Tragedy Plus Time takes us into the world of comedy in Toronto. With reviews of venues and shows as well as interviews and profiles with some of Toronto’s comics. Follow @TIAComedy
Toronto comics Jason Schlesinger and Peter Inskip recently started a weekly show at Mây every Wednesday (9pm). Mây is a kind of bar with a huge stage where you can sometimes watch plays and that sort of thing, but now you can also see comedy! Anyone unfamiliar with the comedy scene doesn’t realize the cachet that comes with an actual stage. A lot of rooms around the city just have the performer standing on the exact same tiles as the drunken, common spectators.
Schlesinger and Inskip co-host the show with one on the stage and the other chiming in from the sound booth. Co-hosted shows are always fun; the playful and occasionally antagonistic rapport is always more interesting than just one person trying to calibrate the room’s energy. This way it isn’t a lone guy one stage imploring the audience to care; it’s a double act whose energy exists whether we’re witnessing it or not.
Tragedy Plus Time takes us into the world of comedy in Toronto. With reviews of venues and shows as well as interviews and profiles with some of Toronto’s comics.
Toronto stand-up comedians Blayne Smith and Troy Stark have partnered up to create The Shit Hawks, a five episode web series. Smith and Stark play two candy eating, soda shotgunning, “chemically dependent,” tattooed VD fomites who decide they need to start a band to justify their lifestyle. In need of a singer they end up selecting New Zealander Guy Montgomery (“Bad Dog”) as he is the least-worst candidate available.
Their rock star status is more in their imaginations than in anything happening on an actual stage, reminiscent of Flight of the Concords. Also, the inherent dryness of Montgomery’s accent adds to this effect. Nobody really likes having their work compared to other people’s work, and that’s not what I intended. An obvious point of difference is Montgomery’s role as somewhat of a straight-man in the trio, whereas in Flight of the Concords there is no straight-man. Between the shitty-band theme, the drinking, the weed smoking, and the New Zealand dryness, the series could perhaps be described as somewhere between Flight of the Concords and Trailer Park Boys. (You might have guessed the second influence from the name of the series.)
Since it’s a short series I shouldn’t give too much away. Just go watch it:
Tragedy Plus Time takes us into the world of comedy in Toronto. With reviews of venues and shows as well as interviews and profiles with some of Toronto’s comics. Follow @TIAComedy
Skin of My Nuts Sonic Espresso Bar Tuesdays, 10-ish
A lot of open mics are depressing places full of nothing but comics impatiently waiting their turn to try out new material. One of very few exceptions is Skin of My Nuts, hosted by Vandad Kardar at Sonic Espresso Bar. Kardar’s alternative name for it – the Anne Frank’s Attic of Comedy – is more a reference to how small the room is and that it’s above the actual bar area.
The room started just under a year ago and was extremely disorganized. The name “Skin of My Nuts” is meant to capture the show’s ethos. It has stayed true to that, except these days the audience sticks around. This is in contrast to the old days when Kardar would clear the room multiple times with ten minute rants about how God hates women and his idea for marketing “17 year old” scotch (“it’ll be our little secret”).
The show has built a following who often stay till the very end, which can be late. Karder will put everyone on even if this means the last act is at 2 am. Comics will often show up at 1 to cap off their night with a set where they know anything goes and they can feel comfortable taking any risk. I’ve seen comics have full meltdowns, berate an overly sexually suggestive audience member to the point of nearly getting in a fight with her boyfriend who was tripping on acid, defend white nationalism, use the unique space to experiment with sharing their most intimate and painful stories, and bash the industry where they know there won’t be consequences. I have also seen countless traditionally great sets.
If seats are scarce in the cramped room, drinks are inexpensive and there’s a nice patio area. The audience is constantly moving in and out so hold tight and eventually you’ll be able to sit down.
April 30th will be the one year anniversary show and to celebrate Kardar is hosting a roast of himself. Many of the regular comics will be participating.
Tragedy Plus Time takes us into the world of comedy in Toronto. With reviews of venues and shows as well as interviews and profiles with some of Toronto’s comics. Follow @TIAComedy
As Seen on TV Second City Friday, February 22nd, 10:30pm $18
This Friday Second City will be featuring the improv show As Seen on TV. The hilarious lineup includes Colin Mochrie (Who’s Line Is It Anyway?), Debra McGrath (Little Mosque On The Prairie), Sandy Jobin-Bevans (Life With Boys [Nickelodeon], Deal With It [W Network]), as well as producers Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus.
Photo: The Second City
Baram can be seen on City’s newest hit comedy series Seed. In 2012 he won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Male Improviser.
Tragedy Plus Time takes us into the world of comedy in Toronto. With reviews of venues and shows as well as interviews and profiles with some of Toronto’s comics. Follow @TIAComedy
Back To the Future: The Improv Show Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor St. W. (at Ossington) Saturday, February 16th, 8pm $8
Back to the Future: The Improv Show will be featured at Comedy Bar this Saturday, February 16th. That makes it a fun Valentine’s-Weekend night out for comedy loving couples.
Back to the Future: The Improv Show reenacts the action, adventure and romance of this 80s classic through the fun and choas of improv comedy. The ending will be happy, but between time-travel and the unpredictability of improv, who knows how they’ll get there?
“Audience response has been amazing,” said the show’s producer and director Quentin Matheson. “The cast and I are thrilled to perform a show that’s consistently made people cry from laughter.”
The cast includes some of Toronto’s most acclaimed improvisers: Sean Tabares (Canadian Comedy Award Winner for Best Male Improviser 2010), Julian Frid (Sex T-Rex), Jess Grant (Big in Japan), Janet Davidson (WDWMKR), Maria Hajigeorgiou (Beauty School Dropouts), Ken Hall (Throne of Games), and Isaac Kessler (CCA nominees for Best Improv Troupe 2011: 2-MAN NO-SHOW).
The show debuted at Comedy Bar’s Festival of New Formats. In the Fall, it was one of the biggest hits of the inaugural Big City Improv Festival.
A stand-out hit! The audience couldn’t get enough of this show! It was a crowd pleaser that I recommend everyone see! - BCIF executive producer Adrianne Gagnon.
Tragedy Plus Time takes us into the world of comedy in Toronto. With reviews of venues and shows as well as interviews and profiles with some of Toronto’s comics. Follow @TIAComedy
A “Comedy Dance Party.” Weird sounding concept, right? What’s the connection between these two activities?
The connection is: Evan Desmarais decided to smash them together. The vibe is something like that of a big house party where comics kick the night off and get everyone in a good mood. I would characterize it as a party supplemented by comedy. (Rather than a comedy show supplemented by a party.) That’s exactly how it should be done.
