I kinda look like a French foot soldier on the Plains of Abraham in this outfit but given such a day, wearing the 'funny hat' was a small price to pay for such a humbling and prestigious honour.
During all those years spent chasing a living cross the Big Wide Open, I never EVER figured a boon such as this was on its way. I always felt the greatest reward of 'the work', was having an opportunity to do ‘the work’ and take it seriously enough to get good at it. Actually making a living doing what I wanted to do, in the country I chose to live, was victory enough.
That being said, I guess its official: I'm a 'doctor' now. So, when someone yells out in a crowded restaurant, subway, or plane- 'Help! Is there a doctor here?! This man is having a heart attack!' I'll be able to say- 'As a matter of fact, I'm a doctor'…and then because I have the skills, I'll run like a monkey.
So here's to all those people I worked with in the 'trenches of funny' over the years: the agents, actors, comedians, writers & producers, particularly Terry McRae of Shantero Productions & Lynn Harvey of ETP. Here's to every audience member seated in the dark, who came to ‘lighten their load’ and coughed up the coin to fill those rooms that fed my own... here's to friends and family here and ‘back home’, who kept the faith and ‘had my back’ in times of need. But most importantly, thanks to my daughters Cayley & Gracie and their mother June, who weathered so many winter nights alone when I was ‘on the road’.
Link to Ron's speech to Acadia's Graduating Class of 2015: http://livestream.com/45north/events/4037216/videos/86772031