Author: Brie

Comedian, Writer & Popcorn Wizard.

Eee!  Last night I performed with my Con class in our first Con show to date!  I think it went well for the first time all of us performed together and I look forward to doing it more frequently.  But when? I’ve been so busy lately, except when I spoke to someone the other day, I was like… “oh you know how slow January can be?” What?  How can my brain think it’s simultaneously slow and incredibly busy?

I blame the weather.  It’s more difficult to operate at my pace when all day it feels like it’s 7pm, until 4:30pm, at which point it feels like it’s midnight.

But I digress.  So Con’s going well.  The Incubator’s going well. I’ve got an upcoming news-show I’m beginning to prepare for with some other exceptionally talented ladies.  Trying to do sets here and there. And I really want to get writing some spec scripts and other types of packets.

Also, I just found out I get to help out again at this year’s Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival!  CODPIECE wasn’t quite ready to apply for the festival, so I’m glad I can participate at least in some small part!  Keep an eye on my posts on the TO Sketchfest website and BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!

 

PS.  The Second City Festivus party was awesome.  Working at the Second City and therefore having that venue in which to party is right up there with: Partying at the Governor General’s house and Partying on the battlefields of the Somme.  (Man, I’ve worked in some pretty cool places! #lucky)

Last night, I produced the first ever edition of Geekomedy, a show intended to incorporate aspects of media & technology into works of comedy.  I myself made a silly intro with the Voice Plus voice-changing app on my iPhone (my BROKEN iPhone!) and later incorporated the technological element of the George Foreman Grill to my show, by making an audience member a panini.

See what a difference technology adds to humour, folks?  Paninis!

The wonderful and dynamic duo Laura Bailey and Josh Bowman improvised a conversation on Facebook chat for a segment they called “IM-prov.”  Proof that some of the funniest writing people can produce is at home in front of a computer screen IMing to friends/family/ex-lovers recently escaping the confines of the closet.

I heard a comment from someone who walked into the segment late, about how strange it was to walk into a dark space lit only with a screen, to complete silence, and to still be entertained thoroughly simply through the act of reading a comic scene take place right before their eyes.

See kids, reading CAN be fun!

Next up was a PowerPoint presentation by Ashley Moffatt – hilarious as usual, Ashley incorporated elements of her regular routine, but added some flash to it with amazing photos of her famous plant wigs and, dogs.  Dogs everywhere.   I think PowerPoint stand-up is such a great idea, similar to the way SNL’s Weekend Update’s jokes are amplified by silly graphics, or Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert’s stuff – it adds to the joke.  The joke itself is funny, but with the right animation, it can take a chuckle to a full-blown guffaw.

Camille Côté was up next, regaling us with the tale of an incredibly awkward textual encounter she got in after meeting face-to-face and talking to him for a whole of 10 minutes, who later make very bizarre assumptions about her in txt form.  She made a good point about how some guys can be really brave, but only behind some form of screen.    Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to eating my bagel now.  (wink wink)

Finally, the fabulous physical comedy of Jorge Viveros brought to the stage a real-life Angry Birds game, where members of the audience could throw Jorge, the angry bird, into stacks of cardboard boxes for FUN!

Many thanks to the audience members who came out to support the show, even though right off the bat, the host told us we all stunk.  (Thanks a lot, Bob Banks!)  It’s OK though, he was referring strictly to our hygiene and not to the quality of our comedy, which makes it better, right?  Right?…

Anyway, here’s hoping there’s more interest in tech-themed comedy down the line.  I think the next logical step would be installing a transporter directly in the Comedy Bar,  saving time AND the need to dress according to the climate. (And allowing for an easier stumble home post-alcohol-consumption.)

Robo-Brie OUT!

The Holidays are OVER!  Great!  Now let’s return to some semblance of normalcy, or whatever normalcy exists when you’re trying to be a comic.

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Normalcy

Tonight kicked off the Comedy Bar’s annual Festival of New Formats, which I really wanted to attend, but found myself too tired to after an unusually long commute from Richmond Hill to find fancy cat food, which will supposedly stop Peanut from scratching her own face off.

That being said, my own show is being launched tomorrow on Day 2 of the FoNF and you should totally come and check it out:

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The idea is to incorporate more media into live comedy performances.  The irony is that I’m not much of a tech-y, I just really like the idea of incorporating my computer to my comedy, since the funniest stuff I’ve written over the years can probably be found in old FB chat, MSN & ICQ conversations. Anyway, we’ve got some sweet acts lined up, so click on the image above, it’ll take you to the Event page on FB and provide you with ALL the details!

 

Now, before the clock struck midnight on NYE – the day before, in fact, I was privileged to perform in a really awesome show, again at Comedy Bar, in association with the Canadian Comedy Awards:

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Squint & check out that sweet line-up.  The entire show was professionally recorded and shortly, I will be given a copy of my performance, so that I’ll have a top-notch quality video of me performing stand-up that I can submit to various festivals and events.  I submitted a really shitty quality video to a comedy festival already and have yet to hear back, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed.  At least next year, they’ll be able to see that I’m not just a series of very pale blurs.

The CCAs are being held in Ottawa this year – and I’m super excited because I will definitely make the trip up for them, so former friends of Ottawa, I warn you now – I will be begging to sleep on your couches/spare bedrooms in the not-too-distant future.  Maybe we can hold another show at the Avant-Garde while I’m up there.  Who knows?

Only time will tell.

So stay tuned CCA readers…

And check back to find out how Geekomedy turns out!  Or better yet, SEE FOR YOURSELF!  Tomorrow night at Comedy Bar.  7pm.  FREE.  Be there.

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone for reading & commenting on Clown College Confessions this past year.  Happy New Year & stay tuned for more musings in 2013!

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,700 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 11 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

2012 was a pretty crazy year.  I just went back and re-read most of my posts from the previous year and how much actually happened in 2012.  I said to myself earlier that I was looking forward to 2013, a fresh start.  But, now that I think about it a bit more, it’s going to be dang tough to top all the amazing things that happened in 2012.  I mean, Dave Foley bought me a beer for Pete’s sake!

I was going to draft a list of my top 2012 influencers on Twitter for 2012; people who had really help shape the year into what it was, but as I got to page 4 of my list, I thought two things; I don’t want to type all these people’s names out, and holy cow – what a great year it was; not just for performing, but for meeting people and becoming further connected as part of this wonderful community of funny people & performers in Toronto. Though it has its seedy underbelly, there’s also a crap-load of amazingly talented and friendly people as well. I’m pleased, because that’s exactly why I started this blog – so I can look back on it and remember the challenges as well as the victories, the obstacles and the peaks initially of clown college, but now expanded to the entirety of this funny little subculture.

When it comes down to it… all I’m saying is… I’m sure glad the world didn’t end this year and as crazy as 2012 was, I’m sure there’s lots more in store for 2013! Bring it on!

Great news, folks – I was informed last night that I’ve been accepted into the Second City’s Conservatory Program!   Huzzah!  My audition went super well last week, despite my being fully stuffed of delicious prime rib because I’d left directly from our office Christmas luncheon (…if ever there was a first world problem…)

Then, I found I was way too sweaty to perform well in an audition so I ran to MEC to purchase a new sweater, which I did not wear at the audition because I thought it fit funny.

But it’s warm and cozy and I’ve been wearing it ever since immediately after the audition.

Anyway.  I begin classes in January so stay tuned to find out more! 🙂

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For more information about the Conservatory program, (Mom!,)  click on the image below:

 

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For anyone who’s ever been like: “Brie’s a smarty”…

I give you… Tuesday:

I missed work today because I have pink eye, which I probably got from choking on a piece of fudge the other day in my boss’ car.  It “went down the wrong” tube, as they saying goes, and I coughed and sniffled to regain composure.  Afterwards, I felt I may have put some strain on my sinuses, and yes, maybe even my eye. It’s all connected up there, anyway.

I ignored it at first, and realized when I got to my improv class that evening that the problem wasn’t going away.  I attributed the redness to the fact that I was wearing a sheddy sweater all day or that I’d been decorating my office (both true) and that I must have got something in my eye. It was my last improv class for this term, and I’d already agreed to celebrate with my classmates at the local watering hole.

They said: “Go wash your eye out and let’s go!”

I obliged.   And still I thought nothing of it.

The next morning at 4am, I woke up and my eye was swollen and leaking puss. I realized then the problem might be a bit more severe than initially assessed.  Yet, I didn’t think it worthy of skipping work.

Eventually, I’d had enough of my colleagues asking me what was wrong with my eye and telling me that I should go see a doctor and looking at me like I was a wounded puppy.

I went to the local walk-in clinic, right as they were off for lunch and got shoo’d away by one of the workers there.  Literally, shoo’d.  By someone.  Who works in a medical clinic.  A human being.

Disheartened, and itchy and eye-rubby as all hell, I returned to the office and decided I couldn’t stay anymore.  I drove home.  Traffic on the DVP has never been better. I was able to get an appointment with my actual doctor/nurse practitioner, who diagnosed me with pink eye.

Then she gave me flu shot.  I’ve already had the flu this year.

Afterwards, I lay on the cold hard floor of the community health centre bathroom to avoid passing out, given my irrational fear of needles.  Immediately after that,  a nutritionist informed me how to eat breakfast and lunch.

So, smart?

It’s funny how good some girls are at faking it.

It’s not funny how much I love maple fudge.