Everardo Ramirez is a Toronto-based comedian and host best known for Late Mic T.O., a chaotic weekly late-night talk show/open mic hybrid that blends sharp riffing, experimental risk-taking, and absurd invention. Drawing inspiration from icons like David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and even the unhinged antics of Morton Downey Jr., Ramirez brings a mix of laidback cool and manic unpredictability to the stage.
How would you describe your comedy style?
These days, my main gig is hosting Late Mic T.O., a weekly late-night talk show that is also an open mic. I would say my hosting style is laidback, with quick, in-the-moment-riffing. I try to maintain a cool presence while everything around me is chaotic. Someone told me my show is “the most interesting thing that happens at Comedy Bar…not necessarily the funniest, but certainly most interesting”
Someone else described my style as being “neurodivergent,” which I’m not sure how to feel about.
Who are some of your influences?
Late Night, both with David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. I love how Letterman would interview weirdos like Harvey Pekar or Crispin Glover, and he wasn’t afraid to sit in the weirdness, leaving audiences wondering if it was a staged bit or if something is wrong.
Conan’s absurd bits and segments were the perfect amount of stupid, and his self deprecation and tightly wound control freak persona must have imprinted on me early on because now I host a late night talk show that I am quite particular about — I wear a suit, I bring a big inflatable couch, I use a kitchen timer instead of lighting comedians, not writing my own monologue jokes but instead leaving a stack of cue cards at the bar for strangers and other comedians to write jokes and I read it for the first time on stage at the top of the show, I don’t book my real comedian friends because I think it’s more interesting to talk to the freaks and scoundrels in the open mic world — all these things are more work for me, and have an element of risk to it, but I think that’s what makes the show interesting.
Also, the Morton Downey Jr show was a late 80s, trash TV daytime talk show where the host would chain smoke and get into screaming matches with his guests and audience. Some weeks, Late Mic can feel like that.
Who was your favourite comedian growing up?
Norm MacDonald, Louie Anderson, Conan O’Brien.
Who is your favourite comedian now?
Nick Nemeroff. Everyone should listen to his brilliant album “The Pursuit of Comedy Has Ruined My Life”. RIP
What is your pre-show ritual?
On my way to the venue, I listen to the unreleased, 18-minute version of “Shortnin’’ Bread” by the Beach Boys and go into a kind of transcendental meditative state where my brain shuts off for a few minutes. My wife does not like this song and is worried that listening to it is making me go insane, but to that I say “mommy’s little baby loves shortin bread”
Before Late Mic, I sit in the bar and write monologue jokes with other comics who sign up for the mic.
What is your favourite place you have performed? Why?
Probably when I performed at Just for Laughs in 2019. Even if it was an afternoon podcast taping, it was surreal to be at that festival with my friends Mark Little, Andrew Bush and Stephan MacLeod, who I started out with in Halifax.
What is your favourite bit you have written and why were you proud of it?
I have a joke called “A Modest Proposal” about Horses that I really like telling because people are always surprised and a bit turned off by the premise. I love working myself out of that hole, slowly convincing them to agree with the point I’m trying to make (or at least laugh at the ideas I’m presenting). It is the closing bit on my album, Goodbye Horses.
What is your favourite medium for listening or finding new comics/comedians?
These days my show Late Mic is where I see all the best and worst new comics in the city.
Tell us a joke about your city.
Celebrities are in town for TIFF, I saw Steve Buscemi on the street and asked to take a pic with him. Turns out it was just a wrinkly little boy. Still got the pic, very generous of him.
Do you have anything to promote right now?
I have an album called Goodbye Horses, you can listen to on all the regular places people can listen to stuff these days.
Also, I have a podcast and another release, hopefully coming out before the end of the year! So keep an eye out for that!
Where can we follow you?
You can follow my show Late Mic T.O. on Instagram @latemicto or you can follow @everardo___ramirez for a pictures of my cats and maybe a stand up reel every 6 months (I’m old and bad at social media).
PAY IT FORWARD: Who is another local comic/comedian we should know about?
Harrison Weinreb and Callum O’Neil are the best joke writers in the city, I think.
Laugh Sabbath is the best weekly show in town, even though I think those guys all hate me because Late Mic used to be on Thursdays after their show, and they were not digging it.
This guy, Jonathan David Pearse, is a bipolar, schizophrenic, autistic Christian comedian who comes to Late Mic regularly, much to the chagrin of Comedy Bar staff. He wrote a 600-page book called Single Episodes that I devoured in 2 days. It is unintentionally a postmodern masterpiece. Obviously, he has a lot going on, but he fascinates me as much as he annoys me.
