Leigh MacInnis launches standup comedy tour
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Actor, singer and comedian, Leigh MacInnis' career continues to evolve in the entertainment industry.
"Trying to be a comedian," MacInnis smiled.
"I worked in Trailer Park Boys and I did my own thing, Trippin' With Leigh, but as far as standup comedy this is probably my first run-through. I've done a couple other tours, but it wasn't to this extent. I'm going a bit out of my element and I'm going to give a crack at standup. This is going to be a new style of tour for me. I've put a pretty good set together and I'm going to give it a whirl. I've got some pretty good stories to tell."
Born and raised in Nova Scotia, MacInnis will be travelling to Ontario for his first standup comedy tour - The Fine Art of Falling Down Drunk Tour - with six dates from St. Catharines (May 10) to Ottawa (May 19), including a stop in Tillsonburg at Sammy Krenshaw's on Friday, May 18.
MacInnis, who played the character Don/Donna on Trailer Park Boys, will headline a local night of comedy with openers Shawn Michael, James Hughes, Mitch Langdon and Dan Price, with music from Rob Graham and Fox Chamberlain.
Tickets are $10 available at Long & McQuade Woodstock, Bell Store Tillsonburg, Sammy Krenshaw's, and online at ticketscene.ca/blacktoprecords.
"This show, I'm pretty much drawing from life experiences and a bit of Trippin' With Leigh I guess," said MacInnis. "Which is what most comedians do, really. It's based on their personal lives, or lives of friends. It seems every standup comedian has the same kind of basis for their shows, which stems from everyday living. Some stuff you just can't really write, it just happens. It just all seems to come from the same place."
The title of the tour might be a little misleading, with some emphasis on 'might'.
"I'm actually on a sober stint," MacInnis laughed. "I have to stay sober for the next seven weeks, I just found out yesterday, because I have to go to England to work on a show and I'm going to be singing over there. When I drink, I want to smoke, so basically I have to stay sober.
"It might be hard," he added with a smile. "I'm sure I'll let loose a night or two. I'm sure it'll be expected. And if I do go a little off the rails... well, the title is fitting - The Fine Art of Falling Down Drunk Tour."
MacInnis got his start with Swearnet: The Movie, filmed in 2012 and released in 2014. That led to three seasons with Trailer Park Boys, ending with Season 10.
"It was hard at first, of course," Leigh admitted, recalling his Don/Donna role. "It wasn't easy having a big set of DDs and high heels. Yeah, but I managed... I managed.
"At the end of it was I picking out my own clothes," he laughed.
One month after finishing Season 10 he started working on Trippin' With Leigh.
"Trippin' With Leigh is kind of like a spiritual journey, a lot of shamanism involved. It was very powerful, a very powerful experience. It changed my life.
"Right now I'm trying to get the second one funded, Trippin' With Leigh 2."
Leigh, who lives in Halifax, is still deciding between Mexico and Europe for the filming.
"If these (standup comedy) shows go well, hopefully I'd like to put together a US tour. I'd like to tour right through the US, down one coast, across and up the other coast, and then maybe into western Canada. Yeah, if this tour goes well I'll definitely line up more shows."