Personal Performance Review and Recap: Homo Night in Canada 2009

July 2, 2009 by vongsundara · 1 Comment 

I had a great time performing at Homo Night in Canada 2009 on Saturday night during Toronto Gay Pride Festival at Buddies in Bad Times theatre in the heart of Toronto’s gay village. I went to see the show last year when my friend and fellow comedian Julia Stretch was performing at the show, and I knew then and there that I wanted to be a part of the following year’s show. Luckily, I was able to secure a spot earlier in the year.

This year’s show was hosted by the always hilarious Richard Ryder, gay comedian extraordinaire. He did a wonderful job of running the show and keeping the energy of the crowd high. I was up first and was definitely nervous. I don’t get so much nervous for the occasion as much as I get nervous for the material I am performing.

The general rule in stand-up comedy is to start with your second-best joke and end with your best and never never never start with new material. Well, I don’t have much choice in the matter since my comedy style is storytelling. I can’t start with something old since all my sets are minimum five minutes long. The set I performed at Homo Night in Canada 2009 was basically ten minutes of all-new material from beginning to end (barring the last 30 seconds of the set, which I borrowed the ending from my Ugly People set).

Anyhow, here’s the video clip, so you can judge for yourselves:

Vong Sundara performs Super Power Bottoms during Homo Night in Canada 2009 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13sBHm6M4Og

The crowd as absolutely amazing. The crowd's reactions definitely added to the performance and helped me feel a rhythm. Overall, I was very happy with the performance. A bigger surprise to me is that the performance taped even better than it played live. After reviewing the tape, I was pleasantly surprised at some of what I missed while on the stage. Sometimes you never know unless you review the tape. I had the reverse happen when reviewing the tape for my performance of The Ghetto Truth at Spirits a few weeks back, so it was good to see the opposite happen with this performance.

I had a couple of audience members come up to me after to mention that they thought I had crossed the line a couple of times during the performance. I wasn't too upset, though, because it's always my goal to offend five percent of the crowd. Any more than five per cent means that I probably went too far, but anything less than five per cent usually means that I didn't say anything with substance that was worth thinking about.

Another quick note before I go: Mae Martin. Last year, Mae absolutely came away as the breakout star of Homo Night in Canada 2008 (at least for me anyways). I was really excited that she came back this year and performed, this time closing the show. Below is a clip of her song Showers:

Mae Martin performs Showers during Homo Night in Canada 2009 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXhrr2txcog

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Big Jump . . . tall, dark and bottom, hot players approached

October 12, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

What a wild and crazy volleyball tournament. My team improved so much, it was crazy. I’m super lucky to have a team that stuck with me through some crazy decisions. There is no way a novice team should be playing this good.

The most drastic decision I made was to try out a new formation mid-tournament. Not only is it crazy that we’re already playing a 6-2 formation, but I went and decided to enforce a new, modified version built specifically for this team’s strengths. The fact that they adjusted is astounding.

In fact, they not only adjusted but fluorished in the new system. We had three separate matches where we thought we played the matches of our lives, each topping the one before dramatically. Strangely, this wasn’t even the best part of the tournament.

My team, SuperPowerBottoms, became notorious across the entire tournament in all the right ways. We were known as the most spirited, fun-loving team. In fact, we received a standing ovation after we lost our last match, narrowly missing out on a medal.

It was crazy that we even had a chance to medal. In our weekly league, TSVL, we were ranked 31 out of 32 teams only just recently. This weekend, we played teams ranked in the top 20 and lost out on a medal by only four points. I can’t believe I am writing this. We are playing top 20 volleyball after only six weeks as a team.

Did I mention that no one on the team has ever played competitive volleyball before? It’s crazy.

I’m going to take a nap. Bye for now.

VS

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Big Jump . . . recovery day after a grueling day one

October 12, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

What a day. After breakfast, we went straight to the tournament. We arrived late and missed practice. This was especially troublesome as I wanted to implement minor changes to our formation.

All turned out well as we saved the new formation for our second game. We are ranked fourth out of five teams tomorrow and have a great chance for a medal.

I am astounded with how quickly my team, made up entirely of novices, adjusts to strategy changes. I have thrown very complicated formations at them and they take maybe one game to adjust.

For dinner we went to the tournament banquet. We were so hungry that we danced on stage to move ahead in the lineup for food. It was totally worth it.

VS

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Big Jump . . . wandering at night around Montreal is fun

October 11, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

Taking a suggestion from a Facebook friend, I decided to end my restlessness by taking a walk in downtown Montreal. This may not have been the best idea as I’ve run into a number of shady characters. I guess I’m not too worried. I did grow up in the ghetto after all.

It’s now 6:00 a.m. I used my new iPhone GPS to map my way to the closest Chez Cora. I LOVE the food here.

My food is coming. Bye for now.

VS

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Big Jump . . . awake and alone in my hotel washroom

October 11, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

The drive to Montreal was fabulous and fierce. The conversations ranged from volleyball to sex to cheese.

Team registration was at a strip club that was chock full of hotties for those into the beefy type. As always, my friends are urging me to “seal the deal.” Lately I’ve been known as the Hopeless Ho.

This nickname stems from my unbroken streak of celibacy since moving to Toronto. I go as far as bringing people home, but then it usually ends in cuddling. I don’t know what it is, but there is a mental hump I can’t seem to get over.

I always thought I was a relationship guy, but right now my career takes priority. This wouldn’t be so terrible except that I am hopeless with single sex and am now celibate. If only I could find some middle ground.

I have probably said too much but it is 5:00 a.m. In Montreal and I can’t get to sleep. I am writing this from my hotel washroom so I won’t wake my teammates.

I hope I will be alert for today’s tournament. I’m nervous to be captaining a team at a major tournament for the first time.

I’ll update as the tourney progresses.

VS

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Big Jump . . . and we’re off to Montreal with SuperPowerBottoms

October 10, 2008 by vongsundara · Leave a Comment 

I am on my way to the Big Jump tournament in Montreal with my gay volleyball team, SuperPowerBottoms.

I’m riding in the car with Luke, nicknamed SizeQueenDiva. My team nickname is HopOnTop. Also in the car is Khamla, BlackHole, and Ryan, “Versatile.” We’re meeting the rest of the team at the hotel tonight.

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