“I just always love coming back to Sydney. It’s one of my favorite places to play,” stand up comedian Nick Beaton says. “I grew up there, and know people. And more importantly they know me. There are people who have been coming to the show for years, so they have seen me grow, and the progression of my material. I love coming back and having new stuff to tell people.”
After moving to Toronto several years ago, Beaton, when home for the holidays, always scheduled a couple of gigs which, as a rule attracted standing room only audiences.
This Wednesday, December 19, he performs at the Capri Club on Charlotte Street in Sydney. Showtime is 8pm.
While becoming established on the Toronto comedy scene, Beaton appeared on a Comedy Now! special, the Much Music program Video On Trial, and on CBC-Radio’s The Debaters, with trips to Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival and the Halifax Comedy Festival.
During the summer of 2011, before leaving for Britain, Beaton honed his comedic chops with a weekly Sunday show at the Capri Club.
Beaton is returning home after over a year of doing stand up in Britain where he hoped professional opportunites were better than on the Canadian comedy scene.
“The UK was a great experience,” Beaton says. “To do shows in a different country and find out that your material works on an internatioal level is very exciting. Like with anything, the grass is always greener philosophy applies here. There were great opportunities there, but nothing is ever as good as you expect.”
Beaton performed all over the United Kingdom at clubs in Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Wales, Edinburgh, Glasgow, as well a gigs in Holland and South Africa.
He says his material translated well to outside of Canada, but notes, “Some jokes went better there, and some a little worse, simply for cultural reasons. There were just more shows to do.”
The Capri show will be almost completely stuff that Beaton wrote while in the UK.
“Maybe one or two older things just for fun and to round out the show a bit,” says Beaton. “But I have new jokes and stories from the last year and bit, and I’m looking forward to telling them there.”
As for where he’ll be off to next, Beaton says, “Who knows?”
“That’s the thing with comedy, you go where you have to go in order to whittle out a career,” Beaton explains. “I’m looking into going to Los Angeles at some point. Haven’t ruled out going back to the UK. Probably Toronto again for a bit. That’s pretty much the way it works.”
