{{Short description|Canadian comedian, activist, voice actor, and writer (born 1980)}} {{BLP sources|date=April 2010}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Charles Demers | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | image_upright = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if significantly different from common name --> | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1980}} | birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (enter DEATH date then BIRTH date (e.g., ...|1967|31|8|1908|28|2}} use both this parameter and |birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> | death_place = | other_names = Charlie Demers | alma_mater = | occupation = {{hlist | Comedian | political activist | voice actor | writer}} | years_active = | employer = | organization = | known_for = | notable_works = <!-- produces label "Notable work"; may be overridden by |credits=, which produces label "Notable credit(s)"; or by |works=, which produces label "Works"; or by |label_name=, which produces label "Label(s)" --> | party = {{ubl | New Democratic Party<ref>{{cite web |date=20 June 2018 |title=A Call for the NDP to Withdraw from the Canada–Israel Interparliamentary Group |url=https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/a-call-for-the-ndp-to-withdraw-from-the-canada-israel-interparliamentary-gr |work=Canadian Dimension |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref> | OneCity Vancouver}} | spouse = <!-- Use article title or common name --> | website = {{official URL}} | signature = | signature_alt = }} '''Charles Demers''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ə|ˈ|m|ɛər|z}};<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spreaker.com/user/well_reds/well-reds-episode-1-final-edit|title= Ep1 - Home on Deranged|work=Well Reds: A Left Book Podcast|publisher=Spreaker|date=May 1, 2017|access-date=January 27, 2020}}</ref> born 1980), sometimes credited as '''Charlie Demers''', is a Canadian comedian, political activist, voice actor, and writer. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and self-identifies as Québécois based on his family descent.<ref>{{cite news |title=BC BookWorld chats to Charles Demers |url=https://abcbookworld.com/writer/demers-charles/ |access-date=17 October 2023 |work=BC Book World |date=2022}}</ref>
== Writing == Demers has published four books<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charles Demers |url=https://douglas-mcintyre.com/collections/charles-demers |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Douglas & McIntyre |language=en}}</ref> and two collections of essays. His first essay collection, ''Vancouver Special'', was nominated for a Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/winners/2010#non-fiction |title=BC Book Prizes |access-date=23 April 2010 |archive-date=14 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114020206/http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/winners/2010#non-fiction |url-status=dead }}</ref> He has also co-written a book of letters.
== Stand-up comedy and voice acting == He frequently performs stand-up comedy at live venues across Canada and on CBC Radio One, where he often appears on the comedy panel show ''The Debaters''.<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/thedebaters/2010/04/wed-apr-28-vancouver-olympics-positive-thinking.html "Vancouver Olympics & Positive Thinking"]</ref> Demers was one of the hosts of the CityNews show ''The List''.
Demers has provided voices for several episodes of CBC Radio show and podcast ''This Is That''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/cbc-radio-satirical-show-this-is-that-sparks-as-much-outrage-as-laughs/article583958/|title=CBC Radio Satirical Show 'This is That' sparks as much outrage as laughs|last=Lederman|first=Marsha|date=21 June 2011|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2 November 2018}}</ref>
He is the voice of Walter from the 2016 Netflix original series ''Beat Bugs''. Demers also voices Night Light in the ''My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' season seven episode "Once Upon a Zeppelin" and provides the voice of former bully Dirk Savage in another Netflix series, ''The Last Kids on Earth''.
In 2017, he released the comedy album ''Fatherland''.<ref>[https://www.straight.com/arts/1003521/comedian-charlie-demers-tackles-fascism-and-fatherhood-new-album "Comedian Charlie Demers tackles fascism and fatherhood with new album"]. ''The Georgia Straight'', 4 December 2017.</ref> At the Juno Awards of 2018, the album was nominated for the Juno Award for Comedy Album of the Year.<ref>[http://www.cbc.ca/music/junos/junos-news/arcade-fire-and-daniel-caesar-lead-2018-juno-award-nominations-1.4520940 "Arcade Fire and Daniel Caesar lead 2018 Juno Award nominations"]. CBC Music, 6 February 2018.</ref>
In 2025 he had a voice acting role in the animated comedy series ''Super Team Canada''.<ref>Mercedes Milligan, [https://www.animationmagazine.net/2025/07/the-underdog-heroes-of-super-team-canada-save-the-day-on-tubi/ "The Underdog Heroes of ‘Super Team Canada’ Save the Day on Tubi"]. ''Animation Magazine'', July 1, 2025.</ref>
== Political views and activism == Demers used to be the membership secretary for the Coalition of Progressive Electors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Charlie Demers, Membership Secretary |work=COPE |date=8 October 2007 |url=https://cope.bc.ca/charlie-demers-membership-secretary/ |publisher=Coalition of Progressive Electors |access-date=January 30, 2021 |archive-date=23 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423162433/https://cope.bc.ca/charlie-demers-membership-secretary/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In more recent municipal elections, he has been a supporter of OneCity Vancouver, a progressive civic party of which his wife is a founding member.<ref>{{cite web |title=Somebody made a parody song about Vancouver's housing affordability crisis |date= 10 October 2018 |url= https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/opinion/onecity-here-for-a-good-time-video-1940313 |access-date=May 8, 2021}}</ref>
On 8 October 2018, Demers was the guest on the popular interview based podcast ''WTF with Marc Maron''.<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers</ref> Maron mentioned that Demers has opened for him at stand-up comedy shows in Canada.
In the Marc Maron podcast Demers talks about his political beliefs and his early affiliation as a teenager with a small Marxist activist group in Vancouver. His commitment to the group was such that he initially decided to forgo going to university and instead get a job in a lighting factory where he hoped to increase the political consciousness of his fellow workers. He admitted however that the aims of the organization were somewhat vague and that the efforts to raise the consciousness of fellow workers were mostly met with bemusement. Nevertheless, Demers retains left-wing political views and hosts the monthly podcast ''Well Reds A Left Book Podcast''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/well-reds-a-left-book-podcast/id1236565397?mt=2 |title=Apple Podcasts Preview: Well Reds: A Left Book Podcast|publisher=Apple Inc.|access-date=January 30, 2021}}</ref>
In Maron's interview with Demers, Maron describes himself politically as "a Lefty to a degree"<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast<nowiki/>http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers At 31 Minutes.</ref> and suggests that Demers is further to the left. Maron notes the struggle in the US Democratic Party between the more leftist section of the party and the centrist section, with the latter considering the Leftists to be in danger of making the party unelectable. Demers responds by stating that "the problem is that the Left and the centre often have to work together but the Left understands the anger that is on the Right and the centre just doesn't understand anger, they think that anger always has to be ugly."<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast<nowiki/>http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers At 32 minutes.</ref>
Demers lost his mother to cancer when he was ten years old.<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast<nowiki/>http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers At 19 minutes.</ref> He describes the trauma of the experience in the Maron podcast but also describes it as "an early political lesson" in the importance of free healthcare that was embedded in him by that experience and by his father's words at the time.<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast<nowiki/>http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers At 22 minutes.</ref> Another such lesson in the benefit of living in Canada came with the experience of Demers' mother-in-law who is originally from Hong Kong and moved to Canada from Chicago as a result of Pierre Trudeau's stated policy of multiculturalism. Demers recounts that on his wedding night his mother-in-law demanded that he acknowledge the part that Pierre Trudeau played in bringing Demers and his wife together.<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast<nowiki/>http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers At 23 minutes.</ref> Despite these Canadian advantages however Demers suggests "in Canada in general there is a tendency towards smugness" because Canadians believe their country has far fewer problems than the US but that this leads to "people putting off dealing with Canada's very real problems."<ref>"Charles Demers" 8 October 2018 WTF with Marc Maron Podcast<nowiki/>http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-957-charles-demers At 24 minutes.</ref> He goes on to mention environmental issues, inequality and unclean drinking water on indigenous reserves as examples.
In March 2019 an article by Demers about the rebranding of the SiriusXM Canada satellite radio station Canada Laughs as Just for Laughs Radio and the station's shelved plan to sideline independently produced Canadian content in favour of audio recordings of sets from the Just for Laughs comedy festival from mostly American comedians was published in the socialist magazine ''Jacobin''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jacobinmag.com/2019/03/canadian-comedy-just-for-laughs |title=Class Struggle at the Comedy Club |last=Demers |first=Charles |date=12 March 2019 |website=Jacobin |access-date=15 March 2019}}</ref>
== Personal life == Demers is married and has a daughter and a son. His experience as a father with his first child inspired his co-writing the book ''The Dad Dialogues''.
Demers is a practising Anglican.<ref>{{cite web |last=Demers |first=Charles |date=2 December 2019 |title=As Old as Mom |url=https://chuckofthesea.wordpress.com/2019/12/02/as-old-as-mom/ |website=Chuckofthesea |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Demers |first=Charles |date=28 December 2020 |title=Loosing My Religion: Christmas as a Slippery Slope to God |url=https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/blog/loosing-my-religion |location=Vancouver |publisher=Anglican Diocese of New Westminster |access-date=25 January 2021}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
===Fiction=== *''The Prescription Errors'' (2009) *''Property Values'' (2018) *''Primary Obsessions'' (2020)<ref>Dana Gee, [https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/vancouver-novelists-shrink-who-thinks-is-the-star-sleuth-in-primary-obsessions "Vancouver novelist’s shrink who thinks is the star sleuth in Primary Obsessions"]. ''Vancouver Sun'', September 18, 2020.</ref> *''Noonday Dark'' (2022)<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/books/66-works-of-canadian-fiction-to-watch-for-in-spring-2022-1.6283875 "66 works of Canadian fiction to watch for in spring 2022"]. CBC Books, January 11, 2022.</ref>
===Essays=== *''Vancouver Special'' (2009) *''The Horrors:'' ''An A to Z of Funny Thoughts on Awful Things'' (2015)<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Horrors - Douglas & McIntyre|url = https://douglas-mcintyre.com/products/9781771620314|website = www.douglas-mcintyre.com|access-date = 2015-11-03}}</ref> *''The Dad Dialogues: A Correspondence on Fatherhood (and the Universe)'' (2016) (Co-written with George Bowering)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{official website}} *{{IMDb name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demers, Charles}} Category:1980 births Category:21st-century Canadian comedians Category:21st-century Canadian essayists Category:21st-century Canadian male writers Category:21st-century Canadian novelists Category:Activists from Vancouver Category:Canadian Anglicans Category:Canadian male comedians Category:Canadian male essayists Category:Canadian male novelists Category:Canadian male voice actors Category:Canadian socialists Category:Canadian stand-up comedians Category:Comedians from Vancouver Category:Franco-Columbian people Category:Living people Category:New Democratic Party people Category:Novelists from Vancouver Category:Canadian mystery writers