There once was a man named Nick Carter

Carter

There once was a man named Nick Carter

Few could call themselves smarter

He has wicked wit 

When performing his bit

Integrity; he will never barter.

Interviewing Nick Carter was a pleasure.  He has blogged for JH5, and also made the JH5 TOP TEN MALE COMEDIANS.  He is an intelligent man, with quick wit and an almost unmatchable passion for comedy.  Read on to learn more about Carter, his quest for his dreams, and his thoughts on the comedy scene.

Nick Carter, at age 31 has been performing comedy for about six years.  His passion for comedy existed long before he attempted to get on stage himself.  He remembers his first time at Yuk Yuk's Ottawa.  He brought seven people to support him and was scared out of his mind!

He prepped for this more than anything he had ever done.  When that first Yuk Yuk's song came on, the one to let you know that the show is starting soon, Carter's brain told his body to get the hell out of there; scream, run out and get away from this place! 

When he began, all he could remember is to move the mic stand, move the mic stand, so he did and he got a laugh right off the top!  He then relaxed, and then he doesn't remember much more.  The manager of the club, Howard Wagman ,told him that it was good and to come back again.   The second time he came back he was awful, but it didn't matter because he wasn't as nervous, and knew he could keep doing this!

 Throughout his life Nick Carter wanted to do stand up.  He watched comedy and was mesmerized.  He was a small child and was picked on relentlessly at school.  He found that making people laugh was a survival mechanism, turned into a passion.  He remembers hearing a joke in his childhood from Allen Watt years ago where he thought the joke was going one way and BOOM, it went the other way.  Carter was not expecting it, and was thrilled with the result; the joke was tricking people thinking the joke was dirty, but not dirty.  It was intelligent, and the kind of comedy Carter wanted to write. He was amazed to know a teenager who tried it out!  Geoff Mackay had the guts as a teenager to go on stage and perform.  Carter had wanted to try it out, and even wrote some jokes, but fear got the best of him.

 When Carter was 24 he was laid off from a job.  He received severance, and feels this was the best thing for him!  He was young, with money, so he used the money to travel around with people just like him.  Through the internet he was able to find nerds just like him to meet, talk comedy, and more!  It was through this process that he met his friend Julie from San Antonio.  Julie was someone who continually challenged him to be funnier; she was just so naturally talented you had to keep up, even on the telephone.   She was funny enough to be better than Sara Silverman, she was going to be a huge star!  Tragically Julie never had the chance to get on stage; she died young, and never got to perform.  When Carter heard this he immediately said he was going to get on stage, in honour of her.  He knew she was so much funnier than he ever did and never got the chance to perform, and his fear seemed to come second to his desire to honour a woman he cared about so much.  He called Geoff MacKay who gave him the information to get on stage in Ottawa and helped him out, leading to his career in comedy.   

Nick Carter's comedy dreams are going to be achievable.  Not just because of his talent, but also because he is not grandiose in his professional dreams.  Carter's ultimate goal would be to go to any major city in North America and have 100 people coming specifically to see him.  He is not dreaming of large stadiums and the money that will follow; Carter is interested in finding his voice and making statements.  He can recall when comedy changed for him.  He remembers watching a comedian who was funny but also had a message behind what they were saying; this is what he wants to do, he just needs to find out what message it is, and how he will achieve this.  He aims to influence social change through artistic expression; noble and very much achievable.  He does state that if one of his friends becomes big and famous, he will latch on to them to help him on his way!

Nick Carter's comedy style is hard to explain.  He is intelligent and you would likely never have him doing penis and fart humour.  He draws his influences from David Cross, Zach Galifianikis and Jon Dore.  He gives hats off to Steve Martin and Bill Hicks, who if you joined would end up something like what Stephen Cobert does, combining social political with the right mix of silliness.  He believes you can learn from everyone though.  Even if you don't like the comic, you can learn what you don't want to do.  He wants to be the guy who gets in people's heads and makes them think, all while making them laugh.

Although his goals are strong in the artistic expression, he was worked to earn his stripes as a comic.  He recalls his worst time on stage doing a corporate gig for a combination of three government offices and some Algonquin college.  He recalls they just loved Rick Currie, really loved him, and when Carter came on they were almost resentful that Currie had to leave.  He compares this to a bad blind date; they don't like you and you don't like them, but you are stuck together for the next eight minutes.   Going through these bad experiences though have made him a better comic, and stronger in his knowledge of where he wants to go in his career.

 When asked who his favourite comedians in Ottawa are, he lists Mike Beatty, Rick Currie and Don Kelly.  They are professionals, and excellent comedians to watch and learn from.  Of the newer comedians Carter says he doesn't want to be lame and start listing his friends, so he cites Peter Gunstra and Aaron Power.  Gunstra is a local comic from Yuk Yuk's, and Carter is always amazed at how much he writes and how polished it all comes out.  He also cites relative newcomer Power as someone who is very relaxed on stage, even more so than in real life!

 JH5 asks carter a few questions on comedy in general, and here is his opinions:

Women In Comedy 

He believes that comedy is hard for women; it is male dominated and wonders why women would want to get into it.  There were not many role models for women growing up, certainly not enough to make it as cool a dream or option as it is for men. 

Women are taught to wait for their prince to come, not to get on stage and talk about stuff ladies should not talk about!  He also states that their is a perception out there that women are not funny, which means the woman has to be ten times as funny to be equal.  He states that the problem is that often bookers will put a female on a show "just to be fair and balance", but alas she may not be of equal stance as the men on the show. This is not to say she won't be, but there is a limited pool to choose from when it comes to female comedians, and if have five men who have been performing for ten years each on with a woman who is one year into her comedy career, the difference may show.  She is then representing women as poorer comedians, which is not the case, it is just the perception.  Women not only have to be as good as men, but has to be better.  He feels that we live in a sexist society, formed from the time we are all two.  He asks us to think about this:  when one asks a woman what she wants in a man, she will say funny, as in make her laugh.  When you ask a man what he wants in a woman, lower down the list he will have funny, as in laugh at his jokes. Men want women to think they are funny, something women are not as concerned with.

Ottawa Comedy Roast and Awards Show 

 Four years ago Nick Carter put up a post on the Ottawa Comedy Resource (now defunct, but a new OCR now exists HERE (put link in) about categories for the best in Ottawa.  It was more of a joke, but people started to vote!  He then got the idea to approach Don Kelly about it, as Kelly had done a roast of a person before.  Carter thinks back to how brazen that was of him, just two years into his comedy approaching one of the best in Ottawa for help!  We did it, it was "off the hook" and everyone wanted it to be annual.  The awards have categories, best of kind of things, and a few "joke" categories such as the Trevor Thompson sexiest male and female awards. 

Carter says the roasts can be brutal; all comedians get together and Say really mean things about each other.  If people laugh, on some part the joke was true, if people go oohhh, then it was WAY too true and WAY too mean.  What Carter likes is that it destroys ego's, and the bigger an ego a person has, the less they want to hear that they are not perfect.  (editor's note:  Please read FEMINIST TAKE ON ROASTING to coincide with this article)  Roasting is great for people who are most boastful, of have a huge flaw and don't know it, then it helps.  For others who are aware, such as Thompson's lady ruiner status, he is not caught off guard, and if the joke is funny enough then it was not mean. 

Carter sets one standard:  If a comedian talks about it on stage then it is fair game.  There are things that if the average person heard it, it would seem mean and hurtful, which is why ONLY comedians are invited to the roast.  It has to be taken in context; if someone jokes about being fat onstage, then at the roast it can be fair game and funny.  (this slightly concerns a certain female comedian who overshares in her comedy act!)  The point is comics should be able to take it, if they can't take this from their peers, how will they take it from the audience. 
      

The roast is a free for all, people go of course after those they are closest with, but Carter also feels that there are people who can benefit to be put "in their place" so to speak.  There are amateurs who need to understand they are brand new and not funny yet.  There are new people who put their ego's above the talent.   Roasting is a kind of way to test people, to see if they are able to take criticism, and how they will react.  It tests character; who can dish it out and also take it!  Carter quotes Don Kelly who says "if I didn't mention you it means I dont' know who you are, I don't care, or you are not funny, or in Ed Gougeon's case, all three".   (Note, check back to our blog on Good Friday to see how the roast went!) 
 

Favourite Comedy Club in Ottawa 

 Carter is not a huge fans of comedy clubs because they are pushing a product that is entertainment and booze.  Owners of Yuk Yuk's Comedy and   Absolute Comedy obviously both care about comedy, but to survive they need the business to do well.  If everyone only cared about the art then no one would make any money.  There are times that the public does not care about comedy, and if comedy was not offered every night, people would have to search out comedy.  There would be limited supply and no hacks, only people that are different and funny.  When people call the clubs they rarely ask who is performing tonight, they don't actually care.  

The clubs also push no real incentives for their artists.  Once the comedians are famous they move to big theatres, and don't often play the clubs anymore, so the clubs have no incentive to push their comedians to become better and have their careers move forward.  Part of the problem is that someone like Carter knows good comedy, where the general public may not.  When Carter goes to a ballet, he does not know good from bad, he just sees people jumping.  When the public comes to comedy clubs, they hope the club brought good talent for them, just as Carter trusts the ballet will have good dancers.

Comics often talk about Absolute Comedy being an easier room to perform in.  Carter says that you can't trick an audience; they will smell if you don't try.  You cannot just get on stage and do knock knock jokes.  Yuk Yuk's he feels is a little harder; the comic has to fight a bit harder to get the laughs.  Why no one knows (JH5 has theories to be shared in May) but it helps the comedians to have to work for the laughs; it keeps them fresher and on their game.

Carter has proven himself intelligent and a comic who treats comedy as the artform it is.  JH5 has chosen him as WHO TO WATCH for many reasons, because funny is funny, and smart is smart, but when you put the two together, you have a package that is worth watching each and every time.  Carter can be seen often at Yuk Yuk's Comedy Club, Absolute Comedy Club, and on April 21 you can catch him at the Political Comedy show at the Prescott, call 600-7462 for tickets.