After 12 years as a stand up comic, there’s not many Canadian cities Erica Sigurdson hasn’t had a show in.
Based in Vancouver, Sigurdson is no stranger to airports and rental cars. The day we talk, she’s about to fly to Regina.
“To make it as a comic in BC, you’ve got to travel a lot,” she says. “There’s not enough comedy clubs to have regular work here.”
Past tours have taken her all the way to Nunavut, so it’s perhaps surprising this Saturday will mark Sigurdson’s first appearance in Nelson.
Yet our little mountain town holds a special place in her memory.
“It’s the only place I’ve ever been bitten by bed bugs,” Sigurdson says with mock-fondness, recalling a hotel she stayed in during a ski trip here.
“I’m actually surprised I don’t get bitten more often, considering the number of nights I’ve spent in hotels,” she says.
Between comedy gigs, Sigurdson does some writing for television and radio. She spent last summer as story editor for the CBC television series Mr. D. She also been on CBC’s The Debaters more than 20 times.
“I also waste a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter,” she says. “That’s part of my job too, right?”
Listening to Sigurdson on stage is something like hanging out with the office gossip. She doesn’t talk dirty and she doesn’t get political. Instead, her routine is based around her own experiences and relationships.
“I have to make sure I know whose in the audience before I tell some of my jokes,” she says, explaining she scratches a few things from the set when her in-laws come to see her.
Her mother is also a gold mine for material, but not someone she’ll censor the show for.
“My mother was pretty strict raising me,” she says. “Quite often after she watches me, she’ll come over and say, ‘obviously I should have spanked you a little harder.’”
Check out Erica Sigurdson at the Capitol, April 28 at 8p.m. Tickets $20 for adults, $16 for students. Charge by phone 250-352-6363 at the Theatre Box Office or online capitoltheatre.bc.ca.