Knowing that Brent Butt is a huge Canucks fan, with another season set to start, I couldn't resist talking hockey with the Vancouver-based comedian, actor, author and all-around funny guy ahead of his sold-out show Saturday, Oct. 12 at Surrey Arts Centre. What follows is a Q&A done in a phone call 10 days prior to that show date, and one week before the Canucks open at home against Calgary Flames on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
What happened to your BBOnCanucks account on X and all those live tweets during the games?
"It was sort of a two-pronged thing that happened. One, I just kind of got fed up with Twitter for a while. And two, I also found that I wasn't enjoying watching the games, I was stressing out too much. I was trying to keep up with what was going on and, you know, come up with little witty tweets or whatever, and I was just like, I'm not even enjoying the game anymore. So I took a break from that to just watch the game, and I just never went back. That's not to say I never will, but I don't think I did one game all last season."
And look what happened, the Canucks were good again!
"Yeah, there's more motivation for me to keep my bad mojo out of the mix."
How and when did you become a Canucks fan?
"Well, I moved to Vancouver in February of '93, so the next season was the '93-'94 season where they went all the way to Game 7 (of the Stanley Cup Final), so it was hard not to get swept up. And you know, being from Saskatchewan, I don't have sort of an inherent original Saskatchewan team, right, so I didn't have hard allegiance to any team. Here I was in Vancouver, swept up in the 1994 run, and there was sort of no looking back."
Who's your favourite Canucks player all-time, and also currently?
"I think it's probably (Trevor) Linden, but it's hard, you know, because the twins (Daniel and Henrik Sedin) did so much, just unbelievably magic out there. I can't go back to the days of (Gary) 'Suitcase' Smith or someone, so I'm going 1994 onward. On the current team, it's hard not to love JT Miller, such a heart-and-soul guy who also puts up big numbers and also puts people through the wall, just does it all. I've met some of the guys at events I've done over the years, and Miller is also a fun guy to chat with."
So, do you think the Canucks will get past the second round of playoffs next spring?
"I think they will, yeah. Between seasons here (over the summer), I was like, we got rid of some guys that I was hoping we could keep. I was a little down, and then seeing some of the additions they made bolstered me again. So I'm feeling very bullish. But having said that, I'm notoriously, ridiculously optimistic about the Canucks, so I don't always have the most sensible takes, I've learned."
Why aren't you doing colour commentary for Canucks games on TV?
"Well, I got to do one on radio with Shorty (John Shorthouse), when (Tom) Larscheid was doing only half the games, in semi-retirement. They were inviting random people in – not random, but you know what I mean. It was against St. Louis, and I got a lot of positive feedback. The thing that stood out, what John Shorthouse still brings up, is that just before they dropped the puck, he went through the lineups, who was out with injury, a healthy scratch or whatever. St. Louis had two players, both with the last name Johnson, both out for that game. So I said, 'Shorty, are you telling me that St. Louis is scratching their Johnsons?'"
OK, a non-Canucks question: You wrote a novel that earned great praise last year. Are you writing a second, and what's it about?
"Yes I am, and it's a completely different story. The response I got with Huge was amazing. I have a sequel in mind, because people have asked where the story goes, but that's not what my next book is about. Huge was set on the low end of show business, but my next book has a character that's a rich-and-famous failure. It's also a dark, psychological thriller, like Huge was, because that's what I like to read. It's a study of ambition versus contentment – like, is there a point when you should be content and stop being ambitious?"
You've talked about wanting to do new things, try new things. Anything new that you're looking to do next?
"At some point in the new year I'm going to record a comedy album, which after 35 years of doing stand-up, it's maybe time to put out an album – just me doing stand-up, a dude talking, trying to be funny. It'd be a live setting. I don't think it'd be very effective to do it otherwise."
