Daniel Donnelly is a storytelling stand-up comedian known for his sharp wit, clever misdirections, and knack for letting the audience fill in the blanks. With deep influences from Simon Amstell, Josh Thomas, and classic TV comedies, Dan’s work blends smart joke writing with an appreciation for timing and structure.
How would you describe your comedy style?
As a stand-up, I would say I’m primarily a storyteller, with plenty of asides, observations, witticisms, and misdirections. I can be quite dark and dirty, but not usually explicit: I think there’s a lot of humour in letting the audience fill in the blanks rather than spelling it out. It’s very satisfying when a laugh keeps building as more and more of the audience piece together what I’ve really just said. This makes me a terrible choice for weed rooms!
Who are some of your influences?
I would say my biggest influence is probably Simon Amstell: his first two specials in particular were so eerily similar to my own internal monologue that it made me think that stand-up might be something I might be able to do instead of just enjoy. Seeing him live at JFL was a seminal moment for me (I really should have brought a towel). Josh Thomas was a big influence as well–there was something about his view of the world and especially interpersonal relationships that really struck a chord with me. In retrospect, a big part of that turns out to have been that we were both unknowingly on the autism spectrum, and his public journey with his diagnosis a few years ago was one of a couple major clues that it was something I should look into.
I also think I really owe a lot of my sensibility to TV comedy in particular. My mom was a prop master in Hollywood, and I spent my formative years immersed in the world of sitcoms. She was the prop assistant on Murphy Brown from the time I was about 9 until I was in high school, and it was really incredible to be able to read those scripts and then see them become the final product through rehearsals, filming, and the final cut that would air on TV. It was such a smart show, and a master class in how to write jokes that make very specific references but don’t rely on them to be funny. Frasier was also an excellent model for writing smart jokes with broad appeal, and the first few seasons of Arrested Development are an absolutely incredible achievement in smart, dense, incredibly funny writing. Outside of sitcoms, I also grew up watching the Kids in the Hall, Monty Python, and the original UK version of Whose Line is it, Anyway?, which sparked a lifelong love of British panel shows that eventually led me to start my own panel show here in Toronto.
Who was your favourite comedian growing up?
Definitely Mitch Hedberg. I don’t know how many times I watched his specials on Comedy Central, but it was a lot. I still really love his work. It was so different from anything I do or could ever hope to do that I can turn off my comedian brain and just enjoy the ride without trying to think about where he’s going or how I would treat a similar premise. What a terrible loss.
Who is your favourite comedian now?
That’s a hard question. I think Nathan Fielder is a genius. If we’re talking about who I always make a special effort see live (what economists call revealed preferences), I always try to see Maria Bamford, Mike Rita, DeAnne Smith, and Gianmarco Soresi when I have the chance. I was really grateful to have been able to see one of Gilbert Gottfried’s last live shows shortly before he passed.
What is your pre-show ritual?
I absolutely have to write out a set list by hand and keep it in my pocket as a kind of memory talisman. I also use it to take notes of anything important that happens during the show that I might want to refer back to, particularly crowd work. There is nothing more embarrassing than when comics crowdwork the same people with the same questions because they haven’t been watching the show.
What is your favourite place you have performed? Why?
I had a wonderful time at the Cleveland Comedy Festival a couple years ago. They have a great scene in Cleveland and were incredibly organized and professional in the way they put on the festival, which definitely isn’t always the case with local comedy festivals in the US. It also doesn’t hurt that you can buy a real drink in Cleveland for $3. I also love performing at the Comedy Nest whenever I’m in Montreal. In terms of Toronto clubs, I always have a great time at Absolute. I’d also like to take this opportunity to promote the SoCap (socap.ca), where I run my panel show. From a producer’s standpoint, they are a dream to work with, and they host a ton of great independent shows of all kinds. They really deserve much more foot traffic!
What is your favourite bit you have written and why were you proud of it?
I have a long bit about internet porn in the age of dial-up that I think really exemplifies the kind of modular structure I strive for in writing: nearly every sentence contains a joke (some more than one), it can be easily expanded or condensed without losing any narrative coherence, and the end of it has a really nice tension-build with a very dark and surprising punchline.
What is your favourite medium for listening or finding new comics/comedians?
Nothing beats live performance, honestly, which is why I try to do a lot of festivals and book and see live shows whenever I travel. I actively avoid watching social media clips, which I think are having a truly pernicious effect on stand-up. For one thing, no one could possibly write enough high-quality material to satisfy the endless hunger of the algorithm’s gaping maw, so you end up with a lot of lazy crowdwork, unpolished riffs, and reaction videos trying to ride the coattails of already viral content. What’s worse, the nature of the beast requires capturing people’s attention in under two seconds so they don’t swipe away, which totally inverts the structure of something that builds over time to a satisfying payoff.
All of which is to say: watch, like, and subscribe to my daily show clips on YouTube, IG, TikTok, and every other goddamned platform where comics are forced to fight tooth and nail for attention against people who get two million views for looking hot to a soundtrack for ten seconds!
Tell us a joke about your city.
I thought it was a truly inspired public health initiative when Toronto decided to offer COVID vaccinations on the TTC (no, really, you can look it up). I imagine it was also a great cost-saving measure since they already had the needles on hand.
Do you have anything to promote right now?
I run a monthly panel show called Comedy Game Showdown at the SoCap (Danforth and Broadview), inspired by British TV panel shows like QI, 8 out of 10 Cats, and Whose Line. Every episode has a different pop-culture theme and includes trivia, bizarre images and video clips, improv, debates, and more! We write each one from the ground up with 100% original material, so it’s never the same show twice, and you’ll never see any of the comics doing the same old bits they do on every other stage in the city. We do it on the second Tuesday of every month. You can find all the info and previous episodes at andascotchegg.com.
I have always loved the panel format, and I’m really hoping our show will help it gain more traction here in Canada. Panel shows are a huge part of the star system for comedians in other Commonwealth countries, and considering the incredible wealth of local talent available and low production costs, I’m really hoping that CBC or CTV eventually get the message that they could be a real game-changer Canadian TV comedy.
Where can we follow you?
Website | YouTube | Instagram | BlueSky
PAY IT FORWARD: Who is another local comic/comedian we should know about?
I put all my very favourite performers on my panel show, many of whom I think are criminally underbooked on the Toronto scene. I’d encourage all your readers to check out the lineups on the website, give them a follow, and definitely see them live if possible! If I have to single one person out, I’ll go with George Burgess. He’s such an excellent writer, and his laconic delivery just kills me. I’m a terrible audience member because I’m such a hard laugh, but George can always get a laugh out of me, even with material I’ve seen him do before.
