Mr. D’s happy return to Niagara
There are some things about touring that comic Gerry Dee just doesn’t question. Like why some cities are “stinkers” while others, like St. Catharines, routinely greet him with sell-outs.
Much like his character on “Mr. D”, it’s best just to shrug and go with it.
“We rattle our brains trying to figure out why some do better than the others,” he says. “St. Catharines certainly surprised us – this is the third show now in a year, which is rare for me.”
Dee is back at the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre for a pair of shows April 6 at 7:30 and 10 p.m., making Niagara one of his strongest fan bases in a stand-up career that got off to a late start. That’s because “Mr. D” isn’t just a successful CBC sitcom, it’s an exaggerated version of Dee’s former life as a high school gym teacher. He didn’t even step onto a comedy club stage until 1999, when he was 30.
“I got a guy opening for me on this tour who’s 22 and he’s been doing it for seven years! Yeah, I got into it late.
“It was never a thought to do this. I guess I was funny and enough people pried me to try it, and luckily I did.”
CBC would certainly look different had he stuck with teaching. After starring in his own Comedy Network specials and a short stint doing comedic sports interviews for The Score (including memorable chats with Wayne Gretzky and Charles Barkley), Dee launched “Mr. D” in 2012. Created, written by and starring Dee as an unsatisfied social studies teacher yearning to teach phys-ed instead, it has been a mainstay for the public broadcaster since, earning Dee a Canadian Screen Award in 2013 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing leading Comedic Role.
The show was recently renewed for an eighth season, which Dee has decided will be the last.
“You have to pick a point where you have confidence in trying to go out with creative integrity and not just drive it into the ground,” he says. “It feels like the right time.”
With a new CBC show in development, Dee won’t be off TV for long. But for now, he wants to make sure “Mr. D” finishes strong. He appreciates how “rare” it is to end a show on your own terms.
“Most people just wait around to get cancelled, and I guess there was part of that for me. I said, ‘You know, do I want to get cancelled in my ninth season?’ I didn’t. Not that we would have, but I also didn’t want it to be ‘Yeah, the first eight seasons were good, then you could tell they were just struggling.’
“Plus, actors move on. We’ve got a couple actors who want to do their own thing. Most shows will go four years and lose cast, and our show has been around for eight. We’ve been really lucky.”
So after all his social misgivings, does Mr. D deserve a happy ending?
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’s an interesting ending, I can say that.”