It’s not common for an American comedian to leave behind the potential glamour of Hollywood for the relative obscurity of Vancouver, but it’s not unheard-of, either.

Darryl Lenox lived here for 11 years, developing his act throughout his adopted country before being sent packing for not having the correct documents. San Francisco’s Daniel Packard also spent a number of years in Vancouver retooling his delivery system before moving on to New York.

When Fresno, California, native Dino Archie visited a high-school friend here in 2011, a few weeks’ visit turned into five months when he discovered there was a thriving standup-comedy scene in the city. He’s made extended stays since then, too.

Archie attended college in Los Angeles and it was in that city, while he was working at AT&T selling phones, that a friend signed him up for an open mike at the Ha Ha Café Comedy Club in North Hollywood. He showed up in his work uniform and just talked about his “shitty customers”. His natural flair and showmanship allowed him to be a hit with crowds, but there wasn’t a lot of depth to his material.

“I guess I was kind of lazy,” he says over a coffee at a False Creek bar. “I was doing standup once a week, twice a week. I knew I wasn’t going to get to any kind of level like that. And it was Hollywood. I was interested in going out as much as I was interested in doing comedy.”

Three years into his hobby, he arrived in Vancouver. He immediately started working out in comedy rooms around town.

“I realized how much I was growing out here and how much stage time was available,” he says. The 30-year-old claims he did 60 shows here in January alone this year.

“In L.A., when you’re first starting out, you go around to five or 10 spots and get five minutes everywhere,” he says. “Here, you could go to two or three spots and get 20 minutes on-stage and really start to stretch out. You get to really explore a lot of different things. That’s what a city like this allows you to do.”

When he went back to L.A. after that first trip up north it dawned on him he liked the idea of doing comedy all the time.

Lafflines Comedy Club in New West gave him his first headlining gig, Yuk Yuk’s sent him on tour back east, and he regularly performs at the Comedy MIX. The guy is still likable as all get-out, but he’s added layers to his routines and put more effort into delivering his stories in joke form, because, as he says, “You need a punch line at the end of this shit.

“What I learned out here is you can’t just personality it up,” he adds.

That was a lesson imparted to him by the wise Lenox, who loves to help younger comics. When reached on the phone in Chicago, Lenox said: “You have to use Canada for the opportunity to be universally funny, as opposed to regionally funny. He [Archie] has learned how to do that stuff better. He’s getting very strong. And people love him, which is huge. He’s got something.”

Not content to sit and wait for paid gigs, Archie put on his own monthly show at the MIX called Simply Dope. In attendance one night was Jeff Donnelly of the Donnelly Group. He liked what he saw so much that he’s partnering with Archie to present the Vancity Summer Comedy Extravaganza at the Vogue Theatre on Friday (June 7). Archie handpicked Vancouver’s Ivan Decker, Toronto’s Dave Merheje, and L.A.’s Brent Morin to perform with.

And after that? Even though he says “I owe a lot to this city,” it’s back home to Los Angeles, where his new challenge is to “make some noise”.

Lenox, who might never have left had he not been forced out, knows the pull of Vancouver is too strong to resist.

“He ain’t moving nowhere,” he says with a laugh. “He’s gonna stay right there like I did. It’s too good. It’s too comfortable up there. You don’t want to go back to L.A. and get in the end of the line.”

His words of advice now? “Keep your paperwork in order.”