Comedian Derek Edwards starting Atlantic Canadian tour

Edwards will perform on deCoste stage Oct. 25.

Derek Edwards is coming to Pictou on Oct. 25. CONTRIBUTED

PICTOU, N.S. – Derek Edwards considers it a good night when those who attend his show go home with a sore stomach and sides – hopefully from laughing.

“I like to go for the gut,” he said during a phone interview ahead of his Atlantic Canadian tour.

Edwards said self-promotion doesn’t come easily to him, but from Vegas to St. John’s, the Just For Laughs veteran is considered to be among the comic elite.

Certainly, his peers think so, by the fact he’s a four-time nominee, and winner of Best Standup Comic – Canadian Comedy Awards, as well as a multiple Gemini nominee for Best Performance in a Comedy. Rick Mercer has said, “Everyone knows Derek is the funniest man in Canada.”

Edwards will be at the deCoste Performing Arts Centre Friday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. and said what he hopes to offer people an escape from their everyday cares and a time just to laugh.

“So Here's the Thing ...”, Edwards’s new 90-minute stand-up comedy show is billed as a richly textured and enthralling “cut above,” delivered with pace and authority.

“It’s on a giant sheet of bristle board right now,” he said. “I’ve got arrows and circles, this should lead into this ... I want to keep it as topical as I can without getting dark on things. I want it to be goofy, a fun night, therapeutic for everybody.”

Edwards said he likes to adapt his show slightly based on the audience he’s talking to and will often chat with people in the community to find out what might appeal to the audience prior to the show.

Tickets to Edwards’s deCoste show are $48.