Today’s post is a little later in the day than I like to make them… hopefully this hasn’t thrown your whole schedule into confusion.  I’ve got quite a few shows coming up in March so I wanted to be sure to let you know about them all.  (Yes, they are listed on my “Upcoming” page… but that only lists a few shows at a time.) Here we go…

February 28 – Lethbridge, AB.  This is a Yuk Yuk’s On Tour room in the BP Lounge at Holiday Bowl.  Headliner is Jasen Fredrickson, and I’ll be opening the show.  Jasen created a Facebook event for the night.  I haven’t worked with Jasen in a while and I am looking forward to it.

March 7 – Daryl Makk’s Comedy Detour.  After a short hiatus The Comedy Detour is back in full swing in Calgary at the Toad ‘N’ Turtle Pub.  I’m MCing the show this night with headliner Lars Callieou.  Check out The Comedy Detour website for all the details.  Lars is another headliner whom I haven’t worked with in quite some time… and this is very surprising given how much he works.  (Also, in late 2008, Lars was one of the finalists in the very prestigious Seattle Comedy Competition.  Translation:  he’s good AND he’s been to Seattle!)

March 10 through 14 – Comedy Cave.  Another week at The Comedy Cave – this time with Maxim Magazine’s “Comedian of the Year”, Rob Little.  I saw his show last time he was through Calgary and think that you’d be hard-pressed to find a higher energy act.

March 15 – Clive, AB.  That’s right!  Clive, Alberta.  Haven’t heard of it before, but I’ll sure as heck be there on March 15.  I can’t foresee having anybody in Clive read this blog, so I’ll just leave it at that.

March 18 – The Magic of John Horsley and Friends.  This regular fundraiser at Club Paradiso has become a treat for me to perform on.  All the performers (magicians and comedians) are donating their time so that 100% of the ticket price goes toward Friend 2 Friend Learning Society.  It’s all being organized by comedian Lori Gibbs.  There’s a Facebook event page and you can also contact Lori via phone (403-861-7706) and e-mail (lorigibbs@shaw.ca).  Tickets are $20 and the line-up is amazing.  I’m not sure what I’ll be doing on the show just yet.  Either host or closing act… you’ll have to come to the show to find out!

That’s all in the foreseeable future – but as my phone keeps ringing I’ll keep updating!

It’s a little last minute but a TV “vignette” I filmed in January is airing today on CBC here in Calgary (Shaw Cable 6).  The short segment (I am told it’s about a minute long) will air at some point from 3:00pm to 3:30pm this afternoon.  I’ll check it out and try to post it on this site in a few days.

If you are visiting this site for the first time as a result of watching the segment: Welcome!  Here’s a couple of things I would recommend you check out while you are here:

• Upcoming Performances – If you would like to know where I am performing in the next couple of weeks.
• The Two Card Monte – A fun magic trick I sell after my shows.  There is a performance video and, if you are interested, you can pick up your very own set.
• And if you want to be among the first to know about future shows (including a performance of Tuesdays With Morrie which I am co-starring in) you can click here for all the details.

Thanks to Kathleen with CBC Television for thinking of me for this segment.

Not a lot of people know this, but my High School Diploma isn’t really a normal diploma… well – it’s normal, just has a special addition to it.  In high school I was a part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program.  (Yes, it was for the smart kids.  Mock away – I’ve already heard it all.) In order to graduate I had to write this final paper for my history class on a subject of my choosing.  My paper was about the age-old question: “Do great men make history or does history make great men?” This was then applied to Lenin and the Russian Revolution as a case study.  (And somehow I ended up as a comedian… who would have guessed!)

The paper got a decent grade (to be honest, I kind of phoned it in) but that question of great men vs. history has been on my mind a lot while reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book:  Outliers: The Story of Success.  For those of that haven’t heard about the book it studies “outliers”: the people that have achieved major success and how they have done it.  While the book draws many conclusions the factor of luck comes up quite a bit.  Being born in a particular year (or month) could have a huge impact on what you are able to accomplish, not to mention your upbringing and coincidence.

Gladwell has so masterfully answered what my IB paper attempted to all those years ago.  While having the natural drive and ambition to succeed is necessary – it’s just the prerequisite.  He also stresses the importance of chance and the need to have achieved 10,000 hours of work in a field to become proficient.  Reading that forced me to think of my own field.  When you start out in comedy you are given 5 minutes of stage time (basically not enough time to do any “damage” to the overall show).  By Gladwell’s logic that would be 120,000 spots on stage.  I think of this number when new comics ask me if they should enter the field and I laugh (internally of course).

I strongly recommend Outliers and hope that, if you read it, it changes your opinion on success and thus on failure.  Sometimes all the ability in the world isn’t enough – you have to be ready when luck strikes.

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In the same shipment from Amazon that contained Outliers was also David Crowe’s new comedy DVD, Crooked Finger.  I worked with David on New Year’s Eve here in Calgary and was honoured to do so.  He is definitely a comedian that has put in his 10,000 hours and it shows in his work.

The DVD is 75 minutes of non-stop laughs.  The material is selected very well and a delight to watch.  If you are putting in an order for Outliers be sure to add his DVD to it as well (or vice versa)… it’s the best one that I’ve watched in a while.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a business/community/personal development group that I am a member of, JCI Calgary.  I have been a member for just short of five years now (pretty much the entire length of my professional performing career) and served the group in a number of capacities: General Member, Webmaster, Director of Training and Socials, and, this year, Director of Training.  At the end of every calendar year (also the terms of our board members) an Awards Night is held to honour the previous year’s President and three members with special awards.  (This year it was held on January 30.)

I am pleased to announce that one of the members honoured this year was yours truly with the “Member of the Year” Award. Here is the trophy:

You may have noticed the seat belt in the upper-left corner.  This is because the trophy is of such a size that I quite literally have no place to store it in my house.  As you saw in last week’s “Two Card Monte” video, my “Wall of Ego” is chocked full.  Fortunately, this isn’t the trophy to keep, it’s the historical one passed onto each new recipient every year (over 60 years worth of winners now).  The “take home” trophy is more reasonable:

The smaller trophy was more difficult to photograph as it was engraved glass but as you can see it is VERY nice.  (But does need a bit of Windex to get rid of the fingerprints on the star… my bad.)

Thanks JCI Calgary! I am flattered by this award and look forward to the remaining 324 days in my term as “Director of Training”.

Just in case you have forgotten what I looked like (and didn’t notice my picture in the top left corner of this web-site) I’ve found a brand new product to put my face on.  It’s a simple magic trick that you can learn to do in only a few minutes and one of my personal favourites to perform (probably because it’s so deceptive).

The Two Card Monte is a magic effect that only uses two playing cards (that fill easily into a wallet or purse).  It’s based on an old gambling principle wherein you can never lose (or win – depending on which side of the cards that you are on).

I’ve created a customized page with all the details about the effect as well as a video:

Click Here To Watch The Video and Learn More

You can order through PayPal (very secure) and I’ll put one in the mail to you right away!