Comedian Shaun Majumder shows emotional side in new HBO documentary

Tender, moving and strangely spiritual are not words generally associated with a stand-up comedy special. Then again, “Shaun Majumder, Every Word is Absolutely True” (premiering Monday at 7:30 p.m. on HBO Canada) is not your typical comedy road trip.

Sure, there are clips of Majumder on stage telling funny stories about his past as well as riding the tour bus with pal and opening comedy act Nigel Lawrence. The special was recorded during his recent cross-Canada comedy venture, “This Tour Has 22 Cities.”

Mainly, though, the 90-minute HBO Canada documentary is the story of a kid from the far East Coast of Canada with an Indian father, a Newfoundland-bred mother and a world view as open as the skies and oceans in between.

Over the past dozen years or so, Majumder has been like the Zelig or “Where’s Waldo?” of Canadian performers, turning up regularly on “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” and “Just For Laughs” but also doing dramatic turns on “Republic of Doyle” as well as American network shows such as “Detroit 1-8-7” and NBC’s “The Firm.” He got his TV start hosting youth shows on YTV and made the leap to adult comedies like “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.”

“He was a hustler,” fellow stand up Kenny Robinson observes in the documentary. Robinson says he could always tell Majumder was “hungrier” than other club comedians.

To most Canadians, he’s still best known for ambushing politicians and hockey players as his sweaty alter ego Raj Binder through nine seasons on “22 Minutes.” Surprisingly, Majumder is coming off his first full season on the sketch comedy series. He spent the year flying back and forth from the CBC studio in Halifax to the set of “The Firm” in Toronto as well as his home in Los Angeles. Next fall marks a milestone for the series, 20 seasons.

“I can’t believe I’m involved with the 20th season of anything,” he says.

Generally upbeat and carefree, it was a very different Majumder viewers got a glimpse of at one point on “George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight.” He was choking back tears as he told the host about the death of his mother, Marian. He and his sister Roni were raised by their single mom in a storm-battered trailer in the coastal town of Burlington, N.L.

The raw emotion of that telecast was something Majumder wanted to explore on this documentary.

Majumder has only golden memories of his home town, despite enduring racial taunts in the schoolyard. They’re all grist for his stand up routines now.

He talks about “the magnetic pull of The Rock.” He’s invested in a seaside house there — he calls it “Majumder Manor” — that is being converted into an eco-garden and, eventually, a lodge to promote tourism. The project is being chronicled in a 12-part documentary series set to air on the W-network next season.

Throughout the documentary, which is directed by Peter Esteves and produced by some of the people behind “Republic of Doyle,” there’s an impression that much of Majumder’s life has been recorded for posterity. There are clips of his earliest gigs at Yuk Yuk’s as well as various auditions in the States.

The most personal clips, however, are of Majumder spilling the ashes of his mother at famous locations all around the world.

He tells a startling and remarkable story about that towards the end of the special. For Mother’s Day 2003, he decided to fly his mother down to L.A. and then take her on a surprise trip to Latin America. Together with his fiancee, Shelby Fenner, they visited the ancient ruins of Guatemala. Two days later they were in Mexico when the unthinkable happened — Marian had a heart attack and died.

Majumder had his mother cremated and sprinkles some of her ashes whenever he goes to a far away land.

“I realized that I can still, as a symbol, take her around the world,” he says. There are shots in the documentary of Majumder sprinkling her ashes in Paris, India, Hawaii and many other destinations. He kept a video record, thinking he’d one day show it to his future children or grandchildren. It’s now the most moving part of this special.

Majumder’s father, Mani, and “funny grandfather” Fred Bartlett, are also featured in the documentary, as are comedy colleagues such as Mary Walsh and Mike Bullard. The real star, however, is his mother.

“I still have a little bit of her left,” he says.

___

Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.