DANA ALEXANDER

HELEN MARTIN INTERVIEWS DANA

I feel bad. At the beginning of our 9am interview, Dana tells me she’s slipped a disc. Ouch! I know people that have done this and offer my sympathies over the phone.

But a stranger isn’t what Dana needs. She hits the nail on the head with this when she lists the good and the bad of being a comedian on the road.

“The short hours appeal to me. And the travel… though this is really difficult. There are times when you want to be home and you’re on the road all the time. Especially when you’re in a situation like I am right now, with a slipped disc, you just want to
be home, do you know what I mean?”

Dana moved from Toronto to London in April 2011 – “It’s busy, that’s for sure!” – because: “England has the best stand comedy scene up in the world. And my mother happens to be English so it worked for visa purposes, too.”

Try to imagine: the late 1990s in Edmonton, Canada. Wide open spaces, green in that lively emerald colour, water and sharp buildings. Dana is 18 years old and standing on stage; performing her stand-up comedy routine for the first time.

Just that last sentence is enough to make many people shiver at the mere hint of such a scenario. But for Dana Alexander it was the beginning of her career in comedy. “I was 18 and enrolled in high school, in a very heavy arts programme, involving acting directing, music, theatre and drama. I found that I was actually better working by myself. That first show was nerve wracking. I mean, every show is nerve-wracking, to this day, they still are. It was fun, though. I got a pretty decent response. I think because of that I stuck with it.”