Darrenfrost.com | The Official Website of Darren Frost

A golden rule of self-promotion: Show ’em you’re great. In my experience, few comedians mention those nights when the audience hated them, never mind pass out the tapes to prove it.

But Canadian comedian Darren Frost usually doesn’t do what you’d expect.

“If I was just sucking and the material wasn’t coming out of my mouth great, I wouldn’t release it. But to be firing with all cannons and for the crowd to not be digging it … I was on, but the audience didn’t know it was going to be this kind of show.”

A 14-year veteran of the comedy scene, Frost has made a name with an on-stage act so angry it could pretty steadily earn an R rating, for Realism, Rage, or just plain Rip-you-a-new-one. He’ll bring on any topic-tsunamis, terrorist attacks, you name it. A catastrophe is likely to work its way into his routine before the first firefighter is pulled to safety.

Frost is careful to avoid misogyny and racism in his act, but he says his delivery sometimes alienates audiences. “A lot of times crowds just hear me screaming. They don’t hear what I’m saying. But I’m not just screaming about pens and pencils and staplers … I am talking about Third World hunger. I am talking about politics. I am talking about the mass commercializing of things throughout North America. These are topics that I think everyday people can understand [getting] angry about.”

And when they just don’t find it funny?

“I used to be the comic that just wanted to make the audience laugh.  I don’t want to do that anymore. I want you to laugh at what I’m saying, but the difference now is am I going to move to where the audience wants this to go, or am I going to take the audience to where I want them to go?”

Be forewarned: You’re going where he’s going. And when you find yourself searching for the deeper meaning of a well-timed pedophile joke, don’t forget to check behind those spots where no one’s laughing.

Darren Frost (www.comedywhore.com) will be at Yuk Yuk’s from October 20 to 22. Look for him again in January with the XXX Cold Dark January comedy festival.