 |
BUBBLING WITH LAUGHTER
@ A PACKED CLUB SODA
We were checked in, had our press passes, and we were plowing through a couple of piles of press material at the infamous Delta Hotel Bar by 7:45 or so, when Dom Irrera passes by. "Dominic" I yell, in my best South Philly accent. Dom's looking to do a tuneup set somewhere among the eight or nine folks on the bill for "Bubbling With Laughter." Minutes later, we're all crossing President-Kennedy Ave. to pick up Dom's rented Taurus, and minutes after that, we're at the front door of Club Soda, waiting for the crowd of 500 to file out from the 7 o'clock "An Evening At Eve's Tavern" show.
We ascend the stairs, and, even though the show was sold out--for civilians AND media--we enter the room (a spectacular, low-ceilinged rectangular one). Dom peels off to hang and contemplate a set. The first comic we see (or recognize) is John Wing. After introductions, Mr. Wing adopts us and immediately takes us to the green room--the only place a comic really feels comfortable.One by one, the comics arrive: René Hicks, Lenny Clarke, Dave Attell, Brian Regan, Emo.
|
 | Rich Miller, who's running the show, eyes us suspiciously, until he discovers who we are. (Our red passes dangling from our necks identify us as press, and we're the only media types back there.) The rest of the media herd is in the back of the house, coralled next to the bar. The fact that we're real live comics has afforded us unusual access.
After Wing's set, the three of us head out onto Ave Du Parc, where we hail a cab. Wing and our Lebanese cab driver converse in French and English while we careen throught the streets of Montreal toward Ernie Butler's Comedy Nest at the Nouvel Hotel.
COMEDY NIGHT IN CANADAGood evening comedy fans, and welcome to Comedy Night in Canada! It's a show! It's a competition! And tonight's the Eastern Division finals! A packed and seething crowd is thrilling to M.C. Tim Steeves as he keeps the show moving through ten of Eastern Canada's finest comedians. The mood in the media/green room is tense as we arrive--someone has just smoked the room. It turns out to be the eventual winner--David Pryde--who had the killer set. He's raised the bar high.
We had just performed at the Nest last month, and we got to work with some of tonight's "contestants" like Freddy James, Tim Rabnett, and eventual Eastern Division Runner-Up Ryan Wilner. And last year, we worked with yet another contestant, Steve Patterson of Toronto.
Ernie was doing the schmoozing thing out in the lobby with Yuk Yuks founder Mark Breslin, and, aside from the tenseness of some of the comedy combatants, the mood was...festive! While the judges (an assortment of 'wigs from HBO, ABC, Fox and Dreamworks) were tallying the scores, Montreal veteran David John McCarthey did his headline set. Montreal comic Joey Elias, who was tonight's comic wrangler, thanked and congratu- lated all the acts and herded them into the tunnel near the stage for the big moment. The crowd went wild when the winners were announced.
Many of the contestants showed up later on at the Delta where CJAD 800 AM's Mark Rennie interviewed Pryde and a steady stream of comics, just beyond the din of the Delta bar.
LIVE RADIO INTERVIEWS
FROM 11 PM TO 2 AM!Dave Attell (left) was one of the dozem or so comics who sat still for the microphone. Personable CJAD morning personality John Moore, looked on and described what it's like to be part of the "industry" contingent at the sprawling Festival. He said that it's difficult to sit back and enjoy the comedy as a fan would. "I liken it to being a wine taster," he said. "No matter how great the wine is, you eventually have to spit it out."
Comedy fans all over Montreal were guzzling it down by the liter! |
