For eight years, Whitehorse comedy duo Sharon Shorty and Duane Ghastant Aucoin have been cracking up Yukoners by playing “Gramma Susie” and “Cash Creek Charlie,” a pair of feisty First Nations elders. You can catch their act onstage at the Yukon International Storytelling Festival in Whitehorse this October.

Gramma Susie at Whitehorse Canada Seniors Games 2004

Up Here: Other than the festival, what are your plans for this fall?

Gramma Susie: If Charlie’s still alive I’ll send him out to get a moose. I can’t eat KFC everyday.

UH: How’s your health?

Cash Creek Charlie: My health is good whenever Susie remembers to give me my pills. Susie is doing great since she cut back to one bucket of chicken a week.

UH: Been on any trips?

Gramma Susie: Charlie makes a lot of trips to the bathroom.

Cash Creek Charlie: Then she sends me on a trip to go cash my pension cheque.

UH: What’s it like being an elder these days?

Gramma Susie: From snowshoes to cell phones. People are too busy to come visit.

UH: What kinds of changes have you seen in your lifetime?

Gramma Susie: We’ve both gotten shorter.

Cash Creek Charlie: Weather is gettin’ crazy. People are never happy with themselves. They used to want to make their community better, but now they just want bigger TVs.

Gramma Susie: Men got prettier.

UH: What are you looking forward to the most?

Cash Creek Charlie: Toonie Tuesday, Susie gets her chicken, then I get the house to myself.