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Jeremy Hotz visits city in new year
12/24/08
BY MARK WEBER
Red Deer Express
Misery loves company and comic Jeremy Hotz is gearing up to tell audiences why.
This is a guy whose everyday life provides much of the fodder for his antics onstage, he explains during an interview from Los Angeles.
Plus, there’s just no other career that appears remotely viable.
“I don’t think I could be gainfully employed doing anything else.”
After a successful tour of western Canada last year, Just for Laughs presents the return of ‘What a Miserable Tour This Is’.
He plays Red Deer Jan. 24 at the Memorial Centre. Showtime is 7 p.m.
Looking back, the trek to status of enormously popular funny guy was launched early.
“I was the class clown, and didn’t much like school work. I had better things to do.”
His home life also helped.
“Everybody is crazy in my family.”
The early experiences fuelled a natural gift for pulling humour out of virtually every situation he found himself in.
Hotz has been a stand-out performer at seven Just for Laughs festivals and he also headlined the Just for Laughs Canadian Tour in 2005.
He was also voted the seventh top performance on the CBC Just For Laughs 25th Anniversary Special.
He credits his rapid rise in the comedy world at least in part to timing.
“I started at a time when comedy exploded in Canada – clubs were opening up left, right and centre.”
Hotz is described as the typical single guy – challenged in the grocery store and sadly out of touch with his fashion choices.
But he finds humour in all of it and welcomes audiences to laugh at his blunders and adventures.
“People seem to have fallen in love with the character they see on stage.”
Originally from Ottawa, Hotz performed at the local Yuk Yuks Comedy club on amateur night and the club owner loved him.
Later on, in 1994, a buddy of his was writing for The Jon Stewart Show in New York City. He invited Hotz down and introduced him to the executive producer.
Hotz was given a writer’s job on the show. That same executive producer became Hotz’s manager and his career vaulted to the next level.
In 1997 he performed for the first time at the Just For Laughs Festival.
Studios and networks started calling and Hotz was offered his first of a string of development deals.
In the years since, appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, have solidified him as a fan favourite across North America.
He was also recently seen in Comedy Central’s The Jeremy Hotz Special and has guest starred in MTV’s Half Hour Comedy Hour.
To top it all off, Hotz’s skills aren’t limited to stand-up comedy.
He’s also a talented actor and was the recipient of a Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Comedy Show or Series for his work on CBC’s Newsroom.
Hotz has also kept busy as a staff writer on The Jon Stewart Show and landed a Gemini nomination for Best Writing in Comedy or Variety Show or Series for his special Whatever Happened to Jeremy Hotz?
For Hotz, hitting the stage in a sometimes dizzying tour schedule never gets old.
He typically incorporates stuff about the community he’s performing in into the show. The only time he feels a bit uptight is before performing, because he just wants to get out there and get on with it. He doesn’t even know precisely what’s going to happen as the show takes shape.
“It’s a new group of people and I do a whole new routine.”
For tickets, call 403-755-6626 or visit www.bkticketcentre.ca.
mweber@reddeer.greatwest.ca 403-309-5459
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