Family dinners can get awkward for comedian Darrin Rose after he playfully ribs his relatives in his stand-up routines.
The actor and comedian, known for his roles in Letterkenny, Mr. D., and hosting Match Game, is set to perform in the Sault this month.
Though he’s toured globally, this marks Rose’s first performance in the Sault. He grew up in Oshawa, Ont., and often draws material from his upbringing.
“My humour is mostly… I tell heartfelt stories about my family,” Rose said.
“They’re not happy about it,” he admitted with a laugh, recalling growing up with an older brother and being raised primarily by his father. “I was raised by my dad because my parents got divorced when I was six months old, which was obviously my fault.”
He contrasted his father’s stoic nature and his brother’s physical strength – “hands like a pack of ground beef” – with his own physique in high school. “I weighed 96 pounds in Grade 11.”
His mother, however, is a different story. “She is a real wild person,” Rose said.
He recounted stories of his mother punching police officers, smuggling vodka across the border, and even being ejected from a moving vehicle after choking the driver – “her fault,” he quipped.
“Sometimes I forget they’re real people,” Rose confessed, reflecting on the potential for discomfort his jokes can create.
Rose’s foray into stand-up comedy was sparked by a documentary about Jerry Seinfeld, Comedian. “I’ve been doing comedy for 22 years. It came out after Seinfeld ended. He threw away his act he had toured with for years.”
The documentary followed Seinfeld as he rebuilt his act from the ground up, testing material at open mics. “The hidden secret for stand-up comedy is you write jokes and practice them and either throw them away if they’re not working or hone them and sharpen them until they work really well,” Rose explained. “And then once it’s funnier than the least funny joke in your act, it gets into the act.”
During this tour, Rose intends to record new material for an album and potentially a comedy special. “I’m not doing anything that was on my last album,” he said.
Rose prioritizes a narrative flow in his shows and aims for clean comedy. “It’s something you could go to with your parents or bring your adult children to and not feel uncomfortable,” he said.
He doesn’t put much stock in the concept of “wokeness,” believing it boils down to basic decency. “Just be nice to people… be mindful of people’s feelings. Don’t be vicious to people. As long as it’s funny and well-intentioned, it’ll be fine.”
The best career advice he received came from Gerry Dee, his former boss on Mr. D., who became a friend. “He said, ‘Always work clean because if a comedy festival needs you at the last minute, you don’t have to sweat and worry about what can I do on TV? Because you’ll be able to do everything on TV.’ So I could do my whole act on TV without changing anything.”
Rose will perform at the Sault Community Theatre Centre on Thursday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are available here.
