To Leave or Not ot Leave... Said the Canadian comic

Colin Mochrie moved to California with
his wife, Debra McGrath, earlier in their careers

In 1989, Canadian comedians, Colin Mochrie and wife Debra McGrath, moved to Los Angeles when McGrath’s television series, My Talk Show, was picked up by Ron Howard’s Imagine Television. She was seven months pregnant and Mochrie didn’t have a work visa, but they decided to give it a go.
“She was writing and working on the show, gave birth, and then 10 days later went back to work,” Mochrie said. “I sort of became a house-husband. It wasn’t that bad actually. I got to spend a lot of time with my newborn son and I even learned how to cook.”
After just four months, My Talk Show was cancelled. With no work and a new baby at home, Mochrie and McGrath made a brave decision and decided to not come back home to Canada right away. They wanted to see what Los Angeles had to offer.
They did what many Canadians before and after them did; they tried to get work in Hollywood. The well-known desire for artists to live and work in Los Angeles or New York is a familiar path many Canadians take; often stumbling in different directions, with varied results. No matter which direction a comedian ventures, one important goal remains: to get a job.
“It was a struggle,” said Mochrie. “It was a bad time with the economics of showbiz at that point. Movie stars who were on the cusp, went down a level to television; so everybody got pushed down a level... It was hard for anyone to break-in who hadn’t been seen before.”
The family returned home to Toronto, exactly three years after they left for Hollywood, he said. The U.S. experience made Mochrie no more employable than before he left.
“It wasn’t until the American Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998) that I became hirable in Canada,” he said.
While Mochrie’s career has enjoyed a steady and busy pace since then, steady and busy pace since then, other Canadian comedians hope to find that opportunity and stability in their own careers too. The desire to give it a shot in the U.S. carries on.
Stand-up comedian and actor, Aaron Berg, moved to New York City from Toronto seven months ago. Berg feels the money and effort he put into being able to live and work in the U.S. is worth it so far.
“There is more financial opportunity and more creative opportunity here,” Berg said.
With a TV pilot, off Broadway play and meetings with HBO in the works, Berg is enjoying the new chances he is getting to advance his career, that he knew he wouldn’t get back home.
“Get good in Canada first and build your film and TV credits,” he said. “Don’t just come down here saying, ‘I’m a comedian from Canada!’ Because they really won’t care.”
Tim Dorsch has over ten years of experience as a comedian and performer. He is currently a member of The Boom sketch comedy troupe in Toronto and feels moving to the U.S. in the future is the next logical step if he wants to make a living doing what he loves.
“There isn’t a big enough market in Canada to support the amount of talent that is in this country. There are so many people that should be successful that aren’t. They’re still working in restaurants and bars,” Dorsch said. “I love everything there is about Canada... But being in this (entertainment) industry, I feel like I do need to branch out.”
Both Dorsch and his wife, Desiree Lavoy-Dorsch (who is also a member of The Boom), are in the midst of obtaining the proper documentation to work in the U.S., but don’t hold any grand illusions about fame and riches south of the border.
“I don’t need to be the next Jim Carrey,” he said. “There are comedians in the U.S. who aren’t a household name, but they make a decent living by doing what they do.”
Mochrie highly values the camaraderie of the Canadian comedy community and the friendships made, but does wish there was more support from broadcasters and the media for what him and other Canadian performers do for a living.
“It seems hard to get noticed here... We’ve had some great shows and they just die away because there’s no push behind them from the media or the broadcasters,” he said. “Why don’t we celebrate Canadian artists so they’ll stay here and we can build on that... So they don’t have to go elsewhere to get work and get recognition?”

-Leslie Marciniak