Peter Cender first got up on the stage to do stand-up comedy in 2016 when he was in college in Michigan.
He’s the first to admit he bombed.
“I didn’t get a lot of laughs,” said Cender. “The written material, I just wrote a story with, at the time, I thought it had punchlines. But was zero punchlines. I didn’t get a single laugh.”
But it didn’t stop him. Cender said it was a powerful feeling being on stage and that intrigued him enough to try again.
“In an interviewing setting I’m definitely not funny,” said Cender. “But I don’t know, on stage, I’m kind of like a different person up there.”
Ontario-born Cender was selected by the Esks in the fourth round of 2019 draft class picks. He had previously played three seasons at Grand Valley State in Michigan.
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He started doing gigs regularly once he moved to Edmonton.
Since September of last year, he guesses he’s been on stage roughly 100 times
“Edmonton’s definitely the best community I was a part of,” Cender said, who added there’s a lot of open mic nights in the city that give comics a chance to get on stage to practice material. “Doing it daily, it’s definitely improved.”
A lot of his comedy can focus on his teammates, and football.
“I take angles I don’t think you’d expect a football player to take,” Cender said.
In Edmonton, bars and comedy clubs remain closed through May due to COVID-19 restrictions.
On Tuesday, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the league’s 2020 football season would not start until September at the earliest and could be cancelled entirely.
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