TORONTO — Jamaican comedian Dale Elliott is bringing Caribbean humour to the North with his “Bad Pickney” show. With the skill of making you laugh so hard your stomach hurts, Elliott stopped by The Brandon Gonez Show this week to tell us about his journey as a child from Jamaica to our screens and hosting sold out shows.
With a social media following of over 700K, Elliott has built an audience by making videos that speak to the experiences of young, Caribbean people. The inspiration comes from his childhood. Elliott shared that his mother and father lived abroad, while he lived in Jamaica with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other extended family.
“I grew up around so much drama every day, it becomes natural. So I can take the worst situation, and get the fun out of it,” he said, explaining that his upbringing gave him a good sense of humour.
“We never had much, but we could sit down and laugh every day.”
Elliott shared that through his childhood his humour became a huge part of his personality. He became known in school, sports, and other social circles as a funny guy who knew how to make others laugh, and took pride in that skill.
“Being fun and comedic was always a part of me. I never had to work on it, it just came naturally to me.”
But despite being naturally funny, the Jamaican comedian shared that he does look up to several different comics. Some of his comedic inspirations include Jamaica’s White Yardie and Toronto’s Marlon Palmer.
Dale Elliott: Bad Pickney
Elliott stopped by our studio ahead of his show in Toronto on April 30. He explained the inspiration behind the show’s name.
“The title of the show is Bad Pickney. [To] my grandmother, I didn’t have a name, they used to call me ‘devil,’” he shared.
“Then they started calling me ‘Evel Knievel’, because as a pickney growing up, my grandmother, my aunties, everyone would say they’d never seen a specimen so rude at such a young age.”
Elliott shared that he is a very different person now at 27-years-old. The comic says he was expelled from school and got into fights often. This is when he moved from living with one grandmother to his other grandmother’s home, as she wanted him to move into a different environment, with more discipline.
“When you become an adult is when you see the fruits of that labour,” Elliott laughed, adding that he’ll be making money off of those experiences for the rest of his life, writing skits based on his childhood. However, he also joked that he will be sending money home to his family for the rest of his life.
More Than a Comedian
But his talents aren’t limited to comedy. Elliott recently acted in the film Sprinter, produced by Will Smith.
“Acting, just like with the comedy thing, I never went to school for acting. The producer called me, and said come do an audition.”
Elliott shared what he learned while working on Sprinter, the different ways that his family has impacted his career, and showed off his knowledge of Canada on this episode of The Brandon Gonez Show. Let’s leave some love for the OG bad pickney in the comments below!
