Have you ever seen two people meet for the first time, or who don’t know each other very well, talk to each other confidently and comfortably and wonder, how come I can’t do that?  Why do I come off sounding like such a lunatic when I try that?  And why do I spend so much time thinking about it afterwards?

I once posed a question at a dinner party, to which someone else in the room proclaimed: “Only you, Brie, would ask a question like that!”

What is that supposed to mean? Why am I asking questions other people never think about?  Who left the anxious weirdo alone passed midnight with her laptop on so she could write this emo blog post?  WHERE’S the kettle so that I can boil water to make JELL-O?

There’s always room for JELL-O

Who has two thumbs, tooth pain, is hopped up on meds and is totally ready for the Holidays?  This gal.

OK.  Not “totally“, it’s not like I’ve, you know, purchased any gifts yet or anything.  But as far as school goes, I’m ready for a little break.  Not that I’m particularly fed up, but we’ve completed our major performances and assignments for the term and everything’s winding down to a close. I haven’t gone out on my own to do any performances because of all the end-of-term work last week and then my health took a turn over the weekend, which is something else that’s slowly sucking the life out of me.

For example, after class today I had a nap.  I woke up at 6:30 p.m. convinced I’d slept through the entire night and that it was actually 6:30 a.m.,  I was ready to call a friend an apologize for having slept through our plans for the evening and ready to shit on/congratulate my roommate for ambitiously doing the dishes at such an ungodly hour and waking me up in the process. (Sorry/Thank you Sarrah.) I was completely disoriented and I have been, to a certain degree, for the past few days. This morning, I had an English proficiency exam, which was a joke, but I had to focus much harder than I normally do to make sense of what was being asked of me.  Two different antibiotics, painkillers and nerve pain take their toll on the ol’ mindjuice.  So, have no fear, readers.  I’m heading to the endodontist (<— screw off Word Press, that’s totally a word!) to get my root canal re-root canalled. (I know, right?)  If anyone wants to know what I’d like for Christmas, it’s for Humber College to cover emergency dental procedures.

…Not that I miss working for the Man, but man, the Man did have good freakin’ benefits.

Anyhoo, but there are positives on the horizon.  If any of you are visiting the GTA over the next little while, I’ll be performing some improv in a class Christmas show on Friday, Dec 17th at around 4:30.  Then I have a set next Monday (Dec 20th) AND on Tuesday (Dec 21st).  For more information about those two, just drop me a line on Facebook. In the meantime, I guess I should ask Santa for some new material before Monday!

Also, for you Ottawa folks who haven’t forgotten me: I’ll be in Ottawa for NYE and New Years Day, in town for a wedding happening on the 2nd of January.  I was thinking about hanging around for a few days after that too, but that’ll be entirely dependent on if you will let me sleep in your houses.  I’ll try to get some sets on the go in Ottawa too that week, if any of the clubs/open mics will be running while I’m there.  But please, please, please… let me stay in your houses. I can’t afford a hotel.  PLEASE.

In the meantime, for the love of GOD be careful driving.  It’s a snow-shit-show out there.

Peace.

I can’t do Juno.  For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to impersonate Ellen Page’s Juno for my Acting and Voice class, but something just wasn’t right.  I’d like to say that it’s because I didn’t get teen pregnant and therefore I had a hard time associating with the main character’s plight, but when it comes down to it, I really think I’m just not cool enough to use a hamburger phone.

So, very last minute, I scrapped the teen pregnancy idea and was inspired to try something a bit more relate-able: the incomparable Bridget Jones.   I performed three bits of hers from the first movie and strung them all together.  I’m not embarrassed to say that I’m more Bridget Jones than I am Juno MacGuff.  In fact, when my acting teacher told me I played it well, I told him any woman could because every woman is Bridget Jones.   Blah, anyway, the point is that this acting class is good for making one realize what types of characters we, as comedians, are more apt to play.  Apparently I’m good at playing lesbian pundits and tragic spinsters.  Not…really surprising… but there you have it!

I was exceptionally pleased at the teacher’s response to my performance, because recently, I’d been slightly put off that class, most likely due to lack of participation, uncertainty about my own quality and general sense of anxiety about all of the other classes for which we have to produce material.  I mentioned that the professors here were typically very encouraging.  Well you have to work for this one’s praise and I was slightly surprised to receive it today.  Yay! How delightful!

I think it’s the beginning of a good week, which is great because I was a bit of a grumpface last week.

Another cool thing to happen today, was a presentation by Mark Breslin, owner of the Yuk Yuk’s comedy chain.  He spoke to us about the nature of the comedy biz in Canada and what to expect when we leave Humber.  He was also very encouraging, although he didn’t placate us with false hope.  A lot of: work hard, it might be 10 years before you get anything, but don’t give up because doing comedy is a calling, and unless your Norm MacDonald, you’re gonna have to work your ass off if you want to get good at it.  Also, it helps to be a bit crazy. Just, moderately insane… at least.

Check.

Thanks Mark.

Anyway, here’s a bit from Bridget’s monologue, if you wanted a little hint of who I got to pretend to be today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riA144CUHhU

OK so I wish I had all this great news to tell you about our second round of sketch performances.  Maybe it’s because it’s our original material that was on the line this time ’round, but suffice it to say, I was not satisfied. Though we did receive praise and congratulations from our fellow classmates, it’s hard when you have a vision for something that doesn’t work out exactly the way you want it to… especially when you’re as controlling as a US Marine Corps drill sergeant.

I did learn a few things along the way:

1) Easy on the tech;

2) Remember all your props;

3) If you don’t think people are going to remember the lines for the sketch you’ve written, force them at gun-point to do so, otherwise, it won’t fucking get done.  Just kidding.  I’m totally over it.  Love you guys.  *awkward smile.*

But the performance is over now, and I’ve taken in what there is to learn about writing your own work and organizing a group to get it up and running the way you and the rest of the members what it.  It takes a lot of cooperation, patience and passive aggression.

All in all, it had been a bit of a stressful week, so I’m glad to have hit the weekend.  It’s also starting to get cold over here in the T-dot, and dark early.  I’m looking forward to the Holidays, though sad to think about how quickly this first semester has gone by.  Regardless, there’s still work to be done.  Up on the menu for next week:  one acting evaluation to perform, one essay due, one final exam, one choreographed performance due. maybe some stand-up sets here and there, and a partridge in a pear tree.

BRING IT ON!

No comedy this evening.  Instead, I went to watch a band at the Mod Club.  Yes a band.  No, not comedy.  Yup, with instruments and everything.  And no racist humour!  (Although there was one pretty blatantly homophobic comment…) But I digress.

I find so many comedy students’ lives so completely saturated with comedy, comedy, COMEDY and I have to remind myself from time to time that maybe the reason I and others think I’m funny is because I had a life before I came here and I experienced things that vary from the lives of the other comics here.   So, as much fun as it is to be at the clubs and gross bars for open mics,  improv and sketch…GAH, sometimes it’s just such a relief to listen to some good live music for Pete’s sake.

This life is messing with my sleeping patterns.  So is Peanut.  Tell me, is kneading at 4 a.m. really necessary, cat?

Get some sleep, Brie.

Good night.

So, my second set at Yuk Yuk’s is down.  It went well, I think.  Most evenings I spend on the floor with my legs up in the air usually end in disappointment and awkwardness, so…yeah… This was a nice change from the norm.

But seriously folks, the night went well at Yuk’s for all of us, I think.  There was a good crowd and a positive attitude as usual, which is always very encouraging and rewarding.  Our stand-up coach didn’t approach me and tell me anything after my set this time, which is a bit unsettling, because he seemed really enthusiastic about it last time, but I may be reading a bit too deeply into that.  I can’t be seeking reassurance after every single set.  What matters is that people laughed and that on its own is reassurance.

After the show, a few students from my class decided to take on a different room; a second set, for some of us.  There are many who tell us to get our names out there, we should be performing as many open mics as possible, multiple times a night if we can, and this was my first shot at a two-fer.   Kids in the class had warned me that this particular “room” is notorious for killing one’s self-esteem, but I’m pleased to say that with the amount of support from the many students who did show up, as well as the constructive criticism and helpful life tips from some of the more experienced comics, this place proved to be exceptionally rewarding.  In addition to a bunch of really practical advice, from business to microphone technique, we also learned how to keep your concentration doing a set whilst inebriated AND getting kicked in the balls.   That’s the really practical stuff they can’t teach us at Humber!

All in all, a good/productive evening, folks. But I grow sleepy in these early morning hours…so…

My next update will likely be on the subject of my troupe’s sketch performances, happening this coming Friday.  I’ll be rehearsing pretty much non-stop from now until then. I can’t WAIT!!!!!  It’s gonna be fun!!!

Until then….Stay tuned!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the eve of my second big Yuk Yuk’s set, *hint hint – come see the show (TOMORROW @ 7:30!!,)* I can’t help be contemplate the fact that half a month has gone by since my last post!  I can’t believe it, ladies and gentlemen.  Time flies! I don’t remember time passing this quickly in the past.  Maybe, MAYBE it seemed that way in France, but other than that, there’s no comparison.

Here’s a rundown of what funny’s been restricting me from talking to you lovely people:

Stand-Up!:  I’ve been performing at a few open mics, here and there around town, mainly at one very friendly room hosted by some of the second year students.  I’ve only done two performances outside of their immediate influence, and it was awkward and slightly painful, which is quite common for beginners, so I must force myself to go to more of those.   Some of the kids in my class put on a special performance on campus a while back, which was a lot of fun.  Hopefully we’ll produce some more of those and hopefully get more kids from campus out to watch/participate!

Improv: Not much to report on this front, other than regular class-attending.  My two-person troupe is starting to research some particular styles we’d like to perform, long-form-wise.  Also, I’ve approached my parents about taking courses at the Second City and they seemed to be on board with that.  Hopefully that’ll be a project for the New Year.  2011 – The Year of Making Shit Up!

Sketch: The members of my class-assigned-sketch-troupe are currently in rehearsals with performing our own written sketches.  Mine is a Top Gun-ish-type parody involving tapioca pudding.  Intrigued?  I’ll bet.  We’ll post the videos as soon as they’re up!  One of the kids in the class has been graciously video-ing most of our performances in an effort to eventually throw all this material up on a web-site that’ll show the world how incredibly talented our small class of misfits can be!

The Rest: More bruises from my shtick class and bruised egos in the acting class.  We’re starting to work on choreography in the Physical Comedy class, which is cool for me, because as some of you may or may not know, I danced for 15 years before leaving my home town, oh so many years ago.  I’m glad the guys in my group have some rhythm so we can get some sweet moves down for Thursday!

The other crap:

The nature of socializing has shifted slightly.  Due to my involvement with some stand-up outside the classroom schedule, I’ve begun to see some students more often outside of class, including significantly more of the 2nd year students, which has been helpful and motivating.

We’ve been getting our own crew of participants to our weekly improv-workshops, which have also been a heapful of fun, mostly. These have included some friends of friends, visiting from outside the Humber program to contribute their knowledge, skill and expertise.

In the non-com world, I had the pleasure of taking a trip to Ottawa a while back.  It was certainly refreshing to see my dearly-missed pals.  And, all of them got MANY words in, considering I could barely speak any.  A change in the social dynamic, and certainly a change in morale, attitude and spirits since my departure late this summer. Time passes and teaches.

And this post is getting way too* introspective.

*way too = Wellandism.

I’ll let you ALL know how my SECOND BIG SET at YUK YUK’s goes!  Stay tuned!

AND: For those of you coming back to the GTA around Christmas-time, I have ANOTHER set booked at Yuk’s on December 21st.  Set that date aside for laughs and freakin’ EGG NOG!   Ahhhhh yeah.

Holy crap!

Life’s flying by like a freakin’ whirlwind over here, guys and gals!  Things have gotten a little crazy since my last post, so I’m pleased to announce that they’ve calmed down enough that I can sit down with my best friend “MacBook” to hack out an essay due tomorrow and some new material in preparation for a set I’ll be performing on Thursday evening at Humber, organized and put on by some of the b’ys in my class.  (If anyone’s interested…)

I spent the weekend away from the comedy scene, which was very relieving though I certainly didn’t lack the provision of comic relief, showing up in Ottawa with a voice no louder than a whisper.  Listen kids, if you’ve got a cold, stay home and treat it.  Otherwise people will mock you relentlessly and you’ll only have sign language to defend yourself as a result.

I’m currently writing a paper about Peter Pan Syndrome and realizing that I have it pretty fiercely.  I mean, I know I constantly mock man-boys whenever I get the chance, but I’m afraid to say it… I think I may be a lady-girl.  Everyone in Ottawa I hung out with this weekend seems so figured out.  Here in Toronto, most everyone I meet are where I was when I started out in Ottawa.  There’s this whole no-man’s-land gap between both social groups.  Why has it taken me 8 years to end up somewhere I should have been?  Am I caught in some kind of strange time-loop?  Are these the ramblings of a lunatic? Can I get my eggs over-hard please? No pepper.

Whatever.  I don’t care that it’s taken me 8 years to get here.  This is where I belong.  I know that.

Is it already November?  I can’t believe this!  Not since my time in France has life seemed to be flying so quickly or… drunkenly.

Anyway, our last stand-up assignment was a fun one.   We were given one random word and asked to write two-minutes of material with some background research to support our jokes, making the set both entertaining and informative.  My subject: Skipping Rope.  It was a lot of fun and it got me thinking this would be a great exercise to keep up!  So, if anyone’s interested, please send me, here on WordPress or on Facebook or Twitter, one single word or topic.  I’ll pick a few of them and try to write some material.  If I can manage anything clever, maybe it’ll end up on stage as part of my set.  I just think it’ll be a good way to get me even more motivated to perform stand-up. (Also, it speaks to my lack of creativity, since otherwise, I could just come up with these random topics myself, am I right?  I mean…. wait… damn!)

I’ve started going to some open-mics, in fact I’m performing at one this evening.  Recently, I went to a club where someone I consider to be very funny basically lectured myself and a colleague about how our lives should revolve entirely around stand-up (or comedy, more in general) and nothing else.  “If you have the option between going out and performing a set or staying at home and watching a movie, do the set.  If you have the choice between getting laid and doing a set, do the set!  etc.”  The teachers at Humber all seem very encouraging, but there’s something exceptionally motivating about having someone outside of the sheltered college out in Etobicoke, who knows what it’s like and who’s been through it all,  who’s coming out on top to pressure us rookies into succeeding. Thanks for that, Fry!

Improv is another area that has been drawing in a lot of my focus.  I’ve recently been strongly considering, in addition to the program at Humber, taking courses in Improv at the Second City.  I’m still working out all of the logistics, and I may have to wait til next semester, if at all while at Humber, but it’s certainly something to think about.  We’ve been doing lots of after-hours improv workshops and other types of events and a friend and I spoke to our Improv teacher about trying out some new stuff on our own.  It’s all been very exciting!

Finally, I’m also trying to do something I’ve been meaning to do for years now, which is learning to play the guitar.  I’m hoping that one day, I’ll get good enough to incorporate music as part of my act, so… more to come on how that progresses…

Well, life goes on and I’m still busy, busy with new assignments popping up in each class all the time.  Check back often to find out more about my adventures in clown college!

Fun Fact – I live VERY near the high school where two of Canada’s greatest comedians, Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster used to attend class: Harbord Collegiate.  Cool, n’est-ce pas?  Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_and_Shuster if you’re interested in finding out more about Wayne and Shuster!