Canada is known for its comedic prowess and two of the country’s most celebrated comedians, Jon Dore and Dave Merheje, are coming to Victoria to perform an intimate show at downtown’s Vic Theatre.
Both Dore and Merheje are Juno Award-winning comics and have been featured in TV and films over the last couple decades.
Dore, of course, used to star in the cult-classic series, The Jon Dore Television Show, and Merheje recently starred in the film Sometimes I Think about Dying alongside Daisy Ridley of the Star Wars franchise.
The two juggernauts of comedy will be performing at the Vic Theatre on Monday, September 23rd as they begin their Canadian tour with guest comedian Shirley Gnome, who is based out of Vancouver.
Victoria Buzz spoke with Dore about the upcoming show, his past experiences performing in Victoria and what is on his horizon after this tour concludes.
The last time Dore was in Victoria was just over a year ago when he performed at The Mint and a little while before that show he came out to do a set at Hecklers, which he says is one of his favourite Canadian venues.
“Hecklers is just a sweet spot,” Dore told Victoria Buzz. “I love that room.”
“Aaron, the guy who runs it, has always been super gracious and kind to me. People just continually come out and support the show when I’m there, so I’ve always been a huge fan of Hecklers.”
Dore says he is excited to embark on this tour, but as a father of two young children, he will miss his kids.
“[Being a father] is all I talk about now, really,” Dore explained. “It feels like I have a fresh nervousness I used to get a long time ago.”
“Another aspect is I get to talk about what it’s like being a father and all these struggles. I like to pretend I have all the struggles in the world compared to my fiancée, and that’s a fun angle to take to help people understand I’m being ignorant,” he laughed.
He says this tour will be a great one because he and Merheje are basically doing one show a night and swapping off the headlining slot as they travel across the country.
“Before the tour I have five other shows lined up in British Columbia that I’ll be doing—interior BC—so basically, it’ll be 25 shows, one night after the other,” Dore said.
“I think jokes will become sharpened, I’ll also get tired of things and add new things. I always like to talk about anything local that I can, so the beauty of this tour is I get to talk about each specific city.”
He says audiences can look forward to some new jokes and some of his best jokes.
As for his fellow comedians on this tour, Dore says that he is in good company with Merheje and he is excited to get to know some newer comics he has yet to meet.
“Dave [Merheje] is one of my favourites, I’m lucky to be on the road with him,” Dore said.
“He’s just a good person on and off stage and super funny, so I think the energy is going to be really amazing.”
Following the tour, Dore will be releasing a new comedy album he recorded last year, and lots of his material will be from the forthcoming record.
Being that Dore’s rise to comedy fame largely stemmed from his TV series, The Jon Dore Television Show, alongside his prowess as a standup comic, he says one thing he is trying to do in the near future is to bring the show back to air.
“It’s not for lack of trying,” Dore told Victoria Buzz when the question of a reboot came up.
“I brought it to the production company a couple of times now, but it has not been met with enthusiasm.”
He says he holds half the rights to the show and the production company holds the other half. So to reboot The Jon Dore Television Show, he needs to attain the full rights from them.
“I think a reboot of The Jon Dore Television Show would be really fun,” he said.
“I have to be the idiot in these stories—but a rebooted Jon Dore Television Show, a ‘2.0’ if you will, where I live with my family, conflict arises and I decide like an idiot to go out and investigate through interviews and sketches how to solve these more family oriented problems.”
“I think that would be really fun,” he continued.
For now however, Victorian fans of Dore and Merheje will have to see them live and in person at the Vic Theatre later this month.
Tickets are now available online for the intimate show.
Jon Dore and Dave Merheje’s Comedy Here, There & Everywhere in Victoria
- Where: The Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas Street
- When: Monday, September 23rd at 7:30 p.m.
- Tickets: Available online.
