There are no shortcuts in life or in comedy according to comedian Ron James, who plays the Yates Theatre, Dec. 2.
Before he embarks on tour, he will wrap up shooting on the fourth season of the Ron James Show. The 14 episode run premieres on CBC in its new Monday time slot beginning Dec. 31.
“It’s a year-long gig for me,” said James, just after finishing lunch with his writing staff.
“But it all comes from the road,” he said.
The cartoons must be written first because they take longer to produce and it is a 24-7 gig, but James loves every minute of it, from the cartoons to the 12 minute monologue to the road odes.
“Sunday is a day of rest whenever I’m home. But if you can get up on a Monday morning with a spring in your step, then you’ve won. And if you can get a laugh from it that’s the icing on the cake,” he continued.
“I’d be parachuting in and out of communities for the road odes, which is why it’s important to have solid writing staff at home,” he said.
While Lethbridge has been featured on Ron James’s road odes, he wouldn’t be above doing another piece on Lethbridge, though he prefers to keep his routines fresh.
“I’ve never been to Lethbridge in the summer. I’d love to wander the Milk River coulees and go to that water-tower and go to Fort Whoop-Up. I’d be game for that. Lethbridge is the only place I’ve gone for a run and had my eyelids frozen shut after,” he said.
He has been a stand-up comedian for the past 15 years, but admitted he didn’t know who he was before that.
“I went down to the United States for three years to do a TV show, but it failed. Then I had two daughters and decided I couldn’t live like this anymore— waiting for the phone to ring,” he said.
“I want to have something for everyone from the plumber and the professor sitting next to each other, laughing at the same joke — two people from different disparate walks of life,” he said.
So he tries to find the things everyone has in common like the hassles of negotiating a Bell Canada telephone maze, the frustrations of technology, playing house league hockey, Canadian politics, growing older, lately Enbridge and of course his boyhood home on Cape Breton.
While it might seem there is an endless supply of material to draw from, it is a challenge putting it together.
“Of course it is a challenge. It separates the men from the boys. It’s what makes us professionals. This is why I appreciate people like Mercer or the longevity of Air Farce,” he continued.
“There are no shortcuts. That’s the ruse of competitions on television like Last Comic Standing. It’s seeped into the entertainment industry somehow. It’s a ruse. It’s like Malcolm Gladwell said, it takes 10,000 hours. You have to put in the work. And you have to know when to jettison stuff,” he said emphasizing there are no shortcuts to success.
“It doesn’t happen for engineering or law or in medicine. It doesn’t happen with comedy either,” he said.
While he enjoys being able to stay at home to do his show, the road is Ron James’ lifeblood.
“Performing is when I feel whole, he said.
“I think if the ushers don’t have to wipe down the seats after the show, I haven’t done my job. I want people to laugh and leave with a spring in their step feeling like they got a lot of bang for their buck from an honest comedian who cares about them and who cares about their country,” he said.
Other than the road and performing a recent charity show for caner research in front of 2,000 people James is looking forward to watching the Grey Cup.
“Not to tip my hand, but I’ve been living in Toronto for about 15 years. I’m glad the Stampeders got in because it is good for Torontonians to see a man on a horse,” he said laughing about the trouble the horse got into for defecting in a hotel.
“It should have gone to Bay Street and shit there,” he laughed.
Ron James performs at the Yates Theatre, Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $56.