by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Daniel Richer

Age: 47

Occupation: Town Crier

Salary: "Quite comfortable."

Bio: This boisterous native Canadian loudmouth and Aylmer, Quebec, resident is the official town crier for the city of Ottawa, and for the past 22 years has been the Senior Crier of Quebec and Ontario. Occasionally hired to yell for the city of Montreal as well - our municipal government being too cynical to keep their own full-time crier on its payroll - Daniel travels the world competing at Town Crier conventions, MC-ing events, teaching and delivering private declarations of love, passion, and the occasional wedding proposal. He will be doing his thing at the Canada Pavilion until Feb. 9 as part of the Salon national de l’habitation de Montréal, going down at Place Bonaventure.

His union: The Ancient and Honourable Guild of International Town Criers.

Do Village Idiots from around the world also tend to assemble at Town Crier conventions? No.

A few people he has introduced: Mikhail Gorbachev in Russian, Lech Walesa in Polish, Queen Elizabeth and every prime minister since Pete Trudeau. "I’ve cried phonetically in 20 different languages."

Is he ever tempted to spread misinformation when he is out working the streets, rattling his bell and yelling stuff like, "Sheila Copps has a yeast infection," or, "Hear ye, hear ye, Brian Mulroney likes to have sex with children!"? Absolutely not.

One job he refused: An offer of $2,000 and a car by a woman who wanted him to go to her husband’s workplace and publicly announce that she had sold their house and all of its contents, and that he was now free to pursue his affair with his secretary. "But I won’t do anything negative, and besides, this guy was a police officer so it just didn’t seem like a very good idea."

How loud he can cry: Up to 110 decibels, "which is equivalent to a truck."

One potentially dangerous gig he survived: After being awarded the key to the City of Detroit, he was given the job of cruising up and down the city’s notoriously bad-ass Main Street in his Town Crier garb hollering shit at the locals. "But I got a great response."

How he often travels to international gigs: Wearing his Town Crier uniform. "You know, if I have a job in Paris, and I get to Paris and my uniform doesn’t, I’m done. So this way everything’s guaranteed. And I usually get upgraded to first class because in my uniform they think I’m an important guy, or maybe just somebody that they want to keep an eye on."

The number of newspapers he reads every day: At least five.

Childhood ambition: To become a Pope.

A recent film he absolutely adored: LOTR: The Two Towers.

Words of wisdom: "We are the result of all the people that we meet. Five seconds or five lifetimes, you are now part of me as I am part of you forever. And for that we grow richer." :

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca