Supplied Image
Dan Quinn, centre, and the rest of the Snowed In Comedy Tour lineup is seen on stage in Victoria. Quinn, Debra DiGiovanni, Paul Myrehaug, and Pete Zedlacher will perform at the Medicine Hat stop on Feb. 25.
cbrown@medicinehatnews.com@MHNBrown
It’s hard to think of a time when an avalanche is a good thing, but Feb. 25 at the Esplanade might prove to be an exception.
Tuesday will see the Snowed In Comedy Tour make its return to Medicine Hat, hopefully just as the snow melts away outside.
The tour has a rotating lineup for its stops and Medicine Hat will be treated to founder Dan Quinn, Debra DiGiovanni, Paul Myrehaug, and Pete Zedlacher.
“Debra DiGiovanni is with us for the first time. We developed a fan base for Snowed In and Debra already had a fan base so when we get together we get kind of the two crowds,” Quinn said. “She’s explosive and hilarious.”
Zedlacher is nominated again this year as the best comic in the country, an honour he has won in the past.
“He’s considered by most of the industry as one of Canada’s best,” said Quinn. “He’s done Just For Laughs eight times and is a really good storyteller.”
Myrehaug is originally from Camrose but has moved to Europe in recent years.
“He’s really well respected there and is now opening for Ed Byrne for the second time playing to 1,500 people a night,” said Quinn.
Medicine Hat has become a regular stop on the tour for the past few years, something Quinn would have found hard to believe during its humble beginnings. The tour started when Quinn – itching to go on a snowboarding vacation with his friends but unable to take the time off work – found a solution. He scheduled comedy gigs on and around ski hills, planning to hit the slopes in the day and pay for it all by doing stand-up when the sun went down.
“For the first year we had nine shows and the next year I think I added about seven more so I just kept adding shows and adding shows and then we ran out of snowboarding area,” Quinn said.
Shows in Alberta and the Prairies were added soon after and now, in its 12th year, Snowed In is truly a nationwide tour.
“The first year I think I started putting the tour together in October but now for 2021 I started working on that in November 2019. It’s become a full time job,” Quinn said.
Such a full-time job that Quinn won’t make it to Hidden Valley Ski Resort next week.
“I’m sure it’s a fun time but it’ll be a little bit of a let down after spending time in Revelstoke. The problem with going skiing as often as we do now is we do get a little bit spoiled.”
You can get an idea of the sort of comedy the foursome will bring by checking out the Truck Jokes page at snowedincomedytour.com. The webseries grew from the notion the group might have been having more fun while driving from city to city than the audience was having at the shows.
“We spend a lot of time together in the vehicle driving around and things come up and we just make each other laugh. A big thing with comedians is someone starts a joke and then other people add to it. With the four of us always adding to it it can go on for a while. We got a film crew to set up all these cameras in the trucks and we wold just riff on topics and see what happens,” Quinn said.
A road sign offering free meat led to one of the most memorable moments, said Quinn.
“That was five minutes of us laughing, just like. ‘What kind of meat is he giving away? Why is it free?'” you know. That’ll never been done on stage it was just in that moment and hilarious to the point we were all in tears and just continually making fun of this free meat sign.”
Tickets are available at tixx.ca, by calling 403-502-8777 or in person at the Esplanade box office or the Medicine Hat Mall customer service desk.
Show time is 8 p.m.
