A skier will be joining the Snowed In Comedy Tour line up, one traditionally comprised of snowboarders.
However, comedian Dan Quinn foresees very little animosity.
“I don’t really believe in that whole thing. If you’re out on the hill having a good time, who cares what sort of plank you use to get down it?” Quinn said.
Pete Zedlacher, the aforementioned skier, is joining the Snowed In Comedy Tour making a stop at the Barking Parrot on Feb. 5. Zedlacher joined the bill after Arj Barker had to bow out due to a family emergency.
This year is Quinn’s seventh on the tour that shapes up to be more of a working vacation than anything else.
“It’s a snowboarding vacation where we have to work a little bit a night to pay for it,” Quinn said.
That was the idea when the tour started, that and provide some quality comedy in the Southern Interior.
“The whole point of it was to go snowboarding,” Quinn said. “Lo and behold the comedy was so good that it kept growing and getting bigger and bigger every year.”
He isn’t shy about his favourite mountain, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, but he said he’s happy to be boarding anywhere in the Interior.
“We’re at Whistler now and there’s crowds everywhere and it’s expensive and I always tell people to go to the Interior mountains. The snow is better, there’s nobody there, you get treated better, it’s great,” Quinn said.
Originally from St. Paul, Alta., Quinn has been a comedian since the first time he hit the Yuk Yuks stage in Edmonton in 1993.
“First time on stage it felt pretty darn good to be honest,” Quinn said.
Most comedians reminisce about bombing their first time on stage, and while Quinn got off to a rocky start, he really enjoyed being behind the microphone.
“It went really well the first time. My first joke didn’t but it wasn’t mine,” Quinn said.
He told a friend earlier that day that he was going to try out stand-up and he suggested Quinn fly on stage and say “Hey, this isn’t the bathroom.” The joke didn’t go over too well.
“I did that and nothing. Not even a snicker. Then I just started telling my jokes and my jokes went really well,” Quinn said.
He did feel that familiar, first-timer fear though.
“There was that realization that was like, well, that was silent,” Quinn said.
“All of a sudden I was like, uh, this is real. Any super-cocky confidence I had went right out the window.”
He has had a decade to sharpen his comedic skills and has since earned his stripes with multiple achievements including winning first in a comic competition at the famed Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, starring in a one-hour TV special on CTV and The Comedy Network and was voted best of the fest at the Hubcap Comedy Festival in Moncton in 2007.
For tickets to the Snowed In Comedy Tour visit www.snowedincomedytour.com or visit the Penticton Lakeside Resort front desk.