Local actor and playwright Pierre Brault is somewhat of an Ottawa legend. He’s been writing and performing one-man shows and acting in other plays for over 30 years, most of it right here in the capital, so I wanted to find out more about the man and his work. The week I spoke with him, he was re-embracing his love of stand-up comedy by headlining at Absolute Comedy on Preston St.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
Pierre Brault. Photo provided.
Apt613: Could you please introduce yourself?
Pierre Brault: My name is Pierre Brault. I work as a stand-up comedian, a stand-up comedian teacher, a playwright and an actor.
What is your writing process for stand-up?
I try to write about my own experiences. There are a lot of self-deprecating jokes that are at nobody’s expense but myself. I travel quite extensively, and I love talking about the countries I visited. So there is a lot of material, not just locally, but nationally and internationally. I like a joke where the audience has to do a little bit of thinking to close the gap, where they have to take a second, think about the joke and then laugh.
What is the hardest part about stand-up, in your opinion?
I started doing stand-up in 1982 at Yuk Yuk’s on Bay Street in Toronto. I was 18 years old and found it a very difficult and challenging atmosphere. So I went out of it for quite a while. But when I came back to it, I knew exactly what to expect, and [ever since then] it’s been great. That being said, I want to dispel the rumour that there is some rarified air that comedians have. Everybody is capable of it. They don’t necessarily need to have funny stories; as long as they are relatable, people will laugh.
Pierre Brault. Photo provided.
You are also very well-known for your dramatic pieces. Are there any similarities you see in performing a dramatic piece and a comedic piece?
My experience in stand-up made me unfearful of going on stage. After playing at bars and universities and dealing with drunk hecklers, I then go on stage at the National Arts Centre where nobody is going to heckle you. In fact, afterwards, they will clap. In stand-up comedy, I began to use my theatrics more, like my accents and my stage presence. And in theatre, we have the fourth wall, but in comedy that’s gone and you are talking directly to the audience. All of my solo shows are direct addresses to the audience.
What’s more challenging—creating the play or performing it?
It is enormously difficult to create spontaneously. I would love to say that the writing process is easy for me; it’s not. What’s more difficult, writing or the performance? There is no answer. When I’m writing, the actor is not even in the room, but when I’m acting, I have to kick the playwright out of the room, because I can’t keep changing stuff. I’ll be on stage, “we’ll just lose that line”; no, I wrote that line for a reason, so what was it? I don’t go back and change my plays after I’m done; if I perform it again, it’s the same play. Theatre and stand-up comedy, both of what I do, unless you recorded it, it’s gone. It’s a moment in time.
Pierre Brault. Photo provided.
Have you ever thought about closing the book on your career? Maybe in five years, maybe in ten?
I think for any person who makes their living in performance that is an everyday feeling. It becomes more pressing as you get older. There are times when I think, “how long can I do this?” but I am not there yet. I’m not sure when it is, but I would like to think that I would know. In fact, I would say it’s never been as good as it is right now. It has nothing to do with being more successful, it’s about the contentment of where I am. And the fact that I have been able, in the last 30 years, to make a living as an artist in Ottawa—it’s a gift.
“I’ve been incredibly lucky when I used to think I was incredibly cursed. To find myself blessed in this town with this community, I’ll do this for as long as I can.”
Could the Pierre Brault of today perform a play of yours from 2005 and vice versa? Could you perform Blood on the Moon like you did 20 years ago?
I certainly would like to think I could. However, the main character in Blood on the Moon was hanged when he was 29. I’m not 29. When I did Blood on the Moon, I was in my early 30s, so it wasn’t a problem. If you ask me if I can do it, I can do it for you now. 400 or so performances and it is the first thing I ever wrote. Yeah, I can still do it.
So through the decades, the different plays and mediums of entertainment, what is the connective tissue that makes Pierre Brault who he is?
Because I had a difficult childhood, it’s created within me this deep emotional well from which I can draw. As an actor, I do not need to manufacture the emotions required because I have gone through them. It’s the same with humour; I don’t need to dig too deep to find the comedy because it is already there. I think that’s the one connective thing the audience can relate to because they have the same emotions.
Brault is set to perform his play Will Somers: Keeping Your Head, based on the historical figure and jester Will Somers, at Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe from March 19–23. For more information on Pierre Brault and his future endeavours, you can visit his website.
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