This Windsor-born comedian draws on family in album nominated for a Juno

For the second time since 2019, the comedic chops of Windsor-born Dave Merheje have caught the eye of the Juno Awards voters.

Merheje took home a Juno that year, winning Comedy Album of the Year for Good Friend, Bad Grammar at a ceremony held in London, Ont.

This year, he’s back in the spotlight again–earning another nomination, this time for his latest record entitled Dawud, which is up for Best Comedy Album.

And the two records share more than just Juno recognition: both draw heavily on Merheje’s family and upbringing–a well the Lebanese-Canadian continues to mine for comedic gold.

Joining from Los Angeles, Merheje spoke to Windsor Morning’s Amy Dodge about how his family and growing up in Windsor shaped his award-winning material. Here’s part of that conversation:

Well, your family is a big part of your material. What do you think is so funny about your family? 

I think naturally, they're funny themselves. Since I was a kid there was always humor in the house. My mom tells stories, my brother tells stories. It's just a family that makes each other laugh, whether it's naturally or just them being themselves. My dad is very funny in a sense when he's not trying to be funny. 

The name of your record is actually your name in Arabic. So what's the Arabic community been like for you? They must identify with a lot of what you're doing. 

Even myself, playing for room full of let's say Lebanese people — you just go through these experiences, not together obviously, but you know everyone can kind of relate.

When you're in a room like that, when you're making everyone laugh, but they're also connecting because they're like, “oh, I went through that as well or something similar to that." I think it just heightens the experience in the room.

What does your family think of how you explain their relationship or how you explain things that they do and turn it into a bit of your skit? 

They're very supportive. They've been coming to shows since I started. My dad, he enjoys it. I'm saying he's never been like, “why would you say that?” I think he just enjoys when the stories are being told. They’ll tell me stuff sometimes now too, you know, insinuating to put it into my act. My mom has been super cool throughout.

There are times where if I talk about how we were raised in a sense or certain punishments that we had, she’ll be apologetic. That’s a little bit, not weird in a sense —you’re dealing with each other’s traumas maybe.

It puts you in a vulnerable position with your parents, for sure.