The Pursuit of Comedy Has Nick Nemeroff Nominated

The 50th Annual JUNO Awards will take place June 6, with various celebrations, online performances, and ceremonies throughout Juno Week. In its 50 year history, the Juno’s Comedy Album of the Year award has been presented only seven times. We caught up with the nominees for 2021 Comedy Album of the Year category, starting with Nick Nemeroff and his album The Pursuit of Comedy Has Ruined My Life.

Congratulations on your Juno nomination. What does this recognition mean to you?

Thank you! It was a very cool experience when I got followed by the official Juno twitter account, and even cooler when I realized it was because I was one of the nominees for this year’s Juno awards. Being nominated for a Juno is a big time honour and given my innate lack of musical talent, something I truly never thought would happen.

When and where was your album recorded?

My album was recorded December 9 and 10, 2019 at The Ossington in Toronto. It was an amazing bar with a back space perfectly designed for comedy shows/recordings, nice and intimate with brick walls and great atmosphere. It will probably be a Pizza Pizza weed dispensary soon.

What was your most memorable experience in recording and releasing this album?

The most memorable part of recording the album was just how great the recording nights were. Getting to have my friends’ open, and the crowd be so on board the entirety of both evenings made both nights feel like fun parties. The most memorable part of releasing the album was getting those sweet sweet likes on Instagram.

What advice do you have for other comedians who want to release a comedy album?

Aside from that classic Nike logic of “Just go for it” I would say…be hard on yourself material-wise and once you have a real good/tested hour that you’re confident you’ll be able to look back on and not be embarrassed by…book a venue a few months in advance and hone and work that set. Also hiring a great sound person, like Matt Ouimet who I worked with, helps ease a lot of the album recording/editing stress as well.

Which fellow Juno nominee, in the comedy or music categories, would you like to go on tour with and why?

I would love to go on tour with fellow Juno nominee Eminem (2021 International Album of the Year) and ask him what the Junos mean to him. And the band PUP seems to be pretty into cool comedy stuff so would like to go on tour with them and have a fun time combining our love of good music and alternative comedy.

How would you describe your style or genre of comedy?

I would describe it as…the funny style!!!!

Did you, or do you, have any mentors in the Canadian comedy scene?

I’m not sure any of these people would know they were mentors but I really did (and do) look up to a lot of great comics in the Toronto comedy scene, especially from the Laugh Sabbath crew. People like Chris Locke, Sara Hennessey, Tom Henry, and so many others who were just always so funny and putting on/doing cool shows let me know Canadian comedy wasn’t as lame as it sometimes (most of the time) appears.

How have you been navigating the comedy scene since most shows moved online? Has your comedy changed as a result?

I’ve been enjoying the online shows more than I thought. Producers have figured out the kinks and it’s still very fun to tell a joke and get an immediate reaction as if we were doing it like how we used to. I don’t think my comedy’s changed too much, in fact I think it suits online shows in a way because of my pacing and joke-style. Plus these shows give people coast to coast a chance to get a “front-row seat” to my unique brand of right-wing conservative-leaning comedy.

Which Canadian comedy album, besides yours, should readers check out?

Sam Burns may just be the funniest guy I know and he released a great album last year called Bing Bing!, everyone should check it out and go see him live.

Any upcoming shows or projects you want to promote?

You can follow me online @nicknemeroff everywhere for some nice jokes + show dates and I’ll be on the upcoming season of The Stand Up Show with Jon Dore on Crave. Also I was fortunate enough to voice George the robot in Matt Vesely’s Tribeca-selected short film System Error which was recently released on YouTube. And finally, my album The Pursuit of Comedy Has Ruined My Life. Please for the love of god check it out on Sirius XM and anywhere else music is found.