LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Stand-up comedian D.J. Demers is hard of hearing, and he gets a lot of his material from that.
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D J DEMERS: I get really worried in a sketchy hotel 'cause I wear hearing aids. I take them out to sleep. I'm very easy to murder. Like...
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FADEL: Demers has appeared on "Conan" and "America's Got Talent." This week he'll make his second appearance on "The Tonight Show." NPR's Elizabeth Blair has this profile.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: D.J. Demers is from Kitchener, Canada. In 2014, he won the Homegrown Comics Award at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. A booker for "Conan" saw his stand-up and gave him a spot on the show.
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DEMERS: And my hearing aids aren't waterproof, which is ridiculous. So I have to take them out when I'm taking a shower or when I go swimming. So, you know, pool parties are a nightmare.
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DEMERS: Not very good at the game Marco Polo.
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BLAIR: Demers was diagnosed with hearing loss when he was 4 years old. He's considered deaf without hearing aids.
DEMERS: It is a unique perspective. So pretty much from the beginning, I realized I could make it a part of my act.
BLAIR: And have you always - even before becoming a stand-up, was there a sense of humor around it?
DEMERS: No. I never joked about my hearing aids when I was young. I actually kind of, like, hid them as best I could. You know, if I had to change them at recess or something, I would kind of, like, run away from everybody and do it in a private corner.
BLAIR: Demers figured out he could make friends by making other kids laugh.
DEMERS: If they had any feelings that they didn't want to be friends with me because I had a disability, I could overcome that because I was funny.
BLAIR: After about five years doing stand-up for hearing audiences, Demers realized he needed to have a sign language interpreter with him on stage so that other hard-of-hearing and deaf people would come to his shows. The first interpreter he hired was Jennifer Lees.
JENNIFER LEES: I've seen, you know, concerts with interpreters for music, and I've seen lots of, you know, spoken-word stuff. And - but comedy - definitely, there was a gap there for deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers who just want to be able to go out and have some fun.
BLAIR: Lees says deaf and hard of hearing audiences can relate to his material, like his jokes about not being able to lip-read during the pandemic.
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DEMERS: The worst is when they have a mask on and they're behind plexiglass. You know, you walk into the bank. You're looking at a guy. He's got the mask on. He's behind the glass. I just go - I'm staring at the teller for, like, 10 seconds before I'm finally just, like, hey, man. Have you started talking yet? I...
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DEMERS: ... Legitimately have no idea. Yeah.
LEES: Nobody's ever talked about this in a funny way. People very rarely talk about it at all, never mind with, you know, an incredible insight into how awkward and, you know, strange communication can be.
DEMERS: My particular disability is something I'm always interested in exploring because it's ever-changing. And I have a kid now, and now he's got a hard-of-hearing father, so I'm watching how he perceives me when I can't hear him well.
BLAIR: At the same time, D.J. Demers says he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as the hearing-aid guy. And a lot of his jokes have nothing to do with disability at all, like his love for all kinds of sports.
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DEMERS: You know what I love about speed walking, too? It's the only sport with, like, a built-in limit. Every other sport the coaches are like, give it 110%. Speed walking's the only one where they're like, better cap at at 98, you know?
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DEMERS: If we're not careful, this could turn into a jog, so...
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BLAIR: Stand-up has exploded in recent years. There's some pressure for comedians to find their lane and stick to it.
DEMERS: If I really leaned into being, you know, the hearing-aid guy, I could really, like, capture that market - but at what cost? I'd have to explore more beyond it just to be artistically fulfilled.
BLAIR: Stand-up comedian D.J. Demers begins a U.S. tour in December.
Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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