What a week!
Posted: October 25, 2017
My last week was jam-packed with a lot of great shows with even more great comedians. Thanks to everyone that made it so spectacular. Here’s a quick recap…
It all kicked off with a spot on Comedy Monday Night. While I have performed there many times this was made even more special by the fact that this was part of their YYComedy Festival show (and the first night of the fest!). It was a great way to start the week – a packed house ready to have a great time.
Next up, and also part of YYComedy, was An Evening with Steve Patterson & Guests. I was one of the “guests” and acted as host for the show starring Steve Patterson. As you likely know, Steve’s best known for hosting The Debaters on CBC Radio. You may not know he’s also the two-time winner of Best Male Stand-Up Comedian in Canada (and he showed us all why that night). This was a special treat for me to share the stage with him as, up until now, I’ve only ever worked with him behind the scenes of The Debaters LIVE On Tour. Since February of this year, I’ve been helping with tour and stage management for that show so it was a pleasure to be on the other side of the curtain with him.
Friday night was the first of two shows with the Jake Hirsch Entertainment Group. The first night was in Calgary at a brand new show in Bonasera North. As this was the premiere show the audience was certainly small but, I think, enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Hopefully, it’s a show that continues and builds a following. Regardless of crowd size, I was pleased to be on the bill. Shows like that, at least for me, tend to be more playful and loose.
The very next morning I was hitting the road for the long drive to Fort McMurray. There I would open for my buddy, Trent McClellan, at his sold-out theatre show for 600 people! Suffice to say it was a tremendous amount of fun and the audience was into it right from the moment I walked out on stage. After the stand-up portion of this show, we tried something new: Trent fielded questions from the audience and I moderated (as well as I knew how to moderate something). We didn’t know how it would go but the crowd brought really thoughtful questions and made it into something that we definitely want to try again.
Weeks like this last one don’t happen often but when they do I’m very grateful. Thanks to everyone mentioned above and the countless others that were also performing on shows and organizing behind the scenes.