BIOGRAPHY

The Short Story
Rick Currie's clean and whimsical style has remained popular across Canada for two decades, highlighted by performances at the Montreal, Winnipeg and St. John Comedy Festivals. He has appeared on many different CBC Radio programs including "Madly off In all Directions", "DNTO" and "The Debaters".

He started in the early 1990's playing clubs and small towns all across Canada. His first television exposure was on the Comedy Network's "Comedy at Club 54". Since then, he has played in London, New York and Los Angeles, recorded a half hour special for CTV's "Comedy Now!" and for four seasons, Rick was a principal writer on CTV's "Open Mike with Mike Bullard". These days, Rick is a highly requested corporate entertainer who mixes stand-up with song. Ottawa audiences know him from when he was "Rick the Senators Fan", also from his reports on 93.9 BOB FM's morning show and appearances at Absolute Comedy. In the winter of 2009, it seemed like the whole city was singing his “OC Transpo Strike Song”, which became a viral hit and generated 20,000 YouTube hits in one week. In the summer of 2010, Rick joined the writing team for CBC's "The Rick Mercer Report".

The Long Story
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 Yuk Yuks amateur nights, 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 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 enjoyed being a repeat guest on CBC Radio's "The Debaters". Through much of 2007/08 he was remote correspondant for 93.9 BOB FM's " The Morning After with JR and Sandy ".

Rick returned to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival in the spring of 2009 where he performed on the Saturday night gala show, which was broadcast later that year on CBC TV. In the winter of 2009, Rick’s “OC Transpo Strike Song” was emailed throughout offices all over Ottawa and generated 20,000 YouTube hits in one week.

Rick recently opened for Norm MacDonald at Centrepointe Theatre and in the summer of 2010, he joined the writing team for CBC's "The Rick Mercer Report". He is also back to work on the 7th Annual Royal Ottawa Comedy Night (Jan 29, 2011 - National Arts Centre!).