Two days sick in bed and I’m going CRAZY up in here. (In here, referring to my brain.) Somebody get me a job related to comedy, or media, or SOMETHING that has SOME element of creativity to it! I can’t keep driving to Richmond Hill every day to do shipping & receiving and human resources. It’s driving me berserk!
HELP. ME. PLEASE!
I’m losing it.
It’s been a nice, quiet Friday, brightened up by the fact that:
OK, back to point #2 (hehehehe, #2…) anybody excited about SketchFest should attend this event right here:
Eee! Last night I performed with my Con class in our first Con show to date! I think it went well for the first time all of us performed together and I look forward to doing it more frequently. But when? I’ve been so busy lately, except when I spoke to someone the other day, I was like… “oh you know how slow January can be?” What? How can my brain think it’s simultaneously slow and incredibly busy?
I blame the weather. It’s more difficult to operate at my pace when all day it feels like it’s 7pm, until 4:30pm, at which point it feels like it’s midnight.
But I digress. So Con’s going well. The Incubator’s going well. I’ve got an upcoming news-show I’m beginning to prepare for with some other exceptionally talented ladies. Trying to do sets here and there. And I really want to get writing some spec scripts and other types of packets.
Also, I just found out I get to help out again at this year’s Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival! CODPIECE wasn’t quite ready to apply for the festival, so I’m glad I can participate at least in some small part! Keep an eye on my posts on the TO Sketchfest website and BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
PS. The Second City Festivus party was awesome. Working at the Second City and therefore having that venue in which to party is right up there with: Partying at the Governor General’s house and Partying on the battlefields of the Somme. (Man, I’ve worked in some pretty cool places! #lucky)
Last night, I produced the first ever edition of Geekomedy, a show intended to incorporate aspects of media & technology into works of comedy. I myself made a silly intro with the Voice Plus voice-changing app on my iPhone (my BROKEN iPhone!) and later incorporated the technological element of the George Foreman Grill to my show, by making an audience member a panini.
See what a difference technology adds to humour, folks? Paninis!
The wonderful and dynamic duo Laura Bailey and Josh Bowman improvised a conversation on Facebook chat for a segment they called “IM-prov.” Proof that some of the funniest writing people can produce is at home in front of a computer screen IMing to friends/family/ex-lovers recently escaping the confines of the closet.
I heard a comment from someone who walked into the segment late, about how strange it was to walk into a dark space lit only with a screen, to complete silence, and to still be entertained thoroughly simply through the act of reading a comic scene take place right before their eyes.
See kids, reading CAN be fun!
Next up was a PowerPoint presentation by Ashley Moffatt – hilarious as usual, Ashley incorporated elements of her regular routine, but added some flash to it with amazing photos of her famous plant wigs and, dogs. Dogs everywhere. I think PowerPoint stand-up is such a great idea, similar to the way SNL’s Weekend Update’s jokes are amplified by silly graphics, or Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert’s stuff – it adds to the joke. The joke itself is funny, but with the right animation, it can take a chuckle to a full-blown guffaw.
Camille Côté was up next, regaling us with the tale of an incredibly awkward textual encounter she got in after meeting face-to-face and talking to him for a whole of 10 minutes, who later make very bizarre assumptions about her in txt form. She made a good point about how some guys can be really brave, but only behind some form of screen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to eating my bagel now. (wink wink)
Finally, the fabulous physical comedy of Jorge Viveros brought to the stage a real-life Angry Birds game, where members of the audience could throw Jorge, the angry bird, into stacks of cardboard boxes for FUN!
Many thanks to the audience members who came out to support the show, even though right off the bat, the host told us we all stunk. (Thanks a lot, Bob Banks!) It’s OK though, he was referring strictly to our hygiene and not to the quality of our comedy, which makes it better, right? Right?…
Anyway, here’s hoping there’s more interest in tech-themed comedy down the line. I think the next logical step would be installing a transporter directly in the Comedy Bar, saving time AND the need to dress according to the climate. (And allowing for an easier stumble home post-alcohol-consumption.)
Robo-Brie OUT!
The Holidays are OVER! Great! Now let’s return to some semblance of normalcy, or whatever normalcy exists when you’re trying to be a comic.
Tonight kicked off the Comedy Bar’s annual Festival of New Formats, which I really wanted to attend, but found myself too tired to after an unusually long commute from Richmond Hill to find fancy cat food, which will supposedly stop Peanut from scratching her own face off.
That being said, my own show is being launched tomorrow on Day 2 of the FoNF and you should totally come and check it out:
The idea is to incorporate more media into live comedy performances. The irony is that I’m not much of a tech-y, I just really like the idea of incorporating my computer to my comedy, since the funniest stuff I’ve written over the years can probably be found in old FB chat, MSN & ICQ conversations. Anyway, we’ve got some sweet acts lined up, so click on the image above, it’ll take you to the Event page on FB and provide you with ALL the details!
Now, before the clock struck midnight on NYE – the day before, in fact, I was privileged to perform in a really awesome show, again at Comedy Bar, in association with the Canadian Comedy Awards:
Squint & check out that sweet line-up. The entire show was professionally recorded and shortly, I will be given a copy of my performance, so that I’ll have a top-notch quality video of me performing stand-up that I can submit to various festivals and events. I submitted a really shitty quality video to a comedy festival already and have yet to hear back, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed. At least next year, they’ll be able to see that I’m not just a series of very pale blurs.
The CCAs are being held in Ottawa this year – and I’m super excited because I will definitely make the trip up for them, so former friends of Ottawa, I warn you now – I will be begging to sleep on your couches/spare bedrooms in the not-too-distant future. Maybe we can hold another show at the Avant-Garde while I’m up there. Who knows?
Only time will tell.
So stay tuned CCA readers…
And check back to find out how Geekomedy turns out! Or better yet, SEE FOR YOURSELF! Tomorrow night at Comedy Bar. 7pm. FREE. Be there.
“There are those for whom I think it’s essential: Cult Members, Cult leaders, Indie Folksters, Wizards. For others I believe it is appropriate without being strictly necessary: Cowboys, Ring Leaders, Dock Workers, Henchmen. And, of course , there are those for whom facial hair is an absolute no-no: Babies, Police Officers, Amateur Ironists, Anglican Priests.” – Scott Montgomery, Falcon Powder.
“Facial hair’s pretty neat, unless it’s on a girl.” – Ben Miner
“LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Love it. Seriously. LOVE IT! Oh my god. Even thinking and typing it makes me happy. I am a beard lover, but I also love an ironic mustache!” – Debra DiGiovanni
“We didn’t realize it was quite so much work! All of the waxing, flexing, watering it every day, etc. We feel a new respect for people that wear them all year round. The biggest problem is that it wakes us up all the time. We roll onto our faces as we sleep and it pokes us. Rolling onto your face as you sleep is normal, right?” – Marc Hallworth, Vest of Friends
“Its the end of another Movember and it needs to be glorified. Plus, Movember is for a good cause, laughing is awesome and it’s Wednesday. what else are you doing on a Wednesday, jerk?! :)” –Debra DiGiovanni
“Because making prostate cancer and subsequently this yearly blight of terrible moustaches a thing of the past is a doubly good cause.” – Scott Montgomery, Falcon Powder
“Beacuse we heard that Tom Selleck, Hitler, AND Ned Flanders will be there! How can you miss those classic staches!?” – Marc Hallworth, Vest of Friends
And finally…
“People should come to Laughstache tomorrow because if they don’t Rob Ford will light a flaming bag of his own poop on your doorstep. He has a lot of free time these days.” – Ben Miner
Last night was the first time I performed on the actual Amateur Night at Yuk Yuk’s downtown Toronto. I don’t know why it took me so long to get my ass up on that show, but nevertheless, it happened last night and it went… meh. It was, alright.
It was a much less forgiving crowd than the Yuk’s experiences I’ve had so far with Humber nights. Also, I had to take the bullet. Which I hate, even when someone as awesome and hilarious as Mark Little is hosting the thing.
It was fun to see some fresh newbies who’d never ever done stand-up before as well as a variety of comics more, shall I say aged…, than those I’m used to seeing at the open mics around town.
IN SUMMATION, it was a mediocre first time.
Womp womp.
BUT, what better motivation to work harder and one day win over the Amateur Night crowd?!
Bring it, Yuk Yuk’s.
___
A seat belt on a bicycle. What was I THINKING?
It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been back from the Ottawa/Montreal leg of our Comedy Before the Frost tour and I still haven’t had the time to post any of the photos or videos. But I’m working on it. I promise.
… I’ve been busy!
I had my first Level D class at the Second City Training Centre this past Monday (Rob Baker‘s my teacher – So excited! Uh… the comedian, not the dude from The Tragically Hip – although that would also be cool.) Afterwards, I huddled and dodged the hurricane over to the Main Stage to check out the last little bit of the 2012 Cream of Comedy show, where those 5 performers who were selected from Fresh Meat got to battle it out one last time in hopes of winning the Tim Sims Engouragement Fund Finally, Christi Olson was declared victor and was awarded $5k & a scholarship to the Training Centre. Good on her. She’s hilarious and totally deserves it. Also, I hear she needs money to buy meds, so… good. Comedy’s literally keeping this girl alive.
Kudos to the producer Deanna Palazzo for putting for the hard work she put into Fresh Meat and CoC this year. They were both really fantastic performances, which ran smoothly, professionally and hilariously, just as planned.
I don’t know why, but because I didn’t know Tim Sims, I derived great pleasure out of recognizing him from the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercials where he played Rory Tate, the scientist tracking mysterious peanut butter and chocolaty crop circles. I REMEMBER those! I guess it makes me feel better because I can acknowledge that though I never got to see Tim perform live, some element of his performance has been ingrained in my memory – so I feel better about being nominated to be in a competition for award in his name. Does that make sense? I don’t care. It does to me.
Anyway, C0C was hosted by Kristeen von Hagen, who is hilarious. And, having heard she was in town, the wonderful Jess Beaulieu snagged her up to headline her and Laura Bailey‘s popular CHICKA-BOOM show, on which I got to perform with some other fun sketch and improv comedians and none other than Royal Canadian Air Farce veteran, Luba Goy.
“What? Brie, that’s amazing!”
I know. You don’t have to tell me that. I feel it too.
She performed a great little bit of stand-up and included some of the fan favorites, including Kim Campbell & Donald Duck. After the show, Luba kept us out too late for a Sunday, telling the hosts they need to hurry up, get married and have babies (not with each other…) before their parts dry up. She then picked up what is probably the Free Times Café owner’s family heirloom, a sweet old accordion, without permission and went to town on it – telling us tales of her own one-of-a-kind childhood accordion, which her friend traded in sans permission. Tragedy, right?
Also, Luba tells me I’m no longer allowed to drink sweet white wine, so… I have to settle for Pinot Grigio these days.
YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT LUBA SAYS!!!! BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN OTHERWISE.
Luba Goy – more terrifying than Halloween.
The Stratford edition of Comedy Before the Frost is now history and marks the first out-of-town comedy show I’ve produced (well, co-produced.)
I think I would qualify it as a success in that people we do not know were in attendance and paid money to listen to us tell jokes. Not thousands of people, but people. One of whom had reserved in advance for a group – as a birthday celebration. We were part of someone’s major life event! (If you consider a birthday a major life event, which I do.)
I was especially touched when I noticed my good pals from Sarnia in the crowd; friends I’ve known since high school (actually, I think I knew Josée before high school, she can correct me if I’m wrong,) who’d made the trek down specifically to see me perform. That’s dedication, folks. That’s friendship. They traveled further than I did to get to that venue. These two are the best kind of people there is. Afterwards, they treated us comics to drinks and billiards, which is like…gold for comics. Sweet liquid, billiard-y gold.
Jerry Shaefer, our host, performed some really funny, interesting and unique stuff – which I was really excited to see because it didn’t fit in with the regular run-of-the-mill host. He took some time to look into work we’d all done in the past, which was really nice and considerate – and he told stories, played characters and was just damn delightful to watch perform. The birthday-boy was especially excited when he found out Jerry used to be on the Red Green show. Apparently he was a huge fan.
We also made connections that will hopefully lead to more shows in Stratford, a lovely town in which to perform. A town you KNOW values live entertainment.
But first, time to get our sights set on Ottawa and Montreal. I’m hoping for a bigger crowd for both these shows, and to recognize a few friendly familiar faces.
Also, more liquid billiard-y gold would be nice.
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…
Brie Watson 