Comedy Nest spreading its wings into Toronto
The Comedy Nest is spreading its wings — all the way to suburban Toronto. It does our civic pride well knowing that a Montreal business can expand and establish a beachfront down the 401 — as opposed to the more usual scenario where a Toronto-based company sets up operations here.
The national Yuk Yuk’s comedy chain, based in Toronto, has set up satellite clubs here over the years, but they have never lasted very long. Comedy Nest proprietors David Acer and Phil Shuchat are now contemplating going national on the heels of launching their Mississauga club — an 80-seat room in the popular, upscale Walkers Wine Bar & Grill — this weekend.
“We’ve always had strong colonialist leanings,” cracks Acer, also a standup comic and magician.
“Yes, our plan is to conquer Canada — one punchline at the time,” says Shuchat, also a standup and would-be pro golfer.
The genesis of this expansion came when Walkers owner Ron Perruzza took in some shows at the Nest in the old Forum.
“He is a big comedy fan and was bowled over by the shows,” Shuchat notes. “So he decided he wanted to partner with us at his club, to be called Comedy Nest at Walkers.”
“We’re bringing over a lot of what we have learned in programming the Nest in terms of booking and running a show, as well as creating an environment around the show,” Acer says. “Ron had visited comedy clubs around the continent but he was particularly taken by the way we presented our shows. There was something about the way we had branded the club that worked for him.”
Shuchat acknowledges that he has a “nervous optimism” about opening a new comedy room in the highly competitive Toronto scene.
“But we’re very confident that our brand will take there. We’re aware of how other comedy clubs run their business — but that’s not how we run our business,” Shuchat says. “We’re not reactionary — we’re forwardthinking.
Adds Acer: “We also have a great rapport with comics around North America, who love performing at our club.”
Acer and Shuchat will be donning their clown suits on Saturday night in Mississauga as they open for headliner Andy Pitz — a fave of David Letterman — at the new Nest to the West.
The Montreal Nest draws not only the best wits from this land — like Pete Zedlacher, Mike Wilmot, Derek Seguin et al — but also a who’s who of U.S. standups — names like Emo Philips, Wendy Liebman and Rachel Feinstein among others.
No question that it helps that Acer and Shuchat are comics, in terms of both drawing talent and setting up shows. And no small task to make a go of anglo comedy in a predominantly franco Montreal market.
“People want to laugh and to feel good, and we give them an opportunity to do both,” Acer says. “There are two English comedy clubs in the city (the Comedy Works is the other), but we program differently and we both survive on our different approaches. And our business has never been better.”
The Nest, originally founded by the late Ernie Butler, has been flourishing. When they took over the club five years ago, a typical weekend would feature three shows, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday — with one of those shows invariably cancelled for lack of patrons. Now the Nest is open six nights a week, including two shows a night on Friday and Saturday. The Nest can expect an additional bonanza in July, when the club partners with Just for Laughs to present Fest at the Nest throughout the festival.
“If we don’t have over 100 people at our weekend shows now, we’re disappointed, but we usually do,” Shuchat says. “We look at the club business from the comedian’s point of view. I like to think we’ve developed a formula for success with the quality of headliners we’re bringing in rotation.
“It is not our intention to shake anything up in Toronto. We just saw an opportunity with a guy (Perruzza) who has built his success on franchising and licensing experience — an area in which we are not incredibly well-versed at.”
Regardless of the location, both partners are abundantly aware of the challenge of getting “bums in seats” at a comedy club.
“Every week, we have to start from scratch in trying to create a show that will attract audiences,” Acer says.
No matter, the guys are now in the process of mapping out prospective Nest locations in the country. Among the spots they are considering are mostly in Ontario: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and London.
No grass growing under Acer or Shuchat. The two are forever on the go. They are also principals, along with Leonard Chase, in the Super Dog spectacles, wherein regular family pooches perform the darnedest stunts in more than 700 shows around the world.
“And we’re not finished yet, either,” Acer says. “We also have plans to open an upscale doughnut shop called … Timothy Horton’s.
“And if that doesn’t work out, we’re thinking of launching a 24-hour spinning spiral on TV called the Hypnosis Channel.”
Santi Espinosa is a comice conomist. Or is that an economist-comic? Either way, it is an oxymoron.
However, rest assured that Espinosa won’t be ruminating on the macro-economic theories of John Maynard Keynes when he comes back to his former home to perform his solo show, Now It’s Personal, Saturday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at Théâtre Ste-Catherine. The shows will be taped for a comedy special.
Espinosa was born in Colombia, raised in Montreal and now lives in New York. Which explains, he says, why he “looks like a Korean single mother.”
Not necessarily. But he is funny, whether ranting about The Donald’s reading material or his dating rituals. He has fared well in the Big Apple, hosting the showcase It Matters Comedy and working with the likes of Jim Gaffigan, Todd Barry and Gary Gulman.
People want to laugh and to feel good, and we give them an opportunity to do both.