Tag: humor

I read this article in shedoesthecity.com about JokeBox lounge producer (and good friend)  Deanna Palazzo and couldn’t help but give it a re-post. It feels good to read great things about ladies who work freakin’ hard in this business and to hear about the good things they’ve got coming up.

Click on Dee’s face to read on…

 

“Jokebox Comedy Lounge brings an inclusive night of laughs to Comedy Bar on Mondays. Producer Deanna Palazzo tells us what it’s all about…”

Two Years of fun. Pessimistic, passive aggressive fun.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Clown College Confessions!

There are two things I would have liked to have ready to post on this, the second anniversary of my little blog:

  • The First:  to have had enough money to finally convert it to its own domain name and;
  • The Second:  to have been able to post photos from Fresh Meat and talked about the upcoming Cream of Comedy show.

But as it turns out, I’m still broke and I didn’t make it onto Cream of Comedy…

SO…

…this adorable teddy bear will have to suffice, OK?   ALRIGHT?!?!?!  What’s wrong?  A cute teddy bear NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YA?  Well we’ll see about THAT!!!!

Somebody get me some chocolate cake.

_____

The author of Clown College Confessions is experiencing some technical (see: psychological) difficulties.  Please try again later.

Fresh Meat is over friends. We can all breathe again! Inhale some of that delicious oxygen! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand breathe out. Nope, not working. Still on edge! Well, I guess it’s time to sign up for a new yoga class, Brie!

The Fresh Meat show was a huge success!  The theatre was full (not full-full – because I know what that looks and feels like – but, good full), the masses were laughing and the comics were knocking ’em dead.  All in all, what a wonderful show to have been a part of!

Props & hugs to the producer, Dee and to everyone else I saw running around working hard!  ( Photographer James & Emily backstage +DJ the host) for such a smooth running professional evening. Even content-wise, I was pleased to see a good number of smart, sophisticated humour –  (mixed in with a very healthy blend of the irreverent.)

It was also so great to see all the fun people I normally work alongside, smiling encouragingly as I told a very embarrassing story on stage and reaffirming me afterwards that I didn’t stink!

As silly as it sounds to say it though, I think my highlight of the night was the moment I walked out of the green room after my performance and thought: “PHEW!!  It’s DONE!  Now I can just sit back and actually ENJOY the show!”  I think DJ Demers, the host, summed it up pretty nicely when he commented on how a bunch of the comics were puking backstage because they were so nervous.  It was a nerve-wracking show.  And a healthy dose of competition is good, sure.  Fine.  But this isn’t athletics.  It’s not like we all go at once and then the fastest, or the furthest wins.  I do not envy the performers who had to sit through the entire show, seeing all the performers kill and think – “Oh jeez, I have to do better than him, and her, and them etc.”  Whereas I got to just rip mine off like a Band-Aid.

Most of the time, I like to go last or near-last at a stand-up show, but definitely not in competition, I learned.

It was great to see the members of the community, once again assembled to celebrate and encourage those starting out in the business.  It’s great to hear that that’s what Tim Sims was about – because it’s not an easy thing to get into and to continually rationalize and justify as your debts pile higher, but your gigs get better… slowly.  Slowly.  And you work well into the night – performing, writing, re-writing, rehearsing, hounding down colleagues to coordinate stuff, producing, etc.  It’s not easy.  But is it worth it?

Three minutes, we got on Monday.

Three minutes to myself on the Second City main stage.

You’re damn right it was worth it!

I’m a little behind in my blog-posting.  Probably because I started a new job, the whole waking up at 6:30am, driving an hour and a half to get to work by 8:30am in Richmond Hill, then driving BACK for an hour after work, not getting home til like 5:30-6pm, then going out & doing comedy or otherwise is shall we say, a little time consuming.

The JokeBox Comedy Lounge is a weekly comedy variety show put on by the wonderful Deanna Palazzo and James Dalzell.  (For more information about Jokebox, see my previous post: Say Goodbye to Your Case of the Mondays)  This past Monday, CODPIECE, my new sketch troupe, made its official debut. We were one member short, but all in all, I think it went over very well.  We received compliments on some of our sketches, and though the four of us are very busy employees of the Second City FOH staff,  I think we’ve got lots of potential.

This is what potential looks like.

CODPIECE isn’t booked for another show until November, but in the meantime, we’ll be working on bringing you what you want most:  more creepy Chapters employees and Snuits.

In the meantime, please Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

It’s been a crazy week. (+ a few days.)

I volunteered for the Canadian Comedy Awards again this year, which was great!  (With the exception of the biggest joke of the night: $13 + tip glass of wine.)  I worked in the box office throughout the end of last week to sell tickets for shows put on by nominees in the various categories.

(If you’re curious, you can see the results of the CCAs right HERE.)

Then, I worked backstage for the actual Awards ceremony, where I had the pleasure of un-blazer-ing Alan Thicke of TV fame, holding stuff for Gavin Crawford, also of TV fame – and basically running about rounding up presenters for the rest of the evening.

The after-party was a lot of fun as well – every year I know a few more people at the CCAs & feel more welcomed as part of the community.

Which leads me to Fresh Meat.  I am so nervous about Fresh Meat.  I’m freaking out over Fresh Meat.  People are telling me to relax and that I’ll do fine, but I am freaking out over Fresh Meat.

(If you’re like: “WTF is Fresh Meat?” Click HERE)

I’ve been working so much this summer in the evenings, and whenever I’m NOT working, I was trying to find jobs, or trying to network, or updating a resume, or writing, or doing ANYTHING to improve my financial situation (which was, until very recently, at risk of requiring me to move back to Welland…) that I haven’t been able to go out and perform as much as I would like.

In fact, tonight, at Comedy @51, I performed the set I wanted to do for next week’s Fresh Meat and it sortof flopped.  I’ve run over in my mind a bunch of reasons why it didn’t go well, and I’m glad I still have a few more nights this week to rehearse it, but only at the beginning of the week, because guess what – Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun evenings, I’ll be cleaning tables and pushing drinks at work (ie. NOT rehearsing.)

IIIIIIIIIIIII’m SCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARED!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

There is some hope though, at least financially.  Last Wednesday night, I was surfing craigslist looking for work (as one does when one becomes desperate) and I applied for a few.  Thursday morning, whilst at Canadian Tire getting an oil change, I got a phone call asking if I was free to come in for an interview for a job as an Office Manager in Richmond Hill.  I went to the interview and, despite my profuse nervous sweating, I got the job and started the next day, Friday.   It’s a 9-5 temp job (with the *fingers crossed* possibility of extension – depending on what the boss says when he gets back from vacation,) which would allow for free evenings to go out and practice the work I so desperately want to do.

Ugh.  I’m a great big ball of stress right now, folks.  But this is the life of an artist, so I’m told.

Is it weird that, when I arrived home tonight, I saw another Crysler Intrepid and I thought to myself: “Gee, you could be my car’s girlfriend!”

I’m either getting too little or too much sleep.

#carsneedlovetoo

Please, someone, hire me.  I’m good at stuff.  I have a degree and a diploma.  I’m smart.  I have lots of experience!

I just want to work during the days so I can have some time at night to go out and tell jokes/work on screenplays/work on spec scripts/work on short stories/write a novel/improvise/perform/write sketches/review shows/film shorts/film longer things/write plays/perform in plays/BE A COMEDIAN.

I just can’t do it because this…

And because it costs so much to live here…

AND because nobody in their right MIND would pay to see this take her clothes off…

In spite of all that.  Someone out there.  Please.  Hire me.

I’m serious.

“The Tim Sims Encouragement Fund (est. 1995) and The Second City are pleased to present ‘Fresh Meat 2012’, a showcase of the hottest fresh new faces on Toronto’s comedy scene. On Monday, September 10th, 2012 at 8pm, Toronto’s best up and coming comedians will strut their stuff at this exciting annual comedy event.”

I woke up to the announcement of the line-up for this year’s Fresh Meat showcase, and was excited and pleased to see yours truly listed on a line-up of otherwise exceptionally talented funnyoids, which is what I call comedians.  Or at least, will begin to do henceforth.

They are:
Templeton Philharmonic
Steven Boleantu
Danish Anwar
Jess Beaulieu
Two Weird Ladies
Ben Beauchemin
Josh Infald
Pink Slip
Christi Olson
Jamie O’Connor
Lwam Ghebrehariat
Lance Byrd
Joshua Elijah
Vincenzo Giovannini
Robert Keller
Rulers of The Universe
Cash Grab
Troy Stark
Natalie Norman
Michael Jagdeo
Brie Watson

 

They idea here is that we’re competing to continue onto the next round of performances entitled: “Cream of Comedy” and the winner of CoC is awarded the prestigious Tim Sims Encouragement Fund – a scholarship to the Second City Training Centre – and a whole bunch of other awesome goodies too.

For more information about the Fresh Meat show ticket-purchasing process, go here – and for more details about the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund, click here.  Go forth and exchange knowledge of this event, because it’s gonna be a good one.