Award-winning Dene actor/comedian shares how Art Bar supports artists

Dene comedian Dakota Ray Hebert joins Evan to discuss the biggest stories making headlines this morning. She’s a very funny comedian with credits ranging from the Arctic Comedy Festival the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Just For Laughs and Comedy Night in Canada with Rick Mercer. She’s a talented artist, with some beautiful paintings, a playwright, and a business owner.

Did you literally get your journey started in Meadow Lake?

Yeah. I was signed up for after-school drama, and you like the fun drama stuff that I could be. A part of I had my hands on, or I was involved in some capacity.

It was one of my grade nine teachers. He was the first grown-up in my life who said you should consider going to drama school or doing this as a job. When I was in grade 12 I came out as a thespian and said, you know what, I’m gonna go be an actor. I applied to a university. Got rejected. Said, Okay, well, I tried, and then I checked my van and moved to Regina in the pursuit of theatre and acting.

Comedy was difficult there weren’t exactly any open mics and Meadow Lake, mind you. I fell in love with the Comedy Network when I was 10, and was held up at home for a bit due to having appendicitis. My parents were at work, so I got to watch Comedy Network and that’s where my love of comedy started.

Before that, my parents had a Walkman, and I had a Bill Cosby and a Jeff Foxworthy cassette tape, and half of those people are still doing pretty good. And that’s probably where I got my start. Just like hearing people tell funny stories and hearing that immediate gratification of the audience laughing and enjoying it, that was really exciting.

Were you the class clown?

In my head, I’m like, No, probably not. But I bet if you ask my teachers, yeah, I was pretty, pretty goofy. So yeah, definitely a class clown.

You are an award-winning actor, comedian, artist and business owner, is there one that absolutely captures your heart?

This is gonna sound so cheesy, but I’ve got a three-year-old kiddo and a wonderful sweetheart and we quite literally, have the family of my dreams. And so out of all the things I’ve got my hands on, I’d say being a family member in our family is my favourite.

I’m surprised you can weave time for everything you do because you have a lot on your plate.

It’s a lot on my plate. I was diagnosed with ADHD, to no one’s surprise. I’ve been diagnosed and medicated which helps with managing time.

But that being said there’s a lot of juggling and I wouldn’t be able to do without my sweetheart, Dylan Jay Williamson, he’s another Stand Up Comedian based in Saskatchewan.

Art Bar was his idea. When we first started dating seven and a half years ago. He had mentioned this is something we need to do, and that would be very unique. And so yeah, a couple of years ago, we embarked on getting it onto its feet, and so now it’s now we’ve got it going on, and so I’m owner, and he’s General Manager, and we’ve built a really beautiful Comedy Club, slash artsy, performing arts spot in Saskatoon.

Can you talk more about Art Bar and how your Dene heritage influences both your art and your comedy?

Absolutely a proud member of the English River First Nation, wut wut. It is a big part. My first album was called “I’ll Give You An Indian Act” because I was mad at the government and I didn’t have the capacity to be a lawyer or anything.

My artwork is, I love mid-century modern artwork, psychedelia and Norval Morris shows within style. I’ve combined them into my style, which is, you see two alien characters frequently. I call them Monty and Mortimer. I’ve also included Sasquatch in there, my sweet, lovely big foot. And I’ve just been working on an Ogopogo as well. So I’m really excited people. I’ve sold three pieces since we’ve been in there.

We’ve just posted an artist call out for Saskatoon-based visual artists to be in there for the next quarter. We’re very focused on promoting local artists and Saskatchewan artists.

We’ve got a nice little circuit with the exchange in Regina, where comics when they are coming in from out of town because now we’re hosting a lot of out-of-town comics. They want to know where another stop is. We’re building a really lovely circuit of comics and comedy, but at the front of the house at the Art Bar, aside from the gallery, we host open mic nights. We’ve got a poetry open mic, we’ve got a queer open mic, and we’ve got two comedy open mics, and the community is really into them. It’s really exciting.

The one picture that caught my eye is the Simpsons couch in your piece.

I was watching a lot of Simpsons episodes while I was doing some paintings, and then I thought wouldn’t it be neat if Monty and Mortimer visited the Simpsons? That one seems to be a bit of a showstopper, that one gets people to stop and take a look at it. I’ve got it priced out obscenely because I don’t want anyone to buy it, but if they do, then I’d be happy to find another sure.

Who inspires you? Do you watch certain comedians or actors, to get inspired?

I feel like it’s one of those things where I’m a sponge for all sorts of stuff. I love watching local comics. I love watching Canadian comics. I love going to see art, or even on Instagram, so many reels are just geared towards the algorithm.

There’s a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of room for inspiration out there. It’s just letting yourself get bored and then you’re like, Okay, you know what? Let’s make some entertainment happen. You look around and see a lot of fun and funky stuff. And sometimes it could be the weirdest things that inspire.

That’s kind of why Art Bar is going to be so exciting for artists. We’ve got a lot of collaboration planned, art office soirees where artists can come together and meet and mingle. We also get the public involved too. It’s really exciting to see how the audience members are now interested in trying their hand at stand-up or coming in for paint nights or poetry. It’s really quite exciting, and it’s lovely to be a part of. We tend to think we’re inspiring Saskatchewan to try their hand at whatever arts that they want to.

 —This transcript has been edited for clarity.