Country Comedian Ol' Ugly

Entertains With Good Clean Comedy . . . Well, Sometimes Naughty!

Photo by Bill Borgwardt
Click to enlarge

Ol' Ugly (John Glawson) is one of those Maritimers from Tufts Cove, NS, who headed west after trying life in Ontario. He's a country boy brought up by his mother, as well as an aunt and uncle who had a wild sense of humour. They looked upon the hardships of their journey through life by trying to find the funny side of things.

Ol' Ugly moved to Alberta in 1973 where he worked in a seed plant. He found those souls in the farming and ranching community with the same "back porch" sense of humour as he had been brought up with. He started writing humorous tales and was soon reading them for the writers in Calgary and area. This soon just slipped into tall tale telling and joking on stage.

About 1989 people started asking him to come out to the cowboy festivals and other agricultural functions. For the last 16 years the number of shows he has done has accelerated as the word gets out about his wild stories of his older brother, Blue, his Aunt Tilley, and her boyfriend Creaky Olsen. Some of the many places that Ol' Ugly has performed are listed on the Book Ol' Ugly page.

Here's a little about Ol' Ugly and his characters

Ol' Ugly and his wife, Chubb, live in the house at the farm / ranch. His older brother whose nickname is, Blue, and his 86 year old Aunt Tilley live in a trailer just up over the hill on the same spread. Aunt Tilley's 86 year old boyfriend Fred Olsen (we call him Creaky because he sorta creaks when he walks) lives a few miles away near the woods closer to the mountains.

The only person there who has her wits about her is Chubb. Ol' Ugly, Blue, Aunt Tilley and Creaky have only about 15 watts of power and they do some of the stupidest things.

Ol' Ugly, Blue, and Creaky are just as comfortable around a campfire drinking Homemade Manure Mash Hooch, telling lies, and talking about the cattle they've branded all by themselves and women they've . . . (whoa, boy!!!) as anywhere else. Blue and Creaky are bachelors and still womanizers. These are the kind of people who have just recently put in indoor plumbing and their biffies are still out in the yard in case the indoor stuff don't work.

I hope that gives you a feel for the background of Ol' Ugly and his characters. Something for you to put your head around if you can.

Sample Audio Files

These are just some short audio clips, and they're compressed for Internet use, but it'll give you an idea of what Ol' Ugly can do!

Heavan
(20 seconds, 81.8 KB)

Sleeping Alone
(20 seconds, 81.8 KB)

Hunting
(1:36 min, 377 KB)

Sample Videos

These are some short video clips, that are compressed for Internet use, but they'll give you an idea of who Ol' Ugly is! The first clip is of Hugh McLennan (www.hugh-mclennan.com) introducing Ol' Ugly at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival (www.bcchs.com). The second two clips are short little jokes taken from Ol' Ugly's performance at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival.

View Video One (small)
(54 seconds, 251 KB)

View Video Two (small)
(1:15 seconds, 346 KB)

View Video Three (small)
(53 seconds, 246 KB)

Here is what some polite company has said about Ol' Ugly

Dave Scheidman, Executive Director:
"On behalf of the Federation of Alberta Gas Co-ops Ltd. Board of Directors, members and staff we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the great job you did entertaining our delegates and guests at our annual convention banquet . . . After the act we received many excellent comments from the delegates and guests on the entertainment you provided. In review of the feedback, we offer you our congratulations for helping to make a memorable contribution to our 2006 convention."

Dave Young, Manager of the Prince Albert, SK Exhibition said after the show, "I couldn't believe the magic between you and the crowd. Probably one of the most enjoyable evenings I have had in the five years I have been in the chair."

Marcia Wong, President, Alberta Association of Library Technicians,
"Ol' Ugly's stories and sense of humour brought tears of laughter to the delegates at the Sunday morning brunch and their approval was expressed positively in the conference evaluation."

Hugh McLennan, popular host of radio's 'Spirit of the West' said of Ol' Ugly at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival,
"I have no idea where Ol' Ugly fits in, but he leaves his audiences rolling in the aisles."

His doctors says, "Listen you idiot, lose twenty pounds! By all that weight pushing it down on the top of your big belt buckle it's making your belly look like it got stretch marks! (His doctor is also his vet).

"I've heard of singers getting encores, but you're the only comedian I ever heard getting one." Sally (the MC for the Friday night show) in Maple Creek when the crowd asked Ol' Ugly to tell them another story after he was finished.

"The guy in front of us was howling so loud when you were telling that tale about Emma that his wife kept hitting him and yelling for him to shut up so she could hear you. And the woman running the TV camera was laughing so hard she had to wipe her glasses. I have no idea how she could see to shoot." Al Alsgard, Stavely AB.

"My stomach still hurts after seeing Ol' Ugly perform at the Maple Creek Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Now that I have your CDs I can laugh some more." Rose Lodoen, Fox Valley, SK.

"I have no idea where Ol' Ugly fits in but he leaves his audiences rolling in the aisles." Hugh McLennan, voice of the Spirit of the West radio show, introducing Ol' Ugly at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival.

Kamloops, BC - cd buyer "Will you autograph your cd?"
Ol' Ugly - "What's your name?"
Kamloops - "It's for my husband. He's out in the car."
Ol' Ugly - "Oh, yah, one of them husbands who sends their wifes into the crowd to shop for him, huh?"
Kamloops - "No, he's embarassed. You made him laugh so hard he peed himself."
Ol' Ugly - "Hey, what's his name? I want to put that on my bio!"
Kamloops - "I'll never tell you! As it is you'll probably have that as one of your stories on the stage.

Here is an excerpt from the 'Country Music News' in their November edition. "Ol' Ugly is the name aquired by Nanton, Alberta comic storyteller John Glawson. He has become a favorite on the Western Canada entertainment scene over the past few years where his routines, which include unique facial expressions and a number of story characters bring comparisons to the comic work of greats like Red Skelton and Jerry Clowers. Most of Ol' Ugly's growing fan base has been earned by word of mouth from folks who have caught his live shows."

If you are looking for some great humourous entertainment to liven up a party or an event then have a look at the Book Ol' Ugly page. Here you'll also find Ol' Ugly's schedule and a list of places where Ol' Ugly has performed in the past. If you are interested in purchasing one of Ol' Ugly's Tapes or CDs you'll find them on the Tapes and Cds page.

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John Glawson, PO Box 105, Nanton, Alberta, T0L1R0
(403) 646-2932 bizwiz1@telus.net

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