Ahren Belisle in Jacksonville

The punchline lands a beat after Ahren Belisle types it, and that pause is part of the joke. Ahren is a Canadian stand-up from North Bay, Ontario, who was born with cerebral palsy and performs through a speech synthesis app on his phone. He has said the technology sometimes fails, but the typing delay builds comic tension.

Comedy found him almost by accident. He was working as a software engineer when he went to a stand-up show on vacation in Portugal. His heckling got laughs, and the comics there encouraged him to try it himself. Much of his material comes from life with cerebral palsy and the way people react to someone with a disability.

Things moved quickly after that. Later in the year he started, he appeared on Kill Tony, and the response earned him a Golden Ticket to come back any time. Producers then invited him onto season 18 of America's Got Talent in 2023, and he made it all the way to the finals.

Back home in Canada, he was part of All Access Comedy (2024), a special for AMI hosted by D.J. Demers that spotlights comedians with disabilities. The ensemble earned a Canadian Screen Award nomination for writing.