Comedian Landry wants a career his way | Features

Comedian Landry couldn’t be happier to be down to earth.
The single-named entertainer spent two months aboard a cruise ship, unable to leave due to COVID-19 protocols.
“I was tired of living this pirate life,” he laughed.
“I was on the crew manifesto. They don’t let employees go at the ports. We stayed on the boat and watched other people go elsewhere. It’s very trying.
Landry’s first concerts on the continent will be on Friday April 29 and Saturday April 30 at the Stir Crazy Comedy Club in the Westgate Entertainment District. And he’s ready to go on stage.
“I haven’t done anything for the past four days,” he said.
“I just decompressed. I’m going to do a few spots locally to find my timing, then go to Glendale.
Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and living in Las Vegas, Landry had no early aspirations to become an actor. He enjoyed acting and speech competitions, but never considered standing.
“I’ve always loved comedy,” he says. “I watched it on TV. My grandparents raised me. We used to watch really funny shows like ‘The Golden Girls’, ‘All in the Family’, ‘The Carol Burnett Show.’ Murphy was a big influence on me, his movies were my favorite movies of all time, that was my childhood right there.
Landry just didn’t realize it was “real work” at that age. He got into acting late, at age 29, after seeing his favorite comedian, Bill Burr, perform.
“It was a euphoric and magical evening,” he said. “I thought, ‘Man, I have to try this.’ I tried a few weeks later, signed up for a class, got on stage and haven’t stopped since.
Landry said his first year in comedy was tough. After Kitchener, he moved to Atlanta, which he called “a big comedy club, but still very separate”.
“Black comics had their own rooms,” said Landry, who moved to the United States for engineering work. “The urban comedy scene was completely separate from the mainstream scene. They wouldn’t let me go on stage in any of the traditional clubs.
“I didn’t look like anyone else in the room. I heard, ‘This guy looks so weird.’ I had just arrived from Canada and I had a rather strong Canadian accent. They never listened to me. Eventually, I worked my way up and continued to get beat for the first year.
On the other hand, moving was a boon because in Canada, there were not enough people and clubs.
“Some people live off of it, obviously,” Landry said. “Most comedians can do comedy in Canada, but they usually go to America or England where there are more people and bigger markets.
“The entire population of Canada is less than that of California. This puts it into perspective. We have a lot of land mass. That’s the reason everybody wants to come to America. It’s the American dream.
All the while, the avid Toronto Blue Jays fan has made a promise to himself.
“I want to do it my way,” he said. “That’s what got me over the hurdle. I missed a lot of things by being stubborn. I could have been on television. I could have done the first part of great comics. I didn’t want to go that route, though. I wanted to find out myself. It’s my promise.