Stand-up comic Adam Pateman appears in an upcoming “Comedy Now!” special on CTV.

Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, this funnyman has been a finalist in a number of comedy competitions and has appeared on XM Radio’s “Laugh Attack.”

CTV.ca chatted with Pateman about his special, how he got his start in comedy, and why “Weird” Al Yankovic is so important to him.

CTV.ca: Tell me about your “Comedy Now!” special.

Pateman: It was really cool, I had a fun time doing it. I was actually living in New York at the time of it being recorded, so it was very exciting. I was working some dead end jobs in New York and re-establishing myself in a new city, and it was great to suddenly get the call to do this show, and get flown up to Toronto and stay in a nice hotel. The TV shoot was very cool, and when it was all said and done I got back on a plane back to New York where I was a nobody again. It was awesome, I felt very special.

CTV.ca: So what was it like when you were on stage?

Pateman: It was great. I love bigger crowds. I really like tiny crowds at bar shows, and I’ve done a lot of club work in the past too, touring and stuff, so I love humongous audiences. That was probably the biggest audience I performed for, and their energy was so phenomenal.

CTV.ca: How did you get your start in comedy?

Pateman: I got started through a few friends. We started a sketch group in high school. We had a really good theatre program, and we did a few shows, it went really well. We got good reviews in the “Georgia Strait,” but after school so many people in the troupe went on to college and things like that, so we broke up. I wanted to keep doing it, but no one could get together, so I decided to do it on my own, and me and another one of those guys started doing stand-up at a couple of the “alt” shows in Vancouver. It’s addictive and I couldn’t stop, and I haven’t stopped since.

CTV.ca: So where do you get inspiration for your sets?

Pateman: A lot of it is conversational. I have a lot of friends who are extremely funny, and a nice bonus is they are not comedians, and so we’ll be talking and funny starts flying around, and suddenly I’ll say something in context to whatever it is we are talking about, and it fits as the narrative for a joke. Usually those are the ones that become the funnier bits, that come from a naturally occurring conversation, taking an element of that, and constructing it into a joke.

CTV.ca: You said you lived in the States for a while, so how does the American sense of humour compare to the Canadian sense of humour?

Pateman: It’s not too different. I always worried it would be very different, but it’s subtle. Once you get what those subtleties are, you can make it work. I have a lot of Canadian content jokes, and I thought those would not fly in the States, so I stuck with my absurdist stuff. When I started doing my Canadian material, I was surprised. It got an even better reaction.

CTV.ca: And finally, who are you inspired by?

Pateman: My biggest inspiration was Weird Al. I wrote him letters in grade five, and if it wasn’t for Weird Al’s existence, I wouldn’t have the palette for comedy that I do. If I never heard of him, I’d be working some desk job.