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BCIF just unveiled the first in a series of videos created by Toronto’s improv community. This one features Cameron Algie, Steve Cole, Quentin Matheson and Chris Leveille, directed by Chris Besler. Click below to view.

In just one month, Big City Improv Festival will blast off at Toronto’s Comedy Bar. Check out the stellar line-up headlined by Jet Eveleth and Paul Brittain. For more information, click below.

When we saw this photo of Steve Carell, Scott Allman, Stephen Colbert and David Razowsky as the Fab Four, we had to ask for the story behind it. Here’s what David said…

Photo © Jennifer Girard

“[Beatles] was the scene’s name. We tried to get that thing up a number of times. Well, obviously we finally did.

Here was the conceit: It was The Beatles’ debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, and they were just returning from the set. They entered the scene to the screams of the fans, each time the door opened and one of us entered the crowd screams filled the stage. They were exhausted. They talked about how the set went, and they came up with a song idea from it. They sang it, roughly, but “Beatle-y:”

“Squiddy, squiddy, squiddy,
Love my little squiddy
Squiddy, squiddy, squiddy,
Rock-n-rollllll”

Then Paul (Steve) realized he felt weird. Like something happened that he couldn’t quite remember, couldn’t quite identify.

Then John (Stephen) realized that he felt the same way, that something happened that he was unable to pinpoint.

Then George (Scott) noticed that he was going through the same feeling of incompleteness.

Ringo (me), well I felt nothing like that.

The boys (sans Ringo) realized what it was: they were repressing a horrible memory. That memory was that Ed Sullivan had fondled each one of them before the show.

The scene went on in some such manner, and toward the end Ringo realized he was intentionally untouched. He was disappointed. “I wish Mr. Sullivan fondled me.”

It was, if nothing else, a blast to do. Steve and Stephen’s Liverpudlian dialects were wonderful. I tried one, but it sure didn’t feel right. Scott didn’t even try. It was wonderful.”

Move over CIF, DCM and Out of Bounds.

You’ve heard of comedy in threes? Try a trio of improv festivals…all in Toronto.

This year marks the first annual Big City Improv Festival at Comedy Bar, October 15 – 20. Impatient Theatre Co’s Toronto Improv Festival meanwhile, runs from October 22 – 28.

That leaves one day in between.

It was a day of laughterlessness that Standards & Practices couldn’t let go unfilled. And so the October 21st Greater Toronto Improv Festival was born.

According to their facebook page, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the festival. While information has been cryptic until now, they just announced that improv heavy hitters Mantown and Falcon Powder will be performing. What started as a joke just got real, yo.

Some people are already calling it Toronto’s second-best improv festival. Only time will tell.

“The festival between festivals” takes place at Unit 102 on – you guessed it – Sunday, October 21st.

We can’t wait.

Today marks the launch of Toronto’s new independent improv fest, Big City Improv Festival. We asked Gary Rideout Jr of Comedy Bar for the 411.

P&C: This is the first annual Big City Improv Festival. What’s different about it from festivals Toronto has seen in the past?

GRJ: I think the thing I’m most excited about is the production team. There are a lot of passionate improv people involved, and everyone’s not afraid to share the workload so that everything gets done with plenty of time and attention. As someone who’s been an Associate Producer with Toronto Sketchfest since day one, I know it takes great leadership and a solid support team to build a great festival.

Julie Dumais produced the Combustion festival for a few years and she did a great job. I think it took something like that to prove we could put on a world class improv festival here in the city of Toronto. Something that would help our reputation in other markets, and something that would show the international acts that we have great audiences who do support good improv.

P&C. Comedy Bar has become a hub for improv, attracting some of the best local and out-of-town talent. What kind of acts can people expect on both the main stage and side stage at this year’s festival?

GRJ: I can tell you that with the production team involved, cultivating submissions from the best local, national and international acts won’t be a problem.

That said, coming up with a great festival schedule is like coming up with a good running order for a sketch show, or composing a great piece of music. There’s ebb and flow, and there will be both massive highlights and hidden gems. There’ll be party shows and thought-provoking shows, all with the onus being on what is funny and now, and what, with this great opportunity, can we present to the public to get them coming out to see improv, not just every night of the festival, but year round.

Festivals are a great place to showcase local favourites or have a local show become a new local favourite. The lingering effects of a great performance here can translate into continued success for that act.

P&C: Are there any special guests planned?

GRJ: We’re tinkering with the idea of some special guests. Bringing in someone famous helps get press for the festival as a whole, and gives a bunch of improvisers the opportunity they might not have otherwise to perform with someone cool. That said, with this being our first year it’s also important to focus on all the already-great local acts that exist in this city, and help expose them to the general public and let them know they can see those acts year round.

P&C: There’s been an explosion of interest in improv in the last few years. What do you think accounts for this?

GRJ: It’s crazy. I’ve always had a theory that the interest in styles of comedy goes in waves. For awhile, everyone’s doing stand-up, then sketch gets big for awhile, right now we’re in an improv boom.

The Second City Training Centre expanded and always seems to be full, and everytime I see a Bad Dog class in the cabaret at Comedy Bar, it’s full. It’s a great time.

I think before Comedy Bar, there were opportunities to perform improv but you really had to be pro-active in terms of finding a space where you could produce an “improv show.”  In some ways improv was being looked at as an exercise you do just to get better at improv. So you go on stage for 25 minutes and then sit around and get told by someone else what they would have said or done in that situation.

With Comedy Bar, it’s kind of paint by numbers; you pitch a “show concept,” then you produce and perform that show for an audience. Bad Dog and National Theatre of the World have strived to put a focus on the value of improv as the presented artform, not just the vehicle to get to the content. Other acts see that and are doing the same thing in their own way. Improv is the show.

One of the first things I did with Catch23 when we brought it to Comedy Bar was move it from Mondays to Fridays. I wanted more people to see the show and the stories that come out of it, not just in the scenes but in the fake competition and relationships between judge, audience and players. It’s always packed, and almost always a great show. (I said “almost” there on purpose, I can’t help being a little bit critical.)

P&C. What’s the vision for the future of Big City Improv Festival?

GRJ: Big City Improv Festival has an opportunity to be the improv festival that properly represents the city, and all the great performers that call Toronto home. It’s something we’ve desperately needed for a very long time, and something that could go a long way to help Toronto’s reputation internationally

The festival runs October 15-20 at Comedy Bar.

Image © Big City Improv Festival

Photo © Kevin Thom

Toronto’s comedy scene is thriving, especially with the explosion of interest in improv.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is, finding stage time in a city bursting with shows, seven nights a week, is nearly impossible.

Enter Revel Theatre Collective, aka Annie Bankes, Kirsten Gallagher, Mandy Sellers and Kevin Thom.

One brisk evening back in March, they unveiled a little something called Piece of Garbage: A Night of Sophisticated Comedy at Unit 102’s funky new space at Queen and Dufferin.

With the mission of offering high calibre, high energy shows from both newbies and seasoned vets, the night was an instant success.

Since then it’s become the hot ticket on Sundays for both fans and performers of improv and stand-up comedy. It’s a place where people can come together, take risks, and have fun among friends.

In just four months, Revel has featured some of the city’s top acts, including Standards & Practices, Sex T Rex, Robocop School for the Arts, Painter’s Radio, Surprise Romance Elixir, Bad Dog Theatre’s Julie Dumais and Friends, The Ladies of Tourco, and improv maven, David Razowsky.

As for shows, they’ve ranged from montage to duo night to musical improv to a Team Jesus vs Team Moses improv-off.

This Sunday is your last chance to catch Piece of Garbage before it breaks for the summer. As you’d expect, the line-up is not to be missed: Part-Time Demi Gods, Revel Theatre Collective, Canadian Comedy Award nominees 2-Man No-Show, and the team with the coolest name ever, RN and Cawls. The shows starts at 8 pm and tickets are just five bucks.

In the meantime here are some favourite moments from the past season, beautifully captured by Kevin Thom.

All photos © Kevin Thom

“Did you ever give her an orgasm?” “Well, not in the same room.” – Ron Pederson and Matt Baram in Why, Julia?

In a city filled with stellar comedic talent, Toronto’s Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus and Ron Pederson (aka The National Theatre of the World) are something special.

Last night they performed Why, Julia?, an improvised play inspired by playwright and “drag queen extraordinaire,” Sky Gilbert. As part of this year’s Script Tease Project, the show was a sold-out success.

The players began by getting suggestions from the audience, including Bill C-32, a student’s rejection from Ryerson University, and body parts being mailed to Parliament Hill.

You know, the usual.

The performers then read two pages of “teaser” script, and were off (book) and running.

The play opened with Snieckus as Julia, apparently bringing herself to orgasm with a colander. Pederson played her oddball ex, Roland, while Baram took the role of anal-retentive boyfriend Barry.

With Gilbert’s bawdy intro and the audience suggestions, the threesome wove a tale of love, sex and kitchen utensils, the like of which has never been seen onstage. Or probably will again.

Besides being top-notch improvisers, Baram, Snieckus and Pederson are skilful actors. It truly was improvised theatre: a blend of comedy and drama, as good in parts as any Mamet play.

The Script Tease Project runs till Sunday, with shows based on scripts by six more playwrights.

Illustration © Kurt Firla

Photo © May Truong

The Premise: Ask well-known writers to pen two pages of a play, read them cold onstage, then improvise the rest of the play on the spot.

It’s the kind of thing that could go very, very wrong if the players weren’t very, very good.

Fortunately the players are The National Theatre of The World, aka Matt Baram, Naomi Snieckus and Ron Pederson.

Last year’s run was a smashing success, with works by Judith Thompson, Daniel MacIvor, and everyone’s favourite hemp merchant, Woody Harrelson. Now they’re back with a fresh batch of writers, including ex-Kid In The Hall, Scott Thompson.

I asked Naomi Snieckus for the low-down.

P&C: How did you come up with the idea?

NS: The Script Tease Project was invented to give a twist to our regular Impromptu Splendor format, to give us an extra challenge and to collaborate with excellent playwrights. NTOW is always looking for ways of incorporating theatre and improv in our work.

P&C: Do you know all the playwrights you’ve approached, or were some of them cold calls?

NS: We essentially made a wish list and sent letters. Edward Albee turned us down – but now I can say “I got an email from Edward Albee…or at least his assistant.” John Patrick Shanley from last year was through a friend of a friend of a friend. There were a lot of people we’d never met before but hoped they would be into a project like this.

P&C: What was your favourite play from last year, and why?

NS: That’s hard to choose they all had a different kind of magic. Mark McKinney’s was the weirdest and most stylized, Brad Fraser’s was the most fantastical, John Patrick Shanley’s was the most touching. They were all amazing for different reasons.

P&C: Do you find it easier having someone else establish your character for you, or is it harder than doing a regular improv show?

NS: The biggest challenge is processing the torrent of information in the two pages and retaining it. It’s harder than starting from scratch because you have to adhere to a specific structure with a particular tone and musical key. The playwright is making your original choices for you. It sounds helpful to be given the two pages, but it makes our brains work in a new and different way.

P&C: You’ve been playing together for a long time. How important is chemistry in putting on a great performance?

NS: We’ve put in hundreds of hours together, so the shorthand and like-mindedness has become quite keen. We also know how to challenge each other on stage to mix it up. So to answer your question: very. It’s a pretty exciting thing to share the stage with those two performers!

The show runs May 28 – June 3 at Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace.

Something funny’s going on at the Imperial Pub, hangout of Ryerson students and homesick Brits.

“I’m gonna explain to you in a few simple steps why I don’t believe in cunnilingus.” – Rob Norman (Mantown)

When Matthew Landry invited me to check out his curated comedy show, Pageant Feathers, I said, “Sure, who’s playing?” He sent me the set list:

Puns of Brixton

James Gangl and Rob Baker

Sex T Rex

Becky Johnson

The Templeton Philharmonic (fresh from winning Best Comedy Duo at the LA Sketch Comedy Fest)

Mantown

Hosted by Allie Price

My first thought was, “This is all in one night?”

Normally I’d say “You had me at Mantown.” But c’mon: these are all Kick. Ass. Performers. The show did not disappoint.

“I’m like a fucking homeless Wolverine!” – Rob Baker

Highlights included Baker and Gangl as a heckling homeless guy and a metrosexual stand-up comic-slash-ice cream salesman, Sex T Rex’s uber-physical action adventure show, Callaghan!, and The Templeton Philharmonic’s spot-on skewering of “contempo” life in the big city.

With so much talent on stage, it was kind of like the comedy equivalent of watching The Stones play El Mocambo.

I asked Landry about the show.

P&C: Why did you decide to start Pageant Feathers?

ML: A bunch of reasons I guess. I was finishing up the Conversatory at Second City and wanted to stay active. The hustle to get stage time around the city can be exhausting, so it was a good way to ensure a modicum of performance time. Also, I’m still relatively new in the community and there’s so many performers I look up to – Standards and Practices, Mantown, Pondward Bound, to name a few – that it gave me a great opportunity to interact with them and more or less enjoy some sort of refracted glory. Like a talent vampire.

P&C: What’s your criteria for choosing acts?

ML: If they make me laugh, I’d love to have them. Sometimes I’m trying to balance sketch and improv acts, and sometimes I’m trying to include different styles and energies, but for the most part if they’re talented and they’re available, I’ll have them. A lot of improv shows are more for the performers than the audience, I find. It’s this wonderful, supportive tight-knit community, and that’s awesome, but sometimes it can be a bit beguiling to an outsider. I always want acts I know are going to entertain the part of the crowd who aren’t comedians.

P&C: How long have you been improvising?

ML: I’ve been improvising for about two years now. I met the rest of the Puns (Mickey and Mark MacDonald, Joe Delfin) early on in Second City and we formed our group a year or so ago.

P&C: Any other plans up your sleeve for the future?

ML: Nothing too diabolical. I perform with Marjorie Malpass in a duo (Babysitter) and we’re heading to Improvaganza in Edmonton this June. Other than that, I just want to keep improving the show, getting better as a performer and producer, and just enjoying my time. That being said, if anyone knows the gentlemen of Falcon Powder, tell them I’ve got a spot open for them anytime they’d like.

If Landry keeps booking this calibre of talent, Pageant Feathers will be the Next Big Thing in live comedy. (Are you listening, Falcon Powder?)

Photo © Christine Chew

“Can I have a vodka tonic with three shots and without the tonic please?”

“Can I get the same, but without the glass.” – Gwynne Phillips and Briana Templeton (The Templeton Philharmonic)