Trying to quantify Canadian comedy can be a challenge. At best guess: It’s a lethal combination of matter-of-factness and surrealism, seasoned with just the right amount of fart jokes. Or it’s anything Bruce McCulloch has his name on.
The 58-year-old is the perfect example of what makes Canadian comedy so unique. From his years as a member of consistently wonderful sketch troupe the Kids in the Hall to his short stint as a filmmaker to his continued work as a TV director and producer for shows like Schitt’s Creek, Brooklyn Nine Nine, and Trailer Park Boys, McCulloch’s singular tone pulses through each project, with jokes arriving at odd angles alongside moments of sincerity and naked emotion.
To experience McCulloch’s particular style of entertainment in its purest form, you’d do well to get to the Alberta Rose Theatre on Friday, January 10. McCulloch will be presenting his latest one-man show Tales of Bravery and Stupidity, which, as he told the Mercury, is “part stand-up, part storytelling,” and filled with his “weird observations of the world.” And there’s music.
MERCURY: Something I admire about your work is your willingness to blend your personal life into your art. I’m thinking of the monologues you would do for The Kids in the Hall or the series Young Drunk Punk, which was based loosely on your teen years.
BRUCE MCCULLOCH: As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found an ability to lay it truthfully on the line a little bit more. I think even as a young Kid in the Hall, I hid my love for the world with my dark sense of humor. I have that conversation in this show, and I think people quite seem to like that.