Starting Out

Mayce Galoni and I start right away with more nostalgia about how fun and horrible the open mic at Ceili House was, the place where I started standup with Mayce serving as the MC for my first ever set. Mayce is truly ascending in his standup career, starting at age 15, and gone on to appear at Just for Laughs, the Winnipeg and Halifax Comedy Festivals, he’s been a writer and correspondent on This...

This week’s guest is Hamilton-based comedian and finder of lost engagement rings, Anthony Mlekuz. Anthony used to live down the street from me in Hamilton, and we recount a terrible incident (that turned out redemptive for him and his then-fiance) that I then tried to use to riff onstage while introducing him at a show we were on. There’s a lot of laneway talk in this episode.  We talk about our d...

This week’s guest is the first one to also appear on NBC’s The Today Show. Alex Wood is a comedian, podcaster, and now author. As you’ll hear, Alex has struggled with addictions over the years, and chose to document them in his incredible podcast Alex Wood Quits Everything, revealing so much of himself that it was an inspiration for me starting this podcast. And it has now turned into a recently p...

Ashton Francis is an MC, an artist, and founder of the collective What Matters Most (whtmtrsmst.com). He is also one of my unlikeliest of friends, given our age difference and different life stories, but we met on a shared balcony when we were next door neighbours, and had many, many conversations like the one you’re about to listen to. Ashton is a deep thinker, and an authentic artist with a true...

This week’s guest is super talented comedian Dave Burke. Hailing from Halifax, Dave talks about getting into standup only to help his sketch writing, and then never doing sketch again. Dave and I really got to know each other training at Hardknocks Boxing Gym, where I produced a comedy show that Dave dropped in on and delivered an amazing set that would be talked about in the gym for months. Dave...

Monty Scott is one of my favourite comics. Similar to Jordan Scherer, Monty makes me laugh almost like no one else, and he was already ripping into Ontario’s Premier before I hit record, so he was hot right out of the gates. Monty and I share an obsession with over-analyzing Dyson products, and Monty talks about having an unwavering confidence that he would be a good comedian. Not in an ego way, j...

I met Kristin Archer, the blogger, radio host and podcaster behind I Heart Hamilton back in 2016 in the Hamilton comedy scene. I Heart Hamilton recently celebrated it’s 10-year anniversary, so it was good timing having Kristin on to reflect 10-years of work. Kristin always seemed like such a positive, optimistic person and as you’ll hear in this week’s episode, she absolutely is. Kristin shares he...

Liz Glazer is an American comedian, writer, and actor. Liz and I met as competing contestants on the online game show Code Names, and when I learned she was a tenured law professor who the dropped it all to become a full-time comedian I had to have her on. Liz’s start with entertaining people was born out of a crush, then a vision, a lot to do with the number 9, and not wanting to alter her own sc...

Writer Gare Joyce is somehow someone I know. Gare was described by Sports Illustrated as "one of this continent's master craftsmen of sporting prose," has appeared in every publication from the New York Times to ESPN The Magazine to Sportsnet, and  has won four National Magazine Awards and been a finalist 19 times. He is the bestselling author of the Brad Shade mystery series compri...

Comedian and writer Leonard Chan is this week’s guest. Leonard went from a successful career as a Chemical Engineer to an even more successful career as a full-time comic and writer. Leonard started standup just a little before me, and has achieved almost every credit a Canadian comedian can get - Just For Laughs, the Halifax and Winnipeg Comedy Festivals, Sirius/XM appearances, and he also won th...

Comedian and TV creator and showrunner Mike Mitchell is on to talk about having a week to prep for his first standup spot. Mike talks about going from musician to record label marketer to radio where he met Barry Taylor who first told him he was funny. We talk bad shows and long drives home eating fries, our discomfort with the word ‘hobbyist’, even more reminiscing about Ceili House, and sage adv...

I still can’t believe this week’s guest said yes to coming on the show, but I think that just demonstrates that underneath that harsh exterior, Mike Wilmot is incredibly generous with his time, and incredibly supportive of comedians in this country. At time of recording Mike was preparing for a return to the stage after months and months of a lockdown, and you’ll hear that he was raring to go. Mik...

For the second week in a row we have a relation of a previous guest. Comedian, singer, actor, dancer Erin Keaney is cousins with Episode #3’s guest, David Brennan. Erin talks about growing up with David in Hamilton, making Arkell Street way more famous than the Arkells ever did. Erin got her start singing Streisand tunes while babysitting David and dancing (inappropriately?) for men in Hamilton as...

For the first time we have a relative of a previous guest! This week's guest, Cleve Jones, is married to comedian Kate Davis from episode 6. We start with Cleve describing how his household dealt with Kate’s COVID diagnosis early on in the pandemic. Frontman of the Toronto-based band Ready Jennifer, he also does standup and similar to Manolis the standup bug started with a wedding speech Clev...

Cathy Boyd started comedy even later than I did, around age 60. She talks about being raised in a big family, needing humour to standout and get noticed, and being pissed off about never being voted class clown in high school. We share a love of Steven Wright, talk about struggles with comedy competitions, awkward social parts of being an ‘older' comedian, not wanting people’s pity, and feeli...

We start with the pandemic, because what else is there to talk about. There’s a recurring theme of improv classes really being the gateway to standup for a lot of comics, and Jen talks about how she found it horrifying and wishing she just could just text her thoughts rather than perform them. Jen’s intro to comedy was to sneak into her parents room and watch A&E’s Evening at the Improv, as a...

This week’s episode features a conversation with podcaster extraordinaire, Jordan Scherer. From listening to talk radio every night as a kid, not even knowing what was being discussed, to a crazy experience his first time on the radio, to his excellent podcast that he cohosts with Mayce Galoni, The Black Cat News Clubs, Jordan has always struck me as someone so passionate about broadcasting. Jorda...

Sandra’s unintentional journey went from academia, to business, to improv (to help you in business), a horrific car accident and finally to a career in comedy. Tony & Tina’s Wedding comes up for the second time in the podcast, as it vaulted Sandra forward and always where she met her long-time collaborator Phil Luzi. Sandra talks about the impact of studying the Pochinko Clown Method and how t...

Kate and I started standup in complete opposite ways. While I over-thought everything, she just did it on a whim one night and didn’t look back.  If it wasn’t for a comedy club being on her daily route or her dog’s leaking vagina, Kate wouldn’t be the headliner, motivational speaker, author and corporate speaker she is today. Kate talks about leaning into what makes you you, the advice to listen t...

A fairly epic, sweeping conversation with Manolis Zontanos about his ‘first set’ giving a speech at his brother’s wedding, the help he got from Russell Peters, the lack of help he got from others, acting alongside Katie Holmes and ‘Chandler’, and the importance of helping anyone who is a dude. Check out Manolis on his weekly radio show - Friday 420. Music by Devin Bateson. Follow us @startingoutpo...

Devin Bateson joins to talk about growing up in an artistic household, validation from an older sibling, the constant search to create things, and throwing those things away just as they are starting to work for you. Buy Devin's music at: devinbateson.bandcamp.com, write his name on an envelop and send him money.  Follow us @startingoutpod Music by @debateson All episodes here: https://www.bu...

David Brennan joins us from his home in Ottawa to regale with tales of running around the Hamilton comedy scene at 17 with Manolis and Jason Rouse, winning competitions, getting into clubs, and experiencing success almost immediately. He transferred those successes to a 12-year sketch and improve tour with The Imponderables, storyteller shows, and so much more. And of course we spend time discussi...

Inspired by seeing Sinbad and George Wallace perform live at 16, Gavin Stephens started stand-up only a few years later. Gavin discusses the naive confidence that youth affords us, being prepared to drop a 30-minute set his first time out, and what it was like to be part of a cultural minority movement in the Toronto comedy scene that featured him, Russel Peters, Mista Mo, Ron Josol and others. We...

The first episode of Starting Out is a practice in self-indulgence. It's just me, and my over-thinking, overly-complicated story about doing stand-up for the first time. Music by Polyester Heart. Follow us @startingoutpod Music by @debateson All episodes here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1632913  Thanks for listening. Especially you...

Hosted by Comedian Nick Durie, Starting Out is a weekly show featuring conversations with comedians, musicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and more about what it was like beginning whatever they started. Follow us @startingoutpod Music by @debateson All episodes here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1632913  Thanks for listening. Especially you...