The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame has announced that comedian Gerry Dee will be the guest speaker at the 2009 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
scheduled for Thursday, August 27, 2009 at the Mississauga Convention Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
Dee began his comedy career in a very different fashion – spending 10 years as a high school physical education teacher before making the switch to full-time comedy in 2003. A son of Scottish immigrant parents, Dee was born in suburban Scarborough and grew up in Toronto. He currently splits his time between living in Los Angeles and Toronto.
Gerry won Toronto’s Funniest New Comic competition in 1999. He would later tape his own half-hour Comedy Now Special on CTV and The Comedy Network in 2001. He has attended a variety of comedy festivals, namely The U.S. HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Wyoming, and Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival, where he made his CBC Gala appearance in July 2004 and again in 2007. He recently performed in Scotland and South Africa.
In 2002, Dee was the first Canadian in 27 years to win the prestigious San Francisco International Comedy competition. Former comics who got their first start in this competition include Robin Williams, Dana Carvey and Ellen Degeneres. In 2003, he made his U.S. network debut when he performed on CBS’s 'Star Search' with Arsenio Hall. A year later he appeared on The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn as well as on The Mike Bullard Show.
He appeared in the CBC Sports reality series PGA Tour 18: Golf’s Ultimate Round in 2004. As well, National Lampoon featured him in a DVD which was released that year. Gerry was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for Best Male Comic in Canada in 2004, 2006 and 2007. He was voted as the third-best comedy show of 2004 in Toronto by Now Magazine.
In April 2006, Dee appeared in the CBC mini-series 'Canada Russia '72' where he played the role of Boston Bruin’s Wayne Cashman. He played 'Donny' in 'Trailer Park Boys: The Movie' that year as well. He also appeared on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, where he finished third. In 2008, Dee won the Best Comic in Canada at the Canadian Comedy Awards. Gerry is also featured weekly on The Score Television Network with his humorous segment called 'Gerry Dee-Sports Reporter.'
Dee is a competitive amateur golfer with a two-stroke handicap, a former provincially-ranked tennis player and a former hockey player at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
(With files from the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame)