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Ricky Blue's Other Life
Ricky Blue
Ricky Blue
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is a Montreal-based humorist, singer, and writer. He and partner George Bowser are the famous Bowser and Blue comedy act. Here's his bio from their Bowser and Blue website.

Ricky Blue was born in Liverpool, England, but raised in Maine, New Jersey, and Toronto. He has an MA in English from Concordia University. He has been involved in bands and media music in Montreal for over twenty years. In 1981 he won an international 'Clio' award for excellence in advertising.

He once appeared on television naked.

His life had no real meaning, however, until he began to play with Bowser and Blue. Rick plays guitar, mandolin, and harmonica, and sings in a rather pleasant baritone when George will let him.

He is also a columnist for Montreal's outstanding weekly The Suburban.

His LCC columns are archived here

Posted 07.21.08

RICKY BLUE

Everybody's gotta have a laugh

MONTREAL | Kris Kristofferson once said about the folksinger Ramblin' Jack Elliot that he wasn't called Ramblin' Jack because he traveled a lot; he was called Ramblin' Jack because of the way he talked.

So to take a page out of Ramblin' Jack's book, I'd like to ramble some thoughts about comedy.

Last weekend I noticed my photograph in the newspaper beside that of Joan Rivers, because Bowser and Blue will be in the first Just for Laughs Gala. The good people of JFL have decided, I suppose, that Joan will attract an older demographic and who better to play to that group than Bowser and Blue?

While I could be peeved at being typecast like that, I am not. I decided many years ago that it was better to play to an older audience and seem young than play to a younger audience and seem old.

It was about the same time that I realized that it would be unseemly for an older person to sing about "getting it on" or "falling in love for the first time.". Better to sing about Rectal Surgeons and Bill 101; this way I could extend my career beyond my youth with some modicum of dignity.

Let's face it, all the great love songs have been written. What is left to say? And my generation had even extended it to universal love: love as the meaning of life.

But as I began practicing comedy I was surprised to learn how contentious it could be. When you make a joke or take a comic stance you will automatically offend someone. You will have desecrated a sacred cow or mocked a deeply felt belief.

And often, the funnier a joke is the more offensive it can be.

Hey, I didn't make the rules -- that's just the way it is!

This used to vex me somewhat. I felt that by abandoning straight songs for comic ones I had brought upon myself some degree of unwanted trouble and ill will. My only consolation was that even singers whose hearts are full of sweet love can seem offensive to many: Barry Manilow and Celine Dion are cases in point. For some reason they attract an enormous amount of bile.

But jokes are important. You can see that just by reading classified personals ads. Whenever a woman is looking for a man and listing her demands, along with "likes to take long walks in the rain" and "enjoys candlelight dinners for two" is the ubiquitous: "must have a good sense of humour." Women know that no relationship can survive without a sense of humour.

Can you imagine a fate worse than being trapped in a humourless relationship? Apparently relationships can survive without sex, but not without humour.

That is why I am proud of my small contribution to this field. And I am also grateful to the people who have created and guided the Just for Laughs festival for so many years. We are lucky to live in a city where we can see such comedic talent every year. I have been involved in it myself many times and have always been struck by how accessible it is for the average English-speaking Montrealer. I urge you to take advantage of it.

Because government money -- your money -- has been used to help fund this festival; as it has helped fund all of Montreal's summer festivals. So if you don't take part in it in some way you will have to accept that other people will be laughing, thanks to your hard earned taxes. And if you don't have a sense of humour that is going to seem very offensive.

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