What: Yuk Yuk’s Stand-Up Comedy Tour featuring Darren Frost and Brett Martin
When: Tonight, 8 p.m.
Where: The Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas St.
Tickets: $25 at the vic.ca, 250-389-0444 or [email protected]
Note: This performance is for audiences ages 19 and above
Darren Frost believes many of his peers have it wrong where comedy is concerned.
“Clean comics think it is easy to be dirty, and dirty comics think it is easy to be clean,” Frost said. “Neither is true, because to be good in both, you have to be original.”
Frost, 43, is in the dirty camp when it comes to his standup. He’s confrontational and crude, with a savage, in-your-face intensity. He is cut from the same cloth as Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks and Denis Leary; and like those who preceded him, he rarely backs down from a controversial stance.
He goes all-in on taboo topics, including the Winnipeg Greyhound bus beheading. Should tackling those topics result in him bombing on stage, Frost is all for it. “Some people want to be entertained, whether they laugh or not. Even if I bomb and something gets across, in a small way that’s a win for me.”
He is bringing his R-rated act to The Vic Theatre tonight for his first Victoria performance. He has been a comic, actor and voiceover artist for 25 years, so Frost is thrilled performing for a new audience. However, the degree of anxiousness he feels before a show, whether he is familiar with the city or not, never goes away, he said.
“I’d love to tell you that every show is like rock ’n’ roll and they think I’m the Beatles, but it’s not. Sometimes it’s easier than it looks, but most times it’s a lot harder than it looks. And that’s the reality.”
The Brampton, Ont.-bred comic recently wrote a lengthy post on his website that questioned the profession he chose for himself and addressed his concerns about pursuing it as a career. Frost wrote that his “tank is empty” and he may have “jumped the shark” in his comedy career.
Clearly, Frost is at a critical crossroads.
“Travelling is very much a young man’s game,” he said. “It’s an energy thing. You only have so much show inside you, period.”
He has had good reason to quit in the past. Videos of Frost being heckled are online and they are not pretty. In one, a heckler makes light of Frost after he reveals he has battled cancer. In another, Frost takes an airborne beer bottle in the chest after a patron felt slighted by Frost’s “your momma” joke.
Both are uncomfortable to watch. What’s worse, Frost said, these clips show only a portion of what he’s endured since he turned professional at 18. “I have been through far worse. I’ve had death threats. I’ve been jumped on stage.”
This confuses Frost. “If someone doesn’t like my act and leaves, that’s fine. But don’t stop me when people are enjoying it. If you’re the only person not enjoying it, just leave.”