Comedian Neil Robinson says success as an Amsterdam tour guide comes from his stand-up
Canadian comedian Neil Robinson is a jack of all trades. His stand-up chops translate into his various business ventures. He is one of the founders of the successful online video series, Survival Guide to the Dutch. He co-owns the raucous Amsterdam tourism company Those Dam Boat Guys.
Most recently, he and his partners opened up Cafe de Knoop on Amsterdam’s Prinsestraat. The cafe hosts weekly events in English including standup comedy, live music, and pub quizzes. It was well-received by Parool as a spot meant for residents of the capital's city center, despite being in a part of the Canal Ring often dominated by tourists.
Robinson has called Amsterdam home since 2008. He sat down with the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, to discuss his spontaneous journey to this country, the Venn diagram between comedy and leading boat tours, and some history about the city he loves so much.
Dam Yankee: What brought you to Amsterdam?
Neil Robinson: After I graduated university, I realized I didn't really want to be a psychologist. So, I thought maybe I should do some traveling. And then I ended up signing a contract to teach English in South Korea. I did that for a year and loved it. So, I signed a contract to teach English in Vienna.
But, I had a few months to kill before my contract started. I was like, I'll just move to Amsterdam for the summer. I backpacked through Europe when I was 18 and came to Amsterdam for a few days then with some buddies and loved it. When I arrived, I realized I had a few months to kill to get a fun job at a bar or hostel or a coffeeshop. And my English teaching contract in Vienna would wait until September.
Well, suffice to say, once September rolled around, I was having way too much fun in Amsterdam. I canceled my contract and unfortunately, I have still not been to Vienna.
DY: Why did you stay in Amsterdam? It’s been 17 years for you now.
NR: Amsterdam just immediately felt like home for me and Boom Chicago allowed me to have a social circle of like-minded individuals; International individuals who have also found their home in Amsterdam. And I was fortunate enough to find my passion while working there. My passion for doing stand-up comedy. My passion for doing boat tours.
The skills that are required to be a tour guide absolutely overlap with the skills that are required to be a comedian as well. That Venn diagram, it's mostly one circle.
DY: What do you show people in Amsterdam?
NR: My Amsterdam is by boat. If they're special enough, I'll grab one of our boats and pick them up in front of Central Station, because that's always cool. To introduce them to canal life immediately is very special for them. If I came to Amsterdam by myself 17 years ago and somebody picked me up on a private boat in front of Central Station I'd be like, "My god, this is amazing!"
So, taking them on the water is absolutely number one. I think it's really important to give them the knowledge of the city. Especially if you hop on a boat with us at Those Dam Boat Guys, you get a really nice layout of the canals. But also of the history and the culture that led us to the Amsterdam that we enjoy today.
We break some of the stereotypes of coffeeshops and Red Light Districts and the reason why we have these freedoms and the reason why we have these tolerant attitudes. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage in the year 2000. This is because of Dutch tolerance that was required to survive here due to the fact that flooding canals were a reality of the city and if you want to survive you had to understand that what unites you is greater than what divides you.
To fight the floods, you do it together. Neighbors helping neighbors.
DY: When you're doing the boat tour, what are your favorite aspects of Amsterdam history to talk about?
NR: One of my favorite things would be the example of when the Protestants took over the city from the Catholics during the Alteration in the 1570s. The city went from Catholic to Protestant, and while the Protestants banned Catholicism and refused to allow it to be practiced in the open, they were very tolerant of the Catholics, because the Catholics were also still pretty good for business. And anytime we talk about tolerance, we talk about business-based tolerance.
That tolerance meant, "If you're good for business, we'll still allow you to do what you’ve got to do, and we’ll just 'look through the fingers,'" as the Dutch like to say. That's when they opened up hidden Catholic churches all throughout the city and would hold Catholic Mass in secret. Those Protestants were willing to be blissfully ignorant and have some plausible deniability. They pretended that the Catholics weren't still in the city because they were still helping [the Protestants] make money.
Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full video of the interview on YouTube starting February 28. Robinson goes on to discuss comedy as an antidote to grief, and the one time he performed high on psychedelic mushrooms. Details about where to find Robinson on stage or information about one his many business ventures can be found on his website.
