Over a decade ago, I founded The Canadian Comedy Awards. Over the years, I’ve watched it grow, shrink and grow again, with a big awards show every fall in a different Canadian city with 31 awards in live, TV, film and radio categories.

My role is mostly ceremonial now — which does not mean I wear a Beefeater outfit and carry a mace.

Winning an award can mean  higher visibility, which could mean more and better work. But one of the ironies of Canadian show business is that the award might make it easier for a comic to move to the U.S.

It’s the four particular awards that revolve around standup that interest me the most. People might think I have the power to influence the outcome, but I only have one vote, like anybody else. There are arm’s-length committees to monitor the nomination and voting process.

Each year around this time, the committee invites comics to nominate themselves or others, and the candidates are announced in early June.

I probably shouldn’t do this, but if I really ran the zoo, I’d want these comics to get nominated.

Best Male Standup:
My nomination would go to Peter Anthony. Originally from the Maritimes, Anthony’s been at it for a long time but is just coming into his own as a first-class standup. He works in a sports jacket, and his clean-cut appearance belies the sly subversion of his material, a lot of which has to do with the unequal distribution of wealth and power in our society.

Ironically, one of his best gigs was at this year’s Humour Me gala at the Elgin Theatre, where his material played well in front of 1,500 hedge fund managers!

Best Female Standup:
This is a slightly tougher category to predict because there are fewer female comics than men, so some pretty esoteric choices are made. But my number one choice would be Michelle Shaughnessy. A B.C. transplant, her tales and one-liners of work and love gone horribly wrong are completely believable within her seamless character.

She looks a bit like Tina Fey, and yes, you could see her in her own sitcom, which she is currently writing. Titled The Temp, it has already attracted attention from production companies and is slated to be part of the Just For Laughs pitch simulations this summer. This past New Year’s Eve, she played Massey Hall and aced it.

Best Breakout Act:
My pick here is Darryl Orr. Although he’s not a household name yet, Orr has recently started headlining across the country. He’s a dead ringer for Ur-nerd Clint Howard and uses his looks for hilarious sad-sack hilarity. 

I have never seen him do anything less than get a laugh on every single line for 40 minutes straight. His act is a masterpiece of sustained self-deprecation, and he deserves the recognition for it.

Comedy Person of the Year:
Seth Rogen won it in 2008, but I’d nominate him again this year. He co-directed The Interview, which caused an international incident and brought down the house of Sony. It isn’t whether the movie was good or bad — and I thought it was pretty funny — it’s how he illustrated to the world the power of comedy.

I can’t tell you who’s going to win any of these awards. But, as they say, it’s an honour just to be nominated.