This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.
Maybe it’s the do-it-for-the-story ethos inherent to being a standup comedian. Or maybe it’s the competitive nature of the industry that makes any paid gig seem appealing. Whatever it is, a fair number of comics are willing to venture far beyond the glamourous brick walls of underground cell-service-free comedy clubs to accept gigs in very strange places.
From sex clubs to retirement homes to nudist colonies, these are some of the strangest venues at which Canadians comedians say they’ve performed.
Charlie Demers
On paper, the strangest gig I ever did was at the request of the priest who baptized me as an Anglican, in the basement of a Lutheran church, for the sake of a former employee of the KGB.
Mikhail Lennikov’s family had lived for a long time in Canada, but the Harper government had suddenly ordered him deported as a former KGB agent. Lennikov took refuge for several years in a Lutheran church in East Vancouver... Donald Grayston, a childhood priest of mine and a beautiful man asked me to perform at a benefit show for Lennikov, which featured an artistically ecumenical mix of art forms much more earnest in nature than stand-up.
As I recall, I managed to talk my way into performing on the lower-profile second half of the show, downstairs—I didn’t do as poorly as I’d feared, but I distinctly remember that Lennikov did not seem overly bowled over by the hilarity of my set. Some things don’t translate.
Stories have been edited for style and clarity.
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