The Humour and Wit of ETA Matt Cage
I watched a lot of videos of Matt Cage’s performances in preparation for his interview, and found myself laughing out loud at some of the things he says during his shows. Matt’s speaking voice has dulcet tone that is soothing and pleasant, and when combined with the charming way he expresses his thoughts, his comments are always met with laughter. The following excerpts from Matt's shows, which I compiled from several videos for your reading enjoyment, highlight Matt's good-natured sense of humour:
In Tupelo, Mississippi, in 2013, Matt handled a heckler’s comment about his loose-fitting blue velvet shirt with a quick comeback. “Thank you, friends. What do you think of my shirt? I felt compelled to wear it here.” “Why?” a shout came from the audience. “It just struck me this morning when I got up…I feel blue and puffy.” After the audience stopped laughing, Matt continued. “I drove about 3 ½ years to get here…at least it felt like it. I drove all the way from Canada. You can tell by my accent I am from Canada—Southern Canada. I’ve been to Tupelo before, to the birthplace…and a couple of bars.” More laughter followed.
Also in 2013, at performance in Collingwood, Matt joked about his name change. “So my name’s Matt Cage. I used to be Matt Dowsett; but you see, the police wanted me, so I had to change it. No. I am only joking, friends. Cage is just a lot easier to spell.”
In 2014, as a special guest at the annual Collingwood Elvis Festival, while singing the song “Trouble”, Matt changed the words from “I don’t take orders from no kind of man” to “I don’t take no orders from no John Cigan,” garnering much laughter from the Collingwood audience who understood the reference to seasoned ETA John Cigan. Matt then added, “I had to do that song; it’s treated me real well here before; and let’s face it, that’s what I am.”
At the 2014 Lake George Festival after Matt was introduced, there was a delay in the playing of his gospel music. Rather than standing there awkwardly, Matt said to the sound man, “I know it is Sunday, but are you sleeping too… whenever you are ready, son.” Still no music; so Matt turned to the waiting audience and said, “I am going to do a 20 minute sermon on the evils of Lazy Boy chairs.” The announcement was met with laughter.
At one of the many concerts at St. John’s Anglican Church in Madoc, Ontario, Matt used exaggeration to amuse the audience, “It’s about the 600th time I have been here.” He then added, “Every time I’m here, I’m never disappointed—well sometimes; but I keep it to myself. Hello ladies. I see you waving, kind of. I don’t know who you are, but you look friendly. It’s going to be a long night, and we only have four songs; but the rest is like a vaudeville sort of thing. We are going to do skits, and I think there is a pie in the face.” The audience found Matt’s quips very funny.
Matt’s DVD, Three Decades of Elvis, recorded at the Empire Theatre in Belleville in2014, is a cache of entertaining comments and behaviour. In his first set he saunters across the stage, and gives an approving thumbs-up to his own poster. In the second set, Matt, wearing the ’68 leather suit, says to the audience, “If you see a guy outside with a motorcycle looking really cold, don’t tell him where his suit is, okay. Keep that between just us friends.” And then he added, “One thing I learned just a minute ago, changing into a leather suit while you’re sweating, ain’t that easy I’ll tell you…I almost worked harder back there, then I did out here. Later in the same set, while sitting on the stage, Matt said to the audience, “I like to come out here and connect with people in the audience; and I like to connect one on one with people and make them feel real uncomfortable. I think it is real important to do that.” Matt’s curved comment was met with a round of laughter. Even when he isn’t trying to be funny, people laugh at his comments. Matt, dressed in his peacock jumpsuit, said, “Thank you very much,” just like Elvis, and everyone laughed. “That wasn’t a joke.” Then he went on, “So what do you think of my suit? I bought it at Wal-Mart—a Rollback Special.” The audience was a little more exuberant than they were before intermission, so Matt asked, “What did you folks get into at the intermission? Whatever it was, I want some!” After he was given a note about someone’s birthday, he asked the audience if anyone else was celebrating a birthday. So many people raised their hands that Matt commented, “Let’s go back nine months…what was going on? It must have been cold or something.” And when he heard something fall from his suit, Matt made the audience laugh with his quick wit, “I’m falling apart. I just knocked a jewel off.” Picking up the jewel, he walked towards the audience saying, “There’s fifteen bucks. I’ll tell you what, here you go (handing the jewel to an audience member). You take that, put in a drawer for about 10 or 15 years; and when you take it out, it will still be worth nothing.”
Matt’s comments to the Ypsilanti, Michigan audience in 2015 were very amusing. The audience couldn’t get enough of his attention, and he spent an entire song on his knees. “My lips are getting longer,” he joked, after kissing a dozen fans. And adjusting his leather jacket that had slipped up, he said to the audience, “What are you looking at?” knowing they had quite a view from behind. When the song finished, Matt said, “You are a very kind, considerate, if not grabby, audience; but that’s okay. I don’t mind.” Commenting on the sweltering heat, he added, “Black leather in the middle of the day; man, I don’t know what I was thinking. By the end of this set, there is going to be a pile of goo with a black jacket on it. You’re wearing me out. We are going to keep on going with some movements for you. Even if it kills me, I’m going to entertain you tonight—this afternoon (he corrected)! See, I’m all confused…the heat stroke is getting in there.”
Performing with the Déjà vu Band at an outdoor evening concert in 2016, Matt commented, “It got quiet out there; can I hear you?” The crowd responded with a cheer. “If you weren’t there, I would just go home.” And at a King Attraction event in the same year, Matt said to the audience, “We did the 50s; we did the 60s; and now we’re doing the…?” The crowd responded with, “The 70s!” Matt continued to engage them with, “You were smart last time, and you are still smart this time. I like this audience. Give yourselves a round of applause!” Then as Matt began to sing, he put his pants pocket, saying, “I normally don’t have pockets.” Everyone laughed knowing he usually performs in jumpsuits or leather.
I was at Matt’s concert this year when a fan came up to the stage while he was in the middle of singing a song and carried on a conversation with him as if they were the only two people in the room. She wanted to hear “Teddy Bear”, which he had just sung a few minutes earlier. She started telling him a long story about her dog whose name is Teddy Bear. To those watching, it was both funny and annoying. Matt let her ramble on a bit, then said, “I have a show to do right now; maybe we can talk later.” The lady shook his hand and walked away taking no offense. Matt handled the disruption to his show with humour and charm.
Excerpts from an article by Carolyn MacArthur.
Videos
