Blogging With Kerry gives great updates on Calgary’s stand-up comedy community

January 28, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

The backbone of the stand-up comedy world is its fans, and there is no fan out there more dedicated than the lovely Kerry Rasmussen. Kerry has become a fixture of the Calgary stand-up comedy scene with her dependable presence at Comedy Monday Night and a source of great information with her amazing comedy blog.

Kerry takes notes on all the performers during the comedy shows and writes her blog the following day. What amazes me most are Kerry’s thought-out commentary and blunt honesty. There were a few comedians who didn’t wish to be reviewed for sure, but my opinion is that if you’re going to perform (even at an open mic) then you are opening yourself up for people’s opinions, otherwise just stay at home and talk to your mirror.

Since moving away from Calgary to Toronto, I have been reading Kerry’s blogs every week, and it has made me feel good to know what’s happening in my home comedy scene. Keep up the great work Kerry!

Blogging With Kerry

http://kerryrasmussen.wordpress.com/

Review Score: ★★★★★ 

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Straight guys are difficult to replace after you leave the Winnipeg ghetto

January 27, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Five days are left before this year’s Super Bowl matchup between Arizona and Pittsburgh. It’s usually at this time of year that I miss my straight guy friends the most. Now, I love my gay friends lots, but there are just times in my life where it’s not the same without the straight boys. I used to host an annual Super Bowl party at my parents’ house in Winnipeg that I haven’t been able to host since moving.

Since leaving Winnipeg, I’ve been able to fill in the gaps as far as school friends and gay friends and girl friends, but it’s been extremely difficult to find a new group of straight guy friends who love to watch sports. You see, in Winnipeg I was surrounded by straight guys and am quite comfortable around the sporty jock testosterone-heavy scene. I’m not really sure how I will be able to really find a new group of friends now.

Don’t get me wrong, I do have some straight guy friends, though most of those friendships are superficial and come by way of my dayjob as well as fellow stand-up comedians. I could also get back into the competitive videogame scene, though that group of straight guys aren’t exactly sports-friendly.

I’m kind of lost as to how I’ll find a new “crew,” but I am open to suggestions.

Filed under: Living
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Kelly Clarkson’s new single My Life Would Suck Without You is awesome!

January 22, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Kelly Clarkson’s first single titled “My Life Would Suck Without You” from her upcoming fourth studio album has just been released on iTunes. I downloaded it this morning and have been enjoying it all day long.

The single reflects a return to Kelly Clarkson’s pop-rock style from her hit album “Breakaway.” The single begins with a subtle melody played on guitar before the synthetic sounds pop in along with Kelly Clarkson’s signature smooth vocals, building nicely toward the extremely catchy chorus. The instrumental accompaniment is definitely not as aggressive as in Kelly’s last album, “My December.” I was a huge fan of her last album (minus that horrific first single, “Never Again”) and enjoyed the direction she was headed, but that album’s failure made the direction for this album fairly easy to predict.
Read more . . .

Filed under: Listening
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Hanging out with my friend Linda from the Winnipeg ghetto was fun

January 19, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Tonight I had the chance to hang out with one of my oldest and dearest friends from the ghetto. We talked about our lives now and then, and we had a great time. I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of long-lasting friendships that still feel current. Though we talk about our history, our current friendship isn’t dependent on our past lives and is strong on its own merits.

Some of our conversation reminded me of how I was when I was younger: absolutely fearless and in my own world. I didn’t even remember that I used to carry around a butt pillow (yes, a butt pillow) around the university and would take it out of my bag and sit on it. I was so in my own reality, that I truly didn’t care what others thought. I wish I had that type of total abandon now.

The visit came at a great time, as I am delving into my past Winnipeg life as the centrepiece of my hour-long set that I hope to have completed before the end of this year. I was contemplating whether I should go back to Winnipeg for a few weeks in the spring or summer to help bring back the emotions to jump-start my writing process. I think after tonight, though, I’ve decided to hold off.

I think the best method would be to complete the writing process while I’m alone in Toronto. I would then go to Winnipeg and do a private performance to only friends and family, where I would ask for input.

I used this strategy back when I was preparing for my first ever comedy show in Calgary, Alberta. Since my family and friends know my stories by heart, seeing as how they lived through them with me, I was greatly helped by the comments last time. In fact, the whole part of my first set regarding “magical powers” came from a simple comment from my engineering friend, Erin.

Filed under: Living, Performing
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Second City’s Level A improv class, week two, proves worth every penny

January 18, 2009 by vongsundara · 2 Comments 

I’m only two weeks into my improv class at Second City, and already I’ve gotten my money’s worth. Sunday night improv is starting to become a big highlight of my week.

This week, we focused on specific techniques to help flesh out an improv scene. The biggest challenge was about identifying the what, where and who of the scene. For instance, the first person up establishes what the activity is. The second person establishes where the scene takes place, and the third person establishes the relationship between the three people.

We were also given some great tips on what not to do in improv. One of the big no-no’s is entering a scene with a question.

It was funny, though, that no matter how many times I was told, it was a habit I could not shake. Whenever I came into a scene, I’d ask the person who started the scene a question instead of making a statement. I suppose it’s just human tendency.

I absolutely love how improv is pushing me in new directions creatively. It’s given me lots of ideas for my stand-up, which is why I joined the class in the first place. Unexpectedly, though, it’s also given me a love and appreciation of improv that kind of makes me want to push forward and learn more and more. I haven’t felt this excited since I first discovered stand-up.

Filed under: Performing
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Second City’s Level A improv class, week one, packed with great info

January 13, 2009 by vongsundara · 1 Comment 

My first-ever improv class at Second City’s training centre went extremely well. I had a lot of fun, and it’s gotten my creative juices flowing again, which is why I took this class in the first place.

You see, improv is quite the opposite of stand-up comedy. Improv is all about feeding off of an ensemble and going beyond yourself with multiple characters (think Mike Myers) while stand-up is about working on your own to be as believable as yourself as possible.

My class is made up of a dozen students. My teacher is quite hilarious and almost exactly like I’d imagine an improv teacher to be like. She’s very outgoing, talkative and agressive in the best ways possible. There are a couple of students who have already shown a lot of potential, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they develop.

Our first class was made up of a series of improv exercises. We kind of went through all the improv techniques in one day. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be going deeper into each of the techniques, and on our final day we’ll go through all of them again.

My favourite exercise consisted of having to answer questions in tune with a partner, speaking at the same time. My team decided to speak very slowly to try and figure out what the other person was saying. We ended up veering off in interesting directions, and some of our answers ended up being quite funny.

Filed under: Performing
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Improv class at Second City has taken over my Sundays, goodbye football

January 10, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

I’m excited to start a new chapter of my comedy life this week. Today, I went to take a tour of the Second City training centre, where I’ll be taking improv classes for the next year. My classes will be on Sunday, which is perfect timing since NFL football is coming to an end and my Sundays will soon be open.

At first, I was hesitant to take a class on improv, since it seems to be the polar opposite of what my stage style is. Stand-up is generally about being able to portray yourself and make it believable. Improv and sketch are more about suspension of disbelief and playing many different characters.

I’m still definitely a stand-up at heart, but with my creative juices stagnating as of late, I’m hoping the challenges brought about by improv will help get some ideas flowing through my head and get me excited about comedy again.

Today was orientation day, so I was able to meet the artistic director, Kevin Frank. I thought it was a nice touch that it was someone important as Kevin Frank to be the person leading orientation day.

I’m looking forward to meeting my instructor tomorrow, and I’ll give weekly updates on how my improv training is going. Who knows? Maybe improv will add a whole new dimension that I can bring to stage during my stand-up performances.

Filed under: Performing
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Supercute.ca finally back on first page of Google results for “Canadian comedian”

January 6, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Back when I relaunched this website a couple of months back, my web presence was in shambles. I used to be on the first page of Google results for “Canadian comedian” with my first website a couple of years ago. I then went through a phase of transitioning between several different websites. This knocked me off Google search results almost entirely.

A couple of months ago, I made the goal to get back on top and back on page one. This promise to myself was a part of a larger overall strategy to get back to my success in the comedy field that was great early on but has lately stagnated.

Well, today is a HUGE day for me, as I am finally back on page one of Google’s search results for both “Canadian comedian” and “Canadian stand-up.” Go to Google and try searching those keywords, and you’ll see me. Now, Google rankings are fluid, so I’ll have to work hard to keep my current position form now on.

I’m so happy that one of my main goals has come to fruition. I hope this is the beginning of my other comedy goals coming to life as well in 2009.

Filed under: Performing
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