Decker gets big break in the Big Apple
Vancouver comedian performs in New York at Conan O’Brien’s high profile Comics to Watch showcase
Vancouver comedian Ivan Decker has been making waves Canada-wide for some time. In addition to his local success — the 30-yearold standup has been named Georgia Straight’s Best Newcomer and Vancouver Magazine’s Next Big Thing in Comedy — Decker has performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, on the CBC program The Debaters and as part of the Winnipeg and Halifax comedy festivals.
Now the hilarious and eminently likable comic has jumped to the international stage after catching the eye of Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco, which invited Decker to perform at O’Brien’s eighth annual Comics to Watch standup showcase on Saturday night.
Decker was the only Canadian in the group, performing with 11 up-and-coming American comedians in front of industry executives and comedy fans attending the New York Comedy Festival.
It’s always a good time to be noticed by someone with the clout of O’Brien, but this year comes with a special twist: A few of the Comics to Watch will also receive a spot performing on O’Brien’s popular latenight TBS talk show Conan.
It’s a big spotlight with some very notable alumni. Others invited to the Comics to Watch showcase in previous years include Michael Che and Brooks Whelan, who went on to star on Saturday Night Live, Ali Wong and Tonight Show writers Jo Firestone and Josh Johnson.
The local comic spoke with Postmedia before the show about the opportunity, his planned set and representing Canada on such a big stage.
Q What does an opportunity like this mean to you? A
It’s another door that I haven’t been able to access. This is something that could either open up a ton of possibilities or zero, but either way it’s still very, very exciting for me, especially as a Canadian to be able to come down and be a part of this. I’m very flattered that they invited me and I’m just, it’s one of those shows that every show you’ve ever done leads up to.
For a lot of comedians and comedy fans your age, Conan O’Brien is a hero. Does that hold true for you?
Absolutely. His was my favourite late night show that I watched growing up. I just love how silly and almost irreverent it was.
Is this your first time performing in the states?
This is my first foray into this market because I didn’t have the legal paperwork to do it. It’s one of the most difficult things for Canadians. Any Canadian comic will express woes about how difficult it is to get the required paperwork to work in the United States. I’ve just spent the last two years doing that, so it was kind of nice that something happened as soon as I got it.
Are you proud to be the only Canadian comic invited to the showcase?
It’s very cool. I’m very excited about it because I know there are Canadian comics, very funny ones, that live in New York. So I think it’s really cool that I got to be on there.
I’m just trying to represent our country. I have to clearly show them that we’re very funny.
What are your aspirations?
I’m just trying to keep options open. I think the ultimate goal for me is to do standup. That’s what I love and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. So anything I can do to facilitate that on a large scale is amazing. I definitely think that any of that stuff would be great. It’s all great. I’m not gonna complain.
What comics do you look up to?
The comedians that I really liked when I started were, obviously being a 90s kid ... Seinfeld and Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle and then after starting comedy it’s great because then you get to be exposed to and see all of these other amazing comedians that you didn’t know about before. There’s a guy named Chad Daniels who’s a huge favourite of mine. John Mulaney, obviously. Tons of others.
Have you written new material for this gig or is debuting new material at something like this a terrible idea?
It would be bad. They kind of curated the set that I’m doing. I sent them a tape and they were nice enough to sort of guide me in picking the material that they think will work best for their audience and stuff like that, so I’ve had the material kind of down for the last couple of weeks. I’ve just been practising it everywhere I can at any and all comedy stages in Vancouver. So if you saw me in the last week, it’s probably what I was doing.
But when you’re doing something like this you really want to try to make sure that every word is exactly where it needs to be. You can’t prepare for the unknown — someone drops a glass or something like that. But the only thing you do have is your material and you can just make damn sure it’s exactly where it needs to be when the time comes.
Do you worry about your comedy translating to New York’s notoriously picky audiences?
I don’t know. Are they any pickier than Moose Jaw? Who knows?