Zoo Review: Facebook

The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theatre is in town for Zoofest playing different formats on different nights, culminating in the majesty that is ASSSSCat on Friday and Saturday.

On Wednesday, I caught Facebook, a show regularly performed at UCB Theatre in LA by transplanted New Yorkers, most of whom were in the now defunct Respecto Mantalban. Only Chad Carter from that crew is in Montreal, joined by Chris Gethard (who also has a solo Zoofest show, Chris Gethard’s Magic Box of Stories), Lennon Parham (who also has a solo show, Lennon Parham: She tried to be normal, and 3 improvisors (from LA?) I hadn’t seen before.

Facebook the improv show, is much like other UCB shows in that it begins with real-life biographical info solicited from an audience member and follows with lots of scenes riffing off those ideas, strung together long-form style. I’ve seen a UCB troupe rifle through someone’s wallet asking them about their cards and receipts, I’ve seen a UCB troupe ask an audience member for an interesting story; the Facebook show is very much in the same vein.

The Facebook hook involves getting an audience member up to log into their Facebook account. Monsieur Carter (he’s in Quebec now) then clicks through their wall, profile and photos rooting for unusual information. He’s very good at gently poking fun at people (Is this a photo of your cleavage smoking a cigarette?). The only real problem with this hook is that it’s lengthy and rather low energy. It took about 5 minutes to get good source material and he still had to prompt the audience member for information that wasn’t on Facebook. Admittedly, his first subject was impossibly stupid and unforthcoming.

Still, the Facebook hook works to draw in a crowd–attendance was good.

On to the show: the improv was good–that’s the important part. The style of improv is unabashedly funny. It isn’t silly; it’s clever. It isn’t story-driven; it’s game-driven. It’s also direct–initiations are to the point, exchanges are quick–let’s get down to the business of making people laugh. It’s not two people enjoying a park car delighting in their own company; it’s two people enjoying a parked car because they’re not at the “blowjobs and weed party”. Or something.

UCB are performing every night at 8:30 at Mainline Theatre until Saturday. Recommended!

Zoo Review: Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue

Sidemart Theatrical Grocery’s’s Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue (photos) is an exceptionally well-written and tremendously well-performed send-up of variety shows from tv’s golden age.

I wish this was a real show. By that I mean, I wish I could go to the theatre and watch this group put on a variety show every week. I would be there every week. This was more than a spoof; this felt in every way like the real deal. It’s only a shame that the venue is a bar, not a proper theatre or cabaret.

There was not a misstep from the cast. Graham Cuthbertson’s portrayal of high-status chain-smoking Dick Powell (think 30 Rock’s Alec Baldwin) was mesmerizing. Kyle Gatehouse’s telephone dance number is the highlight of the show. Someone give that man a phone commercial!

Complimenting the cast at every turn is a smooth four-piece jazz band. The mood was just right. (And hey, the bassist would appreciate some applause after his solo in the opening. Seeing him mouth the words “wtf?” was kinda funny, though.)

I want to have water-cooler talk with others who have seen the show, so that I can go “Remember the part when…”, “Remember the part when…”

I did not go to bed thirsty. The Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue is on nightly at 9:15 at Le Gymnase (Rachel/St-Denis) until July 26th. No show on the 20th. Highly Recommended!

–b.j. swank

Zoo Review: The Bitter End

The Bitter End is a serialized improvised sitcom playing at ZooFest. The cast is a who’s who of local improv talent, including our very own Marc Rowland. I shall make the rather obvious disclaimer that I know everyone in the cast and sometimes get invited to their brother’s apartment after shows. But being professional, I decline.

The sitcom follows the lives of two brothers. On this night, there were two main plot lines, one following each brother. While the brothers are the same from night to night, the secondary cast play all the other characters. And much like a tv sitcom, you don’t need to have seen the previous installment to follow the show.

The cast’s pre-show mantra is “be normal”, a positive reformulation of Johnstone’s “be more boring.” The approach allows for stories that mirror those from the audience’s life–relationship troubles, boss conflicts and so forth. It’s just like your life, only more funny. And sometimes, the normalcy will lapse and the boss will transform into RoboCop, but against the staid backdrop, this transmogrification will be super cool, not just wacky improv as usual.

The show clocks in at 40 fun minutes. It whizzes by while you are laughing. Make an evening of it and stick around at the same venue to catch the Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue. Alternatively, if you are less professional, go to the brother’s apartment. You can review that.

The Bitter Ends runs every night at 8:20 until July 26th. No show on July 20th. Recommended!

–b.j. swank

Zoo Review: Playin’ With Micucci

Kate Micucci is a singer/songwriter and actress living in L.A. She brings a show to Montreal that is a delight. People don’t use the word “delight” enough, but I’m not most people. In fact, I will say this show was downright delightful. Micucci’s shtick isn’t really shtick at all. She plays a self-aware version of herself in a show that lets her sing songs and tell stories, two things she does delightfully.

She doesn’t write funny songs per se; she writes quirky songs. They contain story, punch lines and startlingly, genuine feelings. They have more sophisticated rhythms and chord progressions that you’d expect from something as petite as a ukelele. Refreshingly, unlike most comedic musicians, she is too clever for the dirty stuff. You can bring your parents out from Kirkland to see the show.

I’ve been giggling about her last name ever since I planned out which shows I would be seeing. I only realized today that she called her show “Playin’ With Micucci”. Innocent sounding but with a subtext–maybe that sums up her concert.

Kate Micucci plays Theatre Ste-Catherine as part of ZooFest, every night at 7PM until July 25th. No show on the 22nd. Recommended!

–b.j. swank

Zoo Review: Improvised Shakespeare Company

The Improvised Shakespeare Company hails from Chicago’s iO Theatre and is in town for a 9-show run at Theatre Ste-Catherine as part of ZooFest.

Colour me impressed, gentles. The players from the Improvised Shakespeare Company put on a show that was charming, witty, engrossing and uproariously funny.

“Corset of death”, the audience suggestion, became the story of a woman’s longing for freedom and escape from a decrepit groom. The first few scenes introduced us to a host of entertaining characters and the story slowly took hold from there. Shakespearean elements crept into the plot in ways that never seemed forced. The use of language was just right; they weren’t sticklers in nailing every single verb tense. They attacked it with wonderful metaphors and bright language, often drawing laughter through their choice of words and especially on the occasional falter or dubious rhyme. The effect was playful and fun.

They owned the stage and played on many different levels–on chairs, perched off the stage, up on the balcony, down the aisle; it was hard to believe they were performing at this theatre for the first time. Their confidence was understated yet evident to anyone who’s ever felt a bit weak-kneed on a stage.

This play had the elements of a great improvised show–energy, cohesion, and most of all, playfulness. I will venture to say that playfulness can only exist when there is confidence in your craft and a genuine pleasure derived from it. Bravo, sirs!

The Improvised Shakespeare Company runs nightly at 8:30 from July 16 to July 25, with no show on July 23. I highly recommend this show to all, most especially local improvisors..

-by b.j. swank

Link: Tj & Dave interview

At last year’s Montreal Improv Festival, StoryBox Theatre, a group comprised of several Second City teachers and Chicago big wigs, came to town to perform. (All really nice people!) We humble Montreal folk asked them which improv show in Chicago was most popular. They replied unanimously: TJ and Dave.

Yes, that TJ and Dave that came to Montreal two years ago for Just for Laughs. TJ and Dave that I, living on my little Montreal<->New York axis, had never even heard of at the time.

Well, TJ and Dave were in New York recently promoting a documentary about their show. In an interview with Gothamist, they alluded to performing at Mainline for JFL:

Have you guys ever considered taking the show on the road, touring with it?

Dave: We have been around to different festivals to varying success. If people don’t know what they’re coming to, they’re sadly disappointed. Especially at a comedy festival…especially at a comedy festival, especially at a comedy festival in another country just north of us in a theater off the beat and track when they’re there to see stand-up and, say, we come out in the sweltering heat.

TJ: “Theoretically”

Ha! I found that funny, but now I’m bummed that they didn’t enjoy performing for us. When I do a run of shows, I always have my favourites, and sure, least favourites, but I never let on to the audience that they just saw a show with which I was unhappy. Now I know they hated us, and maybe it’s all my fault…

I reviewed their JFL show at the time. It was an introspective review. I’m always searching for myself when I watch and review improv. What do I like? What do I want to see? What do I want to do next? It’s about me; not about you, TJ, you Dave.

TJ and Dave did two (among other) things really well: lingering on moments and moving the story forward. They liked lingering more. While they journeyed, I longed for destination. It’s very much a style thing.

They read my review. And now they hate Montreal.

Which brings me to my next point: I received my media pass for JFL’s ZooFest. Time to go out and break some more hearts and put Montreal on the map as the city that “slow comedy” left behind.

– b.j swank

Haiku

Montreal Improv is running a haiku contest for a free pair of tickets to the best show at ZooFest, ASSSSCAT 3000.

I’m so in my head
What to say? How about “Yes”?
A laugh! They like me!

Whatever I say
Comes true. You know what, Del Close?
I just found the game

ZooFest Programming

To help you navigate Just For Laugh’s Zoofest programming, I’ve broken down all the shows by language and genre for you below. The Zoofest website is difficult to navigate so hopefully this will help you choose which shows to see. There are quite a few shows that look fantastic. Shows I’ve seen and personally recommend have a little Annette head beside them:

English

Improv

• ASSSSCAT (UCB): Improv comedians currently working in TV and film are accompanied by a special guest monologist, who tells stories inspired by an audience suggestion. Feat. Horatio Sanz.
• Greatest Concert Ever: With a live backing band, UCB performers portray the greatest musical entertainers of all time. Feat. Horatio Sanz.
• North America’s Best Comic: Fake Stand-up comedians portrayed by UCB performers compete to be named North America’s Best Comic.
• The Bitter End: The Bitter End is a fearless, improvised sitcom about brothers thrust back into each other’s lives.
• The Facebook Show (UCB): Two audience members are randomly picked to get their Facebook page examined and then turned into long form improvisational comedy.
• The Improvised Shakespeare Company: Based on one audience suggestion, they create a fully improvised comedic play, Elizabethan style.
• UCB Will Get You Laid! (UCB): We pair up audience members to go on a blind date backstage during the show while an expert panel of comedians watch and comment on live video coverage of the date onstage.

Music & Dance & Circus

• Amp’d the Music Comedy Show: Explore the funny side of music with some of the hottest acts in comedy, feat. Reggie Watts
• GIRL: GIRL’s music is inspired by the sixties love message and bands such as U2, Joy Division, Coldplay and Arcade Fire.
• Kate Micucci Playin’ With Micucci (UCB): A ukelele-weilding musician who will present a variety of whimsical songs, stories, sketches and suprises. (BE CAREFUL WITH SHOW TIMES. ZOOFEST SITE LISTS 7PM. JFL SITE LISTS 10PM)
• Cognac & Sausages: This aerial comedy show combines aerial finesse with the sublimely ridiculous.
• Tomboy: Band-of-the-future: A 45-minute multimedia cabaret show set with a dystopian future.

Stand-up / Storytelling

• Aziz Ansari (UCB): Parks and Recreations star Aziz Ansari brings his laid-back straight-up stand-up laden with his trademark left-field punches.
• Best of Homegrown Comic Competition: Debra DiGiovanni hosts a line-up of nine promising comics, feat. DeAnne Smith.
• Chris Gethard’s Magic Box of Stories (UCB): Chris Gethard has lived a weird life filled with many weird stories. Now he’s ready to share them as the audience picks stories from his Magic Box.
• Gina Yashere: The first British comic to appear on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam”
• Jimeoin on Ice: Australia’s Jimeoin’s no gimmicks, no message stand-up
• Marc Maron Scorching the Earth: The Air America host turns every bad memory into pure, universal humour.
• Mini-Gala Bang!: A night of revolving skits and talents
• New Faces of Comedy: Up-and-comming stand-ups. Feat. Sugar Sammy
• Nikki Payne – My Big Fat Donated Kidney: A ridiculous adventure within the health care system.
• Paul Provenza’s Green Room: Festival performers come to chat with Aristocrats’ director and comedy maven Paul Provenza.
• Ross Noble Live: Ross interweaves multiple topics, stories and audience interactions for one hilariously frenzied performance.
• Simon Amstell: An exploration of the self, a meditation on the meaninglessness of existence, death, etc.
• The Alternative Comedy Show: Bold assortment of innovative humour, bizarre characters, unusual approaches and simply out-there ideas.
• Underplayed and in Demand: A unique stand-up show featuring a live mock documentary about the fictional comedy group, Stand-Up Guys.

Sketch

• The Sketch Show: Sketches from the Birthday Boys (USA), Idiots of Ants (UK), The Imponderables (CAN), and Two White Guys (US).
• Uncalled For: This is intelligent, theatrical, free-flowing hilarity that doesn’t bother with vulgarity or cynicism.

Theatre

• Anatomy of a Broken Love Affair: Two short plays: a thoughtful look at a relationship that can’t keep going and a comedy about a relationship the just won’t stop.
• Antoine Feval (Best of the English Montreal Fringe): Chris Gibbs’ one-man tale of deduction and deceit, featuring Victorian England’s most overlooked detective.
• Four Minutes if you Bleed: A play about the parts of our lives we reveal and the parts we keep hidden.
• Lennon Parham: She Tried to be Normal (UCB): A late night DJ takes you into the lives of eight people doing their damnedest just to be normal.
• Mark Watson all the Throughts I’ve Had Since I Was Born: The story of how a famous self-help book changed his life.
• Paradise Lost: Puppets, computer animation, and rock ‘n roll; Milton’s epic poem gets a 21st century face lift.
• The Girl in the Picture Tries to Hang Up the Phone: This one-person show is about a man’s struggle to understand his alcoholic mother’s life and death. Frank, celebratory, humorous, and redemptive.
• The Human Voice: A woman in a closed room has only a telephone and her voice to try and reach a departing lover
• The King’s Conscience: A princely young man battles the demons that haunt him following the mysterious death of his father. He finds solace in rap music and the potential of language.
• The Very Late Show: No rules, lots of suprise guests and a chance to hang out with your favourite comedians after the lights go out.

Variety / Other

• Crash Test (UCB)The format is ever changing, from improv to stand-up to special screenings and one-night-only event shows. Feat. Human Giant’s Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer. (CANCELLED)
• Lady Peasblossoms Sanctuary: A heavily improvised performance art installation combining aerial, dance, theatre and art.
• Silent Disco: Two friends organized a secret party at a Dutch festival, nobody knew.
• The Hills: A Staged Reading (UCB): Comedians perform a staged reading of an episode of The Hills with much more gravitas than it could possibly deserve.
• Whiteman’s Whiskey Comedy Revue: Re-imagines the live-to-air variety shows from the golden age of tv and subverts that once wholesome image into an irreverant and witty night complete with a live band.

Bilingual

Dance

• Dance Animal (Best of the English Montreal Fringe): Ten dancers with one dynamic dance mission: to spread sexy-electric-joy-energy across the globe.
• Metro: A hilarious look at public transportation blending hard hitting street styles with haunting contemporary works.

Sketch

• Best of Bilingual Sketch: Top English and French sketch groups sharing a stage. No info on participating groups.

Theatre

• Café Café: Café Café by Alain Mercieca is about arts, artists, artichokes and how they intersect in a coffee shop in the heart of Montreal.
• Once and For All We’re Going to Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen: A play that can only be performed by teenagers who are rebellious and play like children but who are sometimes surprisingly adult.

French

Music

• Charleypop & Friends: In his new show, Charlypop invites us to a musical cabaret where beatbox, comedy and music entertwine.

Sketch

• Les grand burlesques: A sectacle of skits that remind us of a time when comedic performances rivalled the greatest of theatrical productions.
• MC Gilles: A showcase of humourous sketches, weird news, funny old-fashioned music, etc.
• Sketchup moutarde!: Sometimes absurd, sometimes plain stupid, 6 comedians/musicians/dancers/ using their talents to crack you up.

Stand-up / Storytelling

• À quoi tu penses: Three answer the age-old question women just love to ask: “What are you thinking about?”
• École nationale de l’humour: 14 comedians collide in a collective show that is sometimes serious, sometimes ridiculous.
• Fabrice Éboué & Doniel Jack’sman: 2 comedians deliver bitchy jokes, quick wit, and fast-paced rap-like delivery.
• Gaydailles Show: A time to reflect on gay and lesbian realities.
• Le Girly Show: Four 27 to 33-year old comediennes with guts and high spirits.
• Jonathan Lambert: He will meet a prison guard with a strange sense of humour, he will work as a human alarm clock in a parking lot, become a magician’s assistant and more.
• Kev Adams: Fresh and tongue-in-cheek stand-up and sketch show
• Le 3 à 4: A talk show for those that enjoy inappropriate text messages and jokes that make you feel uncomfortable
• Les jambons de l’humour: Four comedians offer a fast-paced show–absurd characters, performance, video projection and traditional stand-up.
• Redouanne Harjane: A show in which dark humour and absurdity mingle to denounce the tragic truth about humanity.
• Show XXX: 5 comedians.
• Thomas Ngicol: In A block, Thomas plays characters disappointed by a black Superman and the Cosby Show.
• Tom & Verino: Why must we all learn geometry in school? Why mustn’t we put our elbows on the table?
• Top 5: Five promising comedy newcomers.

Theatre

• Arianna: An Imaginary tale for the whole family which takes place in a world full of mystery and magical creatures.
• 4 Contres Crades (Best of the French Montreal Fringe): A hyperactive bicycle courrier tells tales, funny and cruel.

Variety

• Humour et Magie: A variety show full of humour run by three emerging artists.