The Comedy Nest is Montreal’s Comedy Central

The Comedy Nest, Montreal’s number one platform for stand-up comics, is changing up their routine in the city this August. Ali Hassan’s “From Zero to Hero” and Dan Bingham’s “Adopt This!” will be featured there this upcoming weekend from August 7th until the 9th. These two headlining acts will grace the stage of the Comedy Nest in a never before seen evening of back-to-back one-man shows. According to David Acer, one of the co-owners of the Comedy Nest, Dan Bingham and Ali Hassan are two excellent Canadian headliners who have been touring fringe festivals and small theatres with great one-man shows. David explained that this was a rare opportunity for them to present those two shows together as a double bill. 

Why the double bill?
Dan Bingham, whose show “Adopt This” is currently up for a Canadian Comedy Award, explained that “the Comedy Nest typically has a standard comedy show where you have a host, an opening act, or several opening acts, and a headliner that is about 45 minutes. The whole show is about an hour and half to two hours.” David Acer further explained that the Comedy Nest has been experimenting with different kinds of comedy programming – theme shows like “A Stand-Up Guide to Montreal” and “The Comedy Stars of Twitter,” and variety acts like Jonathan Burns. In some ways, this alternate format is an extension of that.

What’s notable about these two one-man shows?
Well, naturally, it’s the content.

As David Acer so eloquently put it, what’s interesting about the shows is they’re more personal than your average stand-up set. You still get all the comedy, but you also find yourself experiencing other emotions, which is rare at a comedy club. 

Ali Hassan, who was a comedy panelist on over 40 episodes of George Strombolopoulos’ “The Hour,” wrote his one-man show “From Zero to Hero” about his abrupt encounter with family life. His stand-up style is a mix of punchline comedy and slapstick humour at its finest. Further, it brings up important and realistic family life issues we face today. Dan Bingham’s piece, though filled with moments of hilarity, is more of a storytelling style with darker, raw humour. It follows the life of an adopted Dan Bingham through time and tribulations.

Both shows entertain the idea of personal reflection and growth through various types of relationships and encourage the idea of laughing it off.

“Being able to look at your past and present, and not take yourself too seriously,” explained Dan, “it’s all about being able to laugh at yourself.” 

Talk about living your notable life and laughing at it too.  

“From Zero to Hero” and “Adopt This” can be seen this Thursday, August 7th at 8:00pm, Friday, August 8th at 8:00pm (10:30 show added) and Saturday, August 9th at 8:00pm and 10:30pm at the Comedy Nest.

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