Tag: humour

It’s hard to believe a year has past since I shared a stage with Dave Foley.  Not just any stage, the main stage at the Second City.  But alas, here we are, one year later, watching my successors have their moment in the limelight alongside another Kid in the Hall, and a most royal queen, Scott Thompson.

God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen

The show was really good, I was super impressed by the performances, a lot of the writing, but mostly the sheer joy on the faces of the performers as they showcased  what they worked really hard on, ans what they learned over the past two years.

…and I can only IMAGINE the infinitely more positive environment these kids had to work with in the writer’s room and in rehearsal.  They were having fun.  And being creative.  I bet they were encouraged to create, explore and push a couple boundaries.  And you could tell all that by the performances.

It was also nice to bump into some fellow alumni and other industry folk for the evening.  🙂  (Including the good news I heard about a sponsorship for Water Wings – but more on that to come…)

I left the Main Stage feeling pretty encouraged and motivated to work hard on my own stuff.  Nothing like a bunch of kids graduating and entering the world of what you want to do to motivate you to make sure you keep at it yourself!  But first, I must rest… because I’ve got this nasty  cough that just started out of nowhere and I’ve got a busy week (month, life) ahead of me!

Congrats Humber Comedy class of 2013!   Y’done good.  Now keep up the hard work and I’ll see ya on the circuit!

Recently, a friend and colleague of mine told me “You need to have more of an online presence,” which I took as a sign that I haven’t posted anything here on CCC, so it’s time to get back to it. No more excuses or nonsense.  It’s not like I’ve been all that busy or anything…

Well…

Part of the reason my posts have been dwindling is because I’m co-managing another website lately for my sketch duo Lake Erie.  We’ve been working tirelessly at creating content for our upcoming Fringe show and in an effort to promote it, we put this little website together:

http://lakeeriecomedy.wordpress.com/

So far the show is coming along nicely, and we had our first shot at performing some of its material tonight at the JokeBox Live Comedy Lounge.  We spent all day yesterday preparing for the set and filming what will soon be our first promo short for the Fringe show.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but I may or may not have been driving around in a Mustang convertible for the shoot.

With all the Lake Erie stuff coming together, it’s hard to believe I’ve also just finished stage 2 of the 6-part process that is the Second City Conservatory program.  Last Wednesday my class had our final Level 2 show, and we finished with some fun improv and our first shot at performing some scenes written a la Second City style/process.  Our next term starts in a few weeks, and we’ll be focusing mainly on archival material, which is always fun.  I remember back from the Archival Show I did at Humber that performing other people’s stuff can be pretty darn fun.  Heh.  Colonel Angus…

I’ve also added to my responsibilities belonging to the Communications Committee for the Canadian Comedy Awards.  The festival is going to be in Ottawa this year, so well in advance, I’m warning my remaining Ottawa peeps that it is very important we get together and get drunk while watching some hilarious shit that weekend in October.

No rest for the wicked, they say.  Which I’ve never really understood.  Does that mean people who are busy are witches?  Probably.  I’d better get back to my cauldron folks, but stay tuned, I’m going to try harder to update this puppy more frequently as we approach our Fringe show dates and the anxieties increase!

Huzzah!

Oh, and in honour of our first performance as Lake Erie tonight, world, I want you to remember a simpler time when this was relevant:

 


Last night I was asked to attend and “evaluate” the second night of a stand-up comedy showcase exercise put on stand-up guru Larry Horowitz, for half the graduating class of the Humber College – Comedy: Writing & Performance program.  An exercise I recall a little more than I would like.  In fact, when I went back to my blog posts from last year to see what I had to say about my own performance in the showcase, this is all I was able to extract:

 If at first you don’t succeed…swear & curse a bunch, have a good cry, insult others who did better than you then immediately regret your bitterness, jealousy and resentment, wallow in self-pity, do harmful things to your body and mind… and try, try again.  – April 5th 2012

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Suffice it to say, I wasn’t pleased with my performance. Nor was I please with the results I’d got back from the evaluators who, like I tonight, had watched the showcase. And therein lies the beauty of time and experience. Oh how the tables have turned! Get ready, class of 2013, to feel the wrath of …the evaluator; someone who is taking your art and judging it on a completely subjective basis.   And watch out! I’m gonna be REAL subjectiv-y!

In all honesty, there were a number of strong acts last night. A cut above the rest was Darren Springer, whose mix of the wonderful and the absurd is just such a delight.  The bit about his father’s tone as he’s been trapped in the trunk of a car in Columbia is the perfect contrast of the ordinary in extraordinary circumstances. A classic comedy convention, but so well-delivered with such ease and comfort; you get the sense Darren really loves being up on that stage.

Other great sets tonight included the closer for the evening, Ryan Dillon – who’s got storytelling embedded in his genes, I’m sure. (Ryan’s a Newfoundlander.)  Sitting on a stool, he took us on a sad, sad, hilarious, but very sad journey growing up without a father – with a little insight into the airline industry.  (Did you know that if your parent is an airline employee, and they die, you get a free trip to DisneyWorld?!) Sarah White knocked the crowd dead with her sexy Star Wars switcheroo.  Colin North also had me giggling about his dead dad.  Come to think of it, dead dads were a bit of a recurring theme tonight.   Dead dads, and being a socially-awkward, ill-at-ease, unable-to-maintain-relationships-with-the-opposite sex, relatively dysfunctional human being.

That and masturbating.  There was a lot of talk about jerkin’ it.  It was a Humber show, after all.

I was impressed by the variety of voice work – lots of fun accents by Samia Darkazalli, Liron Jacobs and Jay Freeborn, who went into an elaborate bit about Pokémon, which normally I would care less about but because of the energy of the delivery and the fun wordplay, it stood out to me.  I’m a sucker for wordplay.

Ben O’Neil and his musings on the Kraken fit perfectly into the realm of the ever-increasing market share of nerd humour/culture.  Love it or hate it, you can thank (or curse) BBT for that.

It’s no surprise that I wasn’t a fan of the comparing women to dogs elements of the show or the multiple bits about racism, even the ones that were meant to call racists out on their shit, it’s just… I didn’t see a fresh take on it, and until then, I’d rather stick to what the pros have already said on the subject, rather than the not-so-deep musings of early-twenty something suburbanites.

That being said, it’s no surprise the acts that stood out to me can frequently be found performing in dives around Toronto to work on and improve their craft.  There is such a striking difference in quality and in confidence between those who perform stand-up regularly, and those who maybe memorized their set a few hours before last night’s showcase.

So, for those of you who do work hard, and practise a lot, and still didn’t get the grade-result you were looking to achieve in this exercise, don’t worry.  Even if you don’t end up performing stand-up in the Industry Show, don’t worry.  I said Don’t Worry! If you work hard you can totally get in Fresh Meat, have a live and professional taping of your set available to pitch to festivals, get an agent, book a Fringe tour and get a full-time administrative position at the CBC.

Trust me.

Sleep deprived driving is dangerous, you guys.

I guess there’s that moment when you realize, as a motorist, that you probably shouldn’t be on the road. Like, for me yesterday, it was about 6:30 pm on my way back from the FedEx depot because apparently my ROE is so important it can’t be sent by regular mail.  It came when I realized I felt dizzy with each push of the accelerator and as I stared out, without blinking at the road ahead and it seemed to widen and retract with every breath I took.

It was starting to feel a little like this:

When my eyes start playing tricks on me, that’s normally a sign that I’ve gone to too much sketch comedy for one week.

I’ve been (trying) to see as many shows at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival (henceforth known as TOsketchfest) as possible because a) I’ve been deemed the social media coordinator for the event and b) sketch comedy in Toronto is great and the line-up this year is fantastic.  BUT, I just started a new job, and the process of doing both right now is seriously impeding my health and well-being.  And what I mean by that is, holy crap I’m sleepy!

During my FedEx excursion (FedExcursion) I fought with myself for a good long time about whether or not I check out more shows, or go home, take a nap and see what happens.  The nap won, except it sortof turned into a 2.5 hour snooze, a drowsy phone call, and a return to sleep the rest of the night away.

And when I woke up… I WAS STILL TIRED!

Luckily, it’s Friday because:

  1. No boss at the office today;
  2. I don’t have to work tomorrow;
  3. I don’t have to wake up super early for work tomorrow;
  4. I don’t have to drive tonight

…so I can go out and see as many shows as possible until I pass out in the audience and have a member of some big-time sketch troupe (oxymoron?) staring at me disapprovingly after having been prodded awake by an audience-member disgruntled by my noisy snoring.

So far, the Festival has been fun, but I really wish I was currently more awake and alert so I could be blogging about how amazing Bruce McCulloch’s show was, or how it was dang nifty to meet Eugene Mirman…

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I swear I was going to my car and NOT following him, OK!?

…or how much of a blast it was to perform in Nerd Off, even though I’m not in a sketch troupe participating in the festival this year, but I have a buddy who likes to look out for me! (Thanks Erin!)

I’d love to rave about it!

But I’m so tired.

New jobs, eh?   The worst…

/The best.

Yay for work!

See you tonight @TOsketchfest!

So, something weird happened last night.  For the first time, I felt my comedy career merge with my university studies.  And there were sparks.

I studied Political Science at the University of Ottawa and graduated in 2008.  In my year or two of studies, I discovered the academic field of Women’s Studies and suddenly began analysing each of my other courses from a feminist point of view.  In my fourth year Political Philosophy Honours seminar, I defended the fact that there is such a thing as a conservative feminist, even though such a descriptor seems fundamentally contradictory.  I took two courses in my last semester of university with the same professor, Kathryn Trevenen, who provided me with a fun-filled feminist fanfare before graduating from higher learning and on to, well… I’m still not there yet, so let’s move on.  Those two courses were: 4th year Feminist Political Thought and, because I had an elective left, 1st Year Introduction to Women’s Studies, which I completed with my highest grade in University of A+.  Though it’s been a while since I’ve had to think and write the way you’re trained to in university, something in me last night clicked.  And I’m glad it did.

Last night, organizers from SlutWalk Toronto, put on a night of comedy at The Garrison, in support of the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre & Multicultural Women Against Rape (TRCC/MWAR)  This is what the Facebook event promised:

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Because humour can exist without rape jokes and some of Toronto’s best comedic talent is going to prove it!

Hosted by Natalie Norman,

Starring:
Ben Beauchemin
Derek Forgie
Christina Walkinshaw
Steph Tolev
Bobby Knauf
Amanada Brooke Perrin
Darryl Orr
Brie Watson
Catherine McCormick

Thanks to the hard work of local Comedian Natalie Norman, who took initiative to organize a comedy show to support anti-sexual violence action and survivors in Toronto, we’re inviting you to a comedy night packed with Toronto talent.
We know many people involved in feminism and fighting oppression are told that we take things ‘too seriously’, and often have our perspectives minimized with stereotypes, like that of the ‘Humourless Feminist’. We also know the value of creating alternative, safer spaces where communities can connect by challenging labels and gathering together.  This will be like any other comedy night, but with proceeds going to the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape, and with no rape jokes, or other cheap-shot oppressive humour.
And sometimes, we really just need to laugh.
So come and join us!
*Unfortunately, this venue is not fully accessible. We apologize and we hope to find a venue that is in the future if we host more shows.

(Sidenote: Comedy shows NEVER mention whether or not a venue is accessible.  This show apologizes for not being fully accessible!  How wonderful and amazing is that?! AND in spite of that, someone with a wheelchair showed up anyway.  So. freakin. AWESOME!)

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Sounds like a solid premise, right?  It was totally, 100% up my alley.  I didn’t blink twice when signing this following check-in form, which was created by the SlutWalk organizing team specifically for this night of comedy, to ensure the space remained safe for audience members:

Thank you to all who have agreed to take part in our upcoming Humourless Feminists Comedy Night- a night to showcase comedy that doesn’t rely on rape jokes and cheap-shot oppressive humour! The response we’ve received so far is wonderful and it seems like people really want more spaces like this. We’re really thankful to all of you for participating in this evening to raise money for TRCC/MWAR and show that alternatives are possible.  As indicated on our Facebook page, though we understand that sometimes jokes can be made about rape in a way that is not trivializing rape, or not reinforcing rape culture, for this show we are asking that no rape jokes of any kind be a part of the evening.
 
We also wanted to let you know in a bit more detail what kind of safer space we hope to create at this comedy show and offer up a chance for you to check-in in case you have questions or concerns. Many people have experienced pain and disappointment when going to see comedy they have expected to be approached more conscientiously, or have over time lost interest in seeing live comedy due to feeling excluded from these spaces or having them feel like hostile experiences at times when the content has mostly been shock-value jokes putting people down who are already facing many social barriers. We hope that this night will be fun, joyful and will be a space where the comedy doesn’t rely on belittling, degrading, silencing or taking a cheap shot at:
 
  1. Racialized people (including but not limited to: people who are black or brown, people who are Indigenous/Native, people who are Asian, etc.)
  2. Indigenous/Native peoples, specifically about colonization, their historical and ongoing genocide, oppression, fight for recognition/land/rights
  3. people living with disabilities or struggling with mental health (this can include jokes about people who are “crazy” and what that can mean in a larger context of their struggles)
  4. people who engage in sex work/prostitution
  5. people living with HIV/AIDS
  6. people living in poverty or who are deemed lesser than because of their socio-economic status, income level, class
  7. people who identify as women/female or as feminists
  8. people who are not straight (who are queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, Two-Spirited)
  9. people who are transgender, transsexual, intersex, genderqueer and people who don’t fit into traditional gender categories or roles (the use of the word “tranny” is understood by many communities as incredibly insulting and degrading to trans people, especially trans women)
  10. people who are fat or who have non-normative bodies (bodies that aren’t deemed beautiful or okay in mainstream culture whether based in their shape or what’s on a body, like body hair, tattoos, scars, etc.)
  11. people who have been arrested, jailed, and criminalized (rape jokes aren’t funny or ok as prison rape jokes, etc.)
This list is not an exhaustive one but we hope it helps you understand where we’re coming from and what kind of night we hope to have.
 
These identities, experiences and topics aren’t off limits, but we hope if you engage with any of them it can be from a place of not trivializing these people or putting them down by reinforcing ways that they are already marginalized. We also understand that sometimes people of these identities may use humour to challenge the way they have experienced oppression, or engage in various kinds of self-deprecating humour, and this is something we fully support.
 
 If you have questions about any of this language, or around how things could be discussed in more respectful ways please feel free to ask us. Our team continuously roots our efforts in an anti-oppression framework with commitments to continue to make our efforts better.
 
It takes work to UN-learn a lot of harmful ideas about other people and to learn how to be more aware and supportive, so we try to work together in communities to do so, and we’re really glad to have so much support in creating this evening. Thank you for donating your time and talent to this effort. We’re really, really excited about this night!!!!
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Did you read that? All of it?  Good.  Because it makes so much damn sense it both enrages and excites me.  To the comedians who might read this and think: “Sheesh!  Why don’t these people just relax and learn to take a joke!” I say: “Why don’t you wake up and write something that doesn’t shit on people who have already got it really fucking tough?  Why don’t you take a minute and think about what you have to say and why it’s so filled with hate and disregard, often for people you don’t know or haven’t taken the time to think for a second what it must be like to go through life in their shoes.”

“Freedom of speech man, I should be able to say what I want, when I want”

Ever heard of Hate Speech Laws?  Maybe look those up.

And, as Catherine McCormick so elegantly and powerfully put it last night, as she rocked the mic harder than I’ve ever seen it rocked, with both her brilliant comedy and her words of women’s advocacy within the comedy community, “You’re not being edgy, you’re being your dad.”

The success of last night’s show speaks to the need of events such as these in our comedy world and in society, in general.  I’m still quite new to all this, relatively speaking, but that was the most successful show I’ve seen in terms of turnout and not-being-corporately-funded. It filled with people who were so damn happy to be able to laugh out loud and have a great time, and not have to worry about whether or not somebody might say something that will shame them or make them feel lesser than who they are.

Also, we raised over $900 for TRCC/MWAR, so turnout, as you can imagine, was pretty good – imagine how it would have turned out if it hadn’t been snowing!  We were already at standing room only!

Last night was inspiring.  Though my act isn’t filled with demeaning humour as it is, show urged me to write more about what I’ve learned, in school, at work – out in the real world.  Next time I do a Humourless Feminist show, I will drop a Simone de Beauvoir joke and not be afraid to do so.  Among my peers at college, I was often dissuaded from writing from that part of my brain and every time I brought up an issue, a critique, a thought that was even remotely F-word related (Ohhhhh those evil scary feminists! How dare they use their brains and mouths to access any of the pie that I’ve been greedily holding onto for such a long time to the detriment of humankind!) I would be met with an eye roll and a “here we go again” – look that brought the movement back 50 years.

You wanna talk privilege?  Yeah, I’ve got a bunch of that.  But not as much as a lot of comics have, on account of my boobs.  But nevertheless, I use mine, my experience, and my stage time to share stories that will make people laugh and think (or at least that’s the goal) not that will make people regret supporting the industry in which so many of us so desperately want to work.

Colleen Westendorf, Communications Coordinator of SlutWalk and organizer of the Event last night, you are right – there certainly would not be a shortage of jokes if you take rape out of the context of stand-up comedy and last night, we proved that.

And we’ll prove it again and again.  And, in our little way, we will try to help cheer up people who can really use it.

That’s why I got into this.  Why did you?

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***It takes work to UN-learn a lot of harmful ideas about other people and to learn how to be more aware…***

A new year – a new CatChatz.  Managed to get the new one edited in one day – Thanks Snow Day!

This episode has Melanie and Shelley making up New Years Resolutions for their cat friends, Peanut and Indy.  We’re also joined by guest-star Dina Senior, my all-time truest-non-blood-related friend in the world, who is ready to pump you & your kitty up this year!

Check it out:

 

Go on, give it a click!

Meow! Meow!