOGRAPHY
Bad Stoic 3
Featured: Andrew Bailey
Photographer: Elena Bailey
Andrew Bailey is a writer, performer, and comedian born and raised in Victoria, BC. His other solo shows (including “Brain Machine”, “Me, The Queen, and a Coconut”, “The Adversary”, and “Limbo”) have won awards and played to sold out audiences across the country. His comedic work with Victoria’s Atomic Vaudeville Cabaret has been acclaimed for nearly two decades. Bailey’s novel, “The Rite of James Biddle”, is published by Bayeux Arts. His adaptation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is available for sale at the Canadian Play Outlet.
REVIEWS for most recent show (Brain Machine):
Brain Machine
★★★★★
Andrew Bailey’s solo show is about the fascinating (and little-known) people and stories behind the creation of the internet — and much more. It’s also about how he accidentally went viral, and how the web has the power to connect — or destroy — all of us.
That he’s able to tie all of this more or less seamlessly together is one of the things that makes Brain Machine so remarkable. That he’s able to bring something fresh to the well-hashed “interwebs might be good, might be bad” theme may be even more remarkable.
Much of this comes down to Bailey’s skill as a storyteller. He’s got the timing of a seasoned standup and a scriptwriter’s sense of when to reveal information — particularly a bombshell he drops well into the play.
It’s personal, it’s smart and it’s also very funny. Check it out. Your brain will thank you.
—Reviewed by Joff Schmidt
If this show were a Facebook post, it would qualify as one of the “clickbait think pieces” whose online prevalence Andrew Bailey laments (or maybe just observes) in this monologue.
That’s not an insult: Brain Machine is fascinating, informative, personal, and relevant.
Bailey subtly, skillfully braids the stories of the Internet’s inventors with his own experience of going viral; both his writing and his delivery are informed by his standup comedy skills. Example: “I hate things that are noisy and distracting, but I moved to Toronto anyway.” Go, learn, laugh, take hope.
-Reviewed by Kathleen Oliver
Looking for a Fringe show that uses the word hagiography? Bingo.
In Brain Machine, solo artist Andrew Bailey explores connections and opportunities—mostly missed. Its historical thread is about the Internet: its potential and its degradation. Its more personal thread is about Bailey’s relationships and work.
There’s substantial material here. Bailey expresses his anger at feminists who diminish the suffering of men, including the suffering caused by being sexually assaulted. (“Twenty years later, on a bad day, sometimes I still shake.”)
And a lot of the show is very funny. Bailey is a master of reversal: “When I was 17, I felt disconnected and alone…unlike other 17-year-olds.” And he gets a laugh out of hagiography.
Bailey is confident, charming, a pro. This is the premiere of Brain Machine. Go see it.
–Reviewed by Colin Thomas