Comedian Ryan Stiles makes millions of people across North America and Europe laugh every week on network TV's The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line is it Anyway?

But the hardest audience the former Richmond resident ever had were likely his mom and dad, who didn't think their youngest of five children was particularly funny.

"He (Ryan) was really the quiet one in the family. And we didn't think he was funny. His brother Rob was the really funny one in the family, he just doesn't get paid for it," said his mother Irene Stiles with a gentle smile that belied her deadpan commentary on her son's early years.

Ryan was just a regular kid growing up on the family's 10-acre farm on No. 5 Road, she added. "He was into all sorts of things, but comedy wasn't one of them."

So, when at the age of 17 Stiles announced to his parents he wanted to quit Richmond secondary school before even completing grade 11 for a shot at doing stand-up comedy, it came as a shock.

"I think we thought it was a joke at first." But that bold move has, after 24 years, turned into a career that is currently riding high on a wave of popularity rarely found in the entertainment industry: two concurrent hit prime time comedy programs.

"I guess I'm going the same way as Bob Saget and Heather Locklear, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing," Stiles, 41, quipped during a telephone interview with The Review from his home just outside Bellingham, Washington.

He added it's fun having two popular shows and he enjoys the hectic work schedule needed to turn both out, but prefers the tranquil family life away from Los Angeles.

"We love it up here (the Pacific Northwest). Right now, the kids are riding their bikes along the driveway. Down in L.A. we really can't let them out of the house."

Stiles, along with some of his fellow cast members from both shows, was in Vancouver last weekend for two sold-out performances of improv comedy at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

It was the first time his parents had seen him perform live since he did a stint with the Second City comedy troupe in Vancouver during Expo 86.

"It was a big surprise when we saw him last Saturday. And I was absolutely floored at how people were reacting to him," said Irene.

"We think he's pretty funny now, although he had a part about having to pick blueberries on the family property from dawn to dusk. Actually, he was one of the kids who always had a headache, or was not around when it came time for blueberry picking. It really wasn't his thing," she said laughing.

Still, blueberry picking remains one of Stiles' most vivid early memories of Richmond.

"You got about seven cents a pound, and if you're a good picker you'd end up making about $7 a day. And that was pretty much as close to child slave labour as you could get."

Stiles' family roots in Richmond run deep as Irene's father, Jack Wagner, moved to Richmond from Saskatchewan in 1934.

"We stopped off first for a short while in Vancouver, but my dad said this wasn't the place he wanted to raise his kids, so we moved to Richmond."

In 1950 his family moved down to Washington State for his father Sonny's work as a consultant in the fishing industry. And nine years later, Ryan was born in Seattle, possibly the smartest career move the infant Stiles could have made.

"That was actually a pretty good piece of luck," Stiles said. "That allowed me to have American citizenship and that made it easier to get work down in the states."

After 10 years the family moved back to Richmond. "It was hard for the kids to move back up here. They had some problems getting back in the school system because they didn't have any French language skills that the Canadian schools required," said Irene.

That contributed to Stiles' wish to leave school early, a move that "really went over big with my parents," he recounts.

But all along, both Irene and Sonny said they supported his decision as best they could.

"You have to support your kids in whatever they do." Early on there were a string of small venue gigs as he paid his dues around the Lower Mainland.

"You end up playing a lot of places you don't intend on going back to. I did shows at strip bars like the Drake, and other performances up at Whistler for burly French Canadian lumberjacks, which made for some pretty interesting experiences that many folks who now perform in L.A. never had. They usually come out of places like Wyoming and last performed in a high school production."

During the mid 1980s he was a regular at Punchlines stand up comedy theatre in Gastown, a place where he honed his performing skills and polished his comedy material.

"I remember having Jay Leno helping us set out chairs before a show. And there were other stars like Howie Mandel and Jim Carey coming through. It was a pretty popular place."

When he went down to L.A. as part of the Second City's troupe there were still some pretty lean days.

"We sent a lot of care packages over the years. The small kind," Irene said referring to money. "And we helped him buy his first car, because he needed to get around L.A. But he has more than paid us back." Stiles bought his parents a central Richmond townhouse a few years ago.

"He's a very generous person," she added.

Today, Stiles and his family split their time between Bellingham and a home in the L.A. suburb of Sherman Oaks where he purchased Liberace's old home, complete with a piano-shaped swimming pool.

"He's done a lot of renovations because peach-coloured carpets and tons of mirrors are just not his style," said Irene. "I think he ended up spending about as much changing things around as he did buying it. But he got it for good price and I think he looks at it as an investment and plans on moving up here (Bellingham) more permanently." Stiles said he expects to work on The Drew Carey Show through to the end of his contract two years from now, and then possibly spend more time with his family.

"Family, that's what is really important when you get down to it. And I get plenty of that when I come back and see my folks. I still have a lot of uncles and cousins in Richmond and it's fun when I come back and see everyone."

Picture by Mark Patrick

Article & Picture courtesy of The Review Internet Edition ~ June 21, 2000