Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dave Barclay. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Dave thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I got an agent shortly after graduating from the Humber College Comedy Program, and immediately started going out on auditions. After a bunch of rejections, I had an audition for an industrial (an industrial is a short film, not intended for broadcast, that is commissioned by a company to show in-house). It was a parody of the Apple/PC ads that starred Justin Long as an Apple and John Hodgman as a PC. When I walked in the room the director was like, “oh, here’s our PC right here” because apparently I looked exactly like John Hodgman. That was my first booking as an actor! John Hodgman is one of my favourite comedians and I listen to his podcast, Judge John Hodgman, all the time. He doesn’t know me, but he did help me get my first gig in the biz.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an actor and comedian, and have been performing on stage and on screen for 17 years now. Comedy is my main thing, and the roles I typically get cast as are also what I enjoy playing most: weirdos, buffoons and dum dums. My most notable televsion roles are playing myself as a tech correspondent for 3 seasons in the satirical news show The Beaverton (CTV), and a middle school principal who moonlights as a DJ in YTV’s Popularity Papers. My live work is primarily in Sketch Comedy, and recently I’ve been doing a lot of solo sketch – which is a lot of fun putting out work that is solely my own strange voice, and it’s easier to schedule rehearsals than with a duo or larger troupe. I just found out yesterday I’ve been accepted into Toronto Sketchfest, where I’ll be performing a new solo show called Tonight the Role of Don Draper Will Be Played by Dave Barclay.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I used to have a job delivering food to daycares around Toronto – it was one of my favourite random jobs I’ve had to support my creative journey. One of the busiest routes I worked ended with a daycare that was on the third floor of an old school with no elevators. Every day for weeks I would have to carry three giant heavy bins up three flights of stairs at the end of a long day of hauling chow.

One day, exhausted from lifting those bins, I staggered down the stairs and received a call from my agent. I had booked my first union commercial for Mio, which ended up becoming a huge campaign across Canada and the U.S. and paid my bills for years. I still remember sitting on the back of my food van, the sun bright in my face, feeling that the break I had been waiting for had finally come.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the best thing about being a comedian is that the more I embarrass myself, the better it is for my comedy. From what I understand, dramatic actors always have to worry about looking handsome and being cool, which is not my strong suit (although I have played a couple of dramatic roles on TV, always to my surprise). But when I’m doing comedy, looking stupid is what I’m there to do. It’s so nice to get rewarded for that after a lifetime of being teased for my awkwardness.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davebarc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dpbarclay
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-barclay-107b556b/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaveBarc

Image Credits
Headshots are by Hayley Andoff Action stills are from Popularity Papers