The popular husband and wife comedy duo Bernie & Red are returning to the lakecity Friday, Oct. 19 with their brand new show at the Gibraltar Room.
The show starts at 7 p.m. and is a community charity fundraiser sponsored by the Williams Lake Elks Club.
Since their performance in Williams Lake last October Bernie & Red have released two new CDs, both recorded live, on location in BC and made up of the material which they feature on stage in their most recent shows.
Bernie & Red are well known for poking fun at the retirement lifestyle of a lot of Canadians.
Their signature tune, as it were, is “SKI Club,” the story of a retired couple who are Spending the Kids Inheritance (S.K.I. get it?).
These two new CD’s feature more of the same, lots of comedy and a number of funny originals, including a humorous look at the “Dancing with the Stars” phenomenon entitled “Waltz Across Wal-Mart.”
A piece of show biz history will be on view during this year’s tour.
On a thrift store visit several years ago, Bernie found a pair of trousers that were custom made and worn by the famous comedy legend Red Skelton and he’ll be wearing them on this tour.
After that first purchase, Bernie began to look for more Red Skelton memorabilia and he has since built quite a collection, some of which will be on display at their shows as well.
Bernie & Red have been busy with their winter tour of the southern US, numerous summer concerts in B.C. and the U.S., and come here directly from the U.K. where they performed in Wales and in their home town of Liverpool.
They both grew up in Liverpool and met as teenagers before marrying a emigrating to Canada. They were regulars at the Cavern and saw the Beatles live on countless occasions.
Their winter tour is an annual event and they have been in Arizona, California and Texas for the past 10 years and as a result they have a large fan base in the US.
This year they received the coveted People’s Choice Award for Best Comedy Duo in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and were also voted Duo of the Year at the F.A.M.E awards ceremony in Texas.
Although they have lived in Canada since the mid 70s, they return annually to the U.K., a trip which is also an opportunity to “re-charge their batteries” as it were.
“There is still a difference between British and Canadian comedy” says Bernie “and we like to feel that we are able to make the British humour which we feature in our show, a bit more accessible to Canadians.”
“Our trips to the UK enable us to get back to our roots and the feisty verbal interchanges that are part and parcel of big city life in the UK. It gives us no end of comedy material for our show,” explains Red.
While they enjoy shows in the big city’s Bernie and Red came to Canada for the country life and eventually settled on a small acreage raising animals and organic blueberries.
“I picked over 1,000 lbs. of them this summer” says Bernie, “I’m looking forward to getting on the road and having a rest!”
Advance tickets are available by calling Elks Arnie Zimmerman at 250-392-5451, Wendel Schachtel at 250-989-5182 or Tom Essery at 250-392-2893.
Advance tickets are also available at Audio Video, About Face Photography, Sight and Sound, The Open Book Store, and Progressive Printers Inc.
You can learn much more about Bernie & Red by visiting their website www.bernieandred.com
