Yahoo Finance Dealing with the pandemic with delicious dark humour — that's just how the 'misfortune cookie' crumbles
If life is being unkind to you amid COVID-19, why not eat your sorrows away with a different kind of fortune cookie?
David Kopp bakes and sells "misfortune cookies" — chocolate-dipped treats that contain darkly humorous predictions written by the Kelowna, B.C., comedian.
"Your mask breaks while shopping at Costco. You die instantly of COVID-84," is just one example of what you might find on one of the hidden slips of paper.
Kopp created the snack several years ago and sold them at his Kelowna Comedy Club shows.
He gave up the baking when he got too busy with his performances, but picked it up again with help from his wife when the pandemic forced the club he founded to stop hosting shows.
"It was just so hard to make [the comedy club] work," Kopp told the CBC's Chris Walker. "I'd spend probably four times more time and money marketing the shows to get a third of the people in the door."
The comedian began selling the cookies to friends two months ago. Soon his project caught attention from fans who have been following him on social media.
"It's just snowballed," said Kopp. "Everyone got really excited about it, and I got a lot of messages."
Kopp is now offering his packs of 20 misfortune cookies by theme, with jokes tailored to more than 30 different categories including professions and occasions.
Some of the options offered include "vet," "recently single" and "bachelorette party."
Although Kopp has been doing standup comedy for years, he says it was initially challenging to write dozens of quips about topics he's unfamiliar with.
Now he says he can come up with as many as 60 in a day — even when he misses out on timely material.
"I did custom cookies for a gender reveal party the week before a gender reveal party started the forest fire [in California in early September]," he said.
"All the best material was waiting. I missed the whole forest fire angle."
Kopp says the creative process helps them withstand the difficult times. The Kelowna Comedy Club hasn't hosted any performances since July.
"When it rains, it pours," he said. "I'm trying to sell a lot of cookies, and I think it'll work."
Tap the link below to listen to Chris Walker's conversation with David Kopp:
