Comedy in the Peg

Sunday, 13 April 2008

Well, I'm back from Winnipeg. What a whirlwind. I feel like I've been in a minor car accident. In a good way. I did have a great time. The shows went so well. I was extremely pleased. The Thursday night Gala was amazing. Gut wrenching but amazing. I'd never done the monologue I wrote for it in front of an audience before and there I was doing it live for a TV taping. Might as well just dive right in? What a thrill. It was terrifying and thrilling all in one.

Then I had to race over to the MTC Warehouse and improvise with Roman Danylo and a great group of Winnipeg improvisors. As Roman said it could have been absolutely horrible. Six people who'd never improvised together before doing a show. So we decided to start with a couple of games and then do a longer form improve. Just getting a few suggestions and going from scene to scene. Very open. Roman did a great job running it. Everyone just rose to the occasion and it was loads of fun. Plus I was so numb from the Gala taping that I was completely relaxed and open which is perfect for improvising.

I got to relax Friday. Wandered through the exchange district. Shopped, went to book and antique stores. It was great. And the weather was beautiful! Then I went to the Friday night Gala which the amazing Geri Hall was performing in. She was incredible. So funny, as always. Dennis Hull, Bobby Hull's brother and Brett Hull's uncle, hosted first half which was the sports theme. Of course for you hockey fans (and sadly I did not know this) Dennis played on Team Canada in the Canada Russia series in '72. He was absolutely hilarious. Honestly I haven't laughed that hard in a while. What made him so funny, and this is a lesson to comedians everywhere, is how much he was enjoying himself. Sometimes too much when he couldn't even get through a joke from laughing so hard at himself. But not in an "I'm so friggin' hilarious way". It was so genuine. Really special to watch.

Saturday I did my first Debaters taping for CBC radio. Yikes! The show pits two comic performers against each other to debate a topic. The audience picks the winner based on who debated the strongest using logic and laughs. I was debating John Wing Jr. and our topic was "A woman is not complete unless she has a child". Of course I was against. We were the third debate up and to be quite honest I was crapping my drawers a bit. I knew it would be fine but once again jumping into the unknown. It was better than fine. John and I had a great time debating. I couldn't believe how riled I got. I kept telling him before we went on to go easy on me and then in the "bare knuckle" round where you openly debate your opponent's arguments I went a bit nuts. Okay not nuts but I really got into it. So fun. And I won. John was very kind and generous. And I did have the easier side of the argument.

So I'm home and pretty exhausted.

Back out on the road later this week. And back to Winnipeg!