Heard by two million listeners every month, Bugged by Mike Ward will make his way to Quebec and even Europe The newspaper. The comedian’s popular podcast will visit four cities in particular on the old continent with surprise guests. “My ultimate goal would be to have Blanche Gardin for Paris,” said Mike Ward.
For Mike Ward and Under you hear “sky is the limit”. Last year, the comedian presented two episodes of his podcast at the Bell Center in front of more than 21,000 people, setting a Guinness record for the podcast being recorded in front of the largest audience in the world.
This year he decided to meet the listeners of Under Listening. In Quebec, it will tour eight cities: Brossard (L’Étoile, May 22), Drummondville (Maison des Arts, June 3), Quebec City (Videotron Center, July 22), Sherbrooke (Salle Maurice O’Bready, August 25) , Val-d’Or (Théâtre Télébec, September 22), Baie-Comeau (Théâtre du Center des Arts, September 29), La Baie (Théâtre du Palais Municipal, October 21) and Gatineau (Salle Odyssey, October 27).
He will also travel to Moncton (June 16) and Toronto (July 8). In Europe, Ward Under Listening will present in Paris (June 24), Lausanne (June 24), Brussels (June 26) and Cannes (June 28). All episodes will be available online.
It was the team at the Swiss Montreux Comedy Festival, which will present the Exclam event in Montreal in May, that helped Ward and his team find 100-seat venues in Europe where they could do the podcast in front of an audience.
“I didn’t want to get there stressed out because I’m not well known in France,” Ward told the Journal. I told them to find me rooms that we will surely fill to have fun. »
surprise guests
In Europe, the sub-hearing formula will be the same as in Quebec. In each episode, Mike Ward will interview two surprise guests for about two hours.
“I want to go there with a Quebecer and a local personality,” he said. My ultimate goal would be to have Blanche Gardin for Paris. I know her and she seemed to like me. But that was when she was half known. She’s a star there. »
Of Under the Listen’s two million monthly listeners, Mike Ward states that he has “between 100,000 and 200,000 coming from Europe”. He had been considering hosting his podcast there for a number of years, but the pandemic delayed the project.
“As soon as there are comedians from Quebec who go to Europe, they tell me that everyone talks to them about under listening all the time,” he says. It also happened about fifty times that Europeans arrive at the brothel [Comédie Club] just to watch an episode. Every time I thought they lived in Montreal. But no, that’s why they made the trip! »
retract
For the Quebec shows, Mike Ward initially considered touring in arenas “because I thought that was absurd for a podcast. But the sound at the Bell Center was so bad that I didn’t want to go through it again for eight nights. »
Therefore, only the Videotron Center will have large capacities for this Quebec tour. The event takes place on July 22nd, exactly one year to the day after the Bell Centre.
This summer, between tour dates, Mike Ward plans to go to the Bordel Comédie Club “about ten times a week” to test new jokes. In October, he will begin the roll-in of his next solo show, which he hopes to launch “somewhere in 2024.”
Tickets for the Underwater Tour go on sale Sunday at 8pm on mikeward.ca.
The comedian will host an international gala
On May 20th, Mike Ward will be in charge of the Babel Gala at the new Exclam event at Espace St-Denis. This French-speaking gala brings together several comedians from all over the world.
Organized by the group behind the Swiss Montreux Comedy Festival, the Exclam event will take place in Montreal from May 17th to 20th.
Final night is reserved for Babel, controlled by Ward. “Babel lets you travel with artists from all over the world. your order? To bring them to their homes, to the heart of their lives, and to share their vision of the world with you,” reads the press release for the event.
Amine Radi (Morocco), Juste Parfait (Congo), Pierre Thevenoux (France), Thibaud Agoston (Switzerland), Erich Preach (Haiti/Canada) and Gaëtan Delferière (Belgium) have been confirmed as comedians for this gala.
“I was told it would be a show with the biggest stars of Francophonie. These are all comedians I don’t know [mis à part Preach]She recognizes Mike Ward. When it comes to humor, I know the American stars, but the biggest humorist in Cameroon, I don’t know who that is! »
Travel with humor
Mike Ward, who has done stand-up in about twenty countries during his career, mentions that what he enjoys most about these trips is watching comedians from other countries.
The Montreux Comedy team plans to rebroadcast the shows presented at the Exclam worldwide. Does Mike Ward want this to open other doors for him abroad?
” Yes and no. I think the doors it can open for me are already open. I like to travel with my sense of humor. But I have no desire to pursue a career anywhere but Quebec. I know that the Montreux I’m doing a festival in South Africa and if I feel like playing there I like the fact that I can go there. But my dream isn’t to go to Morocco.”
The Babel Gala, hosted by Mike Ward, will take place on May 20th at the Espace St-Denis in Montreal. Info: exclam.ca.