It was a big day for Canadian women yesterday. We took home the Gold in Hockey and Curling, and on the home front, this Canadian gal had her own personal little victory.
I’m talking about my first article published in She Does the City, a most excellent website geared towards all things women. It’s a wonderful site with all sorts of great resources concerning events going on in town as well, so check it out, and have a laugh.
Ok, so if ever a casting director comes to somewhere to speak to you for free, and you’re really interested in getting into commercials or TV, and maybe her son runs one of the biggest casting houses in the city, and maybe you have some questions you want to ask her, but you also want her to maybe consider you for future projects, or maybe pass your name onto her son for future casting opportunities, maybe, oh I don’t know, maybe… TELL HER YOUR NAME!
A tidbit of advice brought to you by someone who has only gone to very few auditions. Take it or or leave it.
2nd Audition of the year, folks. Not too bad considering we’re not even into January’s double-digits. I wonder at what point this process will begin to get easier, or at least, less nerve-wracking? I thought this would be a good role for me, it asked for a bit of tom-boy-ish-ness, and I mean, come on, I was an army cadet for 7 years, I’ve got a bit of that in me, no doubt, but why is it so difficult to bring it up on command? Especially when there’s someone else in the room sucking out everyone’s energy asking the world to pay attention to “them”? You know, those people?
The kind of person who, like, your friend would say “I just got engaged!” and immediately afterwards they would chime in with an: “OH MY GOD, I HAVE A HANG NAIL AND MY LIFE IS GOING TO END! EVERYBODY PAY ATTENTION TO ME!”
You know that kindof person? What are they called again? Oh right. Actors.
Anyway, despite the attention-hog, I think the audition went well. I’m beginning, slightly, to feel more comfortable, and like I have a right to be there. I don’t know why, maybe because I didn’t go to acting school, but I always sortof feel like I’m imposing on some world or universe I’m not supposed to be a part of; seeeeeecrets. I think the audition room should be a more welcoming environment, acknowledging and encouraging optimal talent and possibility, rather than petty competitiveness and oneupmanship. But what do I know? I’m just a silly comedian.
Speaking of welcoming, I attended the 5th Anniversary of Natasha Boomer’s community-building weekly Wheel of Improv tonight at Comedy Bar. (And it took me less than 5 minutes to get there. OMG Love my new apartment!) I’ll admit I haven’t gone to that show as much as I would have liked. The last time I went, it was still in the JCB and I had only begun to crush on my now 3 years & counting man-beau (because that’s what improv is all about, amirite ladies???) …and then there was that one time a few weeks ago at BGS’ Holiday party, and there were treats, and treats are fun. (because that’s what improv is all about, amirite ladies???)
“Wheel” is such a positive space; there’s a variety of different levels of experience, and the more people play together, the better we all get, collectively. So, cheers to 5 years of that sexy sexy Wheel and I hope, especially now that I’m so close, I will motivate my own ass to attend more frequently.
If I lived in Mississauga, I would still be driving home right now. (What?)
…Uhh… into a new apartment, not like, just reorganizing it, or moving everything you own one centimetre to the left, just to see if it messes with your chi.
This is how I’ve chosen to begin 2014. Well, like, the 4th. At midnight on January 1st itself, I was celebrating at a posh restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake with my sibs and that was fun. But I don’t have the bread to do that all the time, so as of now, I am situated in a tiny apartment on Bloor Street, down the street from things that matter to me, like one of the city’s best comedy venues, a subway station, and a Popeye’s Louisiana Chicken.
My hope for the year is that the proximity to downtown will motivate me to go out and perform more. Or to stay in and write more. Or to go out and write more. Or to just do more.
I’m hoping the long Mississauga and before that Etobicoke commute times are over, and with it will come more time to spend working on things I moved to Toronto for in the first place.
So here I am 2014, and I’m right inside Toronto’s bosom. Inspire me, you crackhead-run whore of a town. And please send over someone with big muscles to help me unpack.
(***Huge shout out for my bf, pops, bro & soon-to-be bro-in-law for getting me into this tiny little paradise.)
On Saturday, December 14th, my Second City Conservatory class completed our year-long training program at the Second City Training Centre teaching us how to improvise and develop premises for scenes used to create a Second City-style production. We performed it on the Main Stage at 3pm. I arrived home in Streetsville at 3am. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my comedy career to date.
Because I feel this blog post won’t truly be able to describe the sheer joy, thrill, pride (the good kind), love and fun that resulted from that day’s performance, I thought maybe instead, I’d offer up a few things I’ve written down over the course of the last year that I thought were worth remembering, and if anyone else happens to stumble upon this page, maybe you’ll find it helpful in your own pursuit of improvisational nirvana:
It also helps to work with an amazing group of people who are all hilarious and wonderful; all from different stages in the game; all dealing with their own crap outside the classroom, but all of whom have had a remarkable impact on my comedic education thus far. I was really lucky to get to work with such a great group of individuals and at the risk of sounding corny, I’m ridiculously sad that we only get to play together once more.
Oh that’s right, I didn’t mention the REMOUNT? Well, for those of you who didn’t make it out on the 14th on account of the absolutely awful weather conditions, book off Friday morning from work because we’re boarding The Bipolar Express one last time on Thursday, January 23rd at 11pm at the Second City Main Stage and trust, you do not want to miss this party.
What a year, CCC readers. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
You want one piece of advice, starting out comedian? Don’t move to the suburbs.
This lesson I learned the hard way and tried to rectify by responding to an ad on Craigslist for a reasonably priced basement apartment at Bloor and Ossington. Fantastic location for a striving comic. Less than 5 minutes walk to the subway. Stumbling distance to Comedy Bar. Perfect. I went to check the place out and everything. It wasn’t great. But with a woman’s touch, it could look pretty damn adorable down there. Also, my pet cat Peanut has a way of making any living space adorable.
The landlady agreed that I could bring by a deposit for the apartment and I was thrilled. I would be moving back downtown. After 2 years in Etobicoke, and a brief stint in Mississauga in an attempt to save some money, I would be back in the centre of the action, and I could not wait. I could dream-taste the downtown garbage-day air already…
January 1st 2014; with Second City’s Conservatory program now complete, moving into a new place, I’d have more time free than I’ve had in a while. Time to get back out there. Do more stand-up, more improv, more storytelling. Maybe meet some people willing to work together in a sketch troupe. Get working on my writing; spec scripts, originals. The whole nine. Productivity ahoy! This is going to be THE year. But then…
The landlady informs me in a poorly structured e-mail (weird, for a former teacher) that her current tenant is not able to leave when he said he would. Which begs the question… WHAT THE FUCK were you posting an ad on Craiglist for if you weren’t even sure your fucking tenant was going to be leaving? It’s like.. “Here! Do you want to buy this car? Yes? Well too bad, you can’t It’s not for sale, sucker! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
I’m fairly certain that’s the entire point of an online marketplace. You don’t put something up, unless it’s good and goshdarn available! I’m sure somewhere there’s a law against this type of flaking, but because no money was exchanged, it’s really just a matter of screwing over the person you lead on, then crushing her hopes and dreams. (Dramatic, much?)
I know an argument can be made for the fact that it is possible to be a performer and live in the ‘burbs, but personally, I feel as though I’m wasting SO much time on the commute, which drains my energy and my drive. If I stay in town after working an 8 hour shift, to see a show instead of say, going home and preparing dinner, then going back to town to see a show, I’m saving time, but draining my wallet. Ultimately, it’s a vaccuum of wasting time and money on eating out, gas, parking etc. I think living in town, even though rent is more expensive, the ultimate savings occur in time.
So now it’s back to the drawing board. I’m off to spend hours on Craigslist, Kijiji, ViewIt.ca and other such sites in an ongoing search for a convenient, not horrible location that won’t break me financially and/or morally (that’s right, I’m not moving to Parkdale.)
Keep your eyes open for me please, friends. And never, ever move to the suburbs if you want to keep performing comedy at this early and fragile stage.
Yesterday, I walked down to the basement, or to the “Brie-cave” as my brother refers to it. There, my cat was in her litter box, taking care of business, as it were. She looked up and saw me, and was immediately filled with such joy and excitement that she felt the need to run out of her litter box before entirely finishing her business.
It was like a slow motion scene from a movie – her liquid cat discharge spraying everywhere!!
(I feel the need to mention she recently had to switch cat food to a hypo-allergenic brand, and it seems her internals are still adjusting to her new cuisine.)
She leaped onto the couch where I was now sitting and smeared a giant streak onto my oh-so-comfy blanket, which immediately made its way into the washing machine.
And so I got to thinking about life. I mean, when was the last time you were SO excited about something you literally just shit everywhere?
It must be very freeing.
OK – I just finished my last thing interfering with Conservatory this past weekend, so all posts until December, and then maybe a little bit in January, should be about this final process of the Second City Conservatory program. We’re getting down to crunch time, and our scenes are coming together, I think, and I want to work on my scenes and write about the whole process and let you know how cool it is… but I can’t yet… because I have to talk about this minor interruption.
If you’re a connection of mine on LinkedIn, and you should be, you’ll note that this year, I was asked to help out with the Canadian Comedy Awards Festival in Communications; predominantly social media. So, I signed up for HootSuite and off I went. I took on a number of different duties since my initial on-boarding, such as translation, submission vetting, and most recently; taxi service. Ironically, I did very little social media work while I was in Ottawa for the festival this past weekend – most of the time was spent running around trying to meet various arrival/departure timings of guests and nominees and coordinate other people doing any number of the numerous tasks that needed to be done to, you know, make the festival happen. I wish there was a way to simply describe to you how the weekend turned out from the perspective of a volunteer – well, not just a volunteer, but a coordinator of volunteers amongst other things. The best I can come up with is “AAARHG!?!!!!$^@GOGOGOGOGOGOGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Yeah. I think that sums it up nicely.
Though the organization of the festival was the butt of many of Awards host Ryan Belleville’s jokes at the award ceremony, I was very pleased to hear how appreciative many of the attendees were of the organizers and volunteers who worked really really really really really really really REALLY hard to make the CCAF happen. (Did I mention it was hard work?)
And beyond the simple happening of the festival, it was really cool that this year seems to have sparked a deeper level of conversation about the very nature of Canadian Comedy. Example, Naomi Sniekus & Lauren Ash’s speeches at the Awards ceremony and Steve Patterson’s HuffPo piece:
This was my 4th year volunteering with the Canadian Comedy Awards. I volunteer because I think our comedic talent should be celebrated. And I think we owe it to each other to support each other and the institutions that help us keep doing what we do. That’s why I help out – I’ve met some great people in the community through this festival – people I hope to work with down the line, people who’ve become close confidants within the industry, and people who are just, plain and simple, awesome and hilarious.
I may still be quite green to this world (yup, 3 years is still green, Mom & Dad) (Oh, green is industry talk for “new”) (See, I am learning stuff) – but if there’s one thing the Canadian Comedy Award makes me want to do than anything else, it’s create comedy and be a part of this great pool of hilarious and talented people who makes the country laugh, make our great cities laugh, and hell just make each other laugh after working over 12 hours driving people to-and-from the Ottawa suburbs in an overcrowded van.
But the Festival is over – no more interruptions, I’m going to work on this Con show to make it blow your minds and bust your guts! I’ve got some COMEDY to birth, Canada!
I was feeling a little bummed out lately because my financial situation has rendered it impossible for me to check out any of the JFL42 action currently taking place around town – and I really wanted to go see Family Guy – as much as a bunch of you are probably like “buh, Family Guy is so lame! My grandma’s more edgy than Family Guy! Seth MacFarlane can eat his own butthole!” Well, feel that if you may, but I still really wanted to see the live show – it would have been awesome. Also, I like a man with that kind of flexibility. Nevertheless, I’m broke.
THAT BEING SAID… I had to take a step back and remember a little thing called “appreciation.” Because yes, I may not be seeing the amazing alternative, and not-so alternative (Family Guy) comedic acts taking place in our great city over the course of this week, but I AM, going to see one of my comedy HEROS, thanks to the generous donation of a benefactor who shall remain nameless, (it was Dan,) the incomparable John Cleese, performing his “Last Time To See Me Before I Die” tour stop at the Winter Garden Theatre. I haven’t been there since my first year in Toronto, when I was volunteering at my first Canadian Comedy Awards, and met awesome Canadian comedians the likes of Mary Walsh, Colin Mochrie, Luba Goy, among others.
Which brings me to the impending 2013 Canadian Comedy Awards, for which I have been Tweeting semi-regularly. That reminds me. Can you hold for 140 characters please?
Ok, I’m back. I got distracted by the “Best” and “Worst” Emmy moments “article” I stumbled upon, but they meant absolutely nothing to me as I didn’t watch the Emmy’s last night. Rather, I went out and enjoyed prime rib, thanks again to a generous benefactor, who shall remain nameless. (Dan again. Totally Dan!)
Yeah, so the Canadian Comedy Awards are also coming up – which means I get to spend 4 days in my former home of Ottawa. (I miss you Lisgar House!) And I’ll get to see some of the best Canadian comedy has to offer.
I think I just wrote this post to cheer myself up. I hope you don’t mind. But it kinda worked, so that’s good. Sure I’m missing Marc Maron tonight, and tomorrow – where he’ll be a guest on Strombo, in the same building where I work, and it would be free, and I bet it’s gonna be awesome, but I’ll be working – hard, and a lot – and dealing with… stuff…
But so So SO much more importantly…
I feel like I won the lottery today! Not because I like, won the lottery or anything, but simply and purely because I was able to make it to the Service Ontario in Streetsville before it closed! (HOORAY!!!) (…despite my directions from Apple maps which sent me in the COMPLETELY opposite direction. Why was I even USING Apple maps? Apple maps SUCKS!) Anyway…AND the Service Ontario office stays open well after it’s supposed to close to serve all the people who were able to sneak in the door before closing time.
So hooray for updated health card, drivers license and car registration! Now the government and everyone has proof that I’m a resident of the… *gulp*…suburbs.
You guys should totally come out and visit me out here in Mississauga sometim-oh right. The suburbs.
Brie Watson 