Darcy Michael and Jeremy Baer may be self-described “idiots on the internet,” but they’re no dummies when it comes to creating dual careers in comedy while living and working together.
As Darcy & Jer, they’re travelling the world on a “No Refunds” tour coming to Surrey’s Bell Performing Arts Centre on Friday, April 26.
The show is kind of a homecoming for the former Ladner residents, who moved to Vancouver Island last fall.
“Judging by our guest list it definitely feels like a homecoming because none of our friends want to pay for tickets,” quipped Michael.
Back in 2021, he launched a Tiktok account where Baer became part of the online fun. Two years later, after attracting millions of followers, they decided to hit the stage together in Vancouver, giving birth to a comedy stage show with jokes about their relationship, ADHD, plants and much more.
“I did stand-up for 18 years in Canada,” Michael said during a conference call, “and when COVID hit and we started posting online, we definitely did not expect Jer to be doing stand-up with me.”
Baer’s plan “was to get Darcy back on tour and then shadow the tour manager role, behind the scenes, keep that in-house. But then they dragged me out on stage,” recalled the former office manager for a shipping supply company. “I don’t remember that show, I think I blacked out as soon as I went out on stage. But it was good to being able to look over and see Darcy there, knowing he will pick it up if I drop everything.”
Michael laughed.
“The problem is he’s gotten so funny now that he catches me off-guard and it pisses me off,” said the stand-up. “I’m like, hey, this is my gig, I’m just sharing the stage with you. That was Jer’s first time on stage holding a microphone in front of 1,200 people, you know. With 90 minutes of untested material, it was such a leap of faith, but as we said to each other over the last year, let’s just step outside our comfort zone and dive into this and see if we like it. And we like it. It’s just fricking exhausting.”
This week they returned home after visiting six cities in 10 days, with Live Nation-booked B.C. show dates to come in Surrey, Vernon and Nanaimo (where they’re filming a special May 7). The two will take the summer off before heading back to Europe.
So, are they enjoying this comedy ride together, or has it become hard work?
“If you had asked me any other day, I would have said we’re loving every second,” Michael said. “Definitely the last two months has been a grind. Like, this last week we were in Albany, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Boston and Vegas, so there was no quit on that one, just go, go, go. But you know, just being able to finally, like, meet the fans in person, you can’t really complain when you have 1,000 people cheering for you every night.”
Michael added: “We’ve agreed that when we get back from touring, we both need a day or two of not talking to each other. We just go to our separate corners in the house and do our things, you know. You need to balance out because we really are together all the time. The co-dependency has never been stronger.”
Not surprisingly, the couple’s comedy show has evolved since their live debut together in February 2023.
“There are a lot of unscripted moments,” Michael explained, “and we’re kind of covering the pillars that people really attach to, which is relationships, mental health, probably a bit about drugs. I think the point of the show for us is to prove regardless of your sexuality or race or age, there’s a commonality between all of us, and we’re really seeing that with the audiences that we’re drawing in, that we can celebrate our differences and laugh at our common hiccups.”
This week, they’re trying to enjoy their new home.
“It hasn’t been all that relaxing yet,” Michael said. “We just got home yesterday and realized we don’t have a lawn mower and the grass is like seven inches tall.”
Baer grew up in the Delta area, where the couple lived for close to 20 years.
“We’re trying to keep it secret where we live now,” Michael said, “because before, some people knew and too many people were showing up at our door. It’s kind of why we had to move, so this time we just say we’re on the Island. We love it there (in Ladner) and miss it. It was a sad one but we both needed a better balance of privacy and downtime. And there’s nothing slower than the Island.”