Nick Nemeroff, who hails from Montreal West, admitted that he always wanted to be a stand-up comic, but was scared to try. However, during one Christmas holiday season, he decided to face that fear and called up Montreal’s famed Comedy Nest club to give it a shot. They invited him to do an upcoming open mic night, and he ended up as part of that night’s line-up.
Fear conquered and one major career hurdle accomplished.
“Afterwards, I moved to Toronto and did a lot of open mic nights there. And whenever I was back in Montreal for a visit, I would perform at any place that had an open mic night, whether they be bars, restaurants or any other kind of public venue,” said Nemeroff during a recent phone interview.
It looks like all those open mic night appearances has richly paid off for him. Not only has he appeared at Just For Laughs, Nemeroff has also plied his comedy chops at other comedy festivals like the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Comedy Central’s Clusterfest, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, OddBlock, as well as the Adelaide Fringe Festival. His stand-up is also heard on the Sirius XM satellite radio network, seen on TBS’ Conan O’Brien show, CBC and VICE. And his debut comedy album, called “The Pursuit of Comedy Has Ruined My Life”, was nominated last year for Comedy Album of the Year at the JUNO Awards.
Nemeroff can currently be seen on the CBC Gem streaming service, as part of the line-up on season 2 of the Just For Laughs stand-up series “New Wave of Stand-up”. Filmed during Just For Laugh’s Vancouver festival, the series features 12 up and coming homegrown comics, as they bring their comedic best to the stage performing 10-minute sets each. The featured comics are Andrea Jin, Hisham Kelati, Allie Pearse, Abdul Aziz, Tin Lorica, Juliana Rodrigues, Maddy Kelly, Hoodo Hersi, Steev Letts, Janelle Niles, Marito Lopez; Nemeroff is this season’s sole representative from Montreal.
“One day, I got an email to be part of the series, and believe me, when you get that kind of recognition from Just For Laughs, it’s like a seal of approval,” he said. “It was a thrilling experience to be part of ‘New Wave’. The series shows a great representation of comedy talent from across Canada, as well as the diverse voices each featured comic has.”
And like any aspiring or veteran comedian, Nemeroff has his share of comedy influences; his are Todd Barry and the late Mitch Hedberg, “Their unique styles of comedy really spoke to me,” he said. “I love Todd’s demeanor. He may act like a total dick to the audience, but you don’t care, because he is really funny, and delivers his jokes with a great sense of confidence, as if his message is ‘if you don’t laugh at my jokes, you’re wrong’. As for Mitch, his jokes were funny and simple, and they really stuck with me, In fact, I still can’t get over how funny they were.”
As for the rather cold-hearted, pessimistic-sounding title to his Juno-nominated debut album, Nemeroff explains that it represents the difficulties that come with pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. “I thought of the album title during a time in my life when I moved to L.A. from my basement apartment in Toronto,” he said. “I was giving it all and not caring about anything else, while my friends were leading traditional, straightforward lives, complete with financial and emotional security. But all things considered, I would trade my life for anything.”
With his burgeoning comedy career creating that sense of confidence, Nick Nemeroff is on a path towards its continuation, with more touring, a film role, a new album in the works, and performing at the Halifax Comedy Festival … and a goal of getting a spot on Just For Laughs’ 40th anniversary edition of the festival.
For more information regarding Nick Nemeroff, check out his website here.
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