Tag: Sketch Comedy

This is happening tomorrow night:


I had the chance to catch up with some of the amazing acts performing on this show to ask them how they REALLY feel about mustaches and facial hair:

“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.

Here’s another opinion about who should and shouldn’t have facial hair:

“Facial hair’s pretty neat, unless it’s on a girl.”  –  Ben Miner

(I’ll be sure to make an appointment to get my upper-lip waxed – AFTER tomorrow’s show!)

What do the mo-sistas think about facial hair?

“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

Well, you are going to LOVE the ‘staches at Comedy Bar tomorrow night Debra because comedians are only capable of growing mustaches ironically.  Little known fact.

Check out this coming-of-age-and-stache tale:

“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

Just as long as you continue to breathe, Marc.  Just as long as you continue to breathe.

Wondering whether or not any of these acts have grown mustaches this Movember?  Come to the show and find out!  Here are a few hints for ya:

  • “…didn’t grow my mo this year- stupid electrolysis- so now I have to overcompensate with my eyebrows. It’s kind of a double mo!”
  • “…we grew bristles just above our lips. But they PASS as moustaches.”
  • “…I didn’t grow a mo this year because I already had a beard and didn’t wanna mess with my head shot for auditions and such.”
  • “No I did not. My reason is simple: I fear my mustache would, by virtue of its sheer wispiness, discourage people from donating and/or participating in this and all future Movembers. I’d hate to be responsible for something like that.”

Finally – if you were on the fence at all about coming to the show tomorrow night, maybe because you’re offended that people have been calling you ferret-face all month, and they have, read on to find out why these hilarious comics think YOU should be there:

“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

:)

And ladies and gentlemen, I really do NOT want a piece of shit on my doorstep, OR the flaming bag!

So come on down!

Tickets are $15

All proceeds from ticket sales are going directly to the

Movember Foundation

For more information about the show, check out Impulsive Entertainment‘s website.

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!

“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.

There’s always been a bit of a challenge getting people to show up to the Comedy Bar on a regular Monday evening.   But for The JokeBox Comedy Lounge, by Impulsive Entertainment, produced by Deanna Palazzo and James Dalzell, it’s: “Challenge Accepted!”

Every Monday, the JokeBox Comedy Lounge plays host to a variety of comedy performances.  I attended last night, and there was a good mix of some stand-up, both booked and lotterized, improv and sketch comedy to entertain all the senses.  And, despite an off-night for the Comedy Bar’s famous mac n’ cheese, I’d say it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The night kicked off with host and noted bartender/IT Asian, Jim Kim, who always brings forth funny observations – in this case, about the Olympics and his mixed feelings towards attractive athletes, both male and female.  After which, the line-up consisted of:

  • Jordan Foisy  (Stand-Up Lottery Spot)
  • The Winston Zeddesmores (Improv)
  • Natalie Norman (Stand-Up)
  • The Reception (Sketch)
  • Mischa Cheeseman (Stand-Up Lottery Spot)
  • Ron Josol (Stand-Up)
  • Good Game (Musical Sketch)

It was a good mix – I’d never seen Ron Josol perform before, but he was really great!   He was just home from Just For Laughs and was certainly still on his festival-game because he was hilarious!  And the headliners, Good Game, with their mix of deadpan musical comedy, were a real treat to finish the night up!

All in all, you can’t go wrong for such a variety of talented comics for $5 on a Monday.  Get off your butts and check this show out!

 

The JokeBox Comedy Lounge, every Monday at 8pm, Comedy Bar – $5

I was finally able to check out a few more Fringe shows after a lovely improv class down at the Second City Training Centre.  I made my way over UofT’s campus for a switch from solo performances to an evening of ensemble casts.

Fringe Show # 3 ->  I will never listen to Annie Lennox the same way ever again.

A friend of mine highly recommended Tony Ho’s Sad People – and I was happy to find out it fit into my schedule last night because I never got around to seeing these guys during the last year’s TOsketchfest.  Finally, my time had come to be weirded out by their talent.   I chugged a beer at a nearby O’Grady’s Pub and proceeded to climb the many stairs up to the Robert Gill theatre for, I’m not afraid to say it, one of the weirdest and most wonderful performances I’ve ever seen.  They’re really nothing like other sketch comedy troupes in the city.  Though bizarre and hilarious, there’s a powerful humanity behind a lot of their sketches and monologues – as depressing as that may sound, particularly in the case of the guy who wanted to put his 51 year-old mother in a home.  I was impressed at the strong, very real emotions the characters could portray, for a comedy show, especially in the nurse/patient scene – even though one of the characters’ face was covered with gauze throughout the entire sketch.  (I’m thinking just the shy side-to-side movement on his wheelchair spoke volumes!)  My favourite sketch of the show had to be the time traveling one.

So many good ideas!  Such great performances.  And cool guest performances.  If you’re into sketch comedy, you should check out Tony Ho for sure.  Here’s what they’ve got left, Fringe-wise:

  • July 13 11:30 PM
  • July 14 01:45 PM

Two days left!  Check ’em out!

Fringe Show #4 ->  Not the War of 1812 I learned about in high school!

I ran over from UofT to Spadina (not a very far run) to catch the National Theatre of the World’s performance of “The Soaps” A Live Improvised Soap Opera.  Another one of their formats I’d never seen before, but equally as hilariously entertaining as the Carnegie Hall Show and the Script Tease Project.  This edition of the Soaps had a background of the War of 1812, which had a certain fun significance for me because I used to give tours in a Niagara-on-the-Lake historic home that was used as a field hospital during the War of 1812.  If you live in Southern Ontario, particularly near or on the Niagara River, you’re gonna year a lot of stuff about 1812, at school and otherwise.  This year happens to be the bicentennial of the war.  (I really think they should take this production down to the Niagara Region – there’s huge 1812 hooplah going on down there this summer – I bet tourists would go CRAZY over it!)  But I digress.  The cast, composed of some heavy-hitting Second City alum, played British, American and First Nations characters as their stories entwined over issues of romance, betrayal, drama… and corn!  Every night is a new story with the Soaps, so I URGE you to see this one because if you like good improv, and I mean really great, nothing beats it kindof improv,  you will lose your SHIT over this one.  Only three days remaining at St. Vlad’s!

  • July 12 09:15 PM
  • July 13 12:30 PM
  • July 15 02:45 PM

(I can say lose your shit in a review right?  Whatever.  It’s my blog.  I’ll write what I want.)

Finally… A Different Kind of Review –

I’d like to post a review of the car break-in I experienced last night.  Nothing on the car was broken or destroyed, which is a plus.  Well done, jerkoffs.  (Which leads me to believe I may have left my doors unlocked, but that’s not likely.  It’s like, automatic behaviour for me to lock my car after paying for parking.)  I DID, however, leave the windows open SLIGHTLY so the car wouldn’t be stifling when I got back from my Fringe-hopping.  That must have been it.  When I got back to my car, all my CDs had been taken, as had my change in the ashtray.  I worry some of the former car-owner’s old mail was taken, but go figure, they didn’t take the shitty $15 fan I bought at Canadian Tire as a substitute for my broken car air conditioner.  Luckily, I’d just emptied my car earlier that day of some a pretty nice North Face jacket, and some other clothes.  Also, it was fortunate these creeps didn’t know how to open my trunk, because they might have liked some of the stuff they found back there.  (Like that dead body!!! Moohooohahahahahahahaha)  All in all, I give this crime a rating of: “Fuck you, you delinquent fucks.”

Funny, I never had my car broken into when I lived in Ottawa!  (Then again, I didn’t own a car in Ottawa.)

 

There it is folks; shaking the President’s hand as I walk off with a brand-spankin’ new college diploma. The end of an era; an era filled with ups, downs, highs, lows, rape jokes and more uses of the c-word than I’d ever thought possible.  Yesterday, at the Toronto Congress Centre, along with a handful of my fellow colleagues, my parents & my man in attendance, I completed the final element of the Humber CollegeComedy: Writing & Performanceprogram.  And no.  That does not mean you get to stop reading my blog now.  Because as the title suggests, the end of my time at Humber is, just that; an end. An end to the daily classroom routine, an end to 9am stand-up & improv comedy classes, but I think most notably an end to one hell of a LOT of stressful social scenarios.

Phew.  Breath it in, readers.  Closure.

That being said, it also marks the beginning.  The beginning of a life devoted to humour.  From here on in, the performance and the quality of my work is in my hands alone and will not be judged or criticized by the same group of 11 others day in, day out.  (Until/if I get a job in a writer’s room.)  It’s the beginning of new sketch troupe potentials (Cumin Rice Violation, anyone?), the beginning of spec script writing, story writing in general, play writing, book writing, writing writing, the beginning of job hunting for something in the biz, as lame as the job may be.  The beginning of a life in which I received a hug from Andrew Clark. (Victory!) Also, very excitingly (ALMOST as exciting as the hug,) it’s the beginning of my improv training at The Second City.

I had my first class today with instructor Brian G. Smith who, I’m told, is an excellent teacher.  (So far, this stands true. :P) My classmates come from all sorts of different walks of life; journalists, mothers, actors, tradespeople & they all seem super nice/fun/cool.  Many of them took Level B together last term, so they’re all very tight & familiar with one another, but they’re quite warm and welcoming, so you don’t get that sense of high school cliquerie.

It’s also the beginning of my life with an air conditioner. (Better grad gift than a frame, I’ll be the first to admit.)

Beginnings.  Lots of them.

I intend to take on these new beginnings with poise, dignity and of course, humility.  Oh hey?  Did I mention I got top of my class at Humber?  Yup.  Honours Award for Academic Excellence.  No big deal.  What?

I’m actually really super excited about this. #nerd4life