Come on in, have a few laughs: Snowed In Comedy Tour comes to Alberta

The Snowed In Comedy Tour logo on stage on Thursday March 7, 2024. (Sean McClune/CTV News Edmonton)

The long-running Snowed In Comedy Tour is in Alberta, bringing "relatable" Canadian content, according to a founder.

Snowed In is an independent comedy tour that began 15 years ago, with a bit of a tongue and cheek origin story.

"A bunch of comics got together, we wanted to go snowboarding and not pay for it and did some shows, were successful, kept adding shows, and now we're the biggest comedy tour in the country," said Dan Quinn, one of the founders and performers. "We're all kind of storytellers, we talk about our lives, we're very relatable to other people.

"When we get on stage, you're like, 'Oh, I relate to that, that's like my life,' and I think that's what makes people come back year after year."

The 2024 tour has a rotating lineup, featuring comedians Paul Myrehaug, Pete Zedlacher, Erica Sigurdson, Damonde TSchritter and Debra DiGiovanni across a total of 70 shows in Canada.

The Alberta stops included Edmonton on Thursday, Red Deer on Friday and Calgary on Saturday before the tour moves on to Ontario.

On Tuesday, Canada's famous Just For Laughs festival in Montreal this year was canceled as the company that operates it seeks protection from creditors and begins restructuring. The next day, the Toronto festival was also canceled.

Despite the gloom of the festival cancellation, Quinn is optimistic that this won't change much for Canadian comedians.

"We're still just doing our thing. At best, those festivals are one weekend, over an entire year, and they only pick so many comedians every year," Quinn said. "So as far as being a general comedian, it doesn't really change your lifestyle.

Groupe Juste pour rire Inc., the company that operated Just For Laughs, said on Wednesday that it hopes to bring the festival back in 2025.

"At one point, the Montreal Just For Laughs festival was… a great springboard for a lot of comedians," Quinn said. "However, the last few years have been more American centered and dealing more with American acts and there's created some bitterness amongst Canadians because of that.

"Now, the focus is if you were doing it on your own, you can do it, which is why much more comedians like myself and the Snowed In Comedy Tour are doing that. You just have to create your own thing and do that."