Tag: humor

Comedy in a yoga studio?  It happens.

The Young Geologists, a sketch troupe featuring two of my favorite comedy peoples Erin Rodgers and Gillian English, host a monthly sketch/stand-up show at The Theatre Elusive, whose headquarters appear to be in a yoga studio, given the nice wooden floors and all the mats.

It wasn’t super packed, but what I got out of this space was a sense of community and support among performers and other comics and friends in the audience, which I think many might agree, can be hard to come by in this often competitive field.  Also, just a solid night of comedy – the always hilarious stand-up of Luke Gordon Field, and some great sketches by The Whisky Dicks & The Young Geologists, both troupes I hadn’t yet seen perform, so it was great to finally get to see ’em!

The audience was warm and receptive and most stuck around afterwards to indulge in the complimentary beer, cookies and berries.   It might not be huge, but this show is funny, warm, free and offers a space to perform on a Friday, which is awesome!

I was very pleased to be a part of this show and I look forward to doing it again sometime !   🙂

I’d been meaning to go for a long time, but I finally got around to attending Toronto’s Indie Comedy Hour, a fun monthly half-booked, half-lottery open mic on College Street hosted by two awesome babes; Catherine McCormick and Arleigh Curran.  Annnnnd it pretty much restored my faith in humanity.

I had a great set, the crowd was amazing, the other comics were fantastic – a lot of whom I’d never seen before, which was also refreshing.  If you’re a comic in TO and you haven’t tried this room out, you’re just wrong.   And if you’re not a comic, and you need something to do on a Wednesday night once a month, you should definitely check this show out because I guarantee you will laugh.

I was asked to come back next month and perform on the booked portion of the show, which was amazing and I’m honoured.  Yeehaw!  Bring on Spring and Summer nights of comedy around TO.  It’s gonna a good Summer.

I’m being temporarily optimistic!

But speaking of the summer – I would like to organize a small road trip to Montreal to finally attend the Just For Laughs festival.  I’ve never been before and though I don’t have the money to afford it at this point, hopefully by July I’ll have made enough to sustain me in Montreal for at least 2 or 3 days of the festival.

Also, preliminary plans are in the works for a Fall tour with some fellow comics.  Stay tuned because that might be really awesome!

In the meantime, you can catch me tomorrow night, I’ll be performing at the Theatre Elusive with my pals The Young Geologists.  For more information, check out the Performances section of this blog!  Doooooooo it!

I spent the whole morning/early afternoon shooting the second episode of my webseries with Paige McIntyre and realized I don’t think I ever posted the first one here to CCC.  This project started out as an assignment for our Sit-Com Writing class with Anne Fenn, but we figured we’d keep it up whenever we could,  so… without further or do, I take you to CatChatz – Episode One – Cooking for your Cat:

(Sometimes the sound gets messed up mid-way, but then it gets better – it depends how crappy your computer speakers are. Mine are crappy.)

Enjoy!

Sometimes when I’m at home washing the dishes, the smell of my Palmolive Aroma Sensations – Fresh Green Apple, triggers my memory back to my first year of university in Ottawa.  I was young & wide-eyed, and my neurotic roommate in residence used to yell at me for not doing my dishes precisely when she wanted them to be done.  She liked it so that when she woke up in the morning, she wouldn’t have to stare at my dirty dishes.  I had no problem with staring at my dirty dishes in the morning, or for three or four mornings after that if we’re being honest.

The point is, every now and then I’m reminded of her, and how much better looking she is than I. So, I head down to the nearest LCBO and engage in a pretty dangerous/fun wine drinking binge and drown away the feelings of inadequacy with the accompaniment of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way on my shitty MacBook speakers.

Lady Gaga: Not just for gay people anymore!

Maybe if I just drink the whole bottle of Palmolive… Mmm… apple-y.

Maybe finding the right sketch troupe is like finding true love: you can’t force it to happen because it comes when you least expect it!

Or maybe I’m a hopeless 2am optimist.

Either way, this Melba toast & cheese is delicious!

Clown College is officially over!!!!  (with the exception of graduation, which will be happening in June, but who cares about actually graduating??!?!  [I do, I made the Dean’s list!])  When I finished University, my Mom really wanted graduation photos, but I never got around to taking them.  She might get what she asked for this time around, except I need to warn her, she’s not allowed to complain about the giant red nose.

On a different note, as the impending sense of dread looms nearby, we were given one last educational tidbit before calling it quits for the summer.  Pam Thomas, casting agent, producer, manager (etc.,) who’s worked with Lorne Michaels at SNL, with KITH, with some of the SCTV crew and managed Maya Rudolph (etc.) came by to talk to us a bit about what happens après Humber…

Everything she said made sense:

  • Get an agent
  • Get a demo reel
  • Get a website
  • Move the fuck out of Canada

A one-on-one meeting with the guru turned into a one-on-two with someone who graduated 7 years ago and is currently touring the Yuk’s circuit while simultaneously working retail to get by. That’s what we call an “eye opener.”

I was worried there wouldn’t be much use for a blog that was meant to document my time at Comedy School after I graduated, but it looks like this is really just the beginning.   There’s probably enough in the self-reflective element of this business that will keep me (and hopefully you) interested… for the next 7 years at least!

And if not, here’s a picture of my cat:

Yay!  Peanut!

The roller coaster ride of the Humber Industry Show ended at the Dog’s Bollocks in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

We spent all day on Monday at the Second City, so for me, it felt like work, which is a good thing, even though I wasn’t getting paid.  It’s just that, I work there… you see.  So, it was nice to be able to consider the performance element of my time at the Second City as work and not have to rearrange chairs and clean up after people afterwards.

I haven’t written much about the process of preparing for the Industry Show, other than a few snippets here and there, but now that it’s over, and I’m no longer writing and re-writing Greece or Ma & Pa Brothel, I have time to reflect.

Reflect upon  how unfair the process was to many of us and how were were told to suck it up because hey, that’s showbiz.  And on my end, it sucks, because who’s going to recognize the girl who wrote the piece but only had one line and spent the rest of the time in the chorus?

Two events took place at the Dog’s Bollocks that metaphorically represent my feelings about the show and its process:

  • Dave Foley bought me beer and;
  • I got a parking ticket.

(OK, he bought beer for the whole table, but that lessens the metaphor, so stay with me here.)

This business, this school has been a series of ups and downs, wins and losses and, I guess all I can do is wish myself and my classmates the best of luck at braving the storm.

(Photo credit: Becky Moore)

(Photo credit: Becky Moore)

It’s cut.  It’s re-cast.  Re-write this.  Re-write it, but make it like it was before you re-wrote it.  This is where we’re at in Industry Show preparations.  It’s terrible and wonderful all at the same time.  And I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Well…. maybe money.  Lots and lots of money.

I’m gonna go a bit fangirl for a second.  Please excuse, but I have to contain myself while at school so… here goes:

Um, it’s pretty dang nifty, I’d say, to work in a writer’s room with Dave Foley.  I ugh, how can?  I don’t.  What?  It’s Dave Foley for crying out loud.  My parents hated how obsessed I was with the Kids in the Hall growing up.  I was too young to catch their show when it originally aired, but I would watch re-runs on the early days of the Comedy Network repeatedly.  I would TAPE sketches on VHS, the ones I liked the most.   That feels like so long ago.  I had a pen-pal I met on a KITH fan message board.  A message board!  Do they even still have those?  Other than like, craigslist or kijiji!?!?  She sent me photos of their show in New York and I to her from their show in Buffalo.  She sent me Dave’s autograph.  Holy shit, I just remembered that now.   I used to quote Brain Candy with my friends.  Dina did a great Baxter!   I had a poster of The Wrong Guy on my wall when I was in high school for Pete’s sake.  Most of you probably haven’t even HEARD of the Wrong Guy!

And now I’m working with him in a writer’s room!!!!  Life, you’re being awesome right now!