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Comic D.J. Demers jokes a lot about hearing loss — but won't be 'the hearing aid guy'

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Stand-up comedian D.J. Demers is hard of hearing, and he gets a lot of his material from that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

D J DEMERS: I get really worried in a sketchy hotel 'cause I wear hearing aids. I take them out to sleep. I'm very easy to murder. Like...

(LAUGHTER)

FADEL: Demers has appeared on "Conan" and "America's Got Talent." This week he'll make his second appearance on "The Tonight Show." NPR's Elizabeth Blair has this profile.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: D.J. Demers is from Kitchener, Canada. In 2014, he won the Homegrown Comics Award at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. A booker for "Conan" saw his stand-up and gave him a spot on the show.

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DEMERS: And my hearing aids aren't waterproof, which is ridiculous. So I have to take them out when I'm taking a shower or when I go swimming. So, you know, pool parties are a nightmare.

(LAUGHTER)

DEMERS: Not very good at the game Marco Polo.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: Demers was diagnosed with hearing loss when he was 4 years old. He's considered deaf without hearing aids.

DEMERS: It is a unique perspective. So pretty much from the beginning, I realized I could make it a part of my act.

BLAIR: And have you always - even before becoming a stand-up, was there a sense of humor around it?

DEMERS: No. I never joked about my hearing aids when I was young. I actually kind of, like, hid them as best I could. You know, if I had to change them at recess or something, I would kind of, like, run away from everybody and do it in a private corner.

BLAIR: Demers figured out he could make friends by making other kids laugh.

DEMERS: If they had any feelings that they didn't want to be friends with me because I had a disability, I could overcome that because I was funny.

BLAIR: After about five years doing stand-up for hearing audiences, Demers realized he needed to have a sign language interpreter with him on stage so that other hard-of-hearing and deaf people would come to his shows. The first interpreter he hired was Jennifer Lees.

JENNIFER LEES: I've seen, you know, concerts with interpreters for music, and I've seen lots of, you know, spoken-word stuff. And - but comedy - definitely, there was a gap there for deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers who just want to be able to go out and have some fun.

BLAIR: Lees says deaf and hard of hearing audiences can relate to his material, like his jokes about not being able to lip-read during the pandemic.

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DEMERS: The worst is when they have a mask on and they're behind plexiglass. You know, you walk into the bank. You're looking at a guy. He's got the mask on. He's behind the glass. I just go - I'm staring at the teller for, like, 10 seconds before I'm finally just, like, hey, man. Have you started talking yet? I...

(LAUGHTER)

DEMERS: ... Legitimately have no idea. Yeah.

LEES: Nobody's ever talked about this in a funny way. People very rarely talk about it at all, never mind with, you know, an incredible insight into how awkward and, you know, strange communication can be.

DEMERS: My particular disability is something I'm always interested in exploring because it's ever-changing. And I have a kid now, and now he's got a hard-of-hearing father, so I'm watching how he perceives me when I can't hear him well.

BLAIR: At the same time, D.J. Demers says he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as the hearing-aid guy. And a lot of his jokes have nothing to do with disability at all, like his love for all kinds of sports.

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DEMERS: You know what I love about speed walking, too? It's the only sport with, like, a built-in limit. Every other sport the coaches are like, give it 110%. Speed walking's the only one where they're like, better cap at at 98, you know?

(LAUGHTER)

DEMERS: If we're not careful, this could turn into a jog, so...

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: Stand-up has exploded in recent years. There's some pressure for comedians to find their lane and stick to it.

DEMERS: If I really leaned into being, you know, the hearing-aid guy, I could really, like, capture that market - but at what cost? I'd have to explore more beyond it just to be artistically fulfilled.

BLAIR: Stand-up comedian D.J. Demers begins a U.S. tour in December.

Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Elizabeth Blair is a Peabody Award-winning senior producer/reporter on the Arts Desk of NPR News.