Nikki Payne begins to sculpt out a new direction in comedy

One of the Halifax’s most revered stand-up comedians is making a long-awaited return to her hometown.

Returning to play The Comedy Cove from February 24 to 26, the local club dates will mark the first time the Lower Sackville native has headlined a show in Halifax since before the pandemic, and by some indications, it could be one of her last.

“I’ve been trying to move away from doing as much stand-up comedy (but) I don’t want to go so far as to say I’m retiring,” says Payne, adding that the pandemic has caused her to re-evaluate many of her goals. “I was thinking about it before COVID but I definitely don’t want to get on planes anymore and be going every weekend somewhere new — I’m getting tired of that.”

A stalwart on the stand-up comedy scene since her rise in the early 2000s, Payne has earned numerous awards for her hilarious act. Among those accomplishments are three Canadian Comedy Awards, as well as television appearances as a member of the former sketch show Comedy Inc., plus a multitude of guest appearances on everything from the Ha!ifax Comedy Fest to American talent show Last Comic Standing.

After two decades of telling jokes, Payne admits that although being a road comic has been an absolute joy, the grind is beginning to wear her down.

“It’s (also) not environmentally friendly and I feel like I’m not doing my part if I am jumping on an airplane every weekend and staying in hotels (so) it’s not a healthy way to live,” adds Payne.

“I’m not a big drinker or anything, but when I’m on the road, I don’t eat right, I don’t exercise properly and I can say every time before I go that it’ll be different this time, (but) before you know it, you’re ordering take-out and binge-watching Netflix in a hotel room.”

Payne actually began slowing the pace of her stand-up life back in 2012 when, after nearly 15 years of carving her career out of Toronto, she bought a house and relocated to a small fishing village near Shediac, New Brunswick.

“It’s a different life that I was sort of craving,” says Payne, who has clearly been pleased with the more remote lifestyle ever since. “Our gas station is also a liquor store and a grocery store and they even put a little pizza parlour in there too!”

In fact, at 46-years-old, Payne is even going back to school to obtain her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at nearby Mount Allison University, where she hopes to discover the next chapter in her career.

“I definitely can feel myself leaning a little bit more towards photography and sculpture,” says Payne. “How the heck I mix comedy into that — how I bridge those two things, I have no idea.”

Comedy fans don’t necessarily need to be concerned that Payne will disappear from the stand-up world entirely however. Just as the pandemic has helped to inspire her to experiment in studying other fields, it has equally fuelled ideas and sparked new jokes that have made their way into her on-stage performance.

“I’m talking more about home ownership and getting older and I’m talking about going to university when I’m 46,” laughs Payne. She also avoids doing as many late-night shows as she gets older. “In my 20s, I had less life experience so there were less things to pull from.”

Although that may be the case, Payne was certainly able to catch the attention of audiences and her peers when she left Nova Scotia at the age of 19 to pursue her comedy career.

Shortly after arriving in Toronto, she was embraced by Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club owner Mark Breslin who encouraged her, and often named her alongside Russell Peters as the best comedians in the country.

“That still blows me away — that he would lump me in with Russell Peters,” remembers Payne. “I have seen chunks of the world that I would have never seen if it wasn’t for stand-up comedy and honestly, it was Mark Breslin who saw me and started it all off.”

With her stand-up career now winding down, Payne is excited to bring her more mature act to the Comedy Cove and show her fans that, although she is beginning to explore new ventures, it will only to help to evolve her material.

However, she stops short of admitting that her jokes have entirely grown up.

“If you’re looking for a clean, family-friendly set, don’t come,” laughs Payne. “But if you’re looking to have just a fun time being 11 again and (hearing) poo jokes, (then come). Plus, I’ll have everybody home in time for bed.”

Nikki Payne performs at The Comedy Cove from February 24 to 26.