Two "bad apple" comedians from Winnipeg are embarking on a nine-city Northern Ontario tour this month and into December, and you can see them in Sault Ste. Marie on Nov. 27.
But why Bad Apples, you ask?
“It's actually an ethnic slur,” Nelson Mayer, one of the comics, told our sister site Sudbury.com. “To call a Métis person an apple basically means ‘red on the outside, white on the inside’,” he said.
It’s a word that he and his comedic partner, actor, magician and comedian Clayton T. Stewart, have faced often, he said.
“We've been called that a lot in our lives and experienced a lot of racism. And we thought this is a way to kind of take that back and just celebrate who we are and celebrate all sides of our culture.”
And so, the two Manitoba comedians have decided to hit the road, and reclaim the name for themselves, a way to acknowledge the complex relationship they’ve had with their identity. Métis people are the children of First Nations and Euro-Canadian parents.
Winner of the 2020 Comedian of the North comedy competition, Mayer is from Winnipeg, and was the host of the APTN show Got Identity, which followed his journey learning about his Indigenous ancestry. With help from community members, he embarked on a search for identity and explored the diversity of Indigenous cultures in Canada. To him, it was about learning what it meant to be Indigenous.
“Growing up, I didn't feel like I belonged on the reserve with my cousins,” said Mayer. “And sometimes they'd even tell me, you're not from here, you're not Indigenous; and then I lived in the suburbs in Winnipeg, and I wasn't white either. I was clearly visibly darker than everybody else. It's kind of odd trying to figure out where exactly you fit.”
He told Sudbury.com he’s not quite sure of the answer, but continues to explore it through his comedy. He thinks Sudbury will love the pair of bad apples.
“I think we're a good one-two-punch, Clayton and I, because Clayton does a lot more family friendly, easygoing, playful kind of comedy and I tend to go a little darker and edgier,” said Mayer. “So there's generally something for everybody.”
The Bad Apples duo will drop by nine Ontario communities, with the tour beginning in Sault Ste. Marie Nov. 27 at Jay’s Piston Broke Pub Monday night (starting at 7 p.m.), Sudbury on Nov. 28, then to North Bay at Average Joe's Eatery and Patio on Nov. 29 (7 p.m. doors open). Timmins will host the two at the Victory Tavern Nov. 30, then they head to Geraldton (Dec. 1), Thunder Bay (Dec. 2), Ignace (Dec. 3), Dryden (Dec. 4) and Kenora (Dec. 5).
The Bad Apples Comedy Tour hits Sudbury on Nov. 28 at Lounge 390. The doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. For tickets and more information about the pair, you can visit their event listing, found here.