One of the last times Steve Patterson performed at the Port Theatre they were cleaning off the fake blood that Alice Cooper had spilled the night before.
“I take it Alice isn’t coming through before me this time, but I’m not sure,” the Toronto-based comic said. “He changes the atmosphere of a theatre, that’s for sure.”
Patterson, longtime host of CBC’s The Debaters, in which comedians exchange views on topics both silly and serious, returns to the Nanaimo venue on April 5 for the Nanaimo Child Development Centre’s Comedy for a Cause fundraiser. Patterson said that now that he has a young daughter of his own, he’s made performing for children’s charities a priority.
Because he’s often away from home touring, Patterson said he dedicates as much time to his daughter as possible. She’s even become a bit of a writing partner.
“She’s an endless well of material, really, she just doesn’t know it yet,” Patterson said. “I feel OK using things she says on stage sometimes because I end up spending that money on her anyway. My dad still claims he should get royalties from me talking about stuff he did when I was growing up, so I take my dad to ball games here and there.”
Patterson’s show for the NCDC will be appropriately family-related, touching on childhood, his and his daughter’s, and fatherhood.
“I talk about my childhood and now what my child is like and it sort of parallels into politicians, actually,” he said. “I’ve noticed, dealing with a toddler, how much toddlers [have] a lot of politician traits.”
WHAT’S ON … Comedy for a Cause at the Port Theatre on Friday, April 5 at 8 p.m. Reception at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $79, $99 for VIP meet and greet.
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