REMINDER TO VOTE

Just reminding folks that the deadline is THIS FRIDAY (July 31st) to register and vote in the Canadian Comedy Awards for 2009. Anyone can participate by going to http://www.canadiancomedy.ca/ and following the instructions to register and vote.

Remember, if you don't vote you have no right to complain if the elected official fails to fulfill the obligations of their position (which, for comedians, means padding your intro and charging more for corporate events).

As Aristotle once said, "If liberty and equality are chiefly to be found in democracy they will be best attained when all persons alike share oh never mind it's just a silly awards show. Let me tell you about the substance of aether..."

Ahead of his time, that 'Totle.

NOT UP FOR DEBATE

It's a very good episode of The Debaters taping this Saturday at the Just for Laughs Cabaret at 2:00pm. . Check out this line-up! Andy Kindler, Ed Byrne, Mike Wilmot, the Dan-D-Lyons (and many more!) under one roof makes for some interesting argumentation and a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Place: Just for Laughs Cabaret, 2111 St. Laurent in Montreal
Time: Saturday July 25th at 2:00pm
Tickets: 514-845-2322

It'll be cool.

BIO-RHYTHM

This year I’ve been writing for the Just for Laughs website (www.hahaha.com), condensing the comedians’ bios to 140-word capsules. An early one I wrote was for the legendary John Cleese. I was asked to rewrite it on the quite understandable grounds that it was a bit hard to follow. That’s ‘cause I wrote it as a tribute to John Cleese’s great Word Association Football monologue on Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It’s an obscure piece (but probably on Youtube somewhere) so it was sensible to assume that most people wouldn’t have gotten the reference. So I wrote a more conventional bio which is up on the site.

But because I’d really like it up on the net somewhere, I now present my original bio, in exactly 140 words, for one of my all-time personal comedy heroes, John Cleese.

And if you don’t get it, that’s perfectly understandable in a china shop.


John Cleese

John Cleese rose to prominence as one of the stars of Monty Python’s Flying Circus where he created such memorable works as the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Dead Parrot Sketch and Word Association Football, a personal favorite of ours and hours of fun. John went onward Christian soldier to develop a successful of himself sitcom down that showed his writing and acting craft macaroni and cheese to be professional to a Fawlty Towers. In the 80’s glam rock he received an Oscar the grouch nomination for the screenplay ball for “A Fish Called Wanda”’s gentleman’s club on Mountain and Maisonneuve (ask for Chantal). An iconic of time figure in comedy, John Cleese continues to perform of the word all over the world leaders and keeps inspiring actors and writers to this very daylight come and me wanna go home.

THANKS TO THE ACADEMY

I’ve been low on career news lately, but this probably ranks a mention: Today I was nominated for a CANADIAN COMEDY AWARD for BEST MALE STAND-UP. While I’m a bit embarrassed by the loftiness of the title and the esteemed company I’ve been lumped in with, I will say it’s an honor to be nominated, and a hearty thank you to the academy/committee/star chamber that singled me out.

Apparently there’s a public vote that can be accessed through the Canadian Comedy Awards website, so check it out if you’d like. Don’t be thrown that my video clip’s production value (along with fellow nominee Scott Faulconbridge’s) is relatively modest compared to the others. Maybe even a bit like something out of a snuff film or, worse still, TMZ footage. But we gots good jokes, so hopefully people judge on the merits of content. Those awards are given out in Saint John, New Brunswick in the first week of October.

On a related note, there are six new stand-up clips of mine on Youtube, including one blast from the distant past marking a fond Just for Laughs memory whose anniversary is fast approaching.

And on a related note to that related note, I’m in JUST FOR LAUGHS this year, at the festival’s first taping of CBC RADIO'S THE DEBATERS (with its most international line-up yet!). I’m arguing with U.S. superstar Bob Marley (the comedian, not the singer) about cracking down on digital pirates (the copiers, not the cutthroats and scallywags). The show is going to be fantastic. And possibly bootlegged.

That show’s on Sunday, July 25th at 2:00pm at the Just for Laughs Cabaret at 2111 St. Laurent in Montreal.

Call 514-845-2322 or 1-888-244-3155 for details.

So that’s a lot of news on the professional front. On the personal front: baby cute, comic books good, lawn un-mowed.

Happy Summer!