When David Milchard signed up to be an actor/comedian, he never expected to put stripper on his CV.
Gyrating and flexing in front of thousands of people just wasn’t in the grand scheme of things Milchard planned to do with his life.
But the Vancouver-based comic, famed for his viral webseries, Convos with my Two-Year-Old, has been part of the full-bodied experience that is The Comic Strippers for the past three-and-a-half years, and he has no plans to stop taking it off anytime soon.
In fact, he is joining the all-male revue for its western Canadian tour, which returns to Vernon next week.
“It’s funny when people ask if they can get together with me, I have to tell them, ‘I can’t, I’m stripping tonight,’” said Milchard, who has been juggling this tour while co-producing his new web series, Santa Jesus, which answers the question, “what if they were roommates?”
Now before you get your knickers in a knot, note that The Comic Strippers is a fictitious male stripper troupe. The show is a parody and uses improvisational comedy and audience suggestion. There’s nothing untoward going on here - it’s played for laughs.
“We’re not swearing, but we get into trouble sometimes. We’ve never been run out of town or gone anywhere the audiences didn’t want us to,” said Milchard.
In fact, audiences – both male and female – kind of dig the premise of these boys who are trying to climb up the stripper pole, so to speak.
“They line up for autographs and share photos on Facebook,” laughed Milchard.
“The show is improvisational, so it makes it different every time. We’ve used chorography and dance in the show and have lip synced and now we sing and dance. We’re like a quadruple threat.”
Milchard describes the troupe as having “Dad-bods,” which he uses to embody his role as Chip Munk (all the strippers are named Chip in some form or another), the newest member of the troupe who is trying to earn his purple bow tie from the pink one he wears above his oiled torso.
“He’s a bit more innocent and makes mistakes. He looks up to Chip Stick (played by Ken Lawson), who was around when baring your nipples was still illegal.”
Milchard joined The Comic Strippers after his fellow Vancouver TheatreSport League mate Roman Danylo called him with this crazy idea for a show. A veteran of standup and CTV’s now defunct Comics Inc., Danylo also enlisted fellow TheatreSport members Chris Casillan and Lawson. The boys knew they were onto something after they toured the show on the Australian Fringe circuit in 2013.
“It was really successful and then became full-born,” said Milchard. “We started booking shows across Canada and we did very well in the U.S., considering no one knew who we were.”
The Comic Strippers have since enlisted other “dad-bods” to be a part of the troupe, and Milchard says he continues to stay on board because the show is not only successful, it’s a gas.
“I really never thought I would ever do a comedic stripper show,” he said. “I have to say it’s the dumbest show I’ve ever done. It’s a testament to how silly and ridiculous it all is. Half the time we’re on stage we’re laughing and the audience is on board for the fun.”
The Comic Strippers bring their sexylarious antics to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Thursday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. 19-years-plus. Tickets are $39 (regular price) at the Ticket Seller box office (250-549-7469, ticketseller.ca) or $34 each for groups of six or more (group discounts are not available online, call the box office for more information).