~ Biography ~

World Expos in Osaka, Japan, Seville, Spain and Tae Jon, Korea, North American representative on the inaugural World Street Festival tour of Australia, invitations from producers around the world, a performance for the Prime Minister of Canada, The Checkerboard Guy’s career has spanned more than two decades and four continents.

David Aiken credits his success with the fact that he loves what he does. This love and joy for making people laugh transcends culture and language. Hey, the fact that he can do his show entirely in English, French and Japanese and dabbles in Spanish and Korean also helps.

Even though this guy studied theatre in university and has performed literally thousands of shows all over the globe, he still gets the biggest kick when the audience throws him a curve ball. Like the time he was performing his Evel Knievel parody The Flaming Leap of Death on his mini-motor scooter and a guy drove into the center of his audience on a very large, very loud Harley Davidson to contest who had the cooler motorcycle.

The ability to roll with the punches and leave them rolling in the aisles time and time again may explain why The Checkerboard Guy is in such high demand wherever producers are interested in making people laugh!

~ STATS & AWARDS ~

• Formal dramatic and theatrical training at the University of Ottawa
• Skills training at juggling conventions in Canada, USA and France
• People’s Choice Award Winner at the Ottawa Buskers Festival
• Winner of The Most Original Act Award at Buskers Halifax
• Three-time Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Kingston Buskers Rendezvous
• Two-time Winner of the Best Over-All Act at the Kingston Buskers Rendezvous