I’m not sure if this comedy is allowed, but I’m going to try it anyway
March 24, 2009 by vongsundara · 1 Comment
One more day before I film my first video production. On the great advice of a great friend, I have decided to film my comedy set about the SuperPowerBottoms, my gay volleyball team and not-so-subtle stab at promoting rights for bottoms everywhere. Haha, talk about the opposite of mainstream. The video will be targeted to a very specific demographic, but I’m hoping that that demographic will really appreciate it.
The big news of the week, though, is that I have found my own comedy muse: hot blonde actress and improv student Holly. While doing improv, I discovered how much I love collaboration which isn’t something I get to do at all in stand-up. While brainstorming with my muse, I’ve decided to try something off-the-wall and maybe even against the rules.
I’m going to write a stand-up for someone else. I will be the Tina Fey to her Amy Poehler (check Saturday Night Live). Writing stand-up for Holly is actually kind of exciting because of her great acting ability. She has a uniqueness to her look and great timing on her delivery, but at this point in time she is more of a performance artist than a writer. Writing for Holly will allow me to really push myself creatively. I’ve written for my own stand-up persona for so long, that I think writing from the perspective of a young, hot blonde will be very interesting.
The end goal for this writing project is to have Holly perform her material as an opening act when my one-man show debuts (now with a bonus woman!) at the end of this year or early next year. The fact that I’ll be writing both acts will lend itself to some great continuity and some comedy tricks that I’ve been meaning to try and which I don’t think have been done before, as a headliner generally doesn’t write material for their opening act.
Anyhow, with my two current projects progressing well, I’m getting excited and more inspired than ever. It feels great to be pushing the boundaries of an art form that I love so dearly.
Ghetto-Winnipeg Vong is the best comedian Vong that Vong can be
February 3, 2009 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
I took this week off of work to get some comedy writing done. I’ve been working on my one-hour one-man show for a few months now, and I’m hoping to have it completed before the summer festival season, though I won’t debut the actual show until end of the year at the earliest. I haven’t been making a lot of progress lately, so I was hoping the focus off of my dayjob for a week would help me get a jump start.
This being my debut long-form show, I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I want to present and who I want to be on stage. After some careful consideration, I’ve decided to go back to my roots, the ghettos of Winnipeg. I already have a bit of material written about my life in Winnipeg, but now I want to really dig in deep.
I’m a bit of a chameleon when it comes to my personality. I’m very much different depending on whether I’m with my parents or my family or my friends or at work. Part of this comes from my upbringing, as there were definitely rules applied to how I should act depending on who was in the room (more respect, for instance, is paid to elders and people of authority and so on). The other side of this, though, is perhaps a bit of my comedic playfulness.
Different people bring out different parts of me. I’m more gay with my gay friends; I’m more ghetto with my ghetto friends. This is all common in most people of course, but I think with me it’s a little more pronounced. With individual friends, I tend to almost absorb a bit of their personality and reflect it back in an enhanced way. I didn’t realize this until recently moving in with a co-worker, and I found myself acting differently.
This got me thinking about which version of me I want to bring on stage. The answer is simple: I’m the best me when I’m with my older sister in Winnipeg. She brings out the me that I like best. We have a chemistry and connection that is pretty damn special. I think I’ve also suffered a bit from being away from Winnipeg too long.
Back in Winnipeg, I was able to maintain an incredibly balanced life as far as my friends go. One-third of my friends were straight guys, one-third were female, and one-third were gay. My personality back then had the versatility to appeal to all three demographics. Since leaving Winnipeg, my life has been dominated by my gay friends as well as some women from school, work and comedy. The part of me that appeals to the straight male demographic is slowly fading away.
This brings up the question of whether I am able to go back to that personality on stage while being so far removed from that place emotionally. I’m writing about a period of my life while being in a completely new life in a new city. I’m not sure how possible it will be.
I’m going to continue writing this week and see where it takes me, but I am seriously considering using my summer vacation days to go back to Winnipeg and complete my writing there. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
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.
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.
A stand-up comedian’s Christmas can be a lonely affair
December 25, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
Another year, another Christmas spent alone, thus is the the life of a stand-up comedian. I ended up having a somewhat boring day, but at least there was some great NBA basket ball on television; Celtics vs. Lakers is always a fun matchup (unfortunately, my Celtics lost).
I suppose a bit of loneliness is never too terrible a thing. Being alone today reminded me of the sacrifices I’m making to pursue my career out in Toronto and be separated from my friends and family. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m having a great time in Toronto, but today reminds me that I have to focus on why I am here in the first place, otherwise I’m separating myself from my family for no good reason at all.
I got quite a few updates done to my website. I re-intregrated Twitter feeds and fixed a few of the WordPress and Facebook interactions. I’ve also been researching Podcasting and will be introducing those into my blogs hopefully very soon.
The most important part of today, though, is that I’m finally going to get off my ass and start writing again. I’ve been resting on the material I wrote while in Calgary, and as proud as I am of that material, I know I can be much, much better.
I’m sure everyone makes lots of New Year’s resolutions, but I think my re-dedication to comedy in the new year will stick. All it took was a bit of loneliness to remind me why I’m out here.
Learning through videogames can be effective if done right
December 25, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
I’ve been playing Rock Band 2 a lot recently, and it’s really helped my rhythm and has basically taught me how to play drums much more quickly than any other method I can of. This experience got me thinking about learning through videogames in general.
I’ve spent most of my life playing videogames. I think videogames are a great way to learn and can help children use parts of their mind that they normally wouldn’t use. It’s unfortunate that there’s a group out there who feel videogames can only rot minds. Quite the opposite is true; it all depends on the games you play.
My first big game was Tetris. I was absolutely addicted and played multiple versions on my NES and then my Gameboy (and eventually every other system known to man including my DS and Wii). Tetris is a great way to teach kids about spacial relations.
I was a huge role-playing game fan ever since playing Final Fantasy II on the SNES. RPGs are a great way to get kids to read. I’ve never read so much in my life than I’ve read while playing RPGs. On my way to becoming the Winnipeg Typing Champion, I learned to type mainly through typing videogames that my friend coded for MS-DOS and later perfected my style playing Typing of the Dead for Dreamcast.
I could bring out many more great examples of how videogames are a great way to learn, but the latest and greatest examples are music games. Sure, some of the instruments such as in Guitar Hero don’t really teach you much other than finger dexterity and rhythm, though those are important, but some games are so close to reality that they can really help you learn before taking professional lessons.
Playing drums is so close to reality that it’s a good jump start. Nothing takes the place of professional lessons, but now at least when you are at a point to take lessons, you are already fairly up to speed with the basics. I’ve also recently purchased Keyboardmania II for PlayStation 2. I’ve always wanted to learn piano, and now I can learn a few things before moving on to real lessons.
Maybe videogames aren’t the best way for everyone to learn, but it meshes quite well with my learning style. You see, I always avoid getting lessons or being trained when I start something new. I like to have the chance to figure things out for myself and develop my own style before later taking lessons and polishing up my act.
Two clear examples of this philosophy are my typing and my comedy. When becoming Winnipeg Typing Champion, I developed my own style of typing that would not have happened if I followed the standard conventions. I use different fingers for keys than are recommended, and I think it’s because my hands are different than anyone else’s hands, which is true of everyone. There is no one correct way to type, depending on the size of your fingers and the strength of your hands, it can vary from person to person.
The same is true of my comedy act. I took great care in carving out my own style before seeking out feedback from other comedians. I think it’s really helped me shape my own style.
2009 MCC Christmas concert at Roy Thomson Hall produced great musical performances
December 24, 2008 by vongsundara · 1 Comment
So I went to the annual MCC Christmas concert tonight at Roy Thomson Hall, which is a beautiful hall by the way. It was nice being back at the concert, as it was one of the first events I attended when I moved to Toronto last year.
The service was pretty religious, but I suppose that makes sense since it was a church service. Haha. It’s strange because I’m normally not much for the praying thing, but once you set that stuff to music, I am all over it.
It was nice seeing my old roomates, Lindsay and his boyfriend James. They were both so great to me when I first moved to Toronto, and it’s always nice reconnecting with them.
That’s all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day. Celebrate with family and friends and have a merry old time, yo!
Business humour is difficult to grasp compared to stand-up comedy
December 23, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
So I’ve been in quite a few meetings lately for my day job, and I’m noticing that I’m having difficulty loosening up. In my comedy and around my friends, I’m quite loose, but in the world of Toronto business, I’m seen as quite business-like and somewhat boring too.
At first I thought it was just a case of me getting more comfortable, but now I think there’s an actual divide in humour. The humour I bring to stage is not exactly appropriate for office chatter, and the “business” humour is so far removed from what I find funny that I have difficulty relating.
A co-worker of mine today said it came down to just being more fake. I don’t completely agree. Sure, I certainly laugh along with whatever’s being said, which I suppose is being fake a bit, but I don’t think the business people making the jokes are being fake. I think they genuinely find what they’re saying to be funny.
There’s not much I can do except hope that the humour eventually rubs off on me. Humour is a good way to be disarming and to relate to people quickly. Hopefully I can learn this new style of humour before too long.
Why am I so boring at my dayjob when I’m paid to be funny at night?
November 24, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
I went to a work outing tonight at a local pub, and I was incredibly boring. I mean, totally, completely no personality at all. It was almost exactly like I was at my dayjob. It’s strange, because I know that having personality can be quite helpful at work, and it’s not like I don’t have personality (otherwise, why would I be a stand-up comedian?).
I think my mindset comes from my inclination to compartmentalise different aspects of my life. The way I am at work is similar to how I am around my parents. The way I am on stage is similar to how I am with my friends. It would be helpful if I could find some middle ground between my ghetto personality and my boringness at work. In fact, more than a few people at work have said I need to come out of my shell (these people of course did not know much about my night life).
When I’m in a party situation, and also when I’m on stage, I have enough personality to take over an entire room. It’s basically my job to do so, and it comes rather naturally. My nickname in university was “The Vong Show,” because I basically brought the party with me wherever I went.
It’s a shame then that working in media where there are a ton of personalities, I can’t seem to express myself other than being 100 per cent business-like at all times. There’s no easy fix, as my behaviours are ingrained, but I do hope that someday I can come off as something in the middle: not boring and not the centre of attention but someone who’s interesting.
Vongizzo from Winnipizzo returns to the ghettos of Winnipeg for vacation
November 10, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment
I’m on a quick four-day visit to my old ghetto in Winnipeg. It’s been about a year since I have been back, and I always love coming back to visit. All my family and friends are here, and I’m reminded of just how lucky and loved I was growing up. I was able to build up such a large network of life-long friends here, and I would definitely be living here if Toronto hadn’t beckoned me for career reasons.
I arrived just after a huge winter storm. I guess it’s for the best, as this is how I remember Winnipeg anyhow. I have been on a whirlwind tour of family and friends, and I’ve just about fit in everyone I was hoping to see, especially my newly born nephew Jack.
The kind of sad part of my trip is that I also came here to grab my karaoke equipment for my upcoming party in Toronto. I’m about to go into my sister’s storage to look for it. I hope I don’t get charged extra for bringing the equipment with me on the plane.
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