Here's an article that appeared in the St. John NB Weekender April 16, 2005:

Jim McNally is honoured to make people laugh

Jim McNally likes to keep busy. Comedy only takes up so much time in a day and he needs to fill the rest of the day with things besides sitting around watching TV.

"I love traveling and meeting people. I consider it a real privilege to be able to entertain people," says McNally. "I am not one of those guys that has an attitude about performing. I like to have a good time the same way the audience does."

When he is not traveling around the North American continent performing for corporate clients or at festivals and clubs, he keeps busy restoring old cars or trying to salvage furniture from (his own) broken relationships.

"I am very handy around cars and wood. Leave me alone with a bunch of power tools and I will put myself in the hospital in no less than 15 minutes," he jokes. " I am actually from small town Canada and learned all these skills growing up." Carlton Place, Ontario near Ottawa is where he picked up the skills. "It was so small, we didn't get a Tim Horton's until after I left."

He left the town with only two traffic lights behind for Ottawa, then Texas and New York. "I couldn't get a regular job, so I told jokes for a living." Like most other Canadian comics, he wanted to check out the US, but he returned after two years, because, as he says, "crowds are crowds. It doesn't really matter, if you make people laugh in New York or Saint John." He also found the pace in New York a little hectic. On top of that, there wasn't a lot of room to work on cars or wood.

Strangely enough, the Saint John Comedy Festival at the end of April will be the first time Jim McNally will perform in Saint John. He has toured throughout the Maritimes before, but has never played the city. "I performed in St. John's, Newfoundland once, but it took a year and a half for my liver to recover," says McNally. "I truly love it on the East Coast, the people are so friendly and there is always tons of stuff to do." What would he like to do while here for the festival, I ask ? "I have never gone deep sea fishing, that would be a blast."

What about McNally's future ? "In about 15 minutes, I am heading over to David Merry's house to finish his wooden floor," David Merry being one of the other comics coming to the festival. "I am in Canadian show business. It is going so well, I am back to doing odd jobs like Merry's floor," he jokes. "This will be my best performance yet. If I don't do a good job on David's floor, I will have to hear about it the whole time we are down there. I just can't have that."

Jim McNally will perform at the Saint John Comedy Festival, which is produced by Uptown Saint John to raise funds for the not-for-profit festival initiative, and takes place April 28 to 30. There will be a gala show at the Imperial Theatre on April 28 and 12 shows at The Call Box, Cougar's Lounge, Melvin's Bar, Jungle Jim's, Saint John Alehouse and Tapps Brewpub on April 29 and 30. Tickets to all shows are now on sale at all participating venues. Full festival information can be found at www.uptownsj.com.