Marilla Wex - the Official Website Blog

Wow. So now I know how it feels. And it sucks. Ass. Big time.

There was a very small crowd tonight at the Diesel Playhouse and they didn’t dig my gags and the lights were in my eyes and…and…and…. Okay. Enough whining. It felt awkward and uncomfortable and I’m not experienced enough yet to know how to turn it around or work a small crowd. I wasn’t the only one who bombed. It’s just never happened to me before.

My friend Inge swears up and down that it wasn’t that bad - I guess because of the lights I couldn’t see the smiling. And maybe it worked better on the radio! It sure didn’t put me off the gigs. I really want to feel comfortable in any environment. And there’ll be other and worse bombs. Just gotta get back on the horse!

This coming Thursday (6th November) I have a five minute set at the 7 o’clock show of Live at the Diesel Cabaret at, where else, the Diesel Playhouse. This is my third public performance and it’s being broadcast live on XM Radio. Jake Labow is running the show and it’s thanks to Dawn Whitwell (yet again) that I got this gig. She emailed Jake the link to my website where I’ve posted my stand-up debut and he asked me to be on the bill on the strength of it - hurrah! Cheers, Dawn!

This is the first gig I’ve done with a paying audience and I’m a bit nervous. I’m going to stick with my original, if slightly tweaked for time, set and now the most pressing question is what to wear? I think there are a couple of other comics I know on the bill, and a few friends are hoping to make it, so that will be swell. Can’t wait!

If you’d like to see the show you can get tickets through Ticketmaster or simply call the Diesel Playhouse’s box office on (416) 971-5656. Here is a map to the Diesel Playhouse. Make sure you get tickets for the 7 o’clock show or you’ll be watching everyone else but me…..

I’ve finally got off my bum, found some fairly decent video-editing software and put my stand-up routine on my website. It’s been slightly edited (I’ve taken out some of the worst swearing on the advice of my agent, Fran Messinger) and I also took out a bit that I felt just didn’t work - only a small bit, mind. Most of it’s there.

I’m doing another live gig at 8pm on November 25th at the Comedy Hole in Toronto - thanks to Ian Atlas for that. Before then I will be taking a stand-up intensive at Second City run by Elvira Kurtz. And I’m toying with the idea of doing the open mike at Yuck Yucks. But that’s really scary.

Enjoy the video. Until next time, comedy fans…

A couple of years ago I was cast as one of the Twelve Chefs of Quiznos for their new campaign. My character didn’t have a name at that point - I was not going to be featured, simply part of a chef line-up. However, at the costume call I auditioned for the director (as did all the other chefs) for the role of the shirty chef who didn’t like the idea of his/her creations being demeaned by appearing in a commercial or lowered in price considering the amount of man-hours that had gone into creating it. I got the part! We filmed three commercials back to back (only two were actually broadcast) and I’ve just uploaded the one where Chef Evelyn (my character) appears.

Check out the Quiznos commercial here on my main website. I am wearing a particularly choice pair of chef’s pants covered in cartoon kitchen appliances. I also rather like my gigantic hat.

I’m in the process of uploading all my audio, video and stills from different projects for your delectation.

It just goes to show you that you never know what’s going to come of a humble costume call…….

Or it can be. When it’s not going well. I get cross and impatient and want whatever I’m writing to be fantastic in a very short time. Which rarely happens. There are occasional flashes of inspiration which create a fully-formed joke in a couple of minutes of frantic scribbling. But mostly I end up doodling in my little black book or staring at my laptop screen, trying to avoid looking at Facebook.

I was exactly the same as a kid when rehearsing an audition piece or a show made me crazy. It was like drawing nails down a blackboard - I felt frustrated and annoyed and embarrassed and tetchy. Which didn’t help anyone. Pretty soon I realized that the only way to give a superlative performance was practice, practice practice. And now I love rehearsals. I think of it as play - how many different ways can I do this? Which one is the best? I miss doing theatre and having those glorious few weeks to play.

I’m still working on this in my writing. I haven’t quite got to the point where I see it as play. It’s more like work. I have to force myself stick at it. Stay there and not get caught up in Scrabulous or WordTwist or Elven Blood or any of the other treats Crackbook has in its candy store of distraction. Even writing this blog entry has been a little bit of a diversion from working on my set for Tuesday night.

Nope. I just gotta sit here. And work at it. Re-write. Over and over and over again. Hurumph!

Yes, I’m doing it again - and this time at a regular venue. As in not somewhere crammed with friends and family. But with real punters. People who don’t know me. Eek!

I saw the video of my debut performance yesterday for the first time (care of the lovely Daniela Saioni) and was surprised at how un-excrutiating I found it. I actually enjoyed it. It wasn’t toe-curlingly bad. So I’m doing it again.

I showed the DVD to my agent, Fran Messinger,  who loved it. She made some suggestions and I’m going to edit it and put it on my website.

So next Tuesday is the day. The Comedy Hole is the place. At 8pm the main acts come on (including Daniela, who is well-worth seeing  in her own right - she rocks) and then at 10pm it’s the newbies at the open mike. If you fancy coming to see my re-worked material, then be at the Hole in the Wall pub at the corner of Dundas and Keele (just west of the intersection on the south side of Dundas). And laugh. Loudly. Drink beer beforehand if that will help and say hello to the lovely Tiffany who runs the bar.

My kid asked me why I was reading six short plays by Noel Coward. I told her it’s because I have an audition for the Shaw Festival and I wanted to read some of the plays they were doing so that I could choose some appropriate audition pieces. She asked me why I had to read so many. I explained that they were doing quite a lot of Coward and that if I read at least some of what they were doing I could get an idea of what I might possibly be cast for and so do pieces at my audition that would show I could play those parts.

Of course this is all well and good in theory, but in practice I think it’s more luck than judgment. The people you’re auditioning for might hate the pieces you’ve chosen, they might never have heard of the plays they’re from (unless you’ve picked stuff from the actual season they’re doing), they might be mentally making their shopping list when you perform them. Okay, it’s not quite as bad as a commercial audition - pretty much all the theatre auditions I’ve done in my life have been in an incredibly concentrated atmosphere with acutely attentive theatre directors. With one notable exception at the Royal Shakespeare Company which I won’t go into here. I’ll save that one for another blog entry.

So I’ve got my two pieces with an alternate third - is this too smart-arsey? I dunno - I like to give directors a choice. They usually say “You choose” which suits me fine, but I kinda like it when they choose the pieces themselves. It might mean they pay more attention, are fonder of the play, or haven’t heard it for a while. And I’ve been doing this long enough that I can usually give them a selection.

I was told early on in my career to have lots of pieces to hand ready to do at the drop of a hat, and it’s the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given. I’ve saved every piece I’ve ever performed, every piece I’d ever like to perform and stuff that I’m only just growing into, having found it ten or fifteen years ago. I have a file I keep them in and whenever something comes up I’ve got a whole load of stuff waiting to go. This doesn’t mean I’ve always got the right pieces - I’m doing a brand new one for this audition - but I try if possible to have one I’ve done at least once before. This eases the nerves a little.

So I’m all set for tomorrow - if they want me or if they don’t I’ll try and enjoy it. I had great fun last year auditioning for Jackie Maxwell and it went splendidly. Up until the point when it was time to leave and I fell arse over tit, flat on my face, spread-eagled on the carpet. Never could wear heels. At least it made me memorable. Wish me luck!

Me and Dawn Whitwell after the show

I did it! I got on stage without any notes and I did my whole set word-blummin-perfect! What a buzz. I haven’t done any live performing since December 2007 and I realized how much I missed it.

Loads of my friends turned out, which was great - it was a really supportive audience. Thanks so much to Dawn for organizing the course and the show. Upstairs at the Black Swan Tavern is really a great little venue - it was just right for our graduation performance.

I was really good and didn’t have a drink beforehand - but I made up for that afterwards with several beers. Hurrah! Now what? I’ll have to see about going in front of a real audience (ie one not filled with friends of mine) and find out if the material works for complete strangers…..scary!

Thanks also to Daniela Saioni for recording the whole thing - once I’ve run it past my agent to check that she thinks it’s kosher I’ll post it online - watch this space…..

Oh, and I got my real hair back - thank God. I forgot how much I liked it. Thanks to Yvan at Rapunzel.

Yes it’s true - I’m finally getting up and putting my money where my mouth is. On Tuesday September 9th I will be appearing in my graduation class upstairs at the Black Swan Tavern (154 Danforth Avenue, Toronto - just east of Broadview) at 8pm. Blimey! A couple of my kindly classmates have offered to go through my set with me, since I missed the last three classes because of filming “The Good Times Are Killing Me“, which is incredibly generous of them. I must admit, during and since filming I haven’t given my routine much thought, but now I have a whole week to get serious and jiggy with it.

I’m really chuffed that Dawn is letting me do the grad show given my absences - I just hope I have enough material so I don’t look too much like a total lazy bastard. In the last class I think Dawn gave people ideas of what order to present their jokes - I’ll just be winging it.

Hurray! Terrified, yet so happy to be doing it. Bring on the instant gratification of live performance!

Metaphorically speaking, you understand. I’d been going on and on to my husband about “Shaun of the Dead” for ages so finally I went to the video store and rented it. It was a depressing experience. Not, I hasten to add, because it wasn’t a good movie - on the contrary I laughed my arse off and so did my old man - but because it made me realize just how much I’d not been concentrating on my career. Simon has worked his skinny butt off ever since we graduated from Bristol University Drama Department together - whereas I’ve just careened from one relationship to another waiting for jobs to fall out of the sky. Watching my old mate in a movie that he wrote was a huge wake-up call.

And that’s when I started writing and thinking about doing stand-up. One of the first things Simon did was stand-up - I still remember his routine about the toys of our youth - and he just went on from there to “Spaced” and Shaun of the Dead and “Hot Fuzz” and “Run Fatboy Run” and all the other great things he’s done.

You’ve got to make your own luck in this business, and that’s just what Simon’s done. I’m really proud of him and I got to tell him last night that he’s my inspiration. Over a couple of pints. Which was nice.