For immediate release -- Jan 29, 2018

In the Netflix era of comedy, a Toronto math teacher/troubadour
decides to just make his own musical comedy special...

(TORONTO -- Jan 29, 2018) Toronto comedian, musician, and math teacher Xave Ruth is set to release his first comedy special on February 23rd, available for download/video streaming exclusively on xaveruth.com. Xave Ruth: Live in Toronto was filmed in front of a live audience in 2017 at the Centre for Social Innovation in downtown Toronto. Xave has been performing his unique brand of musical comedy for seven years, and describes himself as "Flight of the Conchords but only one guy. And Canadian."

Xave’s satirical songs skewer anti-vaxxers and top 40 hits, and tell stories of finding love on the subway. His "musical pattern experiments" get him running around a giant keyboard ("Steve You Are a Dick") and take him into Gregorian chant ("FADED BAGGAGE"). As a teacher, Xave can’t help but let his classroom instincts infect his act: audiences are subjected to craft-making, games (“Shitty Singer-Songwriter Bingo”), and grammar lessons (“Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch”). All this is on full display in Xave Ruth: Live in Toronto. "There’s no better way to get over stage fright than staring down the barrel of a bored middle-school math class," says Xave.

At a time when American giant Netflix dominates the comedy landscape, Xave Ruth has gone the independent route by completely self-producing this special, one of the only comedy specials made in Canada in the last few years. "The hour special is the dream of every comedian," says Xave, "but you can't wait around for Netflix to come knocking."

As a performer, Xave has appeared at Toronto's Second City, Comedy Bar, and El Mocambo, Ottawa's Improv Embassy, and London's Aeolian Hall, among other venues. He has mounted two solo shows at various Fringe Festivals, and embarked on two national tours. Xave Ruth's debut album, Xave Ruth, was released in 2012 and is available on iTunes, Spotify, etc.