Last night I competed in the first round of the Toronto Comedy Brawl 2009. It was an exciting contest and I certainly picked a hard round to compete in! The line-up was stellar – Deb Primeau, Will O’Neill, Arthur Simeon, Andrew Ivimey, Kris Bonaparte, Julia Hladkowicz and Trevor Wilson.
The Comedy Hole was more packed than I’ve ever seen it. Ian Atlas had to shlep in more chairs as the room filled to capacity. The tension was palpable. I was actually more nervous than I’ve been in a long time.
I drew sixth place, which was a pretty sweet spot. After Allyson Smith‘s fantastic warm-up the audience were ready and willing to laugh and by the time I went on the atmosphere was terrific.
I did my two favourite new jokes and it went really, really well. I had a lot of friends in the audience and they were generous with their support. Trevor Wilson brought the competition part of the show home and then it was time to wait for the results while Kristeen von Hagen and Dave Martin did guest spots.
Finally the results came in – Arthur Simeon in first place (well-deserved), me second and Trevor Wilson third – I’m through to the semi-finals! Hooray!
A massive thank you to Pelayo and Jeni, Inge, Karen, Eleanor, Melanie, Barb, Bonnie, Daniela, Dave and everyone else who came out. Including, of course, and most importantly, Mr. Wex.
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I am a British-born actress and stand-up comic who does lots of voice work (for commercials, cartoons and corporate clients) and sometimes, when I'm very lucky, tv and film. When I was in England I did mostly theatre. Now I'm in Canada I spend the majority of the time writing and performing stand-up. When I'm not making episodes of Talking Bollocks, that is. And that's me for you.