Jeremy Hotz is the Grinch of Canadian comedy. No, he isn’t the colour of pea soup, and he doesn’t speak in rhyme. But he’s pretty darn miserable most of the time. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
The 46-year-old stand-up’s act is chockablock with self-deprecation, and he delivers most lines with his right hand covering his mouth, snickering at the wretchedness of human existence.
Known for his stand-up specials, like Comedy Network’s The Jeremy Hotz Special and Just for Laugh’s What a Miserable Show This Is…, the Gemini and Canadian Comedy Award winner is ready to spread his gloom to the masses in a 10-city Canadian tour.
As he gears up for the Jeremy Hotz… It’s the Most Miserable Time of the Year Tour, the former writer for The Jon Stewart Show groused to TVGuide.ca about living in America, Canadian networks that don’t support local talent, and dog poop.
TVGuide.ca: What kind of material can we expect from this tour?
Jeremy Hotz: I’ll be talking about how miserable everything is. That’s what I do.
TVG: I kind of figured that.
JH: Yeah, it’s quite in vogue now with the world being legitimately miserable. So I was just a bit ahead of my time, and now everyone seems to be caught up and I couldn’t be happier.
TVG: [Laughs.] Are you actually that negative in real life?
JH: Not negative, just miserable. I have my positive moments, but I keep them in check. That would blow everything, wouldn’t it?
TVG: Definitely. What do find is the difference between doing live comedy and taped specials?
JH: Live is way better because you can do and say what you want. There’s an intrusion when there’s cameras and stuff. You shoot a TV special and there’s a crane that whizzes over the audience. They really try to make a guy who’s just standing there holding a microphone look like he’s FULL OF ACTION!
TVG: [Laughs.] It’s the magic of TV.
JH: Yeah, real magic.
TVG: Where do you get your material?
JH: I’ll walk outside with the dog and somebody interrupts my day and it’s on. Americans are the most un-Canadian people you’ll ever meet. I mean, the dog takes a dump on someone’s lawn, and as you’re bending over to pick it up a guy yells out the window, ‘You’d better get all of that!’ So you want to leave it and walk away and get him all pissed off, because who the hell is he?
TVG: [Laughs.] You live in California, right?
JH: Yeah, 12 years. In a row.
TVG: What was it like making that transition from Canada?
JH: For the first couple of months, I kept looking over my shoulder thinking someone was following me with a gun. But he just had a knife.
TVG: A lot of your comedy pokes fun at yourself …
JH: I think that’s just the Canadian way to be. I know it doesn’t exist in America, but Canadians are quite self-effacing. So they get it. You don’t want to be an a-hole.
TVG: Yeah, nobody wants that. When I think of your comedy, I always picture you with your hand covering your mouth – how did that become your signature? Was it just natural?
JH: It just came naturally. I do everything wrong. I cover my face with my hand, I turn my back on the audience, I talk about miserable things. If you’re true to the way you are, I suppose you can do anything.
TVG: On Wikipedia – that reliable source of information – it says you did a pilot called My Life and a Movie. Is that true?
JH: Yeah, I shot that for the CBC and they said it was going to be experimental and blah, blah, blah. And then they aired it and said they’re not going forward with it. Then I got a deal here to do a situation comedy as well as a reality show, and I’m writing a movie right now. And I’m touring.
Hopefully these things will go and some network in Canada will buy it, so my people can see it. [Laughs.] It’s funny – they only stand up and take notice when the United States does. I don’t understand that about Canada. People ask why you go to the States, and it’s like, ‘Well, they don’t really help us in Canada that much.’
TVG: Do you find that your stand-up skills help with your acting, and vice versa?
JH: Yeah, I guess. But I’m just Hotz, and that’s it. If I had to play a Russian dentist, I’d have difficulty doing that. I don’t think I’d have the method. If I had to play a neurotic guy from Canada or America, I could pull that off.
SHOW DATES FOR HOTZ’ ‘MISERABLE’ TOUR
Feb. 25: Copps Coliseum, Hamilton
Feb. 26: Massey Hall, Toronto
Feb. 27: Empire Theatre, Belleville, Ont.
Feb. 28: NAC Theatre, Ottawa
March 4: Winspear Centre, Edmonton
March 5: EPCOR Centre’s Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary
March 6: TCU Place, Saskatoon
March 7: Pantages Playhouse, Winnipeg
March 12: McPherson Playhouse, Victoria
March 13: Vogue Theatre, Vancouver
Thoughts? melissa@tvguide.ca or sound off below
