Stand Up Guy
The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts and business news in the region. Mark Leger is the editor of Huddle and the Director of News Content for Acadia Broadcasting.
Years ago, a friend asked me to do some storytelling on stage at his improv comedy nights. The idea was the group would do an improvised scene based on a story I would tell. They would also invite local musicians and act out scenes based on the songs they would perform. It was a very creative way of generating new ideas for scenes.
For me, it was terrifying because I’d never done anything like this before. But I said yes anyway and quickly discovered it was a lot of fun. At the first event, I told a story about a 1,500-kilometre bike trip to Toronto in my 20s and the various mishaps along the way, including a police escort out of a small town in Maine that didn’t like a pair of scraggly young men camping at the local ballfield.
I also told a story about riding the “injury bus” back into Boston after dropping out of the marathon because of shin splints – a humiliating journey that featured me and other runners with full bladders forcing our way off the bus in a traffic jam to pee on the side of the highway.
At this event, and others that followed, I enjoyed the engagement with a live audience that laughed a lot at the stories I would tell. I arrived at one show and recognized good friends in the front row. I sat down beside them nervous they might see me flop before a packed house. They were still laughing when I finished my story and sat down. A friend leaned toward me and said, “You’re funnier than James Mullinger!”
It’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. I was invigorated by this newfound love for performing on stage but insecure about how I was really doing. I’d seen James perform live comedy shows and was a big fan. I wrote a feature story about his move to New Brunswick from London, England, for The Globe and Mail. It was high praise indeed for someone like me who knew James was an accomplished comedian who has been nominated for a Just For Laughs comedy award and a Canadian Comedy Award for Best Live Show.
Of course, I’m not as funny as James, but I was nonetheless flattered by my friend’s comment. It’s been years since I took part in events like this and it’s obviously not a skill set I share with him. But he and I are peers in another field. The multi-talented comedian is also a writer, podcaster, journalist and entrepreneur. We are both editors of Atlantic Canadian media outlets that celebrate entrepreneurship throughout the region – me the editor of Huddle and James the co-founder and editor of [Edit], a magazine that celebrates life in Atlantic Canada and profiles the region’s most creative and entrepreneurial people.
Podcast: How James Mullinger Makes Us Laugh And Be Proud Atlantic Canadians Too
James is the featured guest on the latest Huddle “Insights” podcast with David Campbell and Don Mills. As I listened to their chat, the way James described his reasons for launching [Edit] echoed the thinking around my decisions to launch the weekly newspaper here more than 20 years ago and join Huddle nearly five years ago.
Through storytelling, we both celebrate entrepreneurship and creativity and showcase the region as a great place to live, build a career, or start a business.
James has done things a lot of people wouldn’t have thought possible here – like developing a comedy career or launching a print magazine. But he says this region is a great place for self-starters who know how to find their own route to success.
“There’s this well-worn path [in big cities] that you’re told you have to take,” he tells Don and David. “I think this is the case in any industry whether you’re an architect, opening a restaurant, or a wellness company, or whatever it is. In Atlantic Canada, you can carve your own path…I feel like you can do anything here because there isn’t anyone telling you it has to be [done a certain] way.”
James moved to the Saint John area with his wife Pamela, the co-founder and Publishing Director of [Edit], to give their family a better quality of life, but they didn’t have to sacrifice their career ambitions in the process.
“All of my kind of childhood dreams have come true,” he says. “I’m a present father around my children, which is one of the reasons we moved here, but I also get to enjoy life as a comedian and a magazine owner.”
I don’t see James very often but have great memories of the chats we’ve had over the years – like the interview for the Globe story before a stand-up show at the Shadow Inn in Rothesay, and a coffee we had at the Java Moose in Rothesay around the same time. He’s warm and engaging, and of course funny too.
Most recently, I saw him at a hockey game in Quispamsis, the town next door to Rothesay. I discovered that our sons were playing against each other as I sat down to say hello to him and Pamela. I became so absorbed in our conversation that I didn’t pay close attention to the game itself and only found out afterward that my son had scored three goals.
For me, a good podcast is like listening in on a great chat in a coffee shop or hockey arena. The conversation between Don, David and James has that quality, so please do listen when you’re on a walk this weekend or having a coffee after you finish this column. And subscribe to Huddle and [Edit] while you’re at it. My time on stage as a storyteller was short-lived, but the storytelling about the region’s progress and people is indispensable and will stand the test of time with your support.
Do you have feedback on this column or other stories in Huddle? Send me an e-mail: [email protected]. Or give me a call: 506-654-0393.
Banner photo: James Mullinger live on stage at TD Station in Saint John. Image: Sean McGrath.