Former policer officer turned comic to record first album
A former Timmins police officer turned comedian is set to record his first comedy album next month.
Rick Lemieux has been performing stand-up comedy on and off for the last 20 years or so.
Now, drawing from his life experiences, he said he is finally ready to record a comedy album.
Lemieux told CTV News that being a police officer made it difficult to joke about his job on stage.
Now, since moving on from the force, he said he has been practicing his routine and his jokes can get a room laughing better than ever.
“Literally, I cringe because I’m not as polished as I am now. I watch and I go, ‘Aw, I thought I was good’ … now I feel like I am,” said Lemieux, talking about watching his old tapes.
The former policeman has titled his first album ‘The Cops Can’t Stop Me Now,’ which he said will share many good-humoured stories from his policing days and that he is pretty sure won’t get him in trouble with his former coworkers.
“You get to do a lot of things and you’re like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ You know, ‘I can’t believe this is what I saw.’ And it makes for funny stories,” Lemieux said.
He said he likes to joke and it took him 20 years as an officer to come up with an hour of material.
Lemieux said he had some well-known comedians help him along the way – a fact he appreciates.
One of those well-known comedians is Derek Seguin.
The Canadian stand-up comedian told CTV News that Lemieux is always his first choice to open for him when he is in the north, even though he was a cop when they first met.
“That’s not usually the profile of close friends of Derek Seguin, if you know what I mean,” said Seguin.
“He may have been my only police officer friend and, like, being my friend forces him out of the police force. That’s probably the influence that I would have on him.”
Lemieux said Seguin and others would give him tips and tell him that he is ready to record an album. Though Lemieux admits he sometimes brushed them off as just being nice.
“What has happened to us that that would be a surprising, ‘oh my God, Derek Seguin, he’s probably just nice to everybody.’ Yeah,” said Seguin.
“What’s wrong with that? That’s a total good way to just go through life.”
Lemieux said though it’s taken a while and he is raising young adults, he is still driven to see his comedy career through.
“They think I’m ready for this, so I guess I am,” Lemieux said.
“This is something I really want to do and nothing’s going to stop me from doing it.”
Lemieux will be performing in Sudbury on Feb. 10 at Little Montreal at 9 p.m. and recording his album live at the Porcupine Dante Club in Timmins on Feb. 18.
Tickets for the ‘The Cops Can’t Stop Me Now’ live comedy album recording show are available online.
For more information on Lemieux’s shows, visit his Facebook.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.