This is what it's all about

I've said all along how I love having two professional comedy clubs in the city (and three if you include Lafflines in New West). This weekend really drives that point home. Check out this rundown:

The Comedy MIX, 1015 Burrard St, in the Century Plaza Hotel & Spa

Ryan Hamilton: tonight & tomorrow at 8:00 and 10:30 each night
You might not know him by name. You may not even know him by face. But he's hilarious. I first saw him on Last Comic Standing, where he progressed quite far. Since then I've seen what he can do live numerous times (and will be back for more on Saturday night). He's the total package: great delivery, naturally funny looks and strong writing.




Yuk Yuk's, 2837 Cambie St, at 12th
Norm Macdonald: tonight and tomorrow at 8:00 and 10:30 each night
You know him by name. You know him by face. He's also hilarious. He's perhaps best known for his 3-year turn behind the Weekend Update desk on Saturday Night Live, his various TV projects and movies, but he's always been first and foremost a stand-up comic. He's also just about the perfect late-night talk show guest ever. The last time he played Vancouver he was at the 950-seat River Rock Show Theatre so the chance to see him in an intimate nightclub is one you shouldn't pass up.

Rogers Arena, 800 Griffiths Way
Russell Peters: Saturday at 8:00
A true Canadian superstar. There aren't many comics who can perform in sold-out arenas but he's been doing it for years after graduating from theatres by way of clubs. If you're like me and skeptical of the comedy experience in such a cavernous venue, fear not. It's not like the old days when Steve Martin was driven out of the scene. The sound is great and there are two huge screens to watch if you find yourself in the cheap seats.

Lafflines, 530 Columbia St., New Westminster
Simon King: tonight at 9:30, Saturday at 9:00
Simon's one of the many local comics who flies under the radar in their own hometown but who destroys on stages all over the country. His frenetic pacing leaves crowds breathless as he rails about stupidity and injustice. It's amazing how fast his mind works. And his mouth.




So you see, there's lots to choose from. And you can have your cake and eat it, too. With the exception of Peters, every other comic is on multiple times so you can work your schedule around catching all of them, if you want, especially given that both Hamilton and Macdonald also played on Thursday night.

As I said before, it's a good time to be a comedy fan in Vancouver.

Russell Peters interview

Russell Peters 

June 13, 2012

 "I think a lot of comics get to a certain level then expect that their next outing should be the exact same as the last one, as far as attendance and venues and stuff goes. And then they may not want to go work it out in the clubs. They may feel they’re above it. There’s no time in the comedy game that you’re ever above anything, you know? Except for maybe a comedy competition. You might be above those." – Russell Peters

Russell Peters: (heavily accented) Yo, Guy!

Guy MacPherson: (heavily accented) Hey, Russell! (normal) How are you?

RP: Hey, what up, Guy?

GM: You having a good day so far?

RP: You know, it’s a bit busy but it’s good, yeah.

GM: You’re always busy, busy, Russell.

RP: I’m trying, buddy, I’m trying.

GM: How’s fatherhood?

RP: Fatherhood’s great!

GM: How old’s the little one?

RP: She’s 18 months now.

GM: How often do you see her?

RP: Uh, when I’m home I try to see her every day. I go to her mom’s house and hang out with the baby. And then I usually leave around six o’clock.

GM: Oh, are you not together anymore?

RP: No, sir. I’m what they call happy now.

GM: (laughs) I didn’t know that. How long has that been?

RP: Since November, kinda. Yeah. I managed to keep it under wraps for as long as I could.

GM: It’s tough being in the public eye.

RP: Yeah, you know, you want to make sure it’s done before you make an announcement.

GM: I haven’t seen you since last time you were here. I don’t even remember when that was.

RP: Three years ago, I guess.

GM: Is your daughter now fodder for your act?

RP: No, I’m da fodder of her.

GM: Heh-heh.

RP: But no, she’s in there. My whole life is in there. So I talk about fatherhood and all that kind of good stuff.

GM: So that’s a new wrinkle.

RP: There’s new wrinkles and then there’s the old wrinkles I’m ironing out.

GM: There’s the Louis CK model, which is to shit on your kid.

RP: I’m not shitting on her so much but I’m more shitting on myself for not really knowing what I’m doing. I went from my perspective. You don’t want to copy anyone else, either.

GM: Norm Macdonald’s playing at Yuk Yuk’s the weekend you’re here.

RP: I did not know that. What an odd twist. I love Norm. He’s hilarious.

GM: Is it still a rush playing arenas or is it just old hat by now?

RP: Of course it’s still a rush. I mean, the fact that I can still do it. This is my third arena tour. People are lucky to get one arena tour ever in their life. So to be on the third one is pretty incredible for me.

GM: I’ve heard that Kevin Hart is the new biggest guy in comedy. And I go, “Who’s Kevin Hart?”

RP: Kevin Hart’s hilarious, actually. I would say Kevin Hart is the new Eddie Murphy, you know? He’s in movies, he’s on TV, he’s selling out around North America, white people like him. He is very funny, though, so that’s the good news about Kevin Hart is that he’s very deserving of his success so I’m very happy for him. He’s a good guy, too.

GM: I know you work some clubs in the States when you’re developing material. If the money were equal, would you prefer to play in clubs? Is there a venue that suits you best?

RP: I love playing clubs. The only problem is it takes its toll on you because you have to do so many nights and so many shows a night. You’re trying to service all these people and it’s just easier to knock it out all in one night in an arena, you know? Being in the clubs is like being in the gym, you know?

GM: I was surprised when I saw you at how intimate it seems.

RP: Yeah, that’s your job as a comic is to make people feel like… It’s up to you to make them feel how you want them to feel, and I want them to feel like, look, we’re not in this arena because I’m trying to be an arena comic; we’re in this arena because I just want us all to be together at one time, you know? And I sew it together with the cameras.

GM: We’re attracted to the big screens so it’s kinda like watching TV. Is there a different reaction when people are watching the screen as opposed to watching you?

RP: Um, I don’t know because… That would be a good audience question since I’ve never really watched myself from the audience. I’ve tried, but it’s just hard to do both.

GM: I heard you on Marc Maron’s podcast. Did that get a good reaction?

RP: That did a lot, actually. A lot of people who didn’t know who I was, learned who I was. And a lot of people knew my comedy but didn’t know anything about me, got to learn a bit about me. I think it was beneficial for everybody: Marc won, I won, we all won. Yay!

GM: Yay! It’s neat seeing the progression you’ve had in your career. Canadians have seen you growing up wheras the rest of the world just sees you now. I remember you on a David Frost special with comedians from different countries.

RP: Probably. I’ve done a bunch of those things. But I forget half of them. Especially the TV ones. I forget a lot of them.

GM: It was early on, before you broke. I went, “Hey, there’s Russell Peters!”

RP: I think I remember that. That was at the CBC here in Toronto.

GM: You’ve achieved way more than you---

RP: Than I deserve? (laughs)

GM: That’s what I was going to say! No, probably beyond anything you imagined. Do you still have goals?

RP: I don’t really think about that. I just think about coming up with the material. I just want to make sure I’m able to do my job for as long as I can do it for.

GM: And how do you do that?

RP: Well, you’ve just got to stay out there, you’ve got to stay working. I think a lot of comics get to a certain level then expect that their next outing should be the exact same as the last one, as far as attendance and venues and stuff goes. And then they may not want to go work it out in the clubs. They may feel they’re above it. There’s no time in the comedy game that you’re ever above anything, you know? Except for maybe a comedy competition. You might be above those.

GM: It’s a matter of keeping it fresh and not trotting out your old hits.

RP: Yeah, no, you gotta keep writing. I stay writing all the time.

GM: But then there’s that faction who want to hear the old stuff, right?

RP: I think eventually I’ll possibly do a greatest hits tour but artistically I can’t bring myself to do that yet. Maybe when I do a Vegas run or something, if I ever get booked to do Vegas and I’m there for an extended period of time, maybe a year or two, I’ll possibly do a greatest hits show. But until then I’m going to keep writing.

GM: My brother-in-law is an Indo-Canadian—

RP: I’m sorry about that.

GM: --who loves you, but he says sometimes he gets the feeling that white people are laughing for the wrong reasons, laughing at who you’re representing, rather than with you.

RP: You know, everybody’s laughing for a different reason. Everyone is connecting with it on whatever level they’re connecting on it with. I mean, I can’t guarantee that you’re going to understand the joke for the same reason that the people are laughing beside you, you know? Who knows? I mean, that could be his own sensitivity. He may feel that people are just laughing at him. That’s also a personal thing, like, “Oh, they’re laughing at us.” No, no, no, you’re missing the point here. They’re laughing with us.

GM: And an artist can’t really be concerned with how somebody is reacting to their work.

RP: Yeah, it’s all subjective. It’s what you take away from it.

GM: Have you done the Louis CK model, not that you want to copy him in this, too, but a lot of comics are doing it now where they’re selling their own special—

RP: Now, see, here’s the thing. This is the only reason it bothers me that everybody making a big deal out of this and calling it the Louis CK model is that I have been spending my own money and producing my own specials since ’06. And I never made a big deal out of it. I would spend all my money on videoing it, editing it and putting a dvd out and I would collect all the cash myself however way I did it. And all of a sudden Louis does it and he’s a more marquee name as far as the mainstream goes, and people are like, ‘Oh, how fresh and ground-breaking!’ I’m like, ‘Uh, I’ve been doing this for years.’

GM: But isn’t it that his isn’t a physical product? It’s a download.

RP: No, no, he did the $5 download and do what you want with it, but the difference is my fans found me on the internet so it’s going to be difficult for me to get them to all of a sudden pay for something that they were trying to get for free all this time. I don’t know how successful it would be for me. And because somebody else did something makes me not want to do it. I need to be the guy who comes up with his own ideas and does something out[side] the box.

GM: I was thinking you could do it his way and blow him out of the water.

RP: Um… No, because I don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, he saw what like Louis did?’ And I’m like, ‘Ugh, no, not like what Louis did.’

GM: ‘Like what I did first.’

RP: Yeah.

GM: Okay, I’ll say it’s the Russell Peters model from now on.

RP: You bet your ass.

GM: So this is all new material in the Notorious World Tour?

RP: Yes, sir. All 100% new.

GM: Is it harder to relate now? You’re kind of living the good life.

RP: I mean, yeah, I’m successful and I got a lot of good things going on, but my personal life… Russell Peters has changed, but Russell the guy is exactly the same. All my friends are exactly the same and the things I do are exactly the same. Sure, some of things may be better than what I used to be able to do, but as far as I go, I manage to stay the same. People’s perception may have changed but I feel I’m still the same guy. I’m still the same goofball who’ll want to go to the mall and just hang out, and my friends are like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I’m like, ‘I dunno, let’s go to the mall and hang out.’

GM: As Newhart said, though, there got to a point where he didn’t take the bus anymore so he couldn’t do his old routine about bus drivers. He can’t relate to what a lot of his fans are doing.

RP: Yeah, there are certain things that I probably never did that people do every day but that doesn’t mean I can’t comprehend it; I just don’t talk about it if it doesn’t make any sense to me.

GM: So do you go to the mall and hang out?

RP: I do go to the mall and hang out. I put on a baseball hat and hang out. My friends that go with me always hate it because, ‘Oh, dude, we’re gonna get mobbed in there.’ I go, ‘No, we’re not. We’re fine. I’m wearing a hat.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, you think people won’t know that’s you with a hat on?’ I’m like, ‘Nah, they don’t know.’ I try and kid myself. But I don’t care, you know what I mean? Like, what’s the worst that could happen? Somebody wants a picture or an autograph? The downside of that is nobody wants your picture or autograph and that sucks worse.

GM: That’s a good attitude to have. Do you read the internet about you?

RP: No. You know why? Because the internet is one of those places where people can put anything out there. They can fabricate. They can say what they want about you. And everyone’s an internet tough guy. And I don’t have the patience to read what some dork sitting in his bedroom says or what his opinion is or what he thinks I may be like. Until you’ve met me and we’ve had some sort of interaction, you can’t really say. People speculate. And people never speculate somebody’s nice; they always speculate that somebody’s a dick. Especially with me, they see the persona on stage and they just automatically assume I’m this cocky guy. And that’s not who I am at all.

GM: That’s true for any performer. We only get a really small window into who they are and people extrapolate from it that’s how they are all the time.

RP: Absolutely.

GM: So are there misconceptions besides that you’ve heard about you?

RP: No. Again, I don’t really look for it at all. I’ll give you an example. I have something like 230,000 or 240,000 followers on Twitter. Ninety-nine percent of the time people are saying nice things and then there’s that one person who says something fucked up and that’s what sticks in my head the most. That bothers me more than all the compliments because I’m like, ‘Well, what’s your problem?’ Not like, ‘Why can’t you go along with everyone else?’ but ‘What have I done to you that you’ve decided to be this tough guy on the internet?’

GM: So were you always the guy when you were working the clubs to focus in on the one person sitting there not laughing with his arms crossed?

RP: I think that’s every comic. That’s what we do. Our job is to focus on the people that aren’t laughing: ‘Why aren’t you laughing? What can I do to make you laugh? How can I make you happy?’

GM: You’re a pleaser.

RP: I’m a pleaser. Russell Pleasers.

GM: Your Wikipedia entry says Canadian comedian, actor and disc jockey.

RP: That is correct.

GM: Disc jockey, really?

RP: Yeah, I used to deejay. Since 1985.

GM: Professionally?

RP: Yeah, I used to play clubs and parties. I even entered a few deejay competitions back in the day. Scratching and mixing, yeah.

GM: You bring deejays on tour with you, right?

RP: Yeah, I bring Starting from Scratch and DJ Spinbad with me. They’ll be on tour with me all over the place.

GM: Who opens for you?

RP: On this leg of the tour, it’s Ryan Stout.

GM: That sounds familiar.

RP: He’s an up-and-coming kid out of LA. Really funny, though. You should YouTube him. He’s been on some things. He’s on Chelsea every now and then. Very funny guy.

GM: I see you on the sides of buses here in town.

RP: See? Huh? Who says I don’t take the bus?!

GM: (laughs) Nice callback. Good job. Alright Russell, you’ve got a million other press things to do today?

RP: Yeah. It’s pretty hectic today.

GM: I thought I had the scoop but I guess not.

RP: You do. You have the Vancouver scoop.

GM: Perfect. Okay, see you in a couple of weeks.

RP: You bet your ass, you will.

GM: There’s that cocky Russell Peters.

RP: (laughs) Are you coming to the show?

GM: Yeah, I am.

RP: Okay, great.

GM: Thanks.

RP: See ya, buddy.

Winning!... not

If you heard Charlie Sheen admit for the first time publicly that he bought a hooker for Tom Cruise once, that would pique your interest, right? You'd might wonder when it was. Maybe you'd want to know if Tom actually used said hooker. Maybe, given the rumours about Mr. Cruise's sexuality, you'd be curious as to the sex of the professional sex worker. But you wouldn't just let the comment pass without a follow-up question, would you?

Well, at his Vancouver, um, event (it wasn't really a show and I don't know how else to describe it), Sheen told interviewer Russell Peters precisely that: He bought Tom Cruise a hooker once, then admitted that he had never mentioned it in public before. So...???

So that's it. Nothing more to learn, obviously. Sheen made a crack that now that he's brought it up, "the Church of Martian Idiots" will be all over him. "Those people are fucking dangerous," he added. And that was that. It was on to the more incisive questioning from someone in the crowd wondering if there'd be another Major League movie. (Yup.)

Peters was decent with his initial line of questioning and kept things funny for the most part, and, in fairness, he's not a professional interviewer so maybe he can be forgiven for leaving those juicy nuggets just hanging. But it doesn't take a seasoned journalist to want to hear more on this scoop about Cruise. Does it?

Sheen makes me laugh. I mean that sincerely. I've never seen a single second of Two and a Half Men (has anyone? he claims it was on for 8 years and 177 shows but I don't know a single person who's seen it; then again, I don't know a single person who voted Conservative and they won a majority government on the same night... hmm, coincidence?) and I honestly can't remember if I've seen any of his movies (honestly), but his week on the interview circuit left me in stitches. Tiger blood, winning, duh! Man, I ate that up.

I heard his tour was a bit of a gong show but I had no idea what to expect. And after seeing it, I have no idea what I got. There was no show to speak of – just a sit-down semi-interview interrupted throughout by a dude hitting random strings on his guitar (no idea why he was there or how he got on the stage). At one point, as cat-calls rained down, Sheen chastised the punters with, "How about when we talk, you guys fucking listen? Isn't that what you came here for?" Then he and Peters basically said that since they never advertised what the show would be, nobody could legitimately complain about what it was. Or wasn't. I don't think it works like that, fellas.

Apparently people paid a pretty penny to see Sheen. Caveat emptor, I guess, but I think he and the producers have an onus to at least try to give the people something. It's not like he doesn't care about us. Witness this statement, uttered with conviction: One questioner asked who the biggest asshole he ever worked with and the answer was, obviously, Chuck Lorre, his former producer on Two and a Half Men, to which he added, "It's not just what he did to me, but what he did to all you good people." That might have been the funniest line of the night if it weren't delivered with utmost sincerity.

Despite that, I think Sheen came off as a sympathetic character. The Warlock looked defeated, embarrassed and nervous, but sane. Or as sane as can be expected under the circumstances. But sane doesn't sell. There's no pizazz in rationally explaining that "tiger blood" is a metaphor or that he realizes he "chose poorly" with goddess/porn star Bree Olson, who recently made a midnight run in the opposite direction. And it certainly doesn't sell in Vancouver on election night. The Arena was cordoned off at about the one-quarter mark, and even that section wasn't full. Maybe he made it up at the sizable merch table or in the $20 programs.

Other tidbits of the evening included:

* He's been waiting for a statement of support from former co-star Jon Cryer, to no avail.

* Jennifer Gray was the first celebrity he banged.

* Ginger Lynn was the best lay among porn stars he's shagged (although he saw her years later and thought, "I fucked that?")

* Melanie Rios was the most disappointing porn star he had sex with.

* When Kelly Preston shot herself in his bathroom in the spring of 1989, he heard the shot and thought "she did it, she finally fucking did it. And they're going to blame it on me."

* The accusations of him beating on women are "all horseshit."

* He never held a knife to Brooke's throat.

* He's OCD when he's high.

* "I'm not bi-polar; I'm bi-winning... Which still doesn't make any sense."

* "Party as fucking hard as you want, but honour your commitments."

* The most genuinely decent human he's ever worked with (a question, by the way, that elicited boos from the lynch mob), is his dad, Martin Sheen.

* We don't know if he's made up with his brother, Emilio, but we know he recently sent him a text message. No further questions were asked.

* Sheen turned down White Men Can't Jump, Indecent Proposal and Born on the 4th of July.

* Sheen mentioned at least twice that he and Peters should do a sitcom.

That's about it. It wasn't a comedy show, despite Peters' presence, and after 20 other appearances around North America, this one was his penultimate, with one more to go in Seattle. So I'm not sure why I went or why I wrote about it. Just thought you'd want to know. As for the details on the Tom Cruise hooker, you'll have to make up your own.

Nov. 8: Mark Breslin

On the day the Toronto Star runs a story on Yuk Yuk's founder and CEO Mark Breslin, we've got the guy for one full hour on What's So Funny? How's that for timing? The interview was recorded on October 3 in Saint John. It was 7:15 pm on the evening of the gala, which would start at 8 pm up the street. I was in the lobby of Breslin's hotel and decided to call him up to see if there'd be a time I could sit down and talk with him the next day. He says, "What about right now?"

So down he comes and we hunt around for a quiet space with no hissing fountains or loud hotel carts wheeling by. No one was in the "business center" (which consisted of one computer), so in we went. I told him to signal me whenever he had to get going, knowing the gala was within the hour. But he knew the show was an hour long and graciously went the limit. So we were late for the gala, but not very.

I love talking to Mark. He knows his stuff, is opinionated, fair and always compelling. In this interview he talked about his miserable childhood, where he, in his words, grew up as a "Jewish prince in a household of depressives". He talked of his early career managing folkies and how that transitioned into booking comedians. He defended himself against a few criticisms. And he spoke of his years as the comedy producer on the old Joan Rivers talk show. Good stuff.

What we didn't talk about was his new book on stand-up comedy in Canada. Why? Because I didn't know about it until this morning when I read the Star piece. The book is entitled The Yuk Yuk's Guide to Canadian Stand-Up. I'll put that on my Christmas list, and we'll have to have Mark back on to discuss it. You would think, judging from the title, that it would be a biased view, or at least one that discounts the contributions of any comedian not on the Yuks roster or located in Toronto. But a list of Breslin's 10 most influential stand-ups in this country includes one Mr. Brent Butt, who was never a Yuks man. Or if he was, broke with them early. Which leads me to believe that Breslin's book will at least attempt to be representative. Here's his list:

1. Dave Broadfoot
2. Brent Butt
3. Jim Carrey
4. Larry Horowitz
5. Elvira Kurt
6. Mike MacDonald
7. Howie Mandel
8. Paul Mandell
9. Russell Peters
10. Kenny Robinson

Read all about it in the Star. And tune in tonight.

ADDENDUM: Just read in the National Post that this "book" is in audio format only. Which makes more sense given that the cover says it features over 50 performances... Wait a second. The National Post? I thought it went under? Guess not... Here's an excerpt on Harland Williams:

Peters review

My review of the Russell Peters 20th Anniversary Tour at GM Place last night is up at the Straight site already. It'll be out in tomorrow paper, too.

As you can tell from the review, I was really impressed with Peters. I'd seen him both at Yuk Yuk's and at the Orpheum over the years. This was my favourite. Usually I much prefer watching a comic (or a band, for that matter) in a more intimate setting. Clubs are my favourite. But for some reason, the arena show is the one that really won me over. Go figure.

I especially liked that he didn't try to make it an event. Sure, the former deejay starts the evening with two deejays, but they're there basically to get the masses into their seats. And a local dance troupe came out for about a minute or two as an intro to the man. But other than that, it was the same set you could see in a club. Great sound and good camera work gave it an intimate feel.

Peters isn't breaking any new ground, but so what? He's really good at what he does, especially the crowd work. He's relaxed, confident, conversational and in-the-moment. When talking with a Chinese-Canadian man in the front row with his whole family, Peters said, "You have four kids? Jesus Christ! You really took advantage of not being in China... You're like the US in Iraq. You'll never pull out."

He's got some nice imagery and wordplay, too. He did a big chunk on the word 'cunt', repeating it so often it lost all shockability. He said it sounds so mean when we say it because it sounds like "a really big rock thrown in the middle of a lake." But when the Irish say it, it sings – "coont" – and went on to demonstrate how lovely it can sound.

He spoke of his tiny member and huge ballsack, saying it looked like his "prick was resting on a beanbag chair." He talked about the cruel irony of the attack in Bombay (he still calls Mumbai by its old name) on July 11. "We got hit on 7-11."

Any comic who reaches his heights has a catch phrase his fans love to hear but the rest of us think is retarded. To his credit, Peters snuck his in cleverly. Envisioning he'd be kidnapped in Jordan, he thought of the video when his captors would say, "We have Russell Peters" before demanding he "Say it! Say it!" He meekly stumbles out: "Somebody... gonna... get a... hurt..." And doesn't even have to finish it. The crowd was sated. Yes, he brought it back for his closer in the encore in a story about an impressive dump his dad took, but even then it didn't seem forced. More like an ironic take, which also served to give the crowd what they wanted.

Russell Peters, Coverboy

My cover story on Russell Peters for the Georgia Straight came out today. He's playing GM Place on Monday and Tuesday. Man, I thought it was amazing when he played the Orpheum Theatre four nights in a row a couple years ago. But two nights at a hockey arena? Unheard of.

Comedy nerds (as opposed to bandwagon jumpers) remember seeing him when he was a club comic not all that long ago. Okay, eight years ago, but still. He's come a long way, baby.

While the story is about 1700 words, it still couldn't house all the quotes I got in our phone conversation. Nor all the quotes from Mark Breslin, the founder of Yuk Yuk's, who's known Russell since the kid took up stand-up comedy about twenty years ago. So I'll sweep up the editing room floor and you can hear the rest of the quotes in their own voices. On a couple of occasions there are repeat quotes from the story, but for the most part I've edited out whatever made it into the story.

Check out the actual story, though, too, won't you? The on-line version has extra quotes in a sidebar, too.

Meanwhile, here's Russell on various other topics:


And here's what didn't make it into the story from Yuk Yuk's founder and CEO, Mark Breslin:

Jay Mohr

I interviewed Jay Mohr last week. It was a two-parter just because he started out on his cell phone as he and his wife were driving up from Los Angeles to San Jose. He kept cutting out. After a couple of call backs, we decided he'd call back that evening, which he did. The first part of the interview was awkward because of the communication problems, but at night he cut loose. The interview was more conversational, which is just as well for me.

We spoke for a total of about 45 minutes. That full 45 minutes will eventually make it into print (or its online equivalent) via transcription, but I've crudely edited it down to 12 minutes for your listening pleasure. I realize 12 minutes is still a long time to spend listening to anything on the internet, so I'll give you a rundown on the topics covered:

• Jay talks about calling our humble town "Hongcouver"
• Russell Peters
• Riffing as Norm Macdonald on male nurses, sausage curls and wiener dogs
• The origin of his Christopher Walkin impersonation
• His Rickles impression
• What Danny Gans means to him
• His knowledge of hockey
• SNL gigglers and Jimmy Fallon
• First false ending
• Thank God for Canada
• Canada in World War II
• Second false ending
• The problem with kids
• One last weiner dog

Here's the clip:


My story on Jay will run in the Georgia Straight on Thursday, ahead of his May 23 visit to the River Rock theatre. His opening act will be Tom Segura.

By the way, I just finished reading Jay's book, Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live and really enjoyed it. If you haven't picked it up already, you should. It's a light, breezy, catty, self-absorbed read. Right up my alley.

ADDENDUM: The Mohr story came out today. You can read it here.

February 8: Sugar Sammy

Happy Sunday, all. I'm just back from my first ever Alpine experience. Not that I went skiing or anything crazy like that. No, that record stays. But tubing is awesome, dude (I think that's what they say on the slopes). Here's proof:


But enough about me. I've got a show to prepare for... after the requisite nap, that is. Sam Khullar will be our guest tonight. Who's that, you say? Why, it's Sugar Sammy, who's transitioning into his real name as he matures into a grown-up. Sammy flew into town this very day and he'll be in studio with us tonight for his third visit to the program. This guy is suave and hilarious and I'm betting he'll be bigger than Russell Peters some day. Why the comparison with Peters? It's not fair, really, but they're both Indo-Canadians so it's the easy comparison. And I'm all about taking the easy way out.

The good folks at Just For Laughs are sending Sammy all across the country (or at least the JFL version of Canada that ends in Montreal) on a solo tour. He plays The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts (aka the Catchiest Theatre Name in the Business) on Friday, Feb. 13. Yes, Friday the 13th for you horror fans. And on Valentine's Day night he'll be in Surrey at the Bell Performing Arts Centre. But tonight is when you'll really get to know the man behind the Sugar Sammy persona.

THIS JUST IN: Joining us tonight will be this guy, Daliso Chaponda, who's from Malawi via the UK and Canada and also is Sam's opening act on this tour.

UPDATE: Forget the This Just In addendum. It's just Sugar Sammy on the show. Daliso is jet-lagged. But do check out his blog and website. They're pretty good.