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New
Kid on the Desk |
Neither
rain nor sleet nor snow will keep comedian Gavin Crawford from
delivering the laughs on This
Hour Has 22 Minutes |
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BY
ANTOINETTE SARPONG
POSTED APRIL 2, 2005
I
leapt for my ringing cell phone to find comedian Gavin Crawford
on the other line in Halifax. Our scheduled interview had been slightly
delayed when my first phone call to Crawford went unanswered. “Sorry,”
says Crawford. “I just ran across the street to the convenience
store to get some supplies and I left my phone across the street.”
Crawford tells me that the forecast has been calling for snow and
he wants to be prepared just in case another snowstorm rocks the
city. “You know what it’s like here without Sunday shopping,”
says Gavin. “I figure I’d better get the things I need
now before everything shuts down.”
The 30-something Lethbridge, Alberta native called Toronto his home
for nine years before moving to Halifax this year for his new gig
as reporter on CBC’s hit current affairs satire, This Hour
Has 22 Minutes. Though Crawford may be the new kid on the desk,
he already has a Gemini to show for his work, after winning for
best individual performance in a comedy series at this year’s
award ceremony. But Crawford’s climb to comedic stardom was
certainly a long one.
After he graduated from the University of British Columbia’s
acting program in 1994, Crawford often did stand up at local clubs
in Toronto in exchange for beer tickets before getting a regular
pay cheque as part of the Second City comedy troupe. Crawford also
did some children’s theatre to pay the bills. “Children’s
theatre is a great way place to learn to deal with heckling audiences,”
says Crawford. This red-headed comedian also says that comedy was
a useful tool to deal with adversity when he was a kid himself.
“I was the skinny, artsy kid in high school,” says Crawford.
“So in a way, being funny was just a way to survive. “If
you could do a bang on impression of your teachers you were more
popular and kids weren’t going to punch you out.”
Gavin Crawford’s popularity is no question these days. He’s
won many industry awards, drawn huge crowds to numerous comedy festivals
he’s headlined in Canada and the US and he was voted Toronto’s
best comedian in a 2000 NOW magazine reader poll. The CBC even saw
Crawford’s potential. After Rick Mercer left 22 Minutes
at the end of the 2001 season, the show’s producers called
Gavin to offer him a spot on the show. But he was busy doing The
Gavin Crawford Show at the time and besides, as Crawford says,
“nobody wants to be the next not Rick Mercer.” So Whose
Line is it Anyway? Alumnus Colin Mochrie stepped in for a year
before moving on. Then Crawford got another call from 22 Minutes.
“The timing was just right,” says Crawford, who had
just finished his own series, where his ability to summon multiple
personas made him a natural for 22 Minutes’ sketches.
But surely joining the cast of comic vets was
nerve-racking, right?
“At first it was a little intimidating," says Crawford,
"because the cast is just really good and I also thought, Oh
my God, I’m not political! But then I realized that I knew
more than I thought [about politics] and when I got to Halifax I
was like, wow, this is a great job. The experience has been mostly
exciting because the cast have wicked skills and it makes me better.”
Crawford is all about challenging himself as an actor. Although
22 Minutes keeps him pretty busy, Crawford recently completed
an animated series, he’s working on a film script, and Toronto
audiences can look forward to seeing him at Buddies in Bad Times
Theatre in April in a play called "Rope Enough."
“Being successful as a comedian is really about bravery,”
says Crawford. “You need to keep doing one more scary thing
to keep going.
“You need to want to do this so badly that you are willing
to face the possibility of failing miserably.”
But it doesn’t look like failure is in the cards for Crawford.
He’s made the transition to the news desk quite smoothly and
it seems that he’s prepared for whatever comes his way, whether
it’s the next character or the next storm. |
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