TV star Joel McHale details adventure south amid Vancouver’s holiday snow chaos

The star of a new TV show is having a laugh about trying to get home from Vancouver during last month’s pre-Christmas snow storm.

Like thousands of people, actor Joel McHale says he missed his flight out of YVR while trying to get home for the holidays. Seeing no other option, he told Jimmy Kimmel in a recent episode he decided to take an Uber to Seattle.

That’s when he said things got interesting.

“And it said 220 bucks to get to Seattle and, you know, in Canadian dollars that’s like eight bucks,” he quipped. “As soon as I got in, [the guy] was like, ‘Yeah I can’t go over the border.’ And I was like, ‘Are you a criminal?’ and he said, ‘No, because if I go into America, that means I’ll be working in America and then I’ll be in trouble.'”

A storm that hit Metro Vancouver the week of Dec. 19 wreaked havoc on the region. As a result of the snow, flights into and out of YVR were essentially all halted for a couple of days, stranding thousands of people just days before the Christmas weekend.

Planes at Vancouver International Airport on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022 following a major snow storm that brought operations to a halt. (OMNI / CityNews Image)

McHale, whose mother is Canadian, said he decided to take the Uber to the border, with plans to walk through the Peace Arch crossing and order another ridehail service on the other side.

After an eventful drive, the comedian told Kimmel finding a ride proved to be more challenging than anticipated.

“There were no Ubers, there was hardly any guards. So I walked into Blaine, Washington with my luggage,” McHale continued, joking with Kimmel through his story.

He said he eventually met “John from Victoria” at a bar in Blaine, bonding over their mutual effort to get to Seattle.

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After being offered a ride to Bellingham, it seems the pair decided to go it together.

“John and I fell in love,” McHale joked, calling John a “big hunter, big fisherman in Wisconsin from Canada.”

“We’ve been texting, he’s going to be very excited,” McHale continued, adding “he’s a great guy.”

McHale has been in Metro Vancouver shooting the series ‘Animal Control,’ set to air next month. The actor is known for various roles, including Jeff Winger in the sitcom Community.

Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. PST on Citytv immediately following CityNews at 11.