Author: Brie

Comedian, Writer & Popcorn Wizard.

Hello out there!

From now on, if ever someone asks me if I’ve ever done any stand-up comedy, I can proudly answer “Yes, I have!”  (Because this is the kind of question that comes up in conversation often for most people, right?)  I’ll be the first to admit that I need a LOT of work before my act is anywhere near good enough to perform in front of a live/real/human audience, but I’ve tried it now.  I’ve developed a taste for it…and now, I want more.  MORE!!!! (I bet this is how the first person to have discovered bacon felt…)

The greatest thing about this program is the amount of encouragement you get from the teachers and peers.  I felt terrible after finding out that I’d spoken for 2 minutes, a full 100% more than what I was supposed to, (I suppose all my tour guide friends will remember my habit of perpetually exceeding my allotted time limit inside the tunnels at Vimy…) However, the teacher attributed this to a certain “Brieness,” as he calls it, which comes out when I take command of that mic.  And though my set wasn’t spectacular, there was something really great about another human being acknowledging the existence of this entity, this Brieness.

I think everyone should take at least a few moments a day to acknowledge their own unique “ness”es.

Two weeks in and we’ve finally begun actually doing stuff, as opposed to sitting around hearing about what we’re going to be doing,  in the program and in life as successful and/or failed comics.

We’re already working on some cool assignments.  One of which is the memorization of a monologue, to be performed in my Acting and Voice class.  As many of you may know, a childhood filled with too many hours spent watching television and with the advent of modern instant communication, I probably have the worst capacity to retain and memorize just about anything.  So, this has been a fun little challenge.  I picked something out of Clerks.  (The first one…the good one.)  I felt like I wouldn’t have a hard time getting into Veronica’s character and that it would be a fitting role to play as a result.   I’d originally planned on doing something out of Juno, but I felt that monologue was too short.  Juno has plenty of lengthy voice-overs, but that’s about it.  So, Kevin Smith it is.

I’m also working on putting together one-minute’s worth of Stand-Up material for my Stand-Up class. I’m finding it exceptionally challenging to sit down (ayuk) and write jokes.  I guess the source of my humour has for a long time come out in the form of rants, which are not jokes, but rather long, drawn-out lists complaints about the state of this or that.  The format of a joke is much different.  Anyway, I’ve worked on something and I’ll just need to rehearse it before class on Tuesday. I’ll let you know how it goes!

I’ll leave you with one of the most important debates of our time.  (Also from Clerks.)  If you haven’t seen this movie yet, let this clip and others you find on YouTube be the motivation you need to check it out:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls:

I am pleased to be writing to you from this new blog site, where from now on, I intend to keep anyone interested updated in the adventures of my new life as a comic-in-training in the big city.

I’ll also keep anyone informed about any shows I’ll be playing throughout the year.  I have nothing lined up for now, but it both pleases and frightens me to death to know that within the next few weeks, I’ll have performed my own stand-up material at Yuk Yuk’s, here in Toronto.

Let me know what you think, and feel free to ask any questions.

I’ll remain short and to the point for now, but know that my first few weeks in the Comedy program at Humber have been eye-opening and I look forward to sharing my experience with you.