Danny Bhoy Not Changing Anytime Soon
Posted April 11, 2010 6:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Danny Bhoy is the latest comedic export from Scotland to make a lasting impression on audiences in North America. With his charming mix of smart and sarcastic humour, his routine is more welcoming than most comedians, and people seem to connect with it, and him. After earning a degree in history, Bhoy admits he got into stand-up by accident.
“I was wondering what to do with my life. I walked by a pub in Edinburgh one night and they had an open mic night. I went in and ended up going up [on stage] and doing five minutes. It went from there,” he explains.
Touring pretty much non-stop since 2001, Bhoy has made a mark in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and more recently the United States, where he appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman back in March. He says touring is exhausting but it’s also good to get out and see the world.
“I like the hours. It’s hard work but I like the fact I don’t have to get up and put on a suit every morning and go to an office,” he says.
He credits Canada as having some of the best crowds in the world when it comes to comedy clubs, and says we’re different in “a good way.”
“I tour more in Canada than I do in the United States and I see a big difference between the two. [Canadians are] really up for it and appreciative that you’ve come out to these places, sometimes in the middle of nowhere,” he says.
Bhoy will be back in Toronto at the end of April playing the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, but in the meantime he’s promoting his new DVD, Danny Bhoy: Subject to Change. He says he prefers doing live shows to DVDs and television specials though, because he considers himself a “comedy purist.”
“The idea of taping something is quite weird,” he remarks. “I like the idea of something being live and being in the moment. The transience of stand-up and the fact that sometimes a show is just kept with the people who were in the room. I didn’t do this to get on TV, I did it to make people laugh.”
While other comedians dream about making it in the movies or landing a sitcom, Bhoy is more interested in doing documentaries with a comic angle.
“Slightly more intelligent television just because I have to use that degree at some point,” he jokes.
Bhoy blogs on his official site, dannybhoy.com, about once a month to keep his fans updated on what he’s been working on. He also has a Facebook fan page, and a YouTube channel. But he refuses to use the social networking site Twitter.
“I don’t get the idea of posting every half an hour things like, ‘I don’t like cheese’ or, ‘I’m going for a swim’. I just don’t understand that,” he says.
For comedians just getting into the game Bhoy says it’s wise to do as much as you can.
“I used to do any and every gig that came my way,” he says. “I did gigs in cinemas, barns, in people’s houses, out in the street, everywhere. I don’t think there is any substitue for stage time so my advice, to a comic starting out, is to take every single gig because you don’t learn anything from just the good gigs.”
Danny Bhoy: Subject to Change is available now on DVD. Catch him live in Toronto at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 29, or in London, Ontario at Centennial Hall on April 30. More information and tour dates can be found at dannybhoy.com.
Watch a clip of Danny at the 2007 Montreal Just for Laughs Festival below.
