Steven Hill
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In the world of Canadian comedy, Lorne Elliott is a cut above the average Canuck cutup.
Elliott has performed from Newfoundland to New York City, Los Angeles to Australia and lots of places in between. He began performing in 1974 as a folk musician, but he was also writing humourous stories, monologues and one-liners. Since then, he has combined his love of music and wacky sense of humour into one performance style that has made him one of Canada's most recognizable and loved comedians. He has been on almost every major network, performed on MTV, Just For Laughs and has his very own syndicated radio show.
Elliott is set to play at the Eagle Eyeb Theatre April 6.
The show is a fundraiser for Capilano College and the Howe Sound Performing Arts Association.
Speaking to The Chief from his home in Hudson, Quebec, Elliott said he was just finishing some shows in the east before heading out to BC.
"I'm always on a sort of permanent tour, sort of like Che Gueveras' total permanent revolution, where we're the total permanent tour," he said. "I'll be doing a show called Chasing the Big Silly, we've done a few of them in Ontario in February.
"It will be somewhat adapted from that," he said. "It will be a series of monologues and songs that work - I don't keep the ones that don't work."
Elliott said it was never easy, even after more than 30 years, to figure out what will and won't work on stage, until you're out in front of an audience.
"Putting new material in is always the hardest part of the business," he said. "You write it in your head with a certain amount of flexibility, so you can take it where the audience wants you to take it.
"I also place new material in between a good monologue that I know works before, and another good monologue that really works after, just in case you need to dig yourself out of a comedic hole," he said. "With comedy you really never know if it is going to work, and you really shouldn't, because if you do you're just being formulaic."
Elliott began his funnyman career while studying to be a marine biologist.
"I was playing in bars trying to make my way through college," he said. "I realized I was better at this than being a scientist."But, Elliott said what he did on stage wasn't necessarily what he was like in real life.
"It is a different thing, being funny in the kitchen and being funny for a group of people who have paid for you to be funny," he said.
Expect Elliott to be hilarious, April 6 at Eagle Eye Theatre.Tickets are available at Mostly Books and Billie's Boutique.
