[1][2] Derek Diorio arrived in Ottawa from Montreal in the mid-seventies to attend Carleton University.
Between 1979 and 1999 he co-founded Sound Venture Productions, the Ottawa Improv League, the Skit Row comedy troupe, the Skit Row Comedy Club,[3] The Creative Block, Diorio Production, and Distinct Features Inc.
He started his career as an award-winning radio advertising copywriter and moved on to co-write with Dan Lalande and Rick Jones for a number of Ottawa-based television series and specials, "You Can't Do That On Television", "The Raccoons" and "Skit Row".
In the eighties, he produced, performed, and promoted several live stage productions with Skit Row in both the Theatre and Studio of the National Arts Centre while simultaneously developing a corporate video business.
In the nineties, he started directing television shows for the then-nascent Canadian specialty channels.