So that just happened….2 weekends of laughter courtesy of the first annual Danforth Comedy Festival. Five nights of humour across three venues along Toronto’s legendary Danforth Ave or Greektown as most people know it. This weekend is Taste of the Danforth food festival and many of last night’s audience arrived after enjoying tasty Greek treats…so full tummies are happy tummies and the near-capacity audience at The Don on Danforth theatre (near Main St subway) worked off the calories by laughing hard in their seats.
The show got off to an amazing start when tiny perfect MC Angelina Maiorano-Thurston (pictured below) bounced on stage. Her diminutive size disguises her BIG presence and salty sense of humour. Her high-pitched voice was perfect for delivering some pretty naughty commentary and spritzing with the audience.The first comic in the night’s line-up was Anthony Englebrecht who got to know the audience with shout outs to various people sitting in the front rows. He also shared stories of dating and romance and how well (or not) he does when chatting up the ladies, many of whom in the audience seemed to respond to him! Their dates were laughing along, obviously relating to his romance insights.Next up was Luke Lynndale, not just an accomplished stand-up comic but also the Founder and producer of the Festival. He shared his stories about how he proposed to his wife after several interrupted attempts, and his two recent colonoscopies. The audience was writhing in hysterics as well as the discomfort of the surgical procedures!Angelina then intro’d the fabulous Frank Spadone (below) who took the stage with high energy and a big cheer from the crowd – Frank must have brought his entire family! He launched into tales of his wife’s evening ablutions and how she plans for vacations and hotel bookings. He ended his set with hilarious insights into his aged Italian nona’s (grandma’s) family relationships and behaviour. Made me wish I had a nona, too!Then Angelina announced the final comedian for the night, Sean Cullen. Most Canadian comedy fans know that name – Sean is a triple Gemini & Canadian Comedy Award winner and has made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and CBS’s The Late Late Show. He also has several TV specials including Comedy Central Presents, Comedy Now and was a finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing.So that was it…good night, go home!Congrats to Luke and his team of Festival volunteers- I’m sure he’s already planning next year’s Festival….see you then.
Follow the comedians for performance updates, and news of the 2024 Festival on Instagram:
@danforthcomedyfestival
@angelinadeepvoicemama
@anthonyenglebrecht
@lukelynndale
@frankspadone
@seancullenismyname
I had the pleasure of seeing some great comedians perform last weekend at Toronto’s Danforth Comedy Festival (3 more shows this weekend) and one of the stand-outs was the MC of the show at Socap Comedy Theatre (Danforth & Broadview), MAX ROSS. He’s a brilliant stand-up comic himself but he stepped up to the mic and kept the energy in the room high throughout the night and the attention on the guest acts.MC’ing is an under-appreciated (and under-respected) role during a night of comedy. Most comics don’t like the responsibility of holding a show together – keeping the audience entertained between sets and paying attention to what’s going on on stage, and revving them up again if a comedian bombs. Last Friday evening Max kept the room buzzing so I was thrilled when Max agreed to share his thoughts on comedy and how he came to the spotlight…..
Max, congrats on your appearance at the Danforth Comedy Festival. As MC for the first show I saw, you created an ideal environment for each of the comics who took the stage – that’s a tough and under-appreciated job. Do you prefer MCing or doing stand-up sets? Thank you for the compliment! MCing takes a lot of skill and experience. Of course, I prefer doing longer stand-up sets over MC’ng, but I do enjoy hosting. You are correct though, MCing is very underappreciated because the job of an MC isn’t to be the funniest comedian. Your priority as an MC is to set the tone of the show by going on stage with positive energy, getting to know the crowd and hyping all the acts the audience will see on the show. I’ve been to shows in the past where the MC was low energy and didn’t warm up the crowd, causing the show to be uncomfortable and not fun for the crowd and the comedians, so a good MC makes a big difference.
The other reason why I enjoy MCing is because you never know what kind of crowd you’ll have, so when you do crowd work, you need to constantly improvise and adapt to the situation to keep the show interesting and fun. Plus, when I’m improvising on stage, I can think of new material that I can work on later at other shows.
Have you participated in other comedy festivals such as the Danforth Comedy Festival? And if so, how was that experience? Yes, I have. In 2019, I was part of the Burbank Comedy Festival in Burbank California, and in 2022, I did Just For Laughs Toronto “Best of Absolute Comedy” at Absolute Comedy Club, Toronto. Both festivals were a lot of fun, and I would do it again. As a former military paratrooper, do you equate performing on stage and making people laugh to the thrill (and fear?) of dropping into a conflict zone by parachute? It can be. It’s quite a thrill but can be a little nerve-recking. Obviously, these are two different types of fears (public speaking and dying from jumping out of a plane…), but I enjoy the adrenaline rush of both. I used to be scared going up on stage, and I still get nervous on occasion, but I just keep reminding myself to have fun up there and enjoy the moment. Parachuting in the army was fun too… though over time, I’ve hurt my knees and back from bad landings. (Veterans Affairs believes my body pain was not service related…)Having a Polish background, have you drawn on your family and culture for your humour or do you just enjoy the great food? I love talking about my Polish background on stage. I don’t know many Polish comedians in the city, so it’s nice to be able to represent my culture. I grew up in an immigrant household, so my upbringing was more unique than the regular Canadian. And yes, I also enjoy great Polish food!
Have you been inspired by any other comics (past or present) and if so, who in particular did you relate to or want to emulate? There are many comedians who sparked my interest in stand up. Eddie Murphy was my favourite and watching his first special “Delirious” inspired me to write material and eventually trying it out.
Other comedic inspirations: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Paul Mooney, Jim Carrey, Louis CK, David Letterman, Norm Macdonald, Patrice O’Neal, Russell Peters, Bill Burr, Robin Williams, Dave Attell, Gilbert Gottfried. Over the years, I discovered more comedians who would inspire me to get better. These comedians include Tom Segura, Andrew Schulz, Hannibal Buress, Nate Bargatze, Chris Distefano, Mark Normand, Godfrey.
Any advice for aspiring comedians out there? A great Canadian poet by the name Aubrey Graham once said, “You only live once”. If comedy is something you’re passionate about, take a chance and try it out. Statistically speaking, your first time on stage will probably be awful. That’s just how it is… but keep writing, go to open mics, and meet other comics in the city. Eventually you’ll figure it out and get better at writing and performing… or not… Welcome to showbiz, baby!The best advice I got when I was starting out was by Juno Award-winning comedian Dave Merheje (as seen on Mr.D, Ramy, Just for Laughs). All he told me was to just have fun. Comedy is supposed to be fun, so you shouldn’t feel stressed or overwhelmed doing it. Just keep reminding yourself in your head that this is fun.
And what’s your next big stand-up gig – where can we see you? Follow me on Instagram @maxrosscomedy as I post show dates there! I also post content on TikTok and YouTube @maxrosscomedy Keep an eye out for Max appearing in your local club…or on the BIG stages of comedy festivals. And if you want more great laughs this weekend, check out www.danforthcomedyfestival.com for shows at Socap (tonight, Friday Aug.11) and The Don on the Danforth (2 shows) Saturday night.
Canadian comedian SIMONE HOLDER performed twice during the opening weekend of the Danforth Comedy Festival (in Toronto) and I was lucky to be in the audience for both shows. Having been in the comedy biz since the late 70s both as performer and artist manager/agent, you could say I’m a little jaded having seen/heard just about every joke in the universe but I thoroughly enjoyed Simone’s sets, finding fresh and relatable situations and observations thanks to her witty writing.
I introduced myself to Simone and found an intelligent and engaging conversationalist willing to share insights into her career and, sadly, her challenging quest for stage time and acceptance in a predominantly male environment. Back when I was running a national chain of comedy clubs and booking comedians into them and other indie venues across the country and the States, it was all about the boys – in fact, I can only recall Marla Lukofsky being the one woman making somewhat of a living doing stand-up back in the 80s and being accepted as one of them by the fellas. Forty years on and little has changed. Thanks to exposure during the Danforth Comedy Festival (this coming weekend there are 3 more shows featuring women), we’ll get to meet and laugh along with more hilarious women, but in the interim, I asked Simone to share her thoughts on stand-up as well as her personal journey and here’s what she told me….
Simone, congrats on your appearance at the Danforth Comedy Festival. Seeing you on that first night of the Fest, I was struck by your unique material as well as your delivery. Where do you find inspiration for your observational material – family? Friends? Situations you’ve personally experienced? Thank you so much! I find inspiration mainly from my own experiences and occasionally from those of family and friends. Much of the material that I perform on stage has happened to me or is me using my inside voice outside. Until I started performing stand-up, I hadn’t realized that the way I process trauma is the same way I create bits…I try to find the silver lining, pull the humour out, or put a funny spin on a difficult situation to process it and to make it make sense.
Have you participated in other comedy festivals such as the Danforth Comedy Festival or is this your first fest experience? Yes, prior to the Danforth Comedy Festival, I have performed at other comedy festivals. My very first festival was the “Crack Up Festival” held in Ottawa, Cornwall, and Pembroke in March 2022. Since then, I’ve performed at:
Portland Maine Comedy Festival (Portland, Maine, USA, August 2022)
Canadian North Arctic Comedy Festival (Iqaluit, Nunavut, October 2022)
Dirty Bird Comedy Festival (Ottawa, Ontario, November 2022)
Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest (NYC, USA, June 2023)
I gather it took you many years to finally embrace the funny and work on becoming a stand-up comedian – tell me about that journey and what finally prompted you to go “all in” with a stand-up career? I had dreamed of performing stand-up since I was 15 years old. I was too afraid. I was painfully shy as a kid and could barely speak up in school. I also knew that my parents would not approve. It was just a dream. I had such a great love of the art that I immersed myself in it: I watched hours and hours of comedy specials. When I was old enough and when could afford it, I went to shows by myself to examine how each comedian performed their craft. I knew it wasn’t easy, that making it look effortless and off-the-cuff, took hours and years to master.
I realized that I could make people other than my family and friends laugh at two most inopportune moments…at my parents’ funerals in 2014 and 2018. I delivered the eulogies at each of their funerals. I had people howling at some of the funny stories I shared about them. At first, I thought that maybe they were just being nice, but the laughter was genuine, and it really helped us all get through the pain.
In 2019 at age 52, I decided that it was now or never. I was tired of being afraid. The desire to do stand-up had been gnawing at me for close to 40 years. I was still scared but finally ready to something about it. I threw myself into the craft with a six-week course at Absolute Comedy taught by Ottawa-based actor and stand-up comedian Pierre Brault. It was time to learn the basics: how to structure a joke, how to deliver it, how to create a punch line for a funny premise. The moment I stepped onto that stage I knew. I heard angels singing. I loved the feeling and was totally comfortable. The shyness just melted away. I couldn’t wait to go back every week. A showcase at a local club for family and friends happened at the end of the course. I haven’t looked back since. Since that night I’ve had many amazing experiences thanks to stand-up. At times I wonder what could have been had I not waited so long to start. My late father had a saying, “Everything in its time.” I believe that I started at the right time.I read that when watching Eddie Murphy’s “Delirious” TV special as a teenager, you were bitten by the comedy bug – what was it about Eddie that inspired you? That’s true! Although I loved comedy for as long as I could remember, I think watching “Delirious” was the first time that I saw a young person doing stand-up. Up until that time, all the well-known comedians that I knew were old (to 15-year-old me) already-famous men (Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, etc.). I saw that “regular” people could do this. It was a defining moment for me.Any advice for other aspiring female comedians out there? And have you encountered any gender-biased resistance by club bookers and how do you counter that? My advice is to just do it. Don’t let anyone intimidate you or scare you out of the game. Unfortunately, I have had some gender- and race-biased experiences. Thankfully these things do not happen to me often…but they do happen.
There’s still the myth that “women aren’t funny”. Where men are given the benefit of the doubt that they are funny, I’ve had to prove myself over and over and over to be considered for some gigs. It took some competition wins and a few high-profile gigs to get them to finally take me seriously and respect me as a comic.
With some audiences, I’ve seen eyes glaze over or arms cross when I hit the stage and I hadn’t even opened my mouth. I’ve seen them laugh easily at male comics and refuse to laugh at my stuff. Once, after a show in a small town, some of members of the audience ignored me completely but thanked and spoke with the other male, white comics, despite me standing right there next to them. It was insulting and humiliating. I try my best to not let these aggressions deter me. What’s your next stand-up gig – where can we see you?
My next few gigs are in Ottawa!
August 11-12, 8:30pm, Laugh Lounge (Byward Market, 61 York Street, Ottawa)
August 25-26, 8:00pm, Yuk Yuk’s Ottawa West (downstairs at Biagio’s Italian Kitchen, 1394 Richmond Rd, Ottawa)
August 30-31, 8:00pm, Yuk Yuk’s Ottawa West (downstairs at Biagio’s Italian Kitchen, 1394 Richmond Rd, Ottawa)
Thank you for your candor and philosophies on women-in-comedy, Simone. And I can’t wait to see you again on stage making everyone laugh along with you. If readers want to check out other funny ladies, visit www.danforthcomedyfestival.com for show information this Friday and Saturday Aug.11 & 12.
Thanks to an introduction from “That Canadian Guy” comedian Glen Foster, I recently connected with LUKE LYNNDALE, a fellow stand-up comic and the Founder of a brand new comedy festival taking place over 2 weekends next month (Aug.) on Danforth Avenue in Toronto’s Greektown.
The Danforth Comedy Festival line-up of exciting and hilarious comedians includes many who you might have seen on Canada’s Got Talent, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Conan, Comedy Central, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as Just for Laughs, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Halifax Comedy Festival, CTV Comedy Channel, and CBC Comedy. See full line-up, shows dates and times at www.danforthcomedyfestival.comI recently spoke with Luke to learn about his roots in the comedy scene, his Comedy Nuggets comedy agency and, of course, this inaugural laugh fest spanning two weekends in August….
What first drew you to a career in comedy? Did you start off studying to become a medical professional, accountant, stockbroker, auto mechanic? My father was a professor at McGill University in Montreal and saw a posting for a comedy competition. I went and won $50. I was hooked! In university, I studied mathematics but I didn’t have any specific direction. Later, I did lots of work as a digital product manager.
You first worked as an improviser – what propelled you into stand-up comedy? Well, actually, I started in standup. In Montreal, I did standup for two years before moving to Toronto to take courses at The Second City. Then, I did both for two years before taking a long break from comedy. I started back doing improv in 2010 and standup back in 2017.
How did you become a finalist in 2020’s Comedian of the North competition? And what is that contest all about? I first competed in the Comedian of the North competition in 2019, when I didn’t place. I went back in 2020, and finished third. The competition is in Thunder Bay, ON. It no longer runs but was produced by Incidents Comedy – Miki Hughes and Carole Cunningham.You’ve worked in the States in festival and club environments – how do US audiences differ from Canadian ones? For me, I haven’t found many differences at all. My material isn’t Canada-specific, except for one or two, so most of material works well in either country.
You created Comedy Nuggets, an agency/promoter securing gigs in clubs and corporate venues for fellow comics, and most recently founded the Danforth Comedy Festival here in Toronto that launches August 4th and runs for 2 weekends. What drives Luke to succeed in such a capricious business? First, I want a great show for both performers and audience. I’m a performer first, so I want there to be lots of audience and good audience – those ready to laugh and looking for a good time. This inaugural Danforth Comedy Festival means lots of balls in the air…how good a juggler are you? In my corporate life, I worked at times as a project manager. So, juggling and prioritizing are strengths. I don’t get stressed. I do my best, make decisions and go with it.Who are the comedians (or shows) we should look out for at the Fest? Any improvisers or stand-ups we’ve never seen before but should? This is a loaded question because they should all be seen or else they wouldn’t be in the festival. Some of our headliners are Nathan Macintosh, who is a Canadian living in New York City, has been on late night TV. He’s a favorite in Toronto. We have two Greek headliners – Efthimios Nasiopoulos and Manolis Zantonos, both hilarious and must-see. We also have Rob Haze – one to watch. On the improv front, we have HERE: The (Improvised) Musical. They are a duo from Columbus, OH – Tara DeFrancisco Rance Rizzutto, ask the audience for suggestions and then create a 45 minute musical, all improvised.
Anyone who survives 40 years at the same job deserves a prize, and stand-up comic & writer GLEN FOSTER has certainly earned kudos and bravos for building and maintaining a career in the comedy business. Glen has been touring for the past four decades and has become a mainstay on the Canadian comedy circuit – he didn’t just work the road, he’s one of the comics who built it! His comedy is clever and intelligent, combining reflections on his own personal experiences with razor sharp commentary on current events and popular culture. I’ve known Glen for all his 40 years of funny, representing him first during the 80s as part of Yuk Yuk’s Komedy Klub and its in-house agency Funny Business, then working with him again several years ago when he launched a series of independent comedy showcases featuring the best of the best of Canadian comedy talent. To give you a little background on Glen, he got a “Cinderella” start in showbiz – after several months grinding away on amateur nights, he found himself part of a Yuk Yuk’s tour out west in 1982. When he took the stage in Winnipeg that first night, suddenly Glen was a “professional stand-up”. As he tells it, “Things progressed quickly from then on. I was barely six months off amateur night when I was flown to Los Angeles to appear on “An evening at The Improv” with movie legend Tony Curtis as celebrity host”. He has appeared eight times at the world-renowned Just For Laughs festival, had his own TV specials on the Comedy Network, is a frequent guest on CBC Radio’s “The Debaters” and a club and corporate event favourite across the country. I spoke with Glen recently and he shared his thoughts on his long comedic journey, navigating his way through one of the most volatile entertainment sectors (stand-up comedy), sharing tales of survival and the shenanigans along the way….
So Glen, has it really been 40yrs? I remember when I was booking you through Yuk Yuk’s back in the 80s and I knew I could always rely on you to deliver a killer set wherever I sent you. November 4th, 2022 was the actual fortieth anniversary of my first Yuk Yuk’s Western comedy tour, which kicked off in Winnipeg in 1982. This past November I returned to Winnipeg to do a special show to commemorate that event, almost forty years to the day of the original show. For years, I’ve kept an old Winnipeg Free Press article about the 1982 tour and now I have a matching one from 2022 as well.I’ve actually been doing comedy for more than forty years, although two years of Covid lockdowns and club closures does kind of mess with the math. I started performing at high school variety shows (1977-78). Soon after that, I did my first “real” comedy club set at Yuk Yuks, which had just opened in Toronto. Unlike today where there are hundreds of comics scrambling to get just a few minutes of stage time, there were only a handful of us and we were working all the time. As a result, I was able to progress very quickly. I was barely six months off amateur night when I was flown to Los Angeles to appear on “An evening at The Improv” with movie legend Tony Curtis as celebrity host, no less. So no matter how you do the math, I am quite confident saying that I have been a “professional comedian” for at least forty years.Your stage personae and material appear to have changed considerably as your career has developed. How would you compare the comedy themes or styles of 1980s Glen with today’s Glen? I always admired comedians like George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Bill Maher and others who were actually saying something with their comedy. So at a point, I decided that it wasn’t enough to just be funny, I also wanted to be relevant. I started doing material about all of the things that frustrated me as a Canadian: High taxes, government incompetence, the sad state of our armed forces and especially, what was known at the time as “political correctness”. That material really resonated with crowds and got big laughs as well. I even created a very popular t-shirt (shortly after the first Quebec referendum) that featured a “puzzle” map of Canada held together with band-aids and stitching with the caption, “My Canada includes every bitching whining Province, Aboriginal, Feminist, Minority and Special Interest Group.”
Recently, I’ve been going over some of my old videos and like many comedians of my era, there are definitely a few “cancelable” offenses to be found. More than once I have said to myself, “There is NO WAY I could do that joke today”. On the other hand, there is also material that I wouldn’t WANT to do today because, like society in general, my attitudes have changed and my comedy has evolved.
Jerry Seinfeld famously said that he won’t play colleges anymore because younger crowds are too easily offended. These days, comedy seems to be all about diversity, “safe spaces”, and inclusivity. As an older white male, are you still able to remain relevance? And are you able to entertain “the kids”? There is no question that audiences, especially younger ones, have become much more sensitive and far more easily “triggered” than in the past. The smart thing would be to just avoid certain topics altogether, but for some reason, I can’t seem to do that. My style has always been to poke the bear, but I have had to become much more nuanced and creative in my approach, so the bear doesn’t rip my head off. I’ve become quite adept at dancing around hot button topics and of getting very, very close to the line of offense without going over. As a result I’ve discovered a rather unique style of saying things without actually SAYING anything at all, to the point where many of my punchlines have become blank spaces that the audience has to fill in themselves.
Fortunately, I think we are finally starting to see a turn around. People are waking up to woke (pardon the pun) or at least becoming weary of some of the more extreme examples of cancel culture and the very real dangers that it poses to free speech and artistic expression. For me, it’s a vindication, though it does feel odd to be behind the times and yet, ahead of my time… at the same time.
Since the 80s, you’ve appeared on numerous tv shows and even had two of your own 1-hr TV specials on the Comedy Network – do you and other comedians receive royalties on those shows? I mean, they play them over and over on the various CBC or CTV networks…surely you must be “that wealthy Canadian guy” by now? The short answer is no, and the long answer is not much. It depends on the show. I do get a small amount for re-runs of CBC shows, but other shows are a single payment “buy out” situation. Certainly no one I know is getting rich off of the television royalties from Canadian stand up. It’s interesting, every now and then I’ll get a call from someone who will say “We’d like you to do this gig. It doesn’t pay a lot of money, but it will be great for exposure!” And I always joke, “This is Canada, people DIE from exposure.” But if you think about it, because there is very little money, just about every show you do in Canada is for exposure. And you do get that. If I perform a set at Just for Laughs, for example, they will take that and sell it all over the world in every medium you can think of: TV, satellite radio, DVDs, CDs, streaming and even in-flight entertainment. The trade off is that the producers wind up making exponentially more money than the actual talent.
Speaking of “That Canadian Guy”, how did that nickname come about? And, despite the fact that you have not been on television for a while now, is it still something that comedy fans recognize and respond to? I have an advertising background (I was copywriter) so I’ve always understood that in order for people to remember something, you had to make it easy for them. So beginning with my first comedy special “That Canadian Guy” that is exactly what I did. I even joked that the viewers wouldn’t be able to remember my name, but they would remember “That Canadian Guy”. I also included a line about my website. Sure enough, the morning after the special aired, I received a pile of e-mails from people saying “I couldn’t remember your name, but I remembered “That Canadian Guy”.
Remember when I talked about exposure? Well, the curse and the blessing of Canadian television, is that everything I have ever done has been repeated and repeated… and repeated! In fact, someone messaged me just the other day to tell me that my original “That Canadian Guy” special from 2000 was going to be on again!
An interesting thing has been happening recently. People are coming up to me after shows saying things like, “I was so surprised to see you here.” and “I’ve been watching you since I was a kid!” Of course, these fans are now in their late thirties and forties. A few are even younger than that, which makes me think that their parents may have been a bit too permissive, or just abandoned them to the electronic babysitter, as my parents used to call the tv. It’s all very gratifying and it makes me ponder whether there could be a larger, as yet undiscovered group of fans out there somewhere. I even have some ideas on how I might actually do that. I’ll let you know how it goes.Apart from your television appearances, you’ve also produced four comedy albums. Any plans for a fifth? And what about podcasting? A lot of comedians have gone that route and many have become quite successful. I’m actually working on my new album, tentatively titled Unsafe and Unnecessary right now. It’s kind of an extension of my last album Unchecked (a reference to all the “boxes” I don’t check as an older white male). It’s a bit of a challenge with four previous albums out there; I don’t want to repeat myself, so I have to structure my live sets in such a way that I can develop and practice the new stuff, while keeping enough of the old stuff to have a cohesive set. Plus, I have to maintain a certain comfort level for myself and still entertain the crowd, so I can’t do too much new stuff all at once. As for doing podcasts, I have a few ideas, but I have so much to do and I am chronically disorganized (my To Do list remains “unchecked” as well). If I find something that excites me, I could happen…..I will keep you posted.
Thanks for sharing, Glen.
Glen also publicly shared his thoughts on his YouTube channel on the recent Bill C-11 which has since passed, and the slippery-slope it creates with its proposed limitations and censorship of the ‘net
Follow Glen on social media: Facebook.com/thatcanadiancomedian or Twitter.com/fosterfunny
and visit his website: https://glenfoster.com/
The first comic in the night’s line-up was Anthony Englebrecht who got to know the audience with shout outs to various people sitting in the front rows. He also shared stories of dating and romance and how well (or not) he does when chatting up the ladies, many of whom in the audience seemed to respond to him! Their dates were laughing along, obviously relating to his romance insights.
Next up was Luke Lynndale, not just an accomplished stand-up comic but also the Founder and producer of the Festival. He shared his stories about how he proposed to his wife after several interrupted attempts, and his two recent colonoscopies. The audience was writhing in hysterics as well as the discomfort of the surgical procedures!
Angelina then intro’d the fabulous Frank Spadone (below) who took the stage with high energy and a big cheer from the crowd – Frank must have brought his entire family! He launched into tales of his wife’s evening ablutions and how she plans for vacations and hotel bookings. He ended his set with hilarious insights into his aged Italian nona’s (grandma’s) family relationships and behaviour. Made me wish I had a nona, too!
Then Angelina announced the final comedian for the night, Sean Cullen. Most Canadian comedy fans know that name – Sean is a triple Gemini & Canadian Comedy Award winner and has made multiple appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and CBS’s The Late Late Show. He also has several TV specials including Comedy Central Presents, Comedy Now and was a finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing.
So that was it…good night, go home!
Congrats to Luke and his team of Festival volunteers- I’m sure he’s already planning next year’s Festival….see you then.
