 | | Jon Dore. Photo: Comedy Central | | |
He was already killing it up north. Ten years ago, Ottawa, Ontario, native Jon Dore had served as a Canadian Idol correspondent, produced two seasons of the Comedy Network’s meta-mockumentary series TheJon Dore Television Show, and was one of the top dozen touring acts in the country. Yet, as forebearers like Jim Carrey, Norm Macdonald, and Howie Mandel could attest, Stateside fortune and fame beckoned. In 2008, Dore moved to Los Angeles, where he became the first comic Conan O’Brien featured when he made the shift to TBS. (A full half of his set involved a fishing act-out and revelation of a crudely drawn penis on his chest.) Onstage he was a master of misdirection, absurdist deconstruction, and wide-eyed hopscotching through topics like childhood leukemia, the Holocaust, and racial slurs. He logged a half-hour Comedy Central Presents, appearances on shows from How I Met Your Mother to Inside Amy Schumer, and a co-starring role alongside Sarah Chalke and Ray Romano on short-lived ABC sitcom How to Live With Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life). Dore’s new Comedy Central special Big Questions, Huge Answers marks his return to mockumentary form. Pairing a trendy suit with a peach beanie, he proposes sweeping — and charmingly misguided — solutions to cyberbullying and predatory teachers. Viewers may cringe when interview subjects barely contain their increasing discomfort. Behind the scenes, however, Dore found himself reconciling with one of the most unexpected pranks life had thrown his way to date. Big Questions, Huge Answersis your first full U.S. special … but it’s not actually a stand-up special.
We just kind of dreamed up this idea about this guy who dives deep into these heavy topics and comes up with solutions. I’ve always loved topics that are hard to deal with. I think you can walk a line. They’re kind of fun to explore: How do we find the comedy in them? A satire of a Vice News program is the perfect place to house them. I really do enjoy Vice News. I laugh a lot because if they’re interviewing someone and the responses kind of fit their narrative, the interviewer — in frame, on camera, left in the edit — will say, “Cooool!” Immediately, objective journalism is gone. So we tried to include a bit of that, and we thought it would be perfect for a guy who feels like he’s obsolete and trying to really fit in with the youth of today. It’s important to him to dress a certain way, and he’s always concerned about his age. (There’s some honesty there.) We stay true to Vice’s approach to journalism, but there are also people in the show who are genuine victims, and we never wanted to make their experience the joke. The joke really comes when the idiot — me, the outsider — thinks he can figure out America. And it’s also a reflection of the Trump presidency, in a way. If you give a fool a microphone, he’ll say anything. It’s also serving as a series pilot?
We pitched it as a pilot, then Comedy Central said, “Let’s give you money to make two episodes and call it a special, and it’s guaranteed to air.” If it goes well, then maybe they’ll pick it up and we’ll get to make more of these things. Otherwise, I’m going back to Canada — work in a mine or something. Hopefully, I can just jump right to the top and tell people what to do, because I don’t want to lift stuff. You filmed Big Questions, Huge Answers this past spring, during a particularly challenging time in your life.
In 2016, a month after the election, I was playing poker with friends, then the next thing I know I’m in the hospital. About 45 minutes had passed. The story was that I just fell and started shaking and foaming at the mouth. The doctors called it sudden abnormal electrical activity of the brain: a seizure. That’s got to be a scary experience to have happen. And to see happen.
It was weirder for them because I don’t know that I’ve had the seizure. I felt like I had to give everyone watching an apology. Those poor fucking guys just watching me like a fish on the ground. I woke up in the hospital and didn’t remember any of it. And I puked. That was fun. What’s the most people you’ve ever thrown up around? I puked in front of 12 doctors, all of them looking right in my face. With a broken neck, by the way. You ever puked with a broken neck? I fractured my neck, but that wasn’t really painful. I’d already hurt my back, and whatever happened when I seized, I reinjured myself. It never fixed itself. Now it’s a mess. I’m still dealing with it, getting seen by chiropractors and getting scans and stuff. But it wiped me out for four or five months. I missed pilot season [and] had to cancel a bunch of gigs. As I’m finally getting back on my feet, I started wondering, Do I even want to do this? I’d never had that thought before, ever. Then I had a second seizure. That wiped me out again. But I could not let it take me out because we had already pitched the show. So I just fought through the pain. So, yeah, it’s been a weird couple of years. What were the circumstances of the second seizure? What did the doctors say caused them?
In January or February of this year, I was on a conference call with my manager and agent. They said they just heard the phone drop and gagging sounds, and they called 911. I have sharp waves on the left side of my brain that cause focal epilepsy, which puts me in a category of people who have a 70 percent higher chance of a repeat seizure. I initially declined the medication they suggested I take, anticonvulsants. I said, “What are the side effects?” They said, “Drowsiness and irritability.” And I said, “Well, I don’t want those things.” They also wanted me to reduce my anxiety, exercise, get plenty of sleep, and stop drinking. I switched from whiskey to beer. And I decided to get a second opinion. In the midst of my second opinion — after visiting with the doctor, prior to him doing his own scans up in Canada — I had another seizure. So I’m like, Okay, maybe these neurologists know what they’re talking about. I went on medication, and since I can’t drive anymore, I had to deal with a whole thing of having to rent out my house [outside of Los Angeles] and move into an apartment in the city, where I can walk and Uber. And now I sleep. That’s the big one. I sleep well. What was it about the second seizure that made you take it more seriously?
I guess I didn’t want to die. The two seizures I had were around people, but if I was on an escalator or driving a car, other people could be injured, too. I think I just started to worry about how my parents might feel if I were dead. So I take the medication, I still have the occasional light beer, and I feel pretty good. It’s weird. I think about it differently all the time. It was weirder than I was willing to accept it was. I had changed a little bit and I was doing things I was not wanting to do. I was not the person I wanted to be. Now, I feel like I’m starting to write more and more the way I want to write … I’m tired of taking my shirt off and showing suspenders or a penis drawn on my chest. That’s not happening anymore. Along with Austin’s Moontower Comedy Festival in April, what else do you have planned for 2019?
The goal is to at least do an album, but hopefully to also film a stand-up special. The idea I’d really love to do … I was watching a YouTube video of the Sex Pistols when they were on the boat doing their album-release party, and I was like, Itwould be interesting to do comedy on a boat. And it would be really interesting to tell two stories. I’d love my comedy bio to be “in this one-hour special, Jon Dore attempts to perform stand-up comedy while thwarting a terrorist attack on a boat.” I’m thrilled that I have so many gigs booked for the New Year, and I’m just enjoying writing jokes for the first time in a long time. | 
