East Coast Comedy Night 4

Tonight Teena and I went to the East Coast Comedy Night 4 show at the Social Capital Theatre above the Black Swan Tavern.

Our fourth big year! For one night only, we will pack as many comedians from all over The Maritimes and Newfoundland as we can into one show to salute the East Coast! There will be SCREECH! There will be BEER! There will be an ACADIAN!

Hosted by: Marcel St. Pierre
Musical Guests: Wordburglar
Currently scheduled to appear: Tim Steeves(JFL, CBC) Chris Locke (JFL, CBC), Paul Ash (JFL, CBC) Gina Granter (Off-JFL/Zoofest) , Meg MacKay (JFL42, Sirius XM) Ali Hassan (CBC, JFL) and more!

Marcel St. Pierre from New Brunswick did a set and was host for the night. He was fun and kept the show flowing.

Meg MacKay from P.E.I. (flag on the left) was a great choice for an opening act as she was hilarious.

Paul Ash, originally from Halifax (Nova Scotia's flag is on the right of the picture), who now lives in Montreal, and was terrific.

I enjoyed Gina Granter's set, who is originally from Newfoundland (flag hidden behind her).

Chris Locke was a hoot.

During intermission, Teena took the stage for a photo.

Ali Hassan, who will be at the Rose Theatre in Brampton in November and is worth seeing, opened the second half.

Although it's not a contest, my favourite of the night was Tim Steeves from New Brunswick (flag to the left of the picture).

The final act was the Wordburglar (Shaun Jordan), who does comedy rap.

This is the third year in a row we have been to this show and have always enjoyed it. I feel tonight had the best set of comics of the three. The shows are put on by Marcel St. Pierre and I just want him to know that we will be there for East Coast Comedy Night 5.

East Coast Comedy Night #3

Last year Teena and I went to the second annual East Coast Comedy night. It was so good we had to attend the third one this year.

Marcel St. Pierre (above) was not only the host but the one who puts these shows together.

It was a great night and I came away with many great lines running through my head.

Meg Mackay was the first comic and started off the night on a great note.

Here is Dave Healey. Not only comedy but song!

Darryl Purvis was up next. He is from Antigonish where Teena lived for many years and was quite funny.

The Greyhound Riders were the musical break. A guitar, a fiddle and an east coast sound. I really enjoyed them.

Colin Hollett from Burin, Newfoundland, opened the second half of the show.

The door prize ... a bag of chips from New Brunswick. Hope they were better than last year.  Last year's were  lobster chips which were awful.

Ashley Seaman was up next.

The closer was Peter Anthony. He was hilarious last year and again this year.

It was another great night and we'll be back again fro number 4!

A Night With Jeremy Hotz and his International Man of Misery Tour

Tonight Teena and I were at the historic Massey Hall (best place in the city to see any concert) to see Jeremy Hotz and his International Man of Misery Tour.

Fighting his way across the frozen tundra and battling the evil elements, Jeremy Hotz will pit his wits against the harsh Canadian winter with his all-new stand-up show, Jeremy Hotz: International Man of Misery, from January 29 to February 28, 2016. The tour will have the lovably miserable comedian brave the cold once again to entertain audiences nationally from coast to coast, from Newfoundland to British Columbia. With the holidays just around the corner, these miserable show tickets make a great gift for your loved ones!

Hotz is Teena's and my favorite comedian and this is the second time we have seen him live. The first time was in 2008.

In an interview in a Toronto Star article, not yet posted online, Hotz said each show is different as he comes on with some planned material and the rest he relies on material from the past and puts them in when it feels good. At he end of his show he explains that every show is different as he can't memorize shit!

He worked the audience fabulously, and kept a dialogue going with a 14 year old kid in the first balcony. Sometimes, as he seems to be unscripted, his material will wander, but in a hilarious way. Nothing seems to fall flat in his show.

I've recorded his retrospective show from  the Comedy Network, watch him when ever he he on TV, but he is never as funny as he is when you see him live.

I laughed my ass off and had tears coming down. Teena and I would go see him again in a second!

This bit wasn't in our performance tonight but it this bit shows how he can work a crowd.

Another that was not in our show, (this one is from Sydney), but is hilarious!

East Coast Comedy Night 2

Teena found an advertisement for the East Coast Comedy Night 2 online this week and bought tickets. One problem, though, was if the Toronto Blue Jays went to a game seven, we would be staying home to watch that game instead. Sadly, the Jays lost last night. Happily, it meant we were going to the show.

The entire line-up of comedians and musicians were all performers from the Atlantic provinces. The stage was set up with Atlantic Canada props, even including a stack of Alpine Beer boxes from New Brunswick.

The show was fantastic. It was 90% comedy and while all the performers were good, some were down right hilarious. My favorites were the host Marcel St. Pierre, an Acadian from New Brunswick, Dave Healey from Halifax, Daryl Purvis from Antigonish and the headliner Peter Anthony from Nova Scotia, who had Teena and I in tears. Here he is from a CBC show doing part of his act that he did last night.

There were Nova Scotia donairs which came in from a local place on the Danforth called The FUzZ Box. I'd only had a donair once and it was from a foodcourt in a mall in Halifax. I thought it was good.

There were two draws.  One was for a $100 gift certificate from Rock Lobster, which would have been sweet to win. The other was two bags of lobster-flavoured chips from New Brunswick. One table won them, couldn't finish one bag and gave it to our table. It was like a BBQ chip but with a weird fishy finish. If I ever get to New Brunswick, I will not be buying these.

All in all, it was a fabulous, fun night. We'll be back next year for East Coast Comedy Night 3!

Standup Competition at the Remix Lounge with Martin Persaud

Martin, a buddy of mine from work, has decided to try his hand at stand-up comedy. I missed his very first performance, which is too bad, as many from work were there to see him.  When I watched the tape of his performance, I saw that, yes, he did nail it!

Tonight was his fourth performance, this time in a competition with eight other comedians and he did great. One comedian has just returned from a comedy tour and after it was over and I found out who it was, I thought Martin did a much better job.

I was surprised at how many comedians came out with cheat sheets in their hands and how many had to keep on referring to them. Out of the nine, I think five had cheat sheets.

The emcee, Aisha Brown, was very funny and kept the show moving.

I have seen many stand-up shows before but this is the first time I have been at a competition. In the end, we all were handed a clicker and told to make two votes, one for your friend and another for a comic you found funny. Now that's clever!

In the end, Martin did not win, which he said was a good thing.  At this point in his new venture. I think so too. He was funny, though, and although I am prejudice here, he really was funny and a little edgy.  Martin wasn't the funniest there tonight but I loved the way his material flowed, as one story set up the next. He was not just a joke teller, and didn't use notes. He knew his routine. 

It was a fun night out. I'm looking forward to seeing Martin on stage again in the future.

John Cleese, "Last Time to See Me Before I Die" at the Winter Garden Theatre

Last May when I heard that John Cleese was coming to Toronto on his Last Chance to See Me Before I Die tour, I knew I would be there. Teena wanted to go too so I ordered up tickets right away.

Well, tonight was the night I had been waiting 4 months for. My chance to see live, a person who I believe is one of the great comedic minds of my time.

My worry was that he might be flat, unfunny, and maybe just a shadow of what he once was. That was all for naught. He was as brilliant as ever!

The Winter Garden Theater was the perfect place for this type of show. It was just Cleese up on stage telling the story of his life, showing clips of some of his work and telling stories about people he has worked with, especially the Pythons. No skits, no trying to re-enact his silly walk, just story telling.

The show started just after eight and ended just after ten with a twenty minute intermission in between...and it was all a lot of fun.

Cleese is a great story teller and the clips he shows never break the flow of the show. Most in the audience could mouth the lines of most of the clips, but Cleese showed clips from his pre-Python time and they were quiet funny.

Back in the early 70s, Monty Python Live came to Toronto and I couldn't go. It was a huge disappointment for me. At least I finally got to see my favorite Python, John Cleese, live and in action on the stage.

It was a fun, enjoyable night with a brilliant comedic mind!

Shatner's World at Hamilton Place

Last week Teena mentioned that William Shatner was coming to Hamilton to do a couple of shows. Tickets were a hundred bucks and it was an hour's drive away.

So we decided no.

Then I received an email on Thursday from Ticketmaster saying that tickets for the show now were half price, so off we went this afternoon to see Shatner's World: we just live in it at Hamilton Place Theater.

I'm glad we did.

Movie legend William Shatner will bring his one man show SHATNER’S WORLD: WE JUST LIVE IN IT to Hamilton. The 90-minute show will take audiences on a voyage through Shatner’s life and career, from Shakespearean stage actor to internationally known icon and raconteur, known as much for his unique persona as for his expansive body of work on television and film.

It is also good to note that a portion of the proceeds from today and tonight's show are going to the United Way of Hamilton Burlington. Both shows too are being filmed for a television special.

At 81 years old, Shatner is funny, thoughtful and still full of energy. After his first minute on stage, an office chair was sent rolling across the room to him. I thought he might spend most of his 90 minutes on stage seated.

I was wrong.

Occasionally he sat, but mostly the chair was used as a prop. On each side of the stage was a seat and a quaint raised table. Once in awhile he would show a clip from something in his past on the screen behind him and I noticed he took the moment to head to the table, take a quick sip, wipe his brow and take a momentary seat. Then off he went again full of energy.

Shatner's career is so unique and eclectic and long, he is one of the few stars that could pull off a one man show like this.

It was a fun and enjoyable show and I like how he finished with a song. Well, knowing his voice is not great it was lyrics spoken to music, but still a great finish to a show!

Comedy cares About Learning Show at Steam Whistle Brewery

Tonight Teena and I attended the Comedy Cares About Learning event at Steam Whistle Brewery, which is also one of the sponsors of the event.

Teena got VIP tickets through her work. The VIP tickets got us gourmet appetizers, two beers each and entrance to the VIP lounge, where some of the comedians came to hang around.

Comedy Cares and Learning Enrichment Foundation will host the third annual Comedy Cares About Learning fundraiser at 7:00 p.m., Steam Whistle – The Roundhouse, 255 Bremner Boulevard, Toronto, ON. All money raised from this exclusive event will go directly to the Learning Enrichment Foundation. The Learning Enrichment Foundation offers employment services, skills training, language training, childcare services and supports for children and families, newcomer services, youth programs and community enterprises programs.

 It was a fun night. We came away with some fun gifts in a grab bag. Most people arrived an hour before the show. The entertainment was one violin player but boy could he play. He played songs by J.Lo, Johnny Cash,  tangos, Adele and more. He was all over the place musically and great! I was hoping he would do The Devil Went Down to Georgia and he did by finishing the night with that number.

$5 bought you an arms length of draw tickets and you could choose which prize or prizes you wished to go for. Alas, Teena and I came up empty.

Here we are in the VIP lounge.

Here are my favorite three comedians of the night. There were quite a few performing tonight. K. Trevor Wilson opened the show on a high note.

Andrew lvimey from Newfoundland was great.

My favorite comedian of the night was Gilson Lubin who hails from St. Lucia.

It was a fun night for a great cause. This was the third annual event and I hope that Teena and are at the fourth.

Randy, Mr Lahey and Ashley MacIsaac at East Coast Night Music

Teena managed to get some free tickets for East Coast Night Music at the Sound Academy, which overlooks the city from the east side of Toronto harbour.

We are fans of the Trailer Park Boys and Randy and Trailer Park Supervisor, Jim Lahey, hosted with Ashley MacIsaac being the musical guest.

I went for Ashley and figured Randy and Mr Lahey, although they toured with their own show, would share equal time with the great fiddle player from Cape Breton. I was wrong.

What I was right about, however, was Mr Lahey and Randy had about 5 minutes of great material and then it went downhill fast. I could think of many ways to make the show more clever but basically it was cheap, easy "butt" jokes. The crowd did seem to enjoy it for the most part, though. The liquor may have helped.

After a 15 minute break ,Ashley MacIsaac came on. Today is his 36th birthday. For his first song, the background music of the DJ drowned his fiddle playing out. They then got that in order and he was great. He brought out an old friend of his with an acoustic guitar and they played some great tunes together.

Then Mr Lahey came out with a birthday cake, everyone sang Happy Birthday and Ashley's set was over. He was on for about 20 minutes. What the hell was up with that?

Ashley and his friend left the stage and we left the building.

In many ways, a disappointing evening. The company was good, as always, and tall cans of Amsterdam Big Wheel were $6.25 and we got in for free. You also know we did not have a really good time as we did not take any pictures of each other and together, enjoying ourselves at the event.

Tonight did gave me a chance to go outside to pick my spot on the deck to spend a hot afternoon with Teena, having some beers while over looking the city. I am so looking forward to that!

Toronto at night from the huge outdoor patio