We’re back! Sketch Cram was the last show I did before lockdown and now I’m acting in its triumphant, super-stacked return to UCB. Seriously, look at this lineup. Plus, it’s no longer at midnight, it’s at…11:30pm. You can stay up for that, right?!
My first audiobook just came out! I recorded Graci Kim’s bestselling middle-grade fantasy novel “The Last Fallen Star,” which is about “an adopted Korean-American girl who discovers her heritage and her magic on a perilous journey to save her witch clan family.” It’s a lot of fun. My recording was made for LearningAlly, a great organization that makes audiobooks for kids with reading disabilities. Here’s a link you can use if you have or know a kid who is part of their program. For everyone else, I’ve uploaded a short book trailer:
I’m doing my first live show in 2 1/2 years this weekend. Tournament of Nerds is back! We’ve moved to Dynasty Typewriter, one of my favorite venues and we’re starting earlier so you don’t have to stay up until 1:30am anymore. It’s a great lineup and I’m doing a character I love.
TOURNAMENT OF NERDS is an epic comedy smackdown. Comedians dress as pop culture characters (real & fictional) and debate their opponents to determine which character reigns supreme. Guy Fieri vs Batman? Kylie Jenner vs Cruella? Anything is possible! Our combatants attempt to survive a March Madness style bracket as we go from 8 Nerds down to 1 Nerd to rule them all!
I shot my first role in a feature and we just had our preview. “Tomorrow” is an independent fantasy feature directed by Kellen Gibbs. Thanks to the amazing Sarah Narvatil for casting me. Red carpet photo – I feel so fancy.
All episodes of Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs are on HBO Max now! I was so happy to finally watch my episode, Treehouse Blues. Check it out – it has opera singing dinosaurs and a snack elevator, what more do you want?
I’m doing the Calgary Fringe Theatre Festival as a digital performer, with my show about being laid off from a cell-phone ringtone company, Lord of the Files (short trailer above.) This is the first time Lord of the Files had been available online, so you haven’t seen it before, here’s your chance. It’ll be on-demand until August 14th. Tickets are available here.
WHAT DRIVES YOUR PASSION AS AN ARTIST? My brain is very full at any given moment. It’s crammed with trivia, obsessions, memories of terrible jobs, arguments I did not have or did not win. And in general, I’m too polite to say what I’m thinking a lot of the time. So basically, I do comedy and tell stories to keep my head from exploding.
BIGGEST INFLUENCER(S): Josh Kornbluth, Lauren Weedman and Brian Finkelstein. All great solo performers in different ways. Also, Claudia Shear for writing “Blown Sideways Through Life,” which is just the best solo show title.
SHARE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF WE DON’T KNOW (AND WOULD SURPRISE US TO HEAR): I am the author of a fake oral history of Windows 95 titled “Restart Me Up: The Unauthorized, Un-Accurate Oral History of Windows 95.” I watched the Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston 30-minute infomercial for Windows 95 all the way through, twice, in order to write it. If you have not heard of that, you are…fortunate? Anyway, it’s frighteningly well-researched for a funny book and also quite short, so you should read it.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE BREAKFAST ROUTINE? I feed the cats first (always) and then make instant coffee and toast with some combination of butter/jam/peanut butter/almond butter/honey/mascarpone on it. I eat breakfast in the living room in front of my laptop and get meowed at until I let the cat smell the toast and lick butter off my fingers. Once the cat gets his butter snack, the day can begin.
I did the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival last week and got into the finals of their Monologue Slam. Here’s my monologue – which I originally wrote as part of a sketch show set at a funeral. And yes, I did build that coffin. Ah, the magic of contact paper.