Hometown humour

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Winnipeg-born Trevor Boris shows us some love and laughter at comedy festival.

So, just how grateful is Trevor Boris?

Well, he wants to say thank you.

To EVERYONE.

The Selkirk-born comedian, who has been based in Toronto for much of the past decade, returns home next week for another set of performances at the CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival, including a special event Tuesday billed as the Trevor Boris Homecoming Show and DVD Release Party (9 p.m., Gas Station Theatre).

The pre-opening-night celebration, which features appearances by Irwin Barker, Al Rae, Bruce Clark and Chantel Marostica, will afford Winnipeggers the chance to be the first to own the comedy DVD Trevor Boris: Over Easy, which will be released nationwide on April 27.

"I'm actually really, really looking forward to this show at the Gas Station," Boris says in a recent telephone interview from Toronto. "I'm going to do some standup, and we're going to show some clips and some of the bonus stuff from the DVD. And I'm going to make a couple of videos just for that show... it's going to be my real shout-out to Winnipeg."

Tuesday's event will be Boris's opportunity to say thanks in person to some of his hometown fans, but when the DVD is officially unveiled, he has a more ambitious plan for expressing his gratitude.

"When you buy the DVD, there's going to be a little insert inside, and you can use it to register," he explains, "and I'm going to phone every person who buys my DVD to thank them personally. It's never been done before, so we think it'll be pretty interesting. ... I think if someone is going to go to the effort to buy the DVD, the least I can do is share a laugh with them over the phone and say thanks.

"Of course, then it dawned on me that if it does really well, that could mean thousands of phone calls..."

And given that -- thanks to his exposure on MuchMusic's Video On Trial -- he has somehow become very popular with a unique demographic, the openly gay comedian is anticipating some pretty interesting conversations.

"The majority of my fans seem to be teenage girls," Boris says with a laugh. "Maybe not so much in my standup following, but definitely overall, because of the TV show. I'm like the Hannah Montana of Canada, which is kind of weird.

"I think my fan base would get a kick out of it -- we'll talk about boys, or I'll help them with their homework, or whatever."

In addition to Tuesday's DVD launch, Boris will also be hosting Wednesday's opening-night gala (8 p.m., McPhillips Street Station) and performing in next Saturday's late-night gala, The Obsessions Show (9:15 p.m., Pantages Playhouse).

It's safe to say that Boris's career has followed a steady upward trajectory since he left Winnipeg to try his luck on Toronto's intensely competitive comedy scene. In addition to becoming a regular presence on Video on Trial and other cheeky MuchMusic shows, he has been nominated as best standup newcomer at the Canadian Comedy Awards, was runner-up in the Comedy Network's Great Canadian Laugh-Off in 2006, and was named Canada's top college comedian in 2008.

Boris has made festival appearances in Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax and Cape Town, South Africa, and was a featured performer on CTV's Comedy Now!

"I really don't think I'd be a comic if I hadn't started in Winnipeg," he said. "It's such a safe, forgiving place. We performed there, at Rumor's, with Jason (Beck) and Charlie (Onyske) and Kenton (Larsen). ... We were kind of in a little bubble. We were creating our own shows, we went in the Fringe, we were making a lot of mistakes but it didn't seem to matter.

"When I moved here, I had been doing it for four years, and I felt like I at least knew what I was doing. It's so hard in Toronto -- people are so judgmental, and it's so hard to get attention. It's so cutthroat; I don't think I would have continued if I had started out here. It was so much fun in Winnipeg."

While noting the importance of his local comedy-club roots, Boris was quick to add that the recent passing of Rumor's Comedy Club owner Ross Rumberg hit pretty close to home.

"It's a huge loss for comedy in Canada," he said. "I don't think I'd be a comic if it wasn't for him. He believed in me before I believed in myself. He gave me all the stage time I could handle, and he treated me like family. I know he didn't have the best of relationships with everyone, but he was just so great to me."

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca