Ontario-based comedian Derek Edwards is looking forward to better weather on a 10-city B.C. tour that starts in Surrey on March 11.
It’s been pretty cold near Toronto, where the Timmins-raised performer now lives.
“You gotta plug in your car, so that’s kind of funny,” he said of his old stomping grounds. “It’s cold and there’s a lot of winter. People get together in homes and down at the pub to get their laughs.”
Edwards hasn’t been to B.C. in a couple years, maybe more.
“It generally goes in two-year chunks and I end up coming around the same turf again,” he said in a phone call. “I miss my B.C. counterparts out there. I wonder how everybody’s doing.”
Edwards has worked on North America’s comedy circuit since the 1990s, earning awards and accolades along the way for his sarcastic, slightly Cosmo Kramer-like delivery of jokes.
His Oxy Moron tour opens on a Wednesday night at Surrey Arts Centre’s 400-seat Main Stage, with nine other shows booked in B.C. over two weeks as winter turns to spring. Tour dates and ticket links are on shantero.com.
“It’s magical to do these things,” Edwards says of touring. “I mean, these beautiful little cozy rooms, people are so polite and considerate. There’s no way to, as I used to do on the old circuit, blame the crowd, where sometimes they really, truly deserve to be blamed — very rarely, but sometimes they’re just terrible. You know, their team lost or whatever kind of problems they have, or just one wanker. But other than sometimes weather concerns, touring is a blast, it’s great.”
Terry McRae, boss of Shantero Productions, says Edwards’ show offers “a night of perceptive guesswork and charmingly misguided jabs from a cherished performer. Enjoy some hearty laughs, a sprinkling of wisdom and the pleasure of mingling with fellow humans.”
The Oxy Moron title is a random one for the tour, Edwards admits.
“Someone was going to take that name eventually, you know,” he noted. “It’s been going well, and I just finished doing Ontario and oh, just terrible, terrible drives in the snow. Buddy, I got the closed-highway thing where instead of an hour drive, it’s a six-hour drive, that kind of mistake, you know. It’s going to be a totally different climate (in B.C.). I’m using my snow shoes later today. I’m up a little bit north of Toronto. There’s a cabin there. It’s deep.”
On tour, Edwards promises jokes about interactions with strangers and “occasional moments of levity” pulled from news headlines.
“I want people to leave the building, go out there and, you know, take a chance of making an arse of yourself and crack wise once in a while with somebody, you know? Break the ice,” Edwards said with a big laugh.
“I tell you, it makes for a better day, and it’s so simple and it’s free and all that good business. Life can get a bit dark with all the various news things, and I hide under a rock for it, mostly, but once in a while you have to take heed. I want people to feel lighter, have a sore gut and weepy eyes while walking out. I mean, it’s a dream.”