Calgary comic shines a spotlight on five blind dates
Long before Tinder, there was Mimi.
For seven years, Rebecca Northan’s rednosed clown soubrette has been conducting one-night stands on stages around the world with unsuspecting men in Blind
Date, now playing a return Toronto engagement at the Tarragon Theatre through Oct. 4. Northan picks an audience member at random for 90 minutes of hilarity. She shared her impressions with the Star of the first five “dates” this time around.
Peter, 55 Works in sales of sponsorship. Married to Suzan. Peter was a real sparkplug. Moments when he was unsure, he spent a lot of time rubbing the tablecloth, which he turned into a comic routine for himself. A real gentleman. Best moment: Him trying to hide his custom wallet, a gift from a buddy at work, that is embossed with “I own this bitch.”
Zain, 28 Works in communications and politics. Visiting from Calgary, seeing the show with his pal. We broke conventional “first-date rules” by jumping into politics and religion right away. He spoke of his admiration of Barack Obama and gave me a beautiful, concise explanation of Islam. He surprised me mid-date by confessing he is not single. (!) He spoke with such love for his fiancée, Soraya, and what a good sport she is. He got a standing ovation at the end. Best moment: I said, “I’m agnostic, you’re Muslim, will that be an issue?” Zain replied, “No, we’re totally kosher.”
Rohan, 24 Moved to Canada from India a year ago to do his master’s degree in elec- trical engineering. Coached him on the use of open-ended questions to draw people out. He transformed before our eyes into an accomplished conversationalist. We fastforwarded five years into the future where we were married. He named our son Suraj, which translates to “sunshine” because, he said, “Mimi, when I’m with you I feel like the sun was shining on me.” Best moment: coming into the lobby post-show and seeing Rohan surrounded by single ladies.
Lee, 36 Grew up in the U.K. Works in sales of geosynthetics. Lee came with his wife, Felicia, who was a great sport. Lee has the perfect amount of British sarcasm. He giggled a lot. We dined and dashed from the restaurant and got pulled over by the cops. We spoke of loved ones lost to cancer and the bike ride he did to honour his brother. When things got romantic, he tried to delay the inevitable by demanding a hamstring massage and petting my head like a cat. Best moment: When Lee dropped his defences and let his sweet, giant heart shine through.
Richard, 70 Works as a tax consultant, among other things. Grew up in South Africa, left when he could. Married to Laura for 13 years but came to the show with friends. A close friend dropped dead suddenly when they were around 29 years old. The result: Richard’s life philosophy is to live life to the fullest and always close to the edge. This explains the workout body and the semi-pro car racing. Best moment: slow dancing with a man who knows what he’s doing.