Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Watch: American comedian Joel McHale shares wild story of holiday trip from Vancouver to Seattle

It involves Ubering to the border, walking through an empty, snow town, and a Victorian named John.
joel-mchale
Comedian Joel McHale (right) had a wild ride home to Seattle from Vancouver.

Many people have crazy stories about travelling over the holidays, but few will have a yarn to beat Joel McHale.

The American comedian (known for Community, the Tiger King after show, and the Soup) has been in Vancouver shooting a new project recently. With the holidays approaching and a break in the schedule, he decided he could take a short trip.

"It's one of the lovelier cities on the planet," he says of Vancouver, while recounting the wild ride to Jimmy Kimmel on Friday, Jan. 6. "And I was trying to get to Seattle where I grew up to go to Christmas holidays."

"I missed my plane because we worked late and so I thought I'll take an Uber. It said $220 to get to Seattle. And, you know, Canadian dollars, that's like $8 (USD)."

However, because of the border and labour laws the Uber driver could only drive him to the border, and McHale was left walking into the US at Blaine, Washington, leading to a long and unusual trip into Seattle, including watching a drug deal go down and a drunk offering to drive him to Seattle.

Along the way he met a man named John from Victoria.

"John and I fell in love," he told Kimmel. "He's a big hunter, big fisherman, in Wisconsin, from Canada. We've been texting; he's going to be very excited. He's a great guy, you would love him."

In the end both men made it to their destinations.