Nova Scotia’s Nick Beaton is returning home from Toronto for a special series of shows at Halifax Yuk Yuk’s on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 9-10. The politically-charged comedian is hot off the release of his first comedy special, Geriatric Millennial, where Beaton takes shots at both the left and right for their perceived faults in a way that’ll get everyone chuckling.
The special, released two weeks ago, has garnered around 30,000 views so far. “At first it was a cool idea,” says Beaton of filming the special. “Then it became, oh, I have to get material ready. And then it became, oh, I have to organize this.”
And while the process of creating an hour-long special may have been stressful, Beaton managed to make not only the crowd laugh, but viewers at home, as well. Since its release, Beaton says he’s gotten a positive reception despite his polarizing material.
“Right now, it’s just a cool thing. Wow, I did it, and people are watching it, so that’s great.”
Playing with politics
Beaton is far from the comedian who will get up on stage and whine about how he can’t say anything anymore. In fact, he derides such behaviour in his comedy special. Rather, Beaton will just go ahead and say what he thinks on whatever issue is on his mind, whether it be the trucker convoys, student protesters or religion.
“When it comes to the political and social stuff that I do, you just try to find something that a lot of people know about, are interested in, are talking about, and then try to find a take on it that is, like, genuine—your genuine opinion or philosophy—and then just try to jam that in with jokes,” explains Beaton.
“Overall, I find politics in general very polarized, which is kind of just a nothing statement at this point,” he continues. “I think everybody kind of knows that they’re very polarized, so it just makes making fun of everything, both sides, very easy at this point in time.”
That’s part of the comedy for Beaton—in one day, he’ll get comments deriding him for being conservative, while also fielding responses accusing him of being a leftist.
“It’s great. I did my job,” he says. “No one knows what the fuck I am, and there you go.”
Part of his comedic philosophy is the idea that partisan comedy doesn’t hold up. Beaton uses Stephen Colbert as an example, saying that while he can poke fun of the right all day long, he might also be more reticent to criticize Democrats.
“I think getting to a point where no one knows exactly what you’re going to go after, or what your take is going to be, is a good weapon to have in the comedy arsenal.”
Nova Scotia shows
On top of headlining Halifax Yuk Yuk’s on Friday and Saturday, Beaton will also perform at the Cape Breton Comedy Festival—an event he co-founded with Ash Young—from Aug. 20-24.
His Halifax show will see comedian Peter White co-featuring and Matt Wright as emcee. The Cape Breton Comedy Festival will see Beaton share the stage with a host of popular Canadian comedians, including headliner Nikki Payne.
“It’s an insanely stacked show,” says Beaton. “It should be fun.”
