Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Andrew Searles has been recognized as one of the ‘Top 10 Best Stand-up Comedians in Montreal’ four times by the Montreal Mirror. His talents have been showcased on XM Sirius Radio’s ‘Just for Laughs Canada,’ he was a finalist in both the Russell Peters XM Sirius ‘Best Funny Five’ competition and the Los Angeles KLIQ Comedy Competition. His festival appearances are numerous, including the Calgary Folk Festival, the Cracking up the Capital Ottawa Comedy Festival, the Natal Day Comedy Gala Festival in Halifax, the Palm Springs Comedy Festival, and the Burbank Comedy Festival. In 2013, he made his Canadian Network debut on the comedy show ‘No Kidding.’
Searles’ latest album, ‘Worth It,’ debuted in April, 2023, available on Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Tidal, iTunes, and more. As the album continues to amass stream, Searles joined TheGuttural to chat about its making, what he’s up to now, and when he’s planning to drop another project.
Andrew Searles’ on Making Stand Up Comedy Album ‘Worth It’
“It had been since 2016 since I last did a big show in Montreal, and then had to deal with Covid for 2 years, so it felt nice to return to my hometown, my roots, and put on another big show after 6 years. I was excited to show Montreal what I’d been up to in the years since moving to LA, and all the crazy stories and adventures,” said Searles.
“The biggest (and unfortunate) surprise though was that the show resulted in the termination of a friend of over 10 years,” he continued. “She wanted to come and bring her date to the Saturday early show, but was sad that the show sold out. Fortunately (and unfortunately) enough, some people contacted me the same day saying they were trying to sell off their tickets after contracting covid. So I managed to transfer the tickets to my friend. She came to the show, and I have no idea if she was high, or drunk, or both—but she basically heckled the host, had her phone go off during the show, and annoyed other comics and patrons sitting around her. I’m upstairs, aware that something is going on, but to my amazement, realized it was my friend when I got up on stage. It really threw me off, and she was heckling ME! The person who arranged for her to come in the first place! On top of that, the show was being recorded for my album too! So some jokes I did out of order because she threw me off my setlist before telling her, ‘Could you just shut the f*** up?’, to the relief and applause of everyone else she had annoyed during the show. Thank God my audio guy, Marc Aflalo, and I, while cutting the album, not only had to choose the best audio parts of the two shows for the album, but do so while slicing around her heckling too.”
What’s Next for Andrew Searles?
Since the album taping, Searles says he’s back at work, either on set or on stages building a new hour.
“Like everything, it’s a snowball. Starts off slow, but just building and building. Writing new material. Seeing what works, what doesn’t work. Maybe late 2025 or 2026 I’ll be happy with my 4th hour and I’ll come back to Montreal. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see!”
Stream Andrew Searles’ two comedy albums ‘Worth It’ and ‘Papa Chocolat!’ today.
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