Friday, September 25, 2015
Gotta See It: Subban’s hilariously accurate Don Cherry impression
This is a comedy blog, after all, and as I am also a sports nut, I figured that I would combine the two. PK Subban is one of my favorite NHL players, and he's a good guy, too. His recent donation of 10 million dollars to a Montreal children's hospital adds to his legacy. Don Cherry is, of course, one of pro sport's most colorful and controversial personalities. He and PK are buddies.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
A Comedic Conundrum: Leaving A Paper Trail
Note the page of notes in my hand. It's taken me a long time to feel confident enough to do a set without that crutch. James Ball, a fellow comedian and one of Victoria's best, paid me a great compliment when I explained the crutch analogy to him. He knew what I was talking about, of course, and told me that "you can walk." He is not the only one who has urged me to ditch the notes. My style, as you can hear for yourself, is reminiscent of two of my comedic idols, Steven Wright and the late, great Mitch Hedberg. I love word play and "garden path sentences" (thank you, Wikipedia), taking the audience (hopefully) by surprise with twists and turns. But it works better when I flow paperless.
It's ironic, I suppose, that I felt the need to keep my notes with me, as I have acted in many plays over the course of my career and have never had a problem with memorization. But in this case, my fear - and it was a fear, that's not an exaggeration - was that I would forget my best material. Or blank on a great new joke that I wanted to debut. One day an epiphany struck (ouch!) and it crystallized to me that the only person in the room who will know that I've forgot a joke....IS ME. Nobody else will know. I am not a "storyteller," therefore there is not a risk of me losing my place. There is no place to lose. My improv background has given me a schwackload of experience in facing the void, at filling in the blanks with properly timed pauses and silences. Plus, I can just end it if I'm floundering. That nifty joke can return another time.That bon mot that I lovingly nourished with the milk of human comedy might actually welcome its delay into the world and be all the more stronger the next time.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)