Rick Currie

Rick Currie is a veteran of the Canadian comedy scene. He began in 1984, sweeping backstage after school at a popular Ottawa improv club, Skit Row. By the nineties, he had stage managed three different productions at Canada's National Arts Center, the Miss Grey Cup pageant, and taken a show to London, England. He felt it was time to come out of the wings and see what it was like onstage. He went to amateur night, and in less than a year, he was out on the road appearing at comedy clubs and one-nighters across Canada.

The national comedy circuit embraced Rick's laid back, clean, and whimsical style, and in 1992, he moved to Toronto. While there, he appeared in a number of national television ads, and played to packed houses at the Toronto People's Comedy Festival, and the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Other highlights include repeat performances on CBC Radio's "Madly off in All Directions", and a few appearances on the Comedy Network's "Club 54". He did all this while still regularly touring throughout Canada, and even taking his act to England and New York City.

In 1999, Rick returned to Ottawa and was re-introduced to the city when he was cast in a popular parody of the Molson Canadian rant, "I Am an Ottawa Senators Fan". The rant was played at the Corel Center each night during the 2000 playoff series, as well as shown on sports channels across North America. Later that year, Rick organized "The Ottawa Comedy Collision" - a benefit show that sold out Barrymores and raised thousands of dollars for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Center Foundation.

In the winter of 2001, the producers of "Open Mike with Mike Bullard" put out a call for submissions in a national search for a new writer. Out of hundreds of applications, Rick was chosen for the job, and his material appeared each night for the rest of that show's run.

For much of this millenium, Rick has been alternating between broadcasting and his first love of stand up. He is in high demand on the corporate circuit and also plays many public shows at Ottawa's Absolute Comedy. His episode of CTV's "Comedy Now" frequently rebroadcasts and he has really enjoyed being a repeat guest on CBC Radio's "The Debaters". He helps to organize the yearly fundraisers, ROVA Comedy Night and Comedy for Cause and through much of 2007/08 he was remote correspondant for 93.9 BOB FM's " The Morning After with JR and Sandy ".

Most recently, Rick returned to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival where he performed on the Saturday night gala show which was broadcast on CBC TV in the spring of 2009. In the winter of 2009, Rick’s “OC Transpo Strike Song” generated 20,000 YouTube hits in one week.