Local teacher a stand-up guy when he takes the stage at comedy club

By Sam Leishman - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on February 27, 2025.

Herald photo by Scott Sakatch Brian Dawydiuk cracks up the audience at the Good Times Comedy Club in downtown Lethbridge.

What he thought was going to be a one-off stand up comedy set has turned into a lifelong passion for Brian Dawydiuk.

However, he has a rather unusual backstory in his journey to becoming a comic. Dawydiuk has been teaching in Lethbridge for the last two decades.

He says he’s been drawn to comedy ever since he was a kid, fondly reminiscing on how he would regularly watch Saturday Night Live at the age of 10, but believed that it wasn’t something he’d get to try himself. “It just looked like something that the people on TV did,” Dawydiuk told the Herald. “I happened to find out that we had an open mic at The Owl years ago, and I did one set as a bucket list thing and didn’t intend on doing it again. Then, about seven or eight years ago, we were discussing option classes at our junior high and my teaching partner suggested stand-up comedy as an option.”

Dawydiuk decided to return to the stage a few more times to gain a better appreciation for the art form before running with the idea. He says he would first analyze performances from well-known comedians, like Jerry Seinfeld, with his class to help them understand how to deliver a joke.

Then he would teach them how to structure jokes around their own teenage experiences, which tended to focus on homework, lunch time and video games. Dawydiuk hasn’t been teaching stand-up comedy at his school in recent years despite positive feedback from students, but he has moved on to teaching sketch comedy this school year.

In his own set, Dawydiuk draws inspiration from his years of teaching, parenting his own children, his life as a former athlete and learning new skills – like yoga – as a middle-aged man.

He says he tries to avoid current events as much as possible because he believes that comedy should be an escape from the real world. “There is this good feeling you get when you bring joy to others. Laughter is joy that they can’t keep in.”

After seven years on stage, though, Dawydiuk admits that the butterflies still get to him before every show.

“The best part is that release of tension of not knowing, especially if you’re trying new material. You never know until you say it into the microphone and the audience reacts. That little time between finishing your punchline and getting the reaction, I think that’s my favourite part.” Even when a joke doesn’t land quite right, Dawydiuk says he takes it as a learning opportunity to do better next time, in true teacher fashion.

He often ventures out to perform in new venues and cities and now considers stand-up comedy as more than just a hobby, but Dawydiuk says he won’t be giving up his teaching job any time soon.

“I’ve got to meet a few comics that are also teachers. One of them is a retired teacher and he said anything that I can do to not quit teaching to do comedy would be a good idea,” he joked.

“I truly do enjoy teaching still. If I can figure out how to continue to balance it and grow the comedy side, maybe it’ll be a nice profitable side hustle that I can do into the retirement years.”

Speaking of retirement years, Dawydiuk is excited to be part of the lineup for the roast of Mark Campbell this coming April. The event, which will see folks poking fun at the longtime Lethbridge celebrity, will be a fundraiser for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

“(Mark) has has been a major part of Lethbridge and has so many deep roots in our city,” says Dawydiuk. “We’ve assembled a great lineup filled with his friends as well as some of Lethbridge’s best comics.”

He points out that the roast will be “far more playful” than the merciless skewering of former NFL quarterback Tom Brady that sparked headlines last year.

“It’ll be a very fun night filled with great comedy, hilarious stories and great entertainment. We hope to fill the room with people wanting to laugh with us and raise money for a good cause.”

Dawydiuk is a regular performer at Lethbridge’s Good Times Comedy Club, and he has also been producing shows in other nearby towns, including Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek, Raymond and the Crowsnest Pass. He makes sure to post about upcoming shows on his @briandawydiuk Instagram page.