12 up-and-coming Canadian comedians who will be everywhere in 2018

The internet loves a good "celebrities you didn't know were Canadian" list. And those lists are almost always full of comedians. People are constantly surprised to learn Martin Short, Seth Rogen, Samantha Bee, Jim Carrey and many more are from Canada, even though we have a reputation for exporting comedy to the world.

Of course, we're more than prepared to continue our stealthy domination of the comedy world. Here's CBC Comedy's list of 12 emerging stand-up comics you need to know about as we start 2018, including some popular audience suggestions. We're giving you fair warning so that when they inevitably show up everywhere later, you can tell people that yes, you did know they were one of us.

Who: Nour Hadidi

Where to find her: Toronto, ON

Why she's one to watch: Nour Hadidi worked as a financial analyst before making the jump to comedy. Now she skewers Islamophobia in between material about yoga and superheroes. Nour has written for CBC Comedy and The Beaverton television show and co-hosts a monthly show at Toronto's Comedy Bar called So Fresh N' So Clean with Courtney Gilmour (first Friday of the month at 8pm). Nour made her television debut on Winnipeg Comedy Festival. She will be joining the writing team for This Hour Has 22 Minutes this month.

Follow Nour on Twitter @NourHadidi

Upcoming shows: Nour will be hosting Sunday Night Live at Comedy Bar on February 25 and will be on CBC's The Debaters at The Danforth Music Hall on March 7.

Who: Ivan Decker

Where to find him: Vancouver, BC or Los Angeles, CA

Why he's going to be big: Even if you don't recognize Ivan Decker's face, you might recognize his voice from his many appearances on CBC Radio's The Debaters and be surprised by just how young he is. He's already breaking into the comedy big leagues – he just recently performed on Conan. His comedy is generally clean, observational and from a distinctly Millennial point of view. He is working on a new album for late 2018.

Follow Ivan on Twitter @ivandecker

Upcoming shows: Ivan will be opening for Brent Butt at the River Rock Casino in Vancouver on February 2.

Who: Kate Barron

Where to find her: Toronto, ON

Why you should get on the bandwagon: Raised in South Surrey, British Columbia, Kate Barron has a funny, feminist take on every mundane situation. Comedy is even her day job – she works at Second City in sales and business development. She won the 2017 Toronto Comedy Brawl competition, the first woman to do so. She's even ordained to perform weddings in the United States. She recently launched a podcast with Sara Starkman called A Positive Spin.

Follow Kate on Twitter @Kate_Barron

Upcoming shows: Kate will be appearing various places in Toronto and New York in January; check her website for listings. She'll then be at the Comedy Nest in Montreal on February 2 and 3.

Who: Peter White

Where to find him: Toronto, ON

Why you need to know him: Peter White's set about the ridiculousness of homophobia recently blew up on social media. If you missed it, you need to watch it above, stat. He's done it all: recorded his own album, written for This Hour Has 22 Minutes and appeared in a Pierce Brosnan-led adaptation of a Stephen King novel. He comes from small town Nova Scotia and now spends part of the year in London, UK.

Follow Peter on Twitter @PeterAWhite

Upcoming shows: If you happen to be in the UK, you can catch Peter at the Comedy Store in London starting January 4.

Who: Mayce Galoni

Where to find him: Vancouver, BC

Why he's one to watch: Mayce Galoni is another surprisingly young comedian featured regularly on The Debaters. (Is there something in the water up here?) Mayce started out in comedy at age 15. He'd perform at open mics in Hamilton, Ontario… where his mom would heckle him. He draws comedic inspiration from his nerdier interests like comic books and magic, among other topics. He was a finalist in the 2016 SiriusXM Top Comic competition. In 2018 he'll be recording a new album and releasing a new podcast with fellow comics Jacob Samuel and Abdul Aziz.

Follow Mayce on Twitter @MayceGaloni

Upcoming shows: Mayce will performing at Yuk Yuks in Vancouver from January 18 to 20. He's also excited to be co-headlining Hecklers in Victoria on March 30 and 31 with his equally-hilarious girlfriend Sophie Buddle.

Who: Caitlin Langelier

Where to find her: Toronto, ON

Why you'll be seeing her everywhere soon: Caitlin Langelier is another comedian who started performing stand-up very young. She came of age in the Toronto comedy scene, including coming out to her brother in the middle of a set at Yuk Yuk's. She's won a multitude of comedy awards including the Eugene Levy Writing Award and has written for Reductress.

Follow Caitlin on Twitter @CateLangelier

Upcoming projects: Caitlin is currently developing a podcast called Please Care About This.

Who: Chris Robinson

Where to find him: Toronto, ON

Why you'll be seeing him everywhere soon: Chris Robinson attended the Humber Comedy program where he polished his easily relatable yet self-aware style. He jokes as effortless about race as he does about food (and often both at the same time). Chris was the runner-up in the 2016 Just for Laughs Homegrown competition then went on to win the 2016 Sirius XM's Top Comic prize. In addition to his award-winning career, he's the proud father to a baby boy.

Follow Chris on Instagram @snapshotrobinson

Upcoming shows: Chris will be at the Ice Breakers Comedy Festival at Niagara on the Lake on January 26.

Who: Nigel Grinstead

Where to find him: Toronto, ON

Why he's great: Nigel is another graduate of Humber's Comedy program. He must've been a star student because his self-assured yet self-deprecating sense of humour has won him several competitions: 2013 Cream of Comedy, 2014 Toronto Comedy Brawl and Montreal's Just for Laughs Homegrown competition. He's performed at festivals all over Canada, from Sudbury's LOL Festival to NXNE to Halifax Comedy Festival. Look out for his upcoming album, to be released soon.

Follow Nigel on Twitter @NigelGrinstead

Upcoming shows: Nigel will be performing at Halifax Comedy Festival again this year in April.

Who: Ron Josol

Where to find him: Los Angeles, CA

Why he demands your attention: Ron Josol is a Canadian-Filipino comedian who effortlessly moves between clean corporate comedy and more biting racial commentary. He lived in various locations in the Greater Toronto Area then recently moved to Los Angeles. He frequently tours internationally and has previously written and performed for Video on Trial.

Follow Ron on Instagram @ronjosol1

Upcoming shows: If you're in Las Vegas, you can see Ron at the Laugh Factory until January 6.

Who: Jeremy Woodcock

Where to find him: Toronto, ON

Why he's awesome: Full disclosure: Jeremy is one of our staff writers, so we're very biased. However, we think his stand-up and sketch comedy are equally as hilarious as his writing. He previously wrote for This Hour Has 22 Minutes. You may recognize him from The Urbane Explorer, a series where he explored Toronto, including Bessarion Station, one of Toronto's least used subway stations. He has won three Canadian Comedy Awards.

Follow Jeremy on Twitter @jwPencilAndPad

Upcoming projects: New articles from Jeremy are published at CBC Comedy regularly. Here are a few of his recent pieces:

Who: Martha Chaves

Where to find her: Toronto, ON

Why she's on the rise: Martha Chaves is a mainstay of CBC Radio shows (The Debaters, Because News) and Canadian comedy festivals. She performed in her first Just for Laughs gala in 1998. While she's certainly not new to performing, she keeps her act fresh. She's multilingual and can perform in four languages: English, Spanish, French and Italian. She's originally from Nicaragua and uses her unique perspective to deliver fresh takes on life in Canada. Martha has a one-woman show in the works for 2018.

Follow Martha on Twitter @TheMarthaChaves

Upcoming shows: Martha will be in Niagara Falls at Yuk Yuks from February 22 to 24 then at the Toronto Yuk Yuks from March 13 to 17.

Who: DeAnne Smith

Where to find her: Toronto, ON

Why she's big in Canada: If you somehow weren't one of the tens of millions of people who watched DeAnne's viral set from Winnipeg Comedy Festival on Facebook and YouTube, you can check it out above. We're cheating a little by including her in this list because DeAnne a) was born in America, though she calls Canada home now and b) she's already hit it big, but we still want to spread the word to anyone who might have missed out. You can buy her album Tell It To My Balls  here.

Follow DeAnne on Twitter @DeAnne_Smith

Upcoming shows: Torontonians can see DeAnne in "Salomon and Smith" at Comedy Bar on January 9. If you're reading this from Australia, DeAnne will be coming your way in April for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

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