Dave Gaudet has come a long way. After years of alcohol consumption that almost destroyed him, the 40-year-old comedian from Edmonton has taken control and since May 2022 he has been performing a show that he produced himself: The legend. “It’s a show based on my persistence to succeed,” he said. Sometimes the road is long. Not everyone has the same cards in their hands in life.”
When the pandemic broke out, Dave Gaudet did not benefit from government support, the famous PCU, and had to look for a real job. He started enjoying TikTok while working in a garage at Canadian Tire.
“I’ve been told about it before, but I thought it was just for teenagers,” he said. I started making videos.”
Then everything exploded. In just two years, the comedian gained more than 136,000 subscribers on TikTok and received more than two million views on his videos.
“This is really where people discovered me. Because during the pandemic everyone was on the phone. I also did shows on Zoom. That’s when I really attacked the internet.”
In May 2022, Dave Gaudet decided to pay Club Soda and present a new show: The Legend. Given the success of that evening, he decided to plan performances in small venues elsewhere in Quebec.
“But the enthusiasm was so great that I asked that we program the largest rooms to see what happens. I filled the Salle Albert-Rousseau (in Quebec City) and the Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault (in Saint-Jérôme). It ended up being a tour of Quebec.”
In this show, Dave Gaudet talks specifically about sobriety and the pandemic. “I perform too. I dance a lot in the show. It’s a very dark gray sight. It’s like Mike Ward and Rachid Badouri having a child. [rires]»
One night stand
A few days ago, the comedian entered around fifty dates into his calendar, bringing the number to almost 100 appearances. And he is already dreaming of playing at Place Bell in Laval in spring 2025. Why want to play in this big arena? “Because I’m sick! [rires] I am the legend. Go big or go home. It absolutely is.”
Dave Gaudet has been hearing the nickname “The Legend” about him for several years. He says it probably all started during an appearance on the popular Mike Ward podcast “Listening to Everything.” The comedian then offered one anecdote after another.
While his tour is expected to continue for another year, Dave Gaudet will take a short break for one evening next January while he catches the Mistress show at Club Soda.
“I just had so much material and I didn’t know what to do with it. Since I won’t be doing a new show until September 2025, I thought it would be fun if I had a host for my show. I just cheated on her one night. The show will be filmed and we will put it on my website.”
Years of consumption
On November 1st, Dave Gaudet will also be launching a new podcast: Parle-moé Dave!. In each episode, the comedian improvises on various topics for around fifty minutes. “I won’t have a guest comedian because in Quebec there must be 3,000 podcasts with comedians who come and tell the same anecdotes!”
Dave Gaudet, father of a two-year-old daughter, is miles away from the person he was in his past. He was born in Alberta and traveled with his family from Joliette to Ottawa to British Columbia. “I had to go to 27 schools,” he said. We were constantly moving. When I was 15, I was in an apartment. My adult life began at a very young age. After that it was about consumption, drugs, humor. […] I took cocaine like I was an employee of Pablo Escobar! [rires]. It wasn’t life.”
With the help of his friends and his wife and many therapy sessions, he managed to get through the crisis. “I converted the energy I needed to destroy myself to create my show. […] Today I’m a father, I live in Tremblant, we have a quiet little house in the woods. My life has changed.”
- For all tour dates The legend: davegaudet.com