| More than 20 years ago, Eddie Murphy put on an orange leather suit and took to the stage for a stand-up comedy performance entitled Delirious. With hilarious riffs on everything from disastrous family barbecues to the childhood dangers of playing with poop in the tub, the Delirious show is a highlight on Murphy’s comedy resumé, which has been mired of late by his appearance in a string of lame kiddie flicks.
Delirious was also a highlight in the life of Dez Reed. Seeing Murphy’s routine for the first time, at the age of 13, was a career-defining moment for one of Canada’s most prolific stand-up comedians.
"Once I saw that, I pretty much determined comedy is what I want to do," says Reed. And do it he does, playing about 250 shows a year for audiences that run the gamut from Bible societies to Hell’s Angels chapters.
"Each year, I only have 50 to 100 days off, the rest of the time I’m onstage, so I know I am good at this," he says. Calgarians will get to see just how good, when the Saskatoon-based funnyman takes to the stage for a feature-length solo show to kick off this year’s FunnyFest.
Reed’s current status as a coast-to-coast comedy headliner didn’t come overnight. "When I started this, I took it very seriously," he recalls. "And a lot of people were negative about my early success because they couldn’t understand it."
He feels his comic rivals of the time were mired in a flawed philosophy: "You build a five-minute set and then add a sixth minute to it, then a seventh minute and you perfect that chunk of time and do it the same way every single night." Reed took a different tack. "My approach was to write as much shit as you can and throw it all onstage," he says. "The stuff that isn’t funny, you drop. The stuff that is funny, you keep."
Reed also practised at home in those early days. "I set up a fake comedy club in the basement of my house in Toronto," he recalls. "I went and bought a couple of flood lamps from Canadian Tire, I had a mike that wasn’t hooked up to anything and a little digital clock." Reed would perform his stand-up routine for an audience of none, record it on videotape and then sit down to watch it for flaws.
He set high standards for himself. "I had watched Eddie Murphy, Dennis Miller, Robin Williams and all the other stars in their HBO specials," he says. "My goal was to make my hour-long set as good as theirs, even if I was just doing it in the basement."
While many comedians complain about the unlikelihood of making good money in this country, Reed takes a more optimistic view. "Canadian show business will provide a fine living for you if you are good at it," he says. "I mean, I live on a 68-acre ranch with a nice house. I’ve got new cars and my kids (six of them) running all over the place."
Reed feels that if a comedian is funny and determined, he or she will do well in Canada. "But you’ll never make those millions and millions of dollars in the entertainment industry," he concedes. "The numbers just aren’t there."
Rather than dreaming of made-in-the-U.S.A. superstardom, Reed is content with more modest goals. "I am like everyone else," he says. "I am one month to three months away from bankruptcy if I quit working. So I’d like to get to a point where I don’t have to be like that. That’s my ultimate goal: a bit more financial freedom so I can just enjoy my life and my kids. If something bigger never comes along, it’s still not a bad life."
After all, how many people make a living just being funny? "I am thankful for every time I can get onstage and make people laugh and get paid to do it," says Reed. "It’s sweet!"
Dez Reed’s one-man FunnyFest show runs Saturday, May 1 in Barclay’s Wet Lounge at the Sheraton Eau Claire. |
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