festival favorite

Darcy Michael
Press Kit
•bio
•resume
•3 Press articles
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-Georgia Straight
-Xtra West
•headshot
More Darcy:
www.DarcyMichael.com
Stand Up Videos:
www.youtube.com/undercoverfag
DARCY MICHAEL
Comedian biography
BEST OF THE FEST
-HUBCAP COMEDY FESTIVAL
NOMINATED LIVE PERFORMANCE
OF THE
YEAR
-2009 XTRA WEST HERO AWARDS
FESTIVAL FAVORITE
-2008 MONTREAL GAZETTE, JUST FOR LAUGHS
CANADA’S NEXT BREAK OUT STAR!!
-PATRICK MALIHA, TALK-1410, VANCOUVER 2008
Bio:
Darcy Michael is widely considered one of Canada’s rising stars. Coming off his wildly successful debut at
the prestigious Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, where the Montreal Gazette pegged him as one of
their favorites; Darcy went on to film his first national stand up special for CTV and The Comedy
Network which is set to air in 2009. Darcy was also featured on a pre-taped segment for The Tonight
Show with Jay Leno. In the fall of 2008 he recorded his first CD in conjunction with XM Radio called:
“You’re Gay Now.”
Darcy Michael’s edgy but personable approach combined with his unique delivery style has made him a
guaranteed hit. While working alongside the likes of Scott Thompson, Janeane Garafolo, Greg Proops
and Matthew Perry; a few of Darcy’s past credits include appearances at the Global Comedy Festival;
Halifax Comedy Festival; Winnipeg Comedy Festival, CBC Radio’s “The Debaters” and XM
Satellite Radio.
If you want dig deeper into the world of Darcy, please visit: www.darcymichael.com or for a detailed
resume contact his management.
DARCY MICHAEL
HEIGHT :5’9”
WEIGHT: 265 lbs
HAIR: LIGHT BROWN
EYES: HAZEL
FILM & TELEVISION:
The List
Winnipeg Comedy Festival
Xtra West Hero Awards
Comedy Now
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Halifax Comedy Festival
Urban Rush
Interns
Reaper (CW Network)
Numb (Feature)
Bedridden
Shitz The Biz
Guest Appearance
Starring
Host
Starring
Pass the Mic Guest (pre-taped segment)
Starring
Guest Appearance
Principal
Principal
Supporting
Supporting
Lead
CITY TV
CBC Television
OUT TV
CTV/Comedy Network
NBC Television
CBC Television
SHAW Television
Tom Lynch Company
The CW Network
Harris Goldberg/Insight Film
David Grave/Capilano College
Jeff Birch/Pinpoint Productions
Feature
Feature
Headliner
Feature
Feature
Feature
Headliner
Headliner
Feature
Montreal & Toronto
National
Moncton, NB
Winnipeg
Halifax, NS
Vancouver, BC
Toronto
Whistler, BC
Nationally
Mark
Lead
Lead
John Hale
Deep Cove Stage Society
Vancouver Performing Arts
Chris Olson/Improv at the VPA
Lloyd Burrit/James Buchanan Theatre
STAND UP COMEDY: (partial list)
Just for Laughs
CBC Radio’s “The Debaters”
Hubcap Comedy Festival –voted “Best of the Fest!”
Winnipeg Comedy Festival
Halifax Comedy Festival
Global Comedy Fest
We’re Funny That Way Fest
Whistler’s WinterPride Fest
XM Satelite Radio
THEATRE:
The Shadow Box
Gastown Improv Players
7 Heads Are Better Than 2
The Crucible
TRAINING:
Audition Techniques
Advanced Acting & Scene Study
Improvisation
Acting For Camera, Scene Study
Locations Mgt, Set Etiquette & Protocol
Vancouver Film School, B.C.
Alex Bruhanski Studio, B.C.
Second City Theatre, Ont.
Gastown Actor’s Studio, B.C.
Capilano College, B.C.
SKILLS:
Firearms, Self Defense, Motorcycling, Stunts/Stage Combat, Snowmobiling, Advanced Driving Skills (Pursuit Driving, Manual & Automatic)
Dialects: American, Southern American, Eastern & Western Canadian, Irish, English, French, New York
www.DarcyMichael.com
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Darcy Michael @ Yuk Yuk's
Favourite
Add to your favorite
BY SEAN DAVIDSON
Appearing at Yuk Yuk's
Toronto. Aug 27 -30. Wed Thu 8pm, Fri -Sat 7:30 &
Comedy Chart
Theatre Chart
Recommend: 0
August 26, 2 008 12:08
DARCY MICHAEL
Dance Club Chart
Related St ories
Psst! Don't tell anyone, but Darcy Michael is a fag. It's a really big
Cheech and Chong Light Up Canada @ Massey
secret, at least to anyone who's never seen his act — which the
Hall, Sep. 6
Vancouver comic likes to open with a few innocuous crowd -pleasers about
First, a few disclosures. I am not a stoner.
weed and relationships before slyly outing himself with a nod to his
husband back home.
Music to Listen to Comedy By @ Bad Dog
Regardless of the musical antics on stage, the
10:30pm. $12 -$19. 224
Richmond W. 416 -967-6425.
www.yukyuks.com .
real star of the show on Thursday at Bad Dog
The crowd laughs, does a double take, and the self -described
was the men's room.
"undercover fag" yells out a gleeful "Surprise!"
Proud FM Night @ Absolute Comedy
See, if you put stock in stereotypes, the 28 -year -old Michael is not the
first person you'd pick out of a spot -the-gay lineup. He's portly,
unshaven, not much of a dresser — the sort of guy more likely to be pegged as a B.C. pothead than a Fab
A Pride event? In August? Forgive me, but isn't
that about two months later than this planet's
usual celebrations of all things rainbow -colored?
cover boy.
That undercover bit has all but become his tagline. But with a headliner spot at Yuk Yuk's, a Comedy Network
special set to air this fall and an album in the works for XM Radio, one can't help but wonder if by now his
cover is about to be blown.
"Oh I can't wait until my cover is blown," he says, laughing. "I hate telling that joke. I've been telling it for
three years."
The full bit is about eight minutes long, but lately he's pared it down to 30 seconds, he says, because he's got
other stuff he'd rather talk about, such as his 10 -year -old daughter or the time he was mugged by a girl.
"I look forward to being able to talk about my family and tell my jokes without having to preface everything
MORE INSIDE
[i.e., with my sexuality]," he says, on the phone from his home. "The new 'undercover' for me is shaving and
getting a haircut."
Reader's Choice /
Guides
For the time being, though, it's a significant part of his act, playing unpredictably when crowds don't see it
Wellness Guide
Wakestock Guide
coming. Once in a while, his act tanks after he comes out.
Pride Guide
Cool Summer
Guide
Other times, he errs on the side of caution and turns down entire shows.
Bar and Patio
"I get freaked out more than anyone imagines," he says, when asked about homophobia on the comedy
circuit. "I always make sure there's a little extra security in some of the smaller towns and I say no to some
gigs. I was supposed to do Red Deer and — you know what? — Red Deer just doesn't want to see me."
Guide
Fitness Guide
Canadian Music
Week
Love & Sex Guide
Next Stage Festival
2008
Best bet :
Student Guide
Bad Dog needs your $20 to help renovate its space and on Thursday (Aug 28) presents Music to Listen to
Comedy By, with geriatric hipsters The Williamson Playboys , Fast & Dirty , Slap Happy and — up from
L.A. — Marc "Heino" Hickox as host. 8pm. 138 Danforth Ave, 416 -491-3115. www.baddogtheatre.com .
Email us at: [email protected] or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
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Comedy
April 10, 2008
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Darcy Michael is here, he’s funny, get used to it
By Guy MacPherson
In the age of hyphenated comedy, it ’s hard to peg Darcy Michael. When he walks
on -stage you think maybe he ’ll be the plus -size comic who does material about his
weight, like a John Pinette. Then he gets into his drug humour and you ’re thinking
he ’s more like a lazy stoner comic along the lines of Doug Benson.
“It said in this article that if you smoke pot once, you ’re impaired for 24 hours, ” goes
one of his bits. “If that’s the case, how come I gotta smoke another after, like, 20
minutes? Fuck it, man, you can take my car. Gimme some of that 24 -hour weed. ”
Then 10 or 15 minutes into his act, he ’ll hit you with his marriage material. Oh,
okay, he ’s a relationship comic.
It’s not until after a standard line about his supposedly sexless union that the final
reveal is made. “My wife, Jeremy, hates that joke, ” he ’ll say. The audience will
laugh, still on a roll, but then there ’s always this abrupt stop, as if they ’re all
rewinding his last sentence in their minds. “Oh, there ’s some confused
motherfuckers in the crowd right now, ” he says, before launching into his
Undercover Fag routine, shouting, “Surprise! W e ’re everywhere! ”
Yes, Michael really is married and a father. “W e got a marriage licence just like all
the other dumb fucks out there, ” he says on the phone from his home in Ladner.
“We decided to throw away our dreams and ambitions and go through life bitter and
married. ”
Equally comfortable playing in front of a straight or gay crowd, Michael had to make
a choice: talk about his sexuality or leave it out of the act.
“Everything I talk about is from my life or perspective, ” he says. “I have to address
the fact that not only am I gay but I’m kind of a weird gay. I don ’t fit into people ’s
stereotypes of who gay people are. So I can ’t just haphazardly mention that I ’m gay
and then go into whatever. I have to address people ’s issues. …Being gay doesn ’t
define me but it ’s definitely a part of who I am. ”
Three years in, Michael ’s made remarkable progress. He played the W e ’re Funny
That W ay queer comedy festival in Toronto last year. He ’s performing at the Halifax
Comedy Festival later this month, then the prestigious Just for Laughs festival in
Montreal. Not bad for a self-described homebody who wishes he could do every
show from his living room.
“I’m thrilled, man, ” he says about JFL. “This was my five -year plan, so I ’ve got the
next two years to take off. ”
Michael is headlining the first -ever Kinda Gay Show at Lafflines in New
Westminster, on Friday and Saturday (April 11 and 12), featuring a lineup of gay,
lesbian, and gay -friendly comics.
It’s hard to be undercover when you ’re the star of a queer show. That ’s okay with
him.
“The first 15 minutes of a show I may be killing, but in my head I ’ll be going, ‘Oh,
God, if Undercover Fag bombs, I ’m done. ’…So there ’s added stress. Whereas now
I’m just stressed that nobody ’s going to show up. ”
Then he slips back in to slacker druggie mode. “But it’s not like I want to work
anyway.”
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Comic Darcy Michael says his routine about being gay defies
stereotypes.
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COMEDY / Darcy Michael is far more than your average
Make Us Your Homepage
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Shauna Lewis / Vancouver / Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Archives
Advertisement
What do you do if a nine -to-five
job just isn't your cup of tea? You
become a comedian, quips
funnyman, Darcy Mic hael.
Share This Story On:
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"I floated for a long time before I
found comedy. I was a stock boy
at a Zellers, I worked at three
banks — I had to shave and I just
don't like to shave," he explains.
On the surface, the 28 -year -old
seems like every other comedian,
making crowds roar night after
night with jokes about sex, pot
and politics.
Del.icio.us
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More Vancouver Headlines
ATYPICAL. 'I'm not what the
general public imagines gay to
be,' says comic Darcy Michael.
'I'm not clean-cut, I'm not
flamboyant and I have horrible
taste in music. I'm rumpled and
unkempt.'
(Courtesy of Darcy Michael)
Yet, just when you think you've
got Michael pegged as a stoner slacker comic, he drops his
sexuality, marital and parental status on the audience like a ton of
butt plugs on a PTA meeting.
Crowds march on Davie
for Join Hands for Justice
rally
Charge raised to
aggravated assault in
Smith bas hing
Overcoming a limp dick
As a gay man, what's at
stake in this election?
Although he says he's not blazing any paths, the robust, brazen, self-professed "dirty faggot" routinely
forces audiences to question their preconceived notions of what gay looks like through his undercover
fag routine.
A typical Darcy Michael set warms up with jokes about marijuana legalization and stoned driving, before
moving on to pussy reconstruction and political satire.
Then he comes out.
"Yes, I am gay. Surprise! We're everywhere! And we're recruiting, so drink up, fuckers!" he exclaims,
adding that he wears his wedding ring around his neck because "a cock ring would be inappropriate."
"Undercover fag, that would be the lamest super hero ever," he's been known to joke. "But let's be
honest, my costume would be fabulous! It's a bird, it's a plane... it's vintage Vers ace?"
Queer has many faces, he's clearly trying to suggest between punch lines.
"I don't fit the stereotype for any gay person. I break the stereotype," Michael asserts. "I'm not what
the general public imagines gay to be. I'm not clean -cut, I'm not flamboyant and I have horrible taste in
music. I'm rumpled and unkempt. I'm not your typical gay man."
Michael's routine is fundamentally about parody, pun and pot — with heavy emphasis on the latter. "I
talk about smoking weed as much as I talk about smokin' pole," he says with a laugh. He smokes
weed to combat the effects of Rheumatoid arthritis and Fibromyalgia — and simply because it's fun.
For the past four years, Michael has taken his "undercover fag" routine to stages in Vancouver, Toronto
and Halifax, rural watering holes and everything in between. Last year, Michael preformed at a Kelowna
bar, an experience he says was "terrifying."
There is always that lingering fear that the crowd will respond homophobically, he says. "Being gay is
still an issue. Some people are supportive and some people are not. It's tough every time I come out to
the crowd," he admits. "I always wait 20 minutes [before coming out to the audience]. I could be killing
for 20 minutes and there's always that possibility I could come out — and just bomb."
The Ontario -born and BC -bred comedian says he's not surprised or offended by how some straight
people are still taken aback by his shows. To expect all people to all think the same way is overly
idealistic, he says.
"I think it's just as ignorant for us to expect they're going to accept us as it is for them not to," he
asserts.
But Michael says public reaction to his show has been generally positive and he has, in his own way,
unofficially taken on the role of unlikely queer ambass ador.
"I've had people come up to me and say I'm the first gay person they've met. And I say I'm a shining
example of what we are," he jokes.
Despite being openly gay on stage and off today, Michael says he initially contemplated keeping his
sexuality out of his routine, but quickly changed his mind knowing he had to be honest with himself and
to his craft.
"I didn't feel like I would be giving a realistic version of who I am," he says. "It [being gay] doesn't
define me, but it's a big part of who I am."
For Michael, queer empowerment began with a visit to his first drag show at Celebrities nightclub at the
tender age of 17. Underage and awe -struck, Michael recalls meeting a bevy of queens who promptly
made a positive impression.
In particular, the comedian credits performers like Symone — who recently won the Drag Queen of the
Year title at the Xtra West Community Achievement Awards — for helping him tap into the pride he feels
today in himself and his community.
"She gave me strength," he says. "When we're that age we look to idols and heroes and people to help
us do what we want to do, and she did that. It was people like Symone that catapulted me into not being
afraid of who I am. Here is a six -foot -something black man, wearing seven -inch heels. And here I am:
18 and wondering if I want to sleep with boys. I think it was a pretty easy decision."
To date, Michael's credits have included appearances at the CanWest Comedy Festival, Toronto's We're
Funny That Way Queer Comedy Festival, as well as gigs at local clubs: Lafflines and Yuk Yuk's, to name
a few. Last month he co -hosted the Xtra West Community Achievement Awards with fellow queer
comedian, Morgan Brayton.
"We joked about being the Donnie and Marie of the queer world — I'm a little bit country, he's a little bit
anonymous sex in an alley," Brayton says, of sharing the stage with Michael at the awards.
"Darcy Michael is the worst thing to happen to comedy since Rita Rudner," she jokes. "But in all hones ty,
I love watching audiences watch Darcy. He's so genuinely funny that he really lulls an audience into a
sense of safety and then he'll say these things that kind of slap you across the face. You can just see an
audience thinking, 'Why did that cuddly fun man just say that terrible thing?' But they're still laughing
and he still has them on his side."
Brayton credits Michael's success to his honest and down -to-earth nature.
"Darcy is funny, bottom line. He is a great comic who shares his unique view of the world which includes
being a husband and a gay parent. He's not funny in spite of being queer and he's not funny because
he's queer. He promotes gay acceptance by being good at what he does and by being truthful about who
he is, not by trying to represent something for the sake of making a point," she says.
"Comedy seems to find him wherever he goes," adds fellow comedian, Ivan Decker. "He's so likable on
stage. [He has] a very unique style. It's very hard to pinpoint; he's such a unique person. It's not just
directed to a gay audience. He's very relatable to everybody."
"He's definitely unique," agrees Matthew Wall, general manager of Yuk Yuk's. "There are some
comedians who are gay that don't talk about it on stage. Then there are some that are flamboyant. I
don't think anyone on stage realizes he's gay right away."
Wall's business philosophy is simple: "If somebody makes the audience laugh, I bring them back. If
they don't, I don't." Michael is booked at Yuk Yuk's for feature performances in June.
Then it's off to Montreal, where he will perform at the prestigious Just for Laughs comedy festival in July,
before sharing the spotlight on an upcoming Comedy Network special scheduled to air at the end of this
year.
Darcy Michael.
Jun 5 -7.
Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club, 1015 Burrard St.
www.darcymichael.com
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