It seems incredibly appropriate that our interview with Darcy Michael and Jeremy Baer, the Vancouver area couple whose comedic videos have exploded on TikTok and other social media is from their bed in a hotel room in Minneapolis, where they appeared at another jam packed theatre for their current No Refunds tour. The tour arrives at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton June 27^th and Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary June 28^th.

"You're going to have to bear with us. We're zombies right now. We've been on a new flight every 12 hours for like five days in a row. They have to write the city name on the stage for me to remember." Darcy said. "It was pride here, so it was a really fun crowd and, they were ready to party. It was probably the most off the wall show we've done of the tour. I was climbing through the audience at one point."

The tour is currently booked with dates through 2024. One of the differences between being a band and a comedy act is that routing isn’t as important for staging and a massive crew. The pair fly in and out and can take breaks. Darcy explained why after 20 years it was important to have breaks.

"We're kind of a nightmare for the tour promoters. I toured for so long before all this, it's really hard to have a good quality of life on the road. When Jer and I decided to do this, I would way rather stretch this out over a longer period of time. We haven't had a summer at home in a couple years, I want to have a summer at home. I want to hang out in my garden. We wanted to make sure that we were not gone from our dog and daughter for two or three months solid.  We go for like five or six days, then we have a few weeks at home to do all our other projects that Jer keeps signing us up for."

Tour dates include stops in States like Florida and Texas which are trying to implement laws that are anti-LGBTQ. Darcy explained the duo wrestled with going to those states.

"We talked about whether we avoid these States? And then we were both pretty adamant that absolutely not. There are people in those states that need us now more than ever, they need a night in a room that is safe, that is fun, that is full of loving people. I think that it motivates us more than anything to go to Florida and be like, Hey, you're gonna be okay. Because even though you, you don't feel family. Family's here, family's coming to help you and we haven't forgotten about you. I hear all these people that are saying we should boycott Florida. And that's not fair to our queer family in Florida that doesn't have the privilege to leave. You know, like we, we hear about the trans ex exodus and I'm so happy that people are able to do that. But that's a small minority of people that can, it's not easy to just get up and leave your state or your province."

While Darcy has 20 years working the comedy circuit, Jeremy debuted on stage at the Just For Laughs Festival in Vancouver in February at a sold out 1200 seat theatre. Despite his TikTok fame, performing in front of an audience was a new experience for the former office worker.

"It's been wild, and we had no idea when we did that first Vancouver show. Darcy wrote the show so smartly in that either one of us can tell any of the stories. So, if I completely panicked I could have just, okay, I got Darcy back on stage, have a good night."

"I really wanted a hard exit point for Jer if he needed it. My poor little man's first show is in front of a thousand people!" Darcy said with a laugh. Jer added that the previous night’s show – his fifth – had been his most comfortable on stage.

Darcy has a 20-year career in comedy and TV, including opening in arenas for Russel Peters, 10 appearances at Montreal’s Just for Laughs, and starring for 2 seasons on CTV’s Spun Out. Now on stage with his husband, he joked that he still treats the set like a solo act, with Jer being allowed to chime in every now and then.

"I think it's the coolest thing in the world. I don't think I know anyone else that's doing what Jar and I are doing on stage. It's really exciting. I don't want to like sound super cheeseball, but Jer’s my favorite person in the world to do anything with and now I get to be on stage with him and just fuck with him. Last night it was just so fun because it was like, I'm gonna just see if this little fucker can keep up."  I was going all over the place. We make each other scream and laugh during the show, we catch each other off guard and it's fun for the audience for sure, but when I'm up there I want to see his reaction to what we're doing. I don't think I've felt this excited for comedy ever in my career if I'm totally honest."

Having a built-in audience that already knows them makes it easier to create a show as well. Not having to spend the first half of the act trying to win over an audience is a nice change from small comedy clubs and being the comic of the day.

"The amount of shows that I did at Yuk Yuks at the Elbow River Casino to just 400 random comedy fans that you have to win over. This is the first time I've ever toured where I don't have to come out as gay to the audience. I did that for 18 years every night I'd have to be like, I'm gay, here’s the joke that justifies it so you're all comfortable. I'm having the time of my life. It's so fun." Darcy said. "It makes it worth it. It makes all those shitty lonely nights staying in the Yuk Yuks condo being like, oh, is this worth it? I spent so long saying goodbye to Jer and our daughter every weekend to go and make $500 being like, am I selfish? Is this stupid? Is this ever gonna pay off? And you know what? It paid off. It makes the sacrifices feel valid."

Jeremy added his thoughts.

"He always said touring is so lonely. You're only on stage for an hour and then you get 23 hours before your next show by yourself. Now we get to travel together"

"Yeah he’s always here... all the time" Darcy replied with a pained look on his face.

The beauty of Darcy and Jer’s TikTok, social, and touring success is it is a positive reminder of acceptance. At a time when ant-gay and anti-trans rhetoric is spouted by a loud minority, and companies like Target and Bud Light see a backlash for being allies, it is in a way a beacon in the darkness. Here are two gay men with 4.5 million followers selling out venues as their authentic selves. Every night in the audience there are undoubtedly people who are feeling down and see themselves represented and think maybe it’s going to be ok."When Darcy first started TikTok his goal was just to put some joy out into the world. During covid it was a dark time for everyone, not just our community. Everyone was doom scrolling with Covid, everyone was locked down, mental health was probably at its lowest," Jer recalled.

" I always say to Jer if we're gonna post something, I want it to be 20 seconds where people just forget whatever's bugging them. I'm very political, I'm a news junkie off screen. I could just stand on my pulpit and rage about everything that's happening all the time. Last when Roe V Wade was overturned, we needed to speak up as fathers of a daughter. We want make sure that women know that this is a safe space for them. We raised like 20,000 for abortion funds over the one weekend," Darcy said. "I don't want to be those guys that avoid politics on our stuff, but at the same time, I want people to just be able to forget and lead by example that there is hope for happiness. It’s tough to find the balance for us. But I, and we also keep in mind, I always say this too, with the biggest grain of salt, we live a very privileged existence as white men. If we were a black trans woman in America, I don't know if our content would be the same joy-filled thing. We want people to just come here and for the next 90 minutes we're in a safe place together. Let’s just enjoy ourselves and forget what's outside these walls waiting for us. when you're just in a room full of queer neuro neurodivergent folks that have just been looking for a home, uh, it's a really, it's a fucking celebration. It's a really fun time."

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