Mikey Dubs, a local Victoria comedian, was recently recognized at the national level by winning the ‘Misdirect: Nick Nemeroff Comedy Grant.’
The comedian now plans on using the grant money to produce his first-ever comedy special and album right here in Victoria at Hecklers Bar & Grill, with tapings on both Thursday, June 25th and Saturday, June 27th.
Dubs has been doing comedy in Victoria since 2013 when he was 27-years-old. Back then, the comedy scene was not what it is today.
When he decided to give comedy a try, he struggled to even find an open mic night that allowed comedians to perform.
“I called Hecklers and asked if they had an open mic and they didn’t, but they sent me to a Facebook page for local open mics and the only one I could find was in Vancouver,” he explained.
He went out and tried his material there, at the Vancouver Yuk Yuks location and said it went surprisingly well.
Following this first taste of success, he was put in touch with some Victoria comedians and he started booking shows.
“I was humbled right away,” he laughed. “I came back and I was like, ‘oh, this is actually hard.’”
Dubs worked a full-time job and helped out on his family farm up island, while also booking comedy shows any time he could.
By 2018, Dubs began to make a name for himself and started getting opportunities like performing at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, CBC Radio gigs, Just For Laughs events and more.
“At that point I kind of wanted to start putting more energy into this, like maybe make a career out of this but I was still working and wasn’t able to give as much time to comedy as I could be,” he said.
He ended up leaving his government job and pursuing comedy full-time.
Now, Dubs is 40-years-old and has been doing this for 13 years.
This year brought Dubs’ biggest success yet when he was awarded the Misdirect: Nick Nemeroff Comedy Grant.
The grant’s namesake is for Nick Nemeroff, a highly regarded stand-up comedian from Montreal who passed away in 2022.
Nemeroff was well known across Canada. He had appeared on Conan, headlined comedy festivals and was Juno nominated for his comedy album The Pursuit of Comedy Has Ruined My Life.
Dubs says he had met Nemeroff once before at Hecklers at a show they were both set to perform. The headliner couldn’t make it, so Nemeroff headlined and Dubs moved to the middle of the lineup, saying the experience is one he will always remember.
“He did great, he did awesome and people loved it,” Dubs recalled. “Meeting him was really cool.”
“Honestly, he was a different sort of guy, he was just really genuine, really soft-spoken, lots of eye contact, and I could tell he was just down to earth.”
The grant is administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and aims to support emerging Canadian stand-up comedians who work within the tradition of the late Nemeroff.
Dubs is now the second recipient of this grant and has been awarded $10,000 for his new special and album taping.
“The support is just so huge, especially in Canada—there’s just not as many opportunities and for someone to actually give an opportunity and support comedy is huge for us,” said Dubs.
The two tapings at Hecklers next week for Dubs’ special are being produced by local comedy record label Good Little Robot, which is run in part by another prominent Victoria comedian, Dan Duvall.
So far, Little Good Robot has released comedy specials for Duvall, Emily Woods and Rob Pue, with Dubs set to be the fourth.
“Mikey is flat out one of the best joke writers I’ve ever seen,” Duvall told Victoria Buzz, describing Dubs’ comedy style.
“There’s no extra flair in his comedy. He’s a dead pan, standup-and-deliver kind of comic. Like a Mitch Hedberg, Dimitri Martin, Steve Wright kind of comic, which is so rare these days.”
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Duvall added that this style of comedy is one of the hardest to master because it relies so much on the writing.
“It’s so impressive to me and I’ve always been a bit envious of comics who can do that style,” he continued.
“Mikey is one of the best, that’s why he was awarded the Misdirect Grant.”
Don’t miss your chance to see Dubs perform next week for his album and special tapings, with openers Dylan Williams and Elyot Ryan.
The shows are on Thursday, June 25th and Saturday, June 27th at 8 p.m. at the prestigious Hecklers Bar & Grill.
Tickets are $24 each and currently still available, but likely will sell out as the shows draw nearer.
Hecklers Presents: Mikey Dubs (Special Taping)
- When: Thursday, June 25th and Saturday, June 27th at 8 p.m.
- Where: Hecklers Bar & Grill, 123 Gorge Road East
- Tickets: $24, available online
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