The four-hour long shows were part of Zoofest (produced by Just For Laughs), and represented the diverse type of stand-up comedy that this branch of JFL has successfully promoted over the past three years. In fact, it was three years ago that I did this comedy marathon of catching more than a single show at the same venue on the same night (it took place at the Theatre St. Catherine, in which I caught three Flying Solo Series shows, one of them was Marc Maron's Just For Laughs debut).
The first show of the night featured Australian comic and JFL veteran Adam Hills. Called "Mess Around", it was a show that had very little structure, but was a showcase of Hills' strong ability to interact with members of the audience (because, as he constantly stated "you're more interesting than celebrities") and work on that without breaking his rhythm. Hills did that with success, as he made great comic opportunities with such audience members as fellow Aussie "Togs" (who likes to talk with only vowels) and Peter, a Dutch native who, as a result of a photo Hills took with the two of them and tweeted immediately (and got a great deal of tweets that commented on their man boobs), launched a challenge to have both of them exercise each day to try and reduce their "moobs", get sponsors and raise money for Montreal's Hope and Cope wellness centre. Peter will return to Hills' show this Saturday night (I guess as a special "results show").
Hills also demonstrated his storytelling skills. I especially liked his tale of meeting Queen Elizabeth II following a Royal Variety Performance show in London, and how Prince Phillip is not afraid to shoot from the hip with some unabashed remarks of his own.
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Another Adam took the stage for the second show. This time, it was British comic Adam Riches with his show "Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches, which brought prop comedy and audience participation to a whole new extreme level. From the start, Riches burst onto the stage with a high-strung, manic energy that had the audience going throughout the entire hour-long run time.
For the second sketch, Riches got me to be one of his unexpected audience participants. Dressed up as a tennis pro and speaking like a faux Rafael Nadal, he taught me the fundamentals of a new tennis-related sport called "swingball". We went through some swingball warm-ups, lessons, rules and rituals, and as a test of my abilities, gave me 10 seconds to run outside the theatre to find a bottle of wine he planted at the door. Well, the bottle of wine wasn't there, and as I raced back into the theatre (all short-of-breath), I found "Nadal" trying to pick up my lady friend Rose, who was sitting next to me. I told him that Rose and me were just good friends, but he didn't believe it, until a friendly kiss between us convinced him otherwise. Now, back to the game. As we were about to play "swingball" (which meant hitting a swinging tennis ball on a pole with a special plastic red racket ... but in the dark), "Nadal" somehow had another motive. As the lights went out and I tried to futilely hit the ball in the dark (which hit me in the face once), the light went back on a minute later and what did I find? You guessed it ... "Nadal" once again tried to pick up Rose. I formally forgave him (which followed with a hit on the head with my racket). All in all, it was a blast and I enjoyed playing along with Riches to make the sketch work (without trying to upstage him). And after all that, he gave me my swingball racket to keep as a souvenir (I am pictured below holding up the racket with pride).
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A packed crowd were witness to some pure stand-up comedy with the third show of the night "Paul F. Tompkins and the Hilarious Trinity (Plus One)". The nattily-dressed Tompkins (resplendent in a striped jacket) showcased four of his favorite stand-up friends and let them spread their comic gospel to the gathered masses. My favorites were James Adomian, who had me perenially laughing 'till my sides ached with his routine about life in New York City, and the reasons why Disneyland was never built in NYC (I also loved his impression of a Disneyworld-type animatronic robot of an old west prospector); and Todd Glass (whom I first saw at Just For Laughs in 1992 with his mobile comedy show that he did on the back of a pick-up truck), and his dissection of late night TV commercials and infomercials was a masterpiece. Mark Little and Rory Scovil made up the rest of this comic opus dei.
Also, I liked Tompkins' smooth, professional way of how he can adlib and improvise to any situation that's presented to him. Case in point, he saw an unoccupied club table and two chairs and instantly created an improvised talk show called "The After Set", in which he conducted a brief chat with every featured comic after their sets (or in the case of Todd Glass, the "Pre Set").
I am very curious to see what other funny friends that Paul F. Tompkins has in store for subsequent Hilarious Trinity (Plus One) nights for the rest of this week.
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The fourth and final show of the night was an interesting experiment to how far you can stretch the boundaries of the art of stand-up comedy. "Set List: Stand-Up Without A Net" is the brainchild of Troy Conrad and Paul Provenza (best known for his Showtime series "The Green Room"), and gets comics to do the impossible in their profession: to perform stand-up without any pre-written material or structured set list. It's basically improvised stand-up comedy. Provided with a selection of topics onstage (and the aid of written audience suggestion drawn from the "Audience Box"), "Set List" tests a stand-up comic's ability to be funny off-the-cuff in front of an audience.
The night I was there, five British, Irish, Australian and American comics (Daniel Sloss, Keith Farnan, Sam Simmons, Paul F. Tompkins and Paul Foot) were put to the Set List test. The variety of topics that were flashed to them during their respective sets were of the rather off-the-wall nature (for example, "Bondage Regret", Post-Partum Getaway Car", "Non-Racist User of Racial Slurs", "Grizzly Friendships = Great Idea", "Catatonic Dominatrix" and "Velcro Mutation".
Some sets were hit or miss (which is to be expected), but when one got rolling on a certain topic, it was a sheer example of how combining two genres of comedy is more than just a humourous experiment. Paul F. Tompkins was the best example of the above, as he smoothly told a credible bit of logical comic storytelling based on the topic "Cardiologist/Vulture Owner".
This show was highly recommended to me by my friend Matthew Cope, and I can see why he was so enthusiastic about it. Seeing some of the biggest names in stand-up comedy practice their craft without the aid of written material just shows how difficult -- and courageous -- the art of funny really is.
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It's now 1:15, Tuesday morning as I leave the Mainline Theatre all laughed out, but feeling satisfied I got my nightly comedy fix sitting in on four consecutive comedy shows. I am all revved up and rarin' to go and see multiple Just For Laughs and Zoofest shows every night this week. Can I handle this? Can I survive and endure until this Sunday? Yes I can ... because I survived "A Night at the Mainline" comedy marathon!!!!
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