Lars Callieou is a stand-up comedian from Lacombe who’s performed for the Comedy Network and Just for Laugh’s to name a few of his credentials. The comedian will be hosting a stand-up comedy event at Burger Baron on Thursday, May 28th, starting at 5:00 pm. 

Callieou says he grew up in Central Alberta and is looking forward to performing at his favourite burger joint. 

“I’ve been in and around Central Alberta since 1989. I had my first Lacombe Burger Baron burger when I was 12 or 13 years old.  I graduated from Lacombe Composite High School in 1994. There was another entertainer, there’s two of us his career is coming along, he’s showing some promise. So, Gord Bamford and I graduated together,” joked Callieou. 

When the pandemic began, the comedian was in Australia to perform the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Callieou and another comedian decided to come back to Canada by flipping a coin. After returning to Canada, the comedian went into self-isolation where an idea stuck him. 

“I spent 15 days in isolation with no venues open, or no gatherings allowed at that time, I hadn’t done comedy in 46 days which shattered any kind of record over the past 17 years. I saw a couple of friends when they allowed gatherings on the 15th. I saw some friends physically distancing around a fire pit and when I saw that a lightbulb came on and I said wait a minute I could do a show 12 feet away from these people and follow the guidelines of Alberta Health Services,” explained Callieou. 

In response, the comedian has been performing socially distanced stand up in people’s backyards to enlighten the situation. He now has 104 bookings between now and the beginning of July. Although he is not making a ton of money, he is happy to be performing once again. 

“Anybody who knows entertainers we didn’t get into comedy for money. We didn’t get into for any other reason than self-importance. You just want to be on stage. You want to be the centre of attention. This was all about me. The first weekend of shows we just went to a couple of friend’s yards and it just took on a life of its own. It’s been surreal,” said Callieou. 

Now, the comedian hopes to come and share his comedy with the people of Lacombe at Burger Baron on Thursday, May 28th at 5:00 PM and raise some money for the Lacombe Foodbank. There are only 35 tickets available and tickets only cost what you can afford. 

“If you don’t have any money, just grab a pair of tickets. There is no cost to them. We wanted to make them accessible to people who need a laugh. If people can afford it, anything they pay for tickets, 100 per cent of it will go to the Lacombe Food Bank,” explained Callieou. 

You can grab tickets at Burger Baron in the restaurant or online through Facebook.

However, Callieou recommends getting them online if you can only come to the restaurant during peak mealtime.

Only 35 tickets will be sold to maintain social distancing efforts.

To learn more about the comedian, you can check out @ExtraLars on Twitter and Instagram.