In only two years, Alex Mackenzie has gotten on stage more than 100 times to tell jokes and amusing stories.
This is a breakneck pace for most upstart comedians, but he and his co-host Mike Stang operate a podcast called Address This Mess so he is used to constantly working on new material and rolling from one show to the next.
It was actually the podcast that got Mackenzie into the role of live standup comedian in the first place. The podcast is about current affairs, sports, politics, but all with a comedic underlay. While interviewing a comedian on-air, Mackenzie confessed he had always wanted to get up on stage and give it a shot.
In the listening audience happened to be Brian Majore, one of Prince George's best known comics. Majore contacted Mackenzie and offered him a shot at the public microphone at one of the city's amateur shows. Mackenzie accepted the challenge and he never stopped accepting.
"It slows down in summertime but picks up in winter. I've also gone out of town and done shows in Kamloops, Vancouver and three shows this summer in Montreal. It's really nice to get out on the road. Here, you get lots of friends coming out to support you but on the road, they don't know you so you have to win them over with your material and your charisma. Montreal was super cool, to see what they're doing with comedy out there in the east, compared to us."
Comedy is partially about the persona of the comedian, but mostly it hinges on material. Mackenzie said he did his first show two Augusts ago built on the stories he'd told amongst his friends that seemed to get the most laughs. After that, he had to get more inventive, to keep his set fresh.
"I keep a notepad, and anytime I think anything is funny I try to remember to jot it down," he said.
"Then I usually spend a late night in the studio going over my jokes. It starts with a punch line, usually, then you try to add a story. Then you start noticing how different bits fit together with other ones. A lot of it is similes for me. I like to write freehand, not typing on a computer, and make sure you use an erasable pen."
He was raised a middle child "so I'm a sucker for attention," he explained. He also has a job that is far from the public view and far from freeform creativity. He was a power engineer but recently upgraded to industrial instrumentation repair at Canfor's P.G. Pulp Mill operation. For him, comedy is an escape and a mental workout, and he knows that's what it is for the audience too.
"People want to escape, people want to think but in a way that makes them laugh. I believe that a laugh is a core response. You can be having the worst of times in your life, but if you can have a good, genuine laugh, it improves your whole outlook, not just that one moment. That's what I believe, anyway."
You can listen to Stang and Mackenzie at www.addressthismess.com (also on iTunes, YouTube and other platforms) from the comfort of your computing device, or you can also come out this weekend to see Mackenzie work the stage in real life. He will be opening for headline comedian Efthimios Nasiopoulos at Nancy O's on Friday night (Nasiopoulos also performs there Thursday night), and Mackenzie joins a cast of local comedians holding court at Art Space on Saturday night.
Along with Mackenzie, Saturday's Art Space Comedy Jam also features Mike McGuire, Jon White, Kaitlin Shuvera, Mwanasi Nasho Loongo, Jonathon McMillan, Cindy Klassen, Devon Flynn, and Majore will be the emcee for the event.
"I'm building towards a half-hour special I want to do at the Prince George Playhouse in early 2017," Mackenzie said. He also has his sights set on getting into some of the region's comedy festivals, as a next step in his comedic evolution.
"Everyone is envious of the confidence comedians have, but we're just the losers seeking attention we can't get from the people we know. We have to go get it from strangers," he said.
Anyone - stranger or friend - has a couple of opportunities to laugh at Mackenzie in the next few days.
