Haven’t heard of Brian Regan? You probably haven’t been paying attention.
The Florida-raised comedian started doing standup in the 1980s and has since made a career of profanity-free performances on stage and screen.
Regan, 64, has twice appeared on Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” show and has released three Netflix comedy specials. On what seems like a non-stop tour, he books close to 100 show dates every year.
This winter he’s touring U.S. and Canadian theatres, with a stop scheduled at Surrey’s Bell Performing Arts Centre on Thursday, Feb. 2. Tickets range from $47.50 to $168, plus fees, on bellperformingartscentre.com, or call 604-507-6355.
Last we checked ticketmaster.ca, only a few dozen seats remain for Regan’s show at the 1,000-seat Bell theatre, at Sullivan Heights Secondary.
In a Netflix special a year ago, he tried to understand the absurdities around him — with animals, people, dinner parties, Reiki healers, and his recent realization that he has O.C.D.
Over the years Regan has become one of America’s most respected comedians, with Vanity Fair magazine calling him “the funniest stand-up alive,” among other accolades in the media.
“The perfect balance of sophisticated writing and physicality, Brian fills theaters nationwide with fervent fans that span generations,” raves a post on Regan’s website, which includes links to social media sites and very old Youtube videos (from 10 years ago and beyond).
Among other comedy shows at Surrey’s Bell, Montreal-raised comedian Sugar Sammy will return on Feb. 17, followed by Gerry Dee on April 27. A week later, on May 5, The Comic Strippers male-stripper improv troupe has booked yet another show there, after performing a laugh-a-minute Bell date just a couple months ago, in November.
Next fall, on Nov. 4, the character Im Hussein returns in a new scripted comedy, “My One and Only,” written and performed by Lebanese-American actor Najee Mondalek for his Ajyal theatre company.
• RELATED: Surrey homecoming for Erica Sigurdson on Snowed In Comedy Tour, Jan. 26 at venue near former school
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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