Month: May 2012

In light of the recent dump the National Post took on female comedians, (see: The Bullshit) – and taking into consideration both my background in the Humanities as well as my experience in Humber College’s Comedy: Writing & Performance program, I must admit, there are many sociological elements to the Canadian comedy subculture that could do with an intense analysis, but I hardly think the physical appeal (or lack thereof) of certain female comics is the most pressing.

How about the fact that most comics I know either suffer from an attention deficit disorder, an anxiety disorder or some other social, psychological or chemical instability?  Maybe some insight into that would make for an interesting read.  What is it about comedy that attracts so many people suffering from mental or developmental health issues?  That could be insightful!  So many of us use the stage as free therapy already, why not throw a Masters student in the crowd to find out more?

Or…what if you studied the socio-economic impact of the female stand-up comic vs. the male.  Instead of focusing on matters implemented by Western societal views on beauty, maybe we should have the researchers examine that element of the female stand-up comedian – her drive, her business savvy, her hard work.  Nope.  Don’t wanna think about it.  She’s a fatty, that’s all that matters.

Or many have someone look into the reason why SO MANY comics, both starting out and intermediate, find it so necessary to tell rape joke after rape joke after rape joke.  What is it they’re all trying to satisfy?  (Oh yeah, here Brie goes again… always bitching at us for talking about rape.)  Well what the fuck is it that so many of you find so damn appealing about the most painful and humiliating experience to ever happen to a woman – and to treat it so lightly?   I get it – take the things that matter the most to people and make light of them – that’s comedy – we do it about Politics and Religion all the time (that being said, Priest pedophile jokes are hack by now, OK? And so are jokes about clothes hangers or throwing pregnant women down flights of stairs.)  But why rape?  Especially when the jokes are being told by late teen to early twenty some-odd virgin douchebags who don’t know the first thing about the severity of this issue on a grand scheme.  Why is stand-up comedy obsessed with rape?  Let’s get some Women’s Studies PhD candidates to find THAT out?

Anything ANYTHING instead of how physically appealing they are. That’s not science.  That’s a tabloid.

…or a mud hut, for that matter.  This was certainly well proven tonight in the National Theatre of the World‘s May 30th edition ofThe Script Tease Project, which I thought was brilliant!  Now, I’m pretty stupid, because I’ve only seen NTOW twice since moving to Toronto (if you don’t count the multiple times I’ve seen them on various TV commercials & in a bunch of the photos lining the walls at The Second City.)  I saw them do Carnegie Hallin the first few months after I’d started at Humber and it completely changed my understanding of what improv could be.  They are the outstandingly talented improvisers and ever since I first saw them, I have had the strongest desire to learn to emulate their skill and technique.

I also saw Naomi Snieckus and Matt Baram perform together in November’s Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival – which, if you’d like to take a step back in time, you can read about HERE.

BUT ON TO THE MATTER AT HAND!  It was my first time seeing them perform @The_NTOW’s #ScriptTease format.  If you haven’t heard anything about it, well… who better to explain it than the cast itself:

The Script Tease Project ’12 – YouTube

Tonight, the playwright responsible for penning the first few pages was Anusree Roy, award-winning playwright and performer.  And, well, since Glenn Sumi moderated the Talk Back after #ScriptTease tonight, I’m just going to direct you to his feature in NOW all about Anusree so you can find out more:

OK – so you know how the show works and you who the playwright is – good?  Good.

Anusree Roy’s play:  Starving

The play was set in a mud hut in Calcutta. Naomi is Babui, wife of Gokul (Matt), but she is pregnant with the child of Gokul’s brother, Komol (Ron.)  To feed his starving wife, child and himself, Komol has killed a cow and it is lying outside in the village square.  But they are Hindu and cows are sacred.  The stakes are high and…

You know what, if you want the play-by-play of the play, you really should read what the live Tweeters were getting up to during the show ->  Here check out the feed, it’s hilarious: @The_NTOW

What I will do is tell you about how amazing an experience to watch these guys and lady live.  The moment the scripts are put down and the lights come back up, you’re truly taken into their universe.  Even though there’s not but a rug, a stool and a tiny bag on stage, you’re right there in that hut – and those seemingly meaningless objects become the funniest rug, stool and bag you’ve ever seen in your life.  They seamlessly flow in and out from dramatic and deeply emotional moments into the silliest nonsense:

  • “Please! Let me have a fun fun barbeque!”    (This is Calcutta, remember – after two years of drought!)
  • “There is no fish curry.  Eat the rug.”

No!  There are too many of these…  Just read the Twitter feed!!!! DO IT!!! Read it!!!  Or better yet, go see one of their shows.   This run goes until June 3rd, so you still have plenty of time.

THEN you’ll see how amazing they are at character work – I imagine South Asian accents are probably pretty tough to pull off – but then again, I’m still new to Toronto.

THEN you’ll see what good chemistry looks like.

THEN you’ll see what truly great improv is.

“It’s Jazz.”

Seriously.  Go see this show.  Call 416-504-7529 for tickets, or get them by e-mail at info [at] passemuraille.on.ca.  (Comedy nerds might be happy to know that Scott Thompson’s Script Tease play will be performed on Saturday, June 2nd @ 8pm.)

 

I confess it was somewhat of a weird night at the Black Swan, where a friend/colleague  of mine just started what will hopefully be a successful regular half booked show/half open mic.  It was run by the wonderful Amber Harper-Young, who unfortunately had to absent herself mid-way.  Nevertheless, the show is called “Hardcore Girls” and it seems as though the premise is about getting mainly women (and some dudes) up to perform in an encouraging space where they feel comfortable enough to talk about what terrible human beings they are… um, in a good way.  In a funny way!  The show doubles as a fundraiser for “Because I Am A Girl” – a charitable organization set to empower women in Canada and around the world.

The audience  was composed of performers and maybe one or two of the performers’ partners/friends.  It was not a particularly receptive crowd – but it could be because they were so few in numbers.  OR the heat.  Yeah.  Let’s blame the heat.

I took the bullet, which I (and every other comic on earth) hate  – although it did lead me to realize that I need to try taking it more so I can get better at pumping up a crowd very early on in the night, because it’s a really tough thing to do.  Part of me feels responsible for the low energy of the room tonight.  Part of me blames the heat.

THAT being said, the chairs!  OMG, the Black Swan has some comfy ass chairs, which is highly unusual for a comedy venue, considering it seems the venue owners seem to want their clients to feel as uncomfortable physically as they do internally when they see a comedian bomb on stage.

It was nice to catch some performers I’d never seen before too.  It’s nice to broaden the social network.  Speaking of which, Erin Rodgers will be pleased to know that I did engage in an incredibly awkward conversation afterwards with the sound guy because I’d admitted to absolutely detesting the song he played when I was brought up on stage. (Seriously, KT Turnstall makes my stomach turn.  She’s awful. Fuck!! She’s bad.)   … I didn’t need to bring it up again after my set.  Why did I bring it up again?  Sometimes I just don’t know about myself.  It’s almost like anxiety medication permits you to say things you wouldn’t otherwise say – both in a good way AND in a terribly humiliating way.  And to Natalie Norman, who also performed tonight.  I hear you loud and clear about the chair sweat.

Here’s me wishing best of luck to Amber on her Hardcore Girls project!  I look forward to hitting the spot up again soon and hopefully the word will get out and more and more people will come check out this awesome show!

I just (/finally) signed up for Improv classes at The Second City.

This would be cause for celebration… except I’m broke.

It’s OK though.  I can survive on laughter.  Right?  Right?!?!?!  PLEASE TELL ME I’M RIGHT!!!!!!

I had a first visit to the chiropodist today.  He told me there was nothing wrong with my foot, except that it hurts a lot (still, remember?  Did I mention anything about that in an earlier post?)  Anyway, so – he says it might be pain resulting from an injury that I never quite let heal, which sounds about right.   So, the solution? Laser treatment.  Apparently it helps speed up the healing process.

I got to sit back and watch Ratatouille as lasers were strapped onto my foot!

This is the kind of treatment James Bond would HATE!

Image
Oooh, it’s so tingly!

Side note: I was totally wearing a tux during the whole thing too.  Eat your heart out James.

Monday, May 21st 2012

  • PAKISTAN blocked Twitter for several hours because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam.  Also because they couldn’t decide whose Instagram photos of the Prophet Muhammad were more artistically credible.
  • A MAGNITUDE-6.0 earthquake shook northeast Italy yesterday, killing four and covering the dead in naturally earthquake-grated Parmesan cheese.
  • CANADA is preparing to announce ongoing funding for the Afghanistan military.  In other news, AttawapiskWHAT?
  • GLOBAL WARMING isn’t happening fast enough for two British adventurers who have cancelled their expedition to row from St. John’s, Nfld to Bristol, England to raise awareness about environmental concerns.  Apparently, they weren’t familiar with the environmental concern of ice in the Atlantic.
  • A MAN IN WINDSOR accused of swallowing diamond expelled the gem on Saturday, confirming the identity of the fine treasure, as well as the $20,000 diamond.
  • FACEBOOK’s stock is sinking nearly 7%, falling below the $38 IPO price, in the social network’s second day of trading as a public company.  I bet Mark Zuckerberg finally gets why we’ve been asking for a “dislike” button all these years.

Comedy in a yoga studio?  It happens.

The Young Geologists, a sketch troupe featuring two of my favorite comedy peoples Erin Rodgers and Gillian English, host a monthly sketch/stand-up show at The Theatre Elusive, whose headquarters appear to be in a yoga studio, given the nice wooden floors and all the mats.

It wasn’t super packed, but what I got out of this space was a sense of community and support among performers and other comics and friends in the audience, which I think many might agree, can be hard to come by in this often competitive field.  Also, just a solid night of comedy – the always hilarious stand-up of Luke Gordon Field, and some great sketches by The Whisky Dicks & The Young Geologists, both troupes I hadn’t yet seen perform, so it was great to finally get to see ’em!

The audience was warm and receptive and most stuck around afterwards to indulge in the complimentary beer, cookies and berries.   It might not be huge, but this show is funny, warm, free and offers a space to perform on a Friday, which is awesome!

I was very pleased to be a part of this show and I look forward to doing it again sometime !   🙂

I’d been meaning to go for a long time, but I finally got around to attending Toronto’s Indie Comedy Hour, a fun monthly half-booked, half-lottery open mic on College Street hosted by two awesome babes; Catherine McCormick and Arleigh Curran.  Annnnnd it pretty much restored my faith in humanity.

I had a great set, the crowd was amazing, the other comics were fantastic – a lot of whom I’d never seen before, which was also refreshing.  If you’re a comic in TO and you haven’t tried this room out, you’re just wrong.   And if you’re not a comic, and you need something to do on a Wednesday night once a month, you should definitely check this show out because I guarantee you will laugh.

I was asked to come back next month and perform on the booked portion of the show, which was amazing and I’m honoured.  Yeehaw!  Bring on Spring and Summer nights of comedy around TO.  It’s gonna a good Summer.

I’m being temporarily optimistic!

But speaking of the summer – I would like to organize a small road trip to Montreal to finally attend the Just For Laughs festival.  I’ve never been before and though I don’t have the money to afford it at this point, hopefully by July I’ll have made enough to sustain me in Montreal for at least 2 or 3 days of the festival.

Also, preliminary plans are in the works for a Fall tour with some fellow comics.  Stay tuned because that might be really awesome!

In the meantime, you can catch me tomorrow night, I’ll be performing at the Theatre Elusive with my pals The Young Geologists.  For more information, check out the Performances section of this blog!  Doooooooo it!