Most people would think going on a cross-country comedy tour is tough, but Michelle Christine apparently thought it was too easy so she decided to up the ante by traveling on her motorcycle for the tour while making a documentary.
“I thought if the light is green — go. Do it this year and film it so that you kind of have it as a memory and hopefully get it on Netflix,” Christine said. “If I have grandkids they can be like ‘wow grandma was a real badass.’ ”
The Ajax, Ont. native performed at the Bulkley Valley Brewery in Smithers as part of her 50% Canadian, 100% Crazy, Let’s Laugh, Cross Canada Tour last Wednesday.
Christine said she decided to take stand up classes at a comedy training school in Toronto after being laid off from her job and fell in love with the business instantly.
Christine has been performing for the last six years in Canada and abroad. In 2017, she won the best emerging artist award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival.
“I’m much more comfortable on stage,” Christine said of her growth as a comedian. “[On stage] I feel like I’m talking to my new best friend. If you can feel like that then I think you can really connect with your audience and make it a much more fun show for everybody.”
Christine was inspired to do this tour by the documentary series Long Way Round on Netflix.
The comedian started her tour in St John’s, Newfoundland on June 4 and will end in Whitehorse on July 24.
As one can imagine traveling cross-country by bike isn’t easy. Christine said she deals with all sorts of harsh weather conditions such as rain, lightning, heavy winds and heavy fogs.
She’s also travelling large distances in a short amount of time to get to her shows on time. She rode over 600 km to get to Smithers in time for her performance.
“It’s not like I can ride a long day and go home and have a beer,” Christine said. “I have to ride a long day and get on stage and perform. And not have a beer because I have to ride the next day again.”
It’s not all bad though, Christine said she’s also gotten a chance to experience some incredible things while on tour.
She went axe throwing in St John’s, stayed at a zombie survival camp in Durham, Ont. and went bungee jumping for the first time in Whistler.
“It really made me feel so good after I can’t even describe it,” Christine said about bungee jumping.
Through it all Christine has been followed and filmed by a crew of two people she’s paying for out of her own pocket.
Christine hopes to find a distributor for the film but if she can’t she will self-release the project.
Christine created a gofundme page titled Documentary: Riding Across Canada! to cover the cost of filming the documentary.