Gerry Dee busy with TV shows, stand-up
Gerry Dee is making hay while the sun shines.
The 51-year-old Scarborough, Ont.-native, who will launch his Alone. On A Stage. cross-Canada tour on Jan. 17, became the host of CBC’s Family Feud Canada which started airing in midDecember (Monday to Thursday nights).
Dee also made his first ever U.S. scripted show appearance in the Fox holiday TV event, The Moodys (whose writers collective credits include Wedding Crashers, How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs), playing Denis Leary’s brother on the show which aired over three nights this past December.
“I’m really lucky things have unfolded the way they have,” said Dee, a P.E. teacher-turnedstand-up-comic who starred in the CBC sitcom Mr. D from 2012-2018.
“I still have lots left in the game and that’s where I’m at now. My goal is still to get another scripted show and act again, that’s kind of the passion. Hopefully, Family Feud gets renewed. Hopefully, The Moodys gets renewed. I’ve got a couple of shows in development, one in particular I’m excited to hear about.”
We caught up with Dee, who plays Toronto’s Meridian Hall on April 22, down the line from his home recently.
Question: It feels like the last two decades have been a good one for you. How’s the next one looking?
Answer: I’d say it’s been extremely good. I remember when I started stand-up, I had one simple goal every year. It was just to get something better the next year. I’ve been very lucky to keep moving everything forward. There’s always the fear in entertainment that we become stagnant or forgotten and that’s kind of a fear that every entertainer lives with because we know that’s coming. No different than an athlete. You know it’s going to end. You’re always trying to hang on and avoid that.
Q: You played Roger Moody, the brother of Leary’s character, on The Moodys and other cast members included Elizabeth Perkins and Jay Baruchel. What was that experience like?
A: It was great. Dennis was a joy. Elizabeth, Jay Baruchel — who is Canadian — it was a great group. I was in and out for one day and then gone. So it was a very different type of show for me. But they’re stars. It’s a different level of stardom with those people but it was great. Dennis and I would chat a lot in between takes, because he’s a big hockey fan, and Jay was a big hockey fan. It couldn’t have been a better first U.S. experience.
Q: Are you hoping The Moodys leads to more U.S. shows for you?
A: I’ve learned in my travels there’s no point in getting too hopeful because usually it doesn’t lead to much. The hope for me with that show is that they get another event, ‘cause it was kind of an event, six episodes over three days. The hope is they get another one and I’m brought back.
Q: Original Family Feud host Richard Dawson was famous for kissing female contestants on the lips while today’s host Steve Harvey is way more restrained. Where do you sit on the spatial proximity scale?
A: I remember one (Dawsonhosted) episode, the dad was there, he was probably my age, and he said ‘This is my daughter,’ and she’s probably 22 and Richard leans in, he’s probably 60, and he plants a kiss. It was just weird. I don’t think anyone said anything at the time. But you look back now and I’m sure the majority of them did not want that and I only know now how wrong that would be. It just kind of flew over one’s heads I guess. I’m not really a touchy-feely guy, just putting my arm around anyone, it feels like I’m in their space, especially a woman. I just shake their hand.
Q: How will you tour across Canada and tape Family Feud (until Feb. 10)?
A: Family Feud shoots Sunday, Monday so I just avoided those two days. Pretty simple. They’re not really big comedy nights — Sunday, Monday — for standup, so I just avoided those. It just worked out very easily actually. I just got to hope that I don’t have a flight on a Saturday that goes wonky but other than that I booked a lot of gigs that are driving distance.
Q: A lot of comics can get tripped up especially with social media. So how do you straddle that line between speaking your mind but not offending too many people?
A: It’s kind of a different beast now really because generally comedians we just always said what we wanted. And now, and rightly so, we can’t and we shouldn’t. So I’m a little more guarded with that. I’ve learned a lot in the last 10 years about the way to talk, the way things are perceived, by different groups of people and you’ve got to be sensitive to that. I’m a white male. I haven’t had a lot to struggle with growing up.
Q: So will you stick with just talking about yourself on stage?
A: I just talk about my life. Why do kids do this? Why does my wife do this? Why do men do this? Nothing outside the box, but a lot of people can relate. Like I talk about the struggles of parenting. It’s hard. It’s friggin’ hard. And you love your kids to death but some moments you just can’t stand them.