An annual comedy tour is returning to Nanaimo and one of the participating comics likens it to a family reunion.
On Jan. 20 the Snowed-In Comedy Tour returns to the Port Theatre after taking a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lineup is the same as its last Nanaimo show, featuring comedians Debra DiGiovanni, Paul Myrehaug, Dan Quinn and Pete Zedlacher.
The tour was originally founded by Quinn in 2009 as a tour of Western Canadian winter resort towns. Myrehaug, who hails from outside Edmonton but lives in France, has been a part of the tour for nearly 10 years. He said along with getting to hike, ski and snowboard, it’s the “family feel” that makes him fly back to Canada every year to tour.
“It’s more than just a friendship now … they’ve become almost like family to me,” he said. “So it’s great to get to see them every year.”
Myrehaug said it’s “amazing” to get to put the tour on again. He said he didn’t realize how lucky he was until they were forced to cancel due to the pandemic. He said he’s thankful to Nanaimo fans for supporting the tour over the years and for being enthusiastic about its return.
“It means the world to me to come back out and to see the support form the community,” he said. “I mean we were kind of worried that after taking a year break that people would have forgot about us, but we put the tickets on sale and they sold faster than we ever have.”
Myrehaug said each year the comedians prepare new material for the tour and expects that there will be a lot of material about life during the pandemic. He said he’ll be touching on the topic of “population control.”
“The world is fighting back a little bit,” he said. “We have a lot of humans on the planet, so my act I guess is a lot of population control things and the situation humanity finds themselves in right now.”
WHAT’S ON … Snowed-In Comedy Tour comes to the Port Theatre, 125 Front St., on Jan 20 at 5:45 and 8:45 p.m. General admissions $45, $35 for seniors and students, available here.
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