My House My Rules

Mike MacDonald turns the domestic warfare of growing up under strict parenting into an escalating battle of wills. The core of the set focuses on his youth, specifically the friction of curfews and the absurdity of staying out “more late”. He relies on an aggressive, exasperated delivery to elevate standard family dynamics into tense shouting matches. It is a loud, physical performance built entirely on the simple premise of teenage rebellion crashing into a father’s absolute authority.

Filmed at Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre and broadcast on the CBC in 1992, the set captured MacDonald when he was arguably the biggest working stand-up in Canada. He was fresh off his sitcom Mosquito Lake and a few years into his sobriety, operating with a clear focus that earned him a Gemini Award nomination. Driven by his high-volume stage presence, the television broadcast serves as a document of why he remained a constant fixture at Montreal comedy festivals for a decade.