Simon B. Cotter is the busiest standup comedian in Canada, with a track record of performances over the 1994-1995 season that would have sent most of his colleagues to a rest home for burnout treatment.
Last September, he took off on his "Back on Campus" tour - which seems to be an almost-endless tour of Canadian colleges and universities. By the time it's over - Cotter will have performed in well over 100 campus venues and at more than three-quarters of all the colleges and universities in the entire country, and entertained almost 50,000 students.
Along the way, there have been two, three and four-day stands in comedy clubs, from Montreal to Edmonton, television appearances on CBC's "Comics", the Dini Petty Show, MuchMusic, and CTV's The Shirley Show. News show appearances at CITY in Toronto and CFCF Pulse in Montreal added to his schedule. On his trips into the United States, he's played clubs and casinos - and he's been seen on Evening at the Improv on the A&E television network.
Just how funny is Simon B. Cotter? Well, funny enough to be the first Canadian comedian to land in the finals of the 1993 San Francisco International Comedy Festival - which had more than 2,000 professional comedians from no less than 11 different countries taking part.
All this activity has helped him build an audience of devoted fans, simply by taking his unique sense of the absurd from clubs to pubs, cafeterias to concert halls, and to more and more conferences and corporate events each year.
It could have turned out differently. He started out as a skit performer in high school, but his comedic career was interrupted by 4 years at the University of Toronto studying history and political science. He needed a job to pay for his education. Real estate seemed to do the trick - he was smart, hard-working, sincere, honest, and darn good at selling houses. And, since big real estate companies take note of up-and-comers, he was soon sitting in his own office with the title of Director of Human Resources on the door.
That's business-speak for "people" - and Cotter desperately missed making them smile and laugh and them giving him standing ovations in exchange. With hardly any regrets, he burned all the bridges he could find, quit his day job, and has been a full-time comedian ever since.
For five years now, he's been getting laughs - and great reviews. The Toronto Star called him "a charismatic storyteller with a keen eye for observation." Campus Canada - the national magazine for university students - called him "decidedly anti-racist, anti-sexist, pro-female, and always hysterical." Other writers have described him as a "Bill Cosby with an edge".
Cotter prefers to call himself "big and goofy," but behind the grin and the open, friendly, warm-hearted approach he has both on-stage and off, he is a smart, organized businessman whose cross-country campus tour had not one but two Canadian corporate sponsors, both in the food business.
Clients appreciate this combination of talent and professionalism. It was best summed up by David Lilak of Genral Mills - "thorough preparation, professional appearance and great stage presence. He took a significant amount of time to customize his comments about our company and the results were amazing. Simon Cotter is a funny man."
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