DOM PARE headlining at Yuk Yuks Downtown (224 Richmond West), from Wednesday (June 6) to June 10, Wednesday-Sunday 8 pm, late shows Friday-Saturday 10:30 pm. $12-$20. 416-967-6425. See listing.
One February weeknight, I witnessed a fascinating show at Yuk Yuk’s Downtown. After a bunch of decent stand-ups bombed and I was just about to write off the audience, one comic turned the crowd around.
“I remember that show,” says Dom Pare, the guy responsible for making that big shift and one of the best new comics I’ve seen in years.
“I felt they were in a different mood. I don’t want to get all weird and arty, but you can sense the energy in a room. You can tell if there’s a tightness and they’re looking for something different.”
Like any astute observer, Pare comes up with a clever analogy.
“It’s like you want pizza,” he says, “but someone keeps giving you sushi.”
Tough crowds are nothing new to Pare, who faces a week of headlining sets at the flagship Toronto Yuk Yuk’s. He was born in Germany but moved to Canada at two, and grew up on military bases around the country.
Great training, it turns out, for the cutthroat world of comedy.
“Being funny in school can make you friends and prevent you from being bullied,” he says in an Annex cafe. “Military kids are usually funny and charismatic or big athletes. They’ve all developed some sort of vestigial element from their childhood to help them socially.”
Pare isn’t afraid of appearing to be a bit of an asshole onstage. It gives his act an angry, unpredictable edge.
“That’s me,” he says, laughing. “I’m a bit of an asshole, but it’s all in fun. Guys rib each other, and I kind of rib the audience. There’s no hate in what I’m doing.”
Still, he can sometimes rub certain audience members the wrong way. He’s run into some problems, for instance, in his bit about taboo words like the C word and the N word.
“I’ve done that joke, and someone in the audience, usually a woman, will audibly reject it,” he says. “But I can’t abandon it. And once I get through, she’s usually the one laughing the hardest.”
This time last year, Pare quit his six-figure salary as a high-tech salesman to pursue comedy full-time and try to get as good as comics he respects, like Mike Wilmot, Pete Zedlacher, Aaron Berg and Darren Frost.
“I just couldn’t do it any more,” he says. “I felt my heart and soul splitting in two.”
Now he’s come to the point in his career where he’s shedding some of his earlier jokes. His 45-minute headline set will include old and new material.
“There are some jokes about going to the gym and others about the differences between the sexes, which is kind of where I’m at now.
“I eventually want to put the older pieces online, but they’ll be gone from my act after this.”
Then Pare comes up with another analogy.
“They’re not like pants that are too tight for me, but they’re starting to look weird. It’s like I’m the only guy on the street wearing a top hat and shorts.”
Interview Clips
Dom Pare on why he loves stand-up:
On the importance of bombing:
On learning from the commitment of other comics, like Aaron Berg:
On the “biggest sin in stand-up”:
On the crowd at Rivoli’s AltDot Comedy Lounge:
On what motivates people to do stand-up:
glenns@nowtoronto.com | twitter.com/glennsumi
