Anesti Danelis Returns to the 2024 Toronto Fringe Festival this July

Back by popular demand, award-winning Greek/Canadian comedian and viral sensation Anesti Danelis is coming back to this year's Toronto Fringe Festival with his brand-new show, ‘Artificially Intelligent.’ With nearly 1 million followers and over 400 million views, this is one of the most anticipated returns to the Fringe this year.

The show will premiere at the 2024 Toronto Fringe Festival with performances during the following dates:
July 4th (preview) at 9:30 pm
July 6th at 7:15 pm
July 7th at 9:45 pm
July 8th at 5:15 pm
July 11th at 4:15 pm
July 12th at 12:30 pm
July 13th at 3:45 pm

For tickets, please visit: https://fringetoronto.com/fringe/show/artificially-intelligent

Inspired by an actual experience where Anesti asked ChatGPT to “write a song in the style of Anesti Danelis” and received a hilariously terrible result, ‘Artificially Intelligent’ explores the journey of explaining one’s identity to an AI. The show delves into themes of self-identity in the digital age, and the broader issues surrounding AI and creativity. Can AI replicate the nuances and complexities of the human experience, or will it do what it always does and flatten culture? The audience will find out as Anesti performs the actual song ChatGPT wrote for him. The show features a fictionalized version of ChatGPT with pre-written and pre-recorded robotic audio that Anesti interacts with.

Growing up in a loud traditional Greek family full of souvlaki and dysfunction while navigating the world as a first-generation Canadian coming into his bisexuality has left Anesti feeling stretched between so many identities that he doesn’t really know who he is. Not wanting to do any soul-searching himself, he enlists ChatGPT to write him a super relatable and hilarious musical stand-up comedy show based on his life. There’s only one problem: ChatGPT doesn’t know who Anesti is and requests more information. As Anesti reflects on his life to provide data to ChatGPT through standup and musical comedy, he realizes that his unconventional upbringing has shaped him into a unique and multifaceted individual.

Through sharp and witty songs on guitar and piano, Anesti Danelis tackles our dependency on technology and our quest for self-discovery. His topics include hypocrisy, adulting, hookups, paranoia, immigrant family guilt, internet trolls, straight pride, deep dark secrets, your ex’s, doom scrolling, sentient chatbots in crisis, and more. His future classics include ‘Hook Up Murder’ about one-night stands, ‘Straight Pride,’ a satirical song about being queer, and ‘Grandpa on Grindr.’ where he puts his widowed grandfather on grindr to make friends his age.

Anesti Danelis is an award-winning comedian, musician, writer, and filmmaker whose work has been featured on VICE, People Magazine, AV Club, Extra TV, and other media outlets. He has an hour-long musical comedy special on Next Up Comedy, has taped multiple televised galas for the CBC, and his comedic videos consistently go viral online. He has performed at prestigious festivals including Just For Laughs in Montreal and has sold-out runs at the Toronto, Vancouver, and Edinburgh Fringes. Anesti filmed his latest comedy special this past May which is slated to release in fall of 2024.

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