Saanich man with autism earns national spotlight after discovering empowering talent

Sawatsky Sign-Off: Curran’s Comedy “There’s a gift that comes with it.” Adam finds out how a man with autism earned national attention after discovering an empowering talent.

As the camera captures Curran Dobbs walking from behind, he feels compelled to comment with comedy.

“You’re behind me 100 per cent,” he smiles. “You got my back!”

And if we go back to the beginning of his story, Curran says he’s always been a “punster.”

“If I ever had a pet Pegasus,” he says. “I’d name it Air Horse One!”

While he was always smiling in pictures as a child, Curran says he was feeling depressed and worthless by his early teens.

“It was very lonely,” Curran says of his struggle to bond with people. “I had a hard time making friends at all.”

Curran found some comfort in music, before learning strategies to connect with others after being diagnosed with autism.

But nothing compared to performing in a high school production, playing a comedic role.

“That’s when I learned I had timing,” Curran says. “It felt amazing getting the laughs.”

Curran discovered he could befriend the other students through laughter, and eventually asked a local promoter about doing amateur stand-up comedy.

“He said, ‘Sure! I’ll put you on my show,'” Curran recalls. “‘It’s in five days.'”

Curran was terrified. He’d never actually written a joke before, let alone a five-minute set of material. But he found that the process of planning out an interaction with the public was reassuring, and he faced his fear.

Curran got a few laughs that first night, and after more than a decade of doing stand-up professionally, has earned countless more.

“I’m on the autistic spectrum,” Curran begins saying during one his routines. “So if I seem rude or impolite or if I’m not making eye contact, I just want you to know it’s because I really feel like you’re not worth the effort.”

Thanks to the timing of his deadpan delivery and the joke’s unexpected ending, it always earns a big laugh.

“You hear the laugher," Curran smiles. “[You feel like] you have value [and] talent.”

Curran recently earned national attention for making it to the semifinals of Canada’s Got Talent.

“Everything that you dropped worked perfectly,” judge Howie Mandel praised Curran. “Every joke worked. Every line worked. You are memorable.”

Now Curran considers his autism — and the unique perspective of the world it offers — to be a comedic superpower.

“There’s a bit of a cost,” Curran says. “But there’s also a gift that comes with it.”

Which is why, if he could go back in time and comfort his younger self, he’d say “never give up.”

“You’re better than you think you are,” Curran smiles. “And if you ain’t yet, you will be!”