The Nikki Payne and Friends tour is coming to Grand Falls-Windsor.
And while it’s a tour you might be familiar with, the Canadian comedian told the Advertiser on Wednesday to expect lots of new material.
“To be perfectly honestly, it gets hard to change up the posters every time (I perform)…I’m not paying somebody to make a brand new poster every time I go on tour,” Payne joked of the tour name.
Payne grew up in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, but has family in Rocky Harbour on the west coast, and has spend time in the province on numerous occasions, she said.
But this will be here first time bringing her comedy outside the St. John’s area.
“I’ve never been to Gander before…I might have been to Grand Falls-Windsor and just didn’t know it as a little kid…I’ve been to Corner Brook, but I’ve never done stand-up in Corner Brook before,” she said. “And we just added on a little show. I’ll be doing a show actually right in Rocky Harbour on Sunday (Oct. 14).”
Payne will hit Grand Falls-Windsor with her jokes on Friday, Oct. 12 at the Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts.
She’s performing in Gander on Oct. 11 and Corner Brook on Oct. 13. After her stint on the island she moves on to the Edmonton Comedy Festival scheduled for Oct. 18.
“There’s be some oldies but goodies because I haven’t been out that way before, so some of the stuff that people sort of like from my YouTube and TV stuff, I’ll throw a little bit of that in there because people seem to like that,” Payne said of her Newfoundland dates.
After 15-years, the comedian recently moved from big-city Toronto to a home in the countryside of New Brunswick. It’s a change she’s still getting use to, she joked, and one she will discuss on her tour.
“I’ve never owned a house before…or a house that has its own septic and well. I’ve never been that in charge of my own poop. My whole adult life, up until this moment, somebody else has taken care of my poop, and now all of a sudden, I know where my poop is, it’s the green patch in the back…I know exactly where it is,” she joked.
“Most of my family is pretty rural, it’s not like I’ve never been in the country before, but for me, I grew up just outside Halifax and then I moved to Toronto, so I’ve never really lived in the country. I think I had some ideas of what it was going to be, and I think some of that was a little bit of a fairy tale.”
Payne said she had big plans of moving “back to the land,” where she could “grow (her) own food.”
That didn’t go as planned, she said.
“The ants ate most of it…So far I’ve grown eight radishes. That’s what I have to live off of this winter…at best, I can garnish locally,” she laughed.
The show
Payne admits she doesn’t have a favourite place to bring her comedy tour, and said it really depends on the atmosphere…among other things.
“I know I like performing in theatres more than bars now, because, you know, people have had a little bit to drink at a theatre, but at a bar, they might have had a lot to drink,” she laughed. “I want people to be happy…but when you’re sleeping on a table, that’s gone beyond what I can do.”
She called stand-up an art form that belongs to both the performer and the audience.
“Yes, most of it is on me, if I’m not funny, the show isn’t any good…but it is a conversation, it is a back and forth…and I feed off of people’s energy,” she said.
And, she admitted, folks with a sense of humor similar to hers own would enjoy the show the most.
“If you’re somebody that gets offended easily…or if you don’t like dirty words, then you know what, this is probably not the show for you,” she laughed. “I don’t want to make anybody angry, go spend your money on something that’s going to make you happy…I would much rather have an empty seat than an angry person.
“I’m not saying every second word that’s going to come out of my mouth is the F-bomb or anything like that, that’s no fun whether you like dirty words or not…but if you enjoy your comedy a little kinky and you like being silly and goofy…then come and let’s be silly, goofy and joyful for an evening.”
In Grand Falls-Windsor, tickets are on-sale at the Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts box office.
“Come out,” Payne said, “let’s have some fun!”
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