Hal Cruttenden - Stand Up, Writer, Actor

After nearly a month on the road, the 2008 Just For Laughs Comedy Tour is coming to an end. Tonight I’ve been on stage in Red Deer, then it’s Kelowna, Vancouver, and we finish in Victoria on Saturday. It’s been a fantastic experience. It’s been great working with comedians like David O’Doherty and Danny Bhoy, who I don’t usually see on the circuit because of their tours and festival commitments. I’ve become good friends with Pete Zedlacher, the Canadian, who I expect to be a pretty massive name when I next come back here - of course if he doesn’t become massive you can forget that comment about him being a friend! And the American comics, John Heffron and Finesse Mitchell have been absolutely top notch. We’ve all got on really well for a month - which is very unusual for people as self-obsessed as your average comedian - actually, of this lot, I’m pretty sure that I was the worst for self-obsession.

The audiences have been very welcoming and an education. They don’t like their comedy too graphic in this country and toning down of the ‘F’ words actually makes you work harder. When you  don’t have the extra bite that swearing gives, a poor joke is more easily exposed.

I’ve discovered that Canada is absolutely bloody massive - honestly - 2 and a half hour flights only get you half way across the country! I’ve discovered that Canadians hate America as much as we do and now feel bad because America’s gone and done something lovely by voting in a President who’s intelligent, articulate and well-travelled.

I’ve missed my family terribly and it’s just made me realise more than ever that tours like this will have to be very rare in the future. There are only so many times when you can hear your six year old say, ‘I miss you daddy’ before you’re dying to jump on a plane and head home.

All in all, it’s been everything Adam Bloom told me it would be when I asked him how he’d enjoyed his experience of the tour. I know we’ve really entertained the crowds and this idea of getting top acts all on one bill in very large venues, is a far better guarantee of a great night than a lot of the tours currently doing the rounds in the UK. Not to be bitchy, just being honest…okay I’m being bitchy!