Author: Brie

Comedian, Writer & Popcorn Wizard.

What a weird and wonderful series of days I’ve just had/coming up.

This past weekend, I had my first ever audition for an acting part.  I don’t think I did very well, given I messed up the simple lines I’d been assigned to read due to extreme nervousness even though I was only mildly interested in playing the part of “Friend/Family Member.”  I was in and out in less than five minutes and I met some interesting nice and some pretentious people along the way.  (For the record, if you introduce yourself to me by telling me you went to a “Triple Threat Academy” I will, without a doubt, hate you forever.)

Well, at least I got my first audition out of the way!

It’s been a fun past two evenings down at Comedy Bar for Sketch Com-ageddon, but sadly I won’t be able to see the rest of the competition because I’m working the next few evenings and on Saturday I’m going to see Radiohead.

Finally, a band I’ve wanted to see live in concert since I was pre-high school.  The Bends was the first CD I ever bought.  For whatever reason, I never got around to seeing them live.  I had tickets the last time they were in Canada, but I had to re-sell them in order to return to France (oh, boo-hoo, I know!)  The kicker, they’d been playing the city where I lived in France the DAY before I arrived.  I really should have planned that better.  But this weekend, I’m finally going to see them.  Unless someone has free tickets to France.

Back to Com-Ageddon, it was fun!  I performed on Monday and Tuesday I attempted to live-Tweet the festivities (despite my tardiness.) It was fun to re-connect with some TOsketchfest pals & Humber pals.  It felt a little strange to see fellow Humber students now, even though we used to see each other every single day of the week.  Maybe that’s why.  Or maybe it’s because I’m kindof awkward, socially.  Mph.

I’ve got a PREVIEW to some news.  A few of my fellow comedians with similar sensibilities are planning somewhat of a comedy tour in October.  We’re thinking about hitting up some more Eastern areas, such as Ottawa, Montreal and Sherbrooke, and some more Western areas, like St. Catharines, London and Guelph.  If anyone who reads this blog lives around any of those places, keep reading for more information to come.  If you’re from those areas and you have tips about venues and booking information, please get in touch with me – because I value your knowledge and experience.

Ooooh!  Also.  My partner in cat-crime, Paige Mcintrye, & I finally put up our second episode of CatChatz.  You should be sure to check that out, because it’s funny and about cats.

I’m sure you’re sitting on the edge of your seat right now just dying to know how the debut performance of Getting Even with Chesapeake turned out, so I won’t keep you in a state of suspense.

Or will I?

HAHAHAHAHAHA Blah blah blooooooooo lalahfjdhfkdakda.

No, I won’t.  It went fine.  We didn’t move on in the competition, but it was fun to be performing sketch comedy again in a non-academically-obligatory kinda way.  It was also great to perform in an non-entirely Humber-based audience.  Helps to shed some objectivity on life in general, as a whole.

Buuuut that being said… congrats to troupes Sketch & The City, Jape and Parker & Seville for moving on to the next round of the contest!

I’m going to go back to Sketch Com-ageddon tonight to catch more of the action because I loooooove sketch comedy! (And because performers get a 4-free show pass.)

Good luck to all you bloodthirsty troupes!

Today is an exciting day.  This evening, I will be performing with my new sketch troupe for the very first time.  They are called Getting Even with Chesapeake and are composed of Ashley Moffatt, Paige McIntyre, Matt Surina & myself.  Ashley, Matt & I had been talking about working together for a long time and we brought Paige on board because she’s a great writer and she and I have been working together on Cat Chatz – so it all made sense!

Consequently, this will be my first time performing in a sketch troupe since the decomposition of LaughDraft earlier this year and the subsequent denial of my entry into the troupe that formed out of the dregs that was LaughDraft – so, I think it’s fair to say I’m pretty damn excited to get back into the swing of sketch comedy with this awesome group of people!  🙂

Getting Even with Chesapeake is making its debut, performing as part of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival’s Sketch Com-Ageddon competition with many other awesome troupes from around town as well as a lot of newbies.

It should be a fun time – so feel free to come check us out.    The sketch-dule is RIGHT HERE!

See you tonight!

Maybe I didn’t get to perform stand-up in the Industry Show this year – but tonight, I did get to perform on the Main Stage at Second City along with some amazing local comics.  Check out this line-up:

  • Blair Streeter!
  • Chris Roberts!
  • Mark DeBonis!
  • Erik Bamberg!
  • K. Trevor Wilson!
  • Hosted by Jim Kim!

 

Sometimes things have a way of working themselves out.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Chemika for the sweet pic!

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!!!!!!