Canadian stand-up veteran Dave Nystrom believes that good comedy is about more than simply telling jokes.

And the Calgary-based Nystrom, headliner for the White Rock Roars show this Saturday (7 p.m. Oceana PARC Playhouse, 1532 Johnston Rd.) has won over audiences around the world with his relatable brand of comedy, including television specials and extensive touring in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

"I wasn't quite sure how I would go over in the U.K.," he admitted.

"But a friend of mine said I'd be surprised at how open audiences would be to my kind of comedy, and he was right. Provided I didn't make regional references they wouldn't be expected to understand, they really got my material, and I ended up being offered more work than I could take, with the bookings I already had."  

It's likely White Rock audiences will take to the easygoing Nystrom's work, too. 

His upcoming performance, featuring host Alex Carr, Vancouver comics Chris Gaskin and Kwasi Thomas and Langley's Jessica Pigeau and Rosie Grypma,  is just part of a rich buffet of national, international and local comedy talents on offer in this weekend's inaugural Peninsula-wide South Rock Comedy Festival (for full details of all shows, check out the festival website at ).

In a recent break from filming a lead role in the independent movie The Opener in Vancouver, Nystrom – winner of a Canadian Comedy Award and a Writers Guild of Canada Award for his contributions to CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes –&²Ô²ú²õ±è;³Ù´Ç±ô»å Peace Arch News that one of his greatest helpers in creating comedy is the weird stuff that happens to most of us in our journey through life.

"As a stand-up comedian, my life is very much the centre point of my inspiration. I'm married with four children, for instance, and that gives me a lot to work with. 

"It's really no different from when you come home to your significant other or roommate or whatever and say 'I've got to tell you this crazy thing that happened to me today,'" he said.

"The big difference is that through experience and knowing how to pick up on certain parts and exaggerate others, I can take something that was possibly not funny in the moment and craft it and shape it into a 'bit.'"

A perfect example of a Nystrom bit inspired by real life, he said, is the material he derived from when he and his wife, Natasha and three young sons (they've since had another boy to the family) were driving back to Canada – after 10 years of living and working in L.A. – and their truck broke down.

"There's this tow truck driver shows up whose vocabulary isn't exactly the most appropriate for young boys between three and five years old," he said. "But it's really about this entire day of us being stuck in the middle of Idaho."

The film he's shooting currently, written and directed by friend and fellow-comic Damonde Tschritter, is another rooted-in-life comedy piece.

"I laughed out loud when I read it," Nystrom said. "I was very honoured when he asked me to be in it."

"It's the story of a veteran comedian – who I play – and this young comedian on his first tour, who I sort of take under my wing. My character has made a lot of  poor choices in his life – there's a drinking problem, for instance. There's a lot of real life stuff Damonde has got in there – stories I've either heard, or I was there when they happened.

"If somebody wanted to get a really accurate sense of what life is like on the road in Canada, this is the film to see."

Although he lived for a long time in Vancouver, and is now happily settled in Calgary, Nystrom was born in Thunder Bay, Ont.

"I was just there – I went back to visit my parents," he said. "It's a lovely little city although there are some issues there – there's a lot of violence and big drinkers there – but the area is just gorgeous."

Nystrom said that when he and the family moved back to Canada in 2016 there was a question of where they would live – there didn't seem to be any way, realistically, to afford to live in Vancouver and they wanted somewhere positive to raise their sons. 

"My wife is from Calgary, and it seemed like the best choice," he said.

And it seems to have worked out that way – the boys, now 17, 14, 11 and nine, soon found friends and seem to have settled well into the lifestyle – as well as a burgeoning career in front of the cameras.

"They're all acting as well – it was completely their choice. The last thing I wanted to do was push them into it – I didn't want some 'Daddy Dearest' book being written about me in the future, but they're still having a good time with it."      

But Nystrom will admit that he "dragged" Natasha into acting, too.

"It started off with me saying 'can't you come and do this gig with me – it'd be a chance to make a few bucks,'" he said.

"Natasha is half-Filipina, half-Ukrainian, and nobody can ever guess what ethnicity she is. In advertising and marketing and casting these days having an indeterminate ethnic look is quite an advantage. I honestly think she's doing much better in the business than I am!

"She just booked a movie with Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen, for instance. She started out very nervous, and she didn't have any training, but she's really liking it now."

Asked if performing is turning into the family business, Nystrom agrees.

"There's an infestation of us," he quipped.

But in many ways it keeps the family closer together, he acknowledges.

"I don't like to be too far away from them," he said. "In fact, shooting in Vancouver is the longest I've been away from the family for a long time."

But he says he is delighted that being on the West Coast this month has given him the opportunity to appear in the South Rock Comedy Festival.

"This is fantastic. I'm really excited to hang out with (White Rock comic and co-festival founder) Ryan Lachance, who's a friend of mine and a really talented, fun guy, who was incidentally the first person to reach out to me about doing this.

"It's a kick to be part of a festival that's new to a community. Something like this raises the profile of comedy generally, and hopefully people who come out to this will discover comedians not only from elsewhere, but also in the area.

"In the comedy world in Canada there's a real level of support and a genuine desire for people to do well – there's the sense that  'a rising tide raises everybody.' And I'm really honoured to be right there on the ground floor."