The early bird catches the comedian at Sherbrook club

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This article was published 30/11/2021 (1420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Handsome Daughter has a reputation among comedy circles.

“That it was a great crowd, energy was great and it’s just a well put (together) room for comedy,” standup Dave Merheje says of the location’s allure. “I’ve heard a lot about the venue itself and other comics I know… have spoken highly of it. And I’ve been trying to do it for a while before the pandemic started.”

This week, the Juno Award-winning comedian will finally get the chance.

Comedy has been running regularly at the Sherbrook Street venue since September and Merheje — who was born in Ontario and now lives in Los Angeles — will be the Handsome Daughter’s first international act in pandemic times. He will be headlining two sets on Thursday and then heading to the Royal Albert on Friday for a third local show.

For Mike Green, who manages comedy at the Handsome Daughter, the events are a sign that things are returning to normal.

“It’s nice not having to build a whole club in the woods every weekend,” says Green, who ran a secretive outdoor comedy showcase this summer. “I’m really hoping these dates can be sort of a tentpole event to make people want to come out.”

While locals have so far been eager to come out and watch live standup again, he’s noticed an interesting pandemic trend.

“The crowds are there, but they’re kind of different; I think people go to bed earlier now,” Green says with a chuckle. “There’s less people out late… Before, when I’ve done these double shows we would start later, but I moved it forward because I think everybody got used to going to bed at 11 o’clock at the latest during the last 18 months.”

Merheje is in the process of recording a new comedy album in Toronto and has tacked on shows in Winnipeg and Vancouver to round out the trip north of the border. In 2019, he won a Juno for his album Good Friend Bad Grammar and has appeared on episodes of CBC’s Mr. D and in the Hulu series Ramy.

While this isn’t his first time in the city — he’s performed in the Winnipeg Comedy Festival — Merheje is looking forward to sharing some new material from his forthcoming EP.

“It’s about just past relationships that I’ve been in and there’s a collective of ideas and material that I just didn’t have a place to put it in a set for a while,” he says. “I’m gonna have fun, personally, so hopefully (the crowd) will have fun as well.”

Local comedians Jon Wilson, Garrett Jamieson, Benji Rothman, Kristen Einarson, Jordan Welwood and Emmanuel Lomuro will also be performing Thursday and Friday. Tickets are available by sending a direct message to @comedyatthehd on Instagram or by emailing Green at mike@weekthusfar.com.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney