Hey gang… The LLBS took a bit of time off to help cure MS (at the MSunderstood fundraiser on Monday… great night… great cause…) and now we’ll be taking even more time off… Yes, tragically our season is over… We shall return July 25-28 in an as-yet-untitled show… So we shall be going dark for the next couple of months… A couple of our past performers have had children, so we’ll probably visit them and their new children (or text them a congratulations)… And we at the show may throw up a couple of videos on youtube, but we shall mostly take this time to write new material, travel, and experiment with sex… So… You know… Good times… Until then, though, we shall bid you all good night…

Hugs!

No, the title of this post is not in reference to the LLBS taking big money to be in a Mariah Carey video… We would never do that, unless it was offered… This is regarding the fact that both of our Friday night shows were epic, both in story-telling and audience size… Sold out the 8 o’clock show (added seats!) and nearly sold out the 10:30 show… Thank you, discerning Calgarians (and the group who traveled from Edmonton!)… Big night for our cast and crew… We even went out for waters and wings afterwards (not to be confused w. water-wings)…  And now, before we take 3 months off to travel and write and prepare for next season, there is one more show… Tonight… Saturday, April 28… 8pm… Birds and Stone Theatre (204 16th Ave NW Calgary, AB)… If you don’t want any regrets on your death-bed, you should probably be there… And I will remind you of Mayor Nenshi’s election promise which stated that if the LLBS sold out two shows in a run, he would personally shoot our own Justin Michael Carriere with 250 paintballs (not in the face)… So, the deathbed regrets and Mayor Nenshi shooting Justin… Ample motivation to see our final show of the season tonight @ 8pm! See you there and/or then!

Hugs!

Well, we are 40% through the run of Happy Endings… And so far, so good… There have been a few laughs…And no one has died… That’s a hearty endorsement! And yes, you can still see the show… ‘Cause there are 3 shows left before we slide home, and there are somehow tickets available for all three performances…  So get yo’ tickets, folks… Speaking of our continuing series “What Makes a Sketch Comedian”, we’ve compiled a few more opinions from our troupe for your entertainment and, perhaps, introspection:

Teddy Valentine: What makes a sketch comedian? No shame.

Barb Mitchell: Big hairy balls.

Dan Perry- Uhhhhhhhhhhh. A lot of drugs and booksmarts.

Devon Dubnyk (again): Childhood trauma and a denial thereof.

And… end scene… Catch y’all at the show (or later… you know, if you can’t make it… I mean, you should try to make it, but if you don’t, that’s cool… Not “cool” cool, but just okay… Like, we understand and stuff…) … Anyway…

HUGS!

Well, we just opened HAPPY ENDINGS, our last show of the spring… And it was sweet… Laughter… joy… nudity… Heck, even Justin Michael took his shirt off (never again)! And we’re getting revved up to close our most successful season to date… And then, look to the future… But for now, there is no need for introspection… We shall fly headlong into the breach once more… Well, actually 4 more times (Thurs @ 8pm, Friday @ 8 and 10:30pm, and Sat @ 8pm… BE THERE!)… We hope the show sells well and that we can spread as much joy as possible before we depart the theatrical realm for a couple of months… Take naps, see The Avengers, etc… But for now… 3 nights… 4 shows… 8 performers… 10-12 laughs… Oh… and 1 late show… Friday night… @ 10:30… With a secret password… Did you want the secret password, which can assure you safe passage (and $10 tickets) for the aforementioned 10:30pm show? Okay then… The password is RAPUNZEL… Just sensually whisper that to our box office personnel at the birds and stone and watch the magic happen… Until then, friends…

HUGS!

THREE THUMBS UP! WHY? ‘CAUSE WE’RE ABOUT TO REVEAL THE TOP-SECRET CAST FOR OUR NEXT SHOW, HAPPY ENDINGS! WHY SUCH LARGE COMIC SANS? BECAUSE THE CAST FOR HAPPY ENDINGS BE CUH-CUH-CRAZY! CHECK IT! THERE’S 8 PEOPLE IN THIS SHOW! EIGHT! HUIT! OCHO! BLAM! AND THIS OCTET OF PERFORMERS IS A TRULY AWE-INSPIRING GROUP OF VAGABONDS AND VIXENS, READY TO BLOW YOUR MIND IN OUR SEASON FINALE (APRIL 25-28)… WHO ARE THESE REBELS, THESE COMEDY NINJAS? WELL, WE’VE GOT:

JUSTIN MICHAEL CARRIERE*

DAN PERRY

BARB MITCHELL*

AMOS ALTMAN

TEDDY VALENTINE

CHARLOTTE JOY

PAT QUINN

AND INTRODUCING DEVON DUBNYK

*appearing with the permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association

Hey there… This is friend-of-the-show the Mongoose, talkin’ to you from Peru where I’m touring with my new band, Quicksand Aquarius… And I’m here to congratulate the Late, Late Breakfast Show for keepin’ on livin’ the dream… One more show before their sixth season is over…Boom! And it got me to thinkin’… Why do they keep doin’ this? Because in my travels with the LLBS as their roadie, people have often asked, “Why do you do this?”…  “This” being sketch comedy… And, though it’s often a question tinged with sadness, it is a good question… So I asked ol’ Amos Altman that question… And he basically didn’t stop talking for, like 10 minutes… Here’s what he had to say:

The performing arts, as a career, can occasionally be lucrative; but, generally speaking, not as a sketch comedian… Sketch comedy can lead to television or film or other successes, I suppose, but live sketch itself is not often mentioned as a primary source of income… and most definitely not for a sketch comedian in Calgary (legend has it that half of the Kids in the Hall -before they were Kids in the Hall- left Calgary to pursue further success elsewhere… And today, our own Gavin Williams has joined them… traveling… elsewhere…) … So we obviously don’t do “this” for money, fame, or power… Though the endgame seems to be in the form of an oft-posed question: “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could quit our day jobs and do this all the time?”… Yes… So I guess money will have to eventually be a major part in the process… Perhaps fame and power, too… But since the money/fame/power trifecta don’t fit into the equation just yet, and our day-jobs remain, that must means we want to do sketch comedy… We want to make creating and/or performing sketch, and other new work, our job… Because we must think we’re good at it and have few other marketable skills to offer the world… And we must enjoy doing it… “It” being developing new work, performing it, and getting a live response… We must actually love it, otherwise, we wouldn’t be as committed to continuing it… Originally, back in ’06, it was just a bunch of friends putting on a show… There was no future to it; just a one-off to keep the creative juices flowing after university… Then it evolved into something… A possible future… The shows started getting better, we became more confident, and we had a direction… Up, I guess… And we keep trying to head in that direction… the processes have changed to meet our previous goals (“hey, let’s sell out 1 night of a 4 night run”), and they will continue to change to meet our future goals (“hey, let’s be in the next Vin Diesel movie”)… So, I guess the reason we do it is we love it… Cliche? Yes… But then, I thought, why do we think we’re good at it? You can love something and just be terrible at it… A lot of people love sex without knowing that they are terrible at it, so why should performing be any different? Especially sketch comedy which, when done badly, can be excruciating… So how do we know we’re good at it? We usually go with audience response, which has so far validated our claim of supposed excellence… People even occasionally love us… And the people who seem to absolutely hate us seem to be a non-vocal minority, and voice their displeasure by not seeing the show… Which, you would think, puts the majority of Calgary in that so-called minority, since most of Calgary hasn’t seen the show… But most of Calgary has NEVER seen the show, so they don’t count… We’re talking about one-time guests who adamantly oppose good times/laughter through ribald humour… The rest of Calgary can make that decision once they actually see the show (next show is on April 25-28!)… Which means we should probably start marketing the heck out of it (Hey! Come to the show everyone! And/or tell your friends!)… Anyway, we trust our audience in their assertion that we’re good at this sketch comedy thing, and I think I’ve established our love for sketch… So then, a third question arises… What do the performers themselves thinks makes a good sketch comedian? That’s a good question…

See… That Amos went on forever… Me, the Mongoose, I prefer shorter responses, so I asked members of the LLBS that very question Amos ended with in part one of what will surely be a continuing series, What Makes A Good Sketch Comedian:

Amos Altman: Fearlessness. And the intelligence to know why you think something works comically, so you can pursue it even though it’s incredibly stupid.

Shannon Hagel- Tits.

Justin Michael Carriere- I don’t fuckin’ know. (note: The Mongoose has to wonder, if JMC doesn’t know, does that make him a terrible sketch comedian? Or a genius sketch comedian?)

Pat Quinn- The ability to make faces. Funny ones.

Devon Dubnyk- I think you have to be a good writer… Have a solid understanding of timing… And an understanding of genre, character, and their context within a sketch… Maybe not a good writer, if you don’t know how to write… But whether you write or not you need to understand the “funny” in any situation; especially the absurd…

… Wow, that Devon’s jibber-jabber is nearly as epic as Amos’… Oh, and for those of you who don’t know, Devon Dubnyk is making his LLBS debut in Happy Endings… From April 25-28… So… Be there… Or Devon will get angry… And you won’t like him when he’s angry… Mongoose out!

HUGS!

So… Yeah… Red Deer was presumably like Pat Quinn’s prom date: fun, fast, and full of alcohol… In fact, we had a Late, Late Breakfast Show first: an audience member doing a drunken face-plant; during intermission, if I’m remembering correctly… But twas a great show… Full of laughter and joy…  And drunken face-plants… which only led to more laughter… No laughing matter was the truly awful donairs and/or paninis we had for lunch that day… But it was still a wonderful occasion, completing our 2nd ever “tour”, spreading our comedy propaganda throughout the land… And we just can’t stop… We’re starting rehearsals this week for our season finale, Happy Endings… Cue fake tagline: And this time, it’s personal! The cast is epic and the show shall be, too. We return to the comfort of Calgary’s birds and stone theatre (pictured, right) from April 25-28… 25 scenes. 8 performers. 5 shows. 4 nights. 1 giant orgy (of comedy). We’ve already started selling tickets to this extravaganza, so get yours early… More details and other news is coming soon… But that be all for now…

HUGS

Persons often ask us at the LLBS, “Hey, why don’t you have a TV show?” We generally shrug, flattered, and pretending not to know why a sketch comedy show that performs almost exclusively in a church basement in Calgary (and RED DEER! April 7th!) hasn’t attracted a big-time TV deal… But, we know that part of the reason is that we’re a sketch comedy group that performs almost exclusively in a church basement in Calgary… Because, even though Calgary is Canada’s cultural capital, it’s not exactly a hub for that level of success (if a TV show is how you define success)… Success for us, here and now, is to maximize the joy we can spread, by selling out a full week of shows (Wed-Sat)… And maybe have mayor Nenshi show up and paintball the shit out of Justin… Truthfully, we’d have to leave Calgary and venture to a far off land to reach the “next level” of “success”, full of more cutthroat competition (other than the Flames, who definitely distract potential audiences on game nights) to potentially become more “visible” and then quit our day jobs to focus on this full-time, with champagne and gold chains flowing betwixt giving our fans all the laughter they can handle… And that day may come when we must leave Calgary, Calgary will obviously mourn…  We’re also not “known”, as a company, because we have no… what’s it called… “marketing budget”… Our show depends on word-of-mouth and, thanks to our loyal/vocal fans, we’ve definitely achieved a level of success in that arena… It took the first four years to build that audience, and a reputation for producing the spectacularly ribald/mildly amusing to guffaw-worthy sketch comedy that our audience craves… Other audiences crave full-length plays, which is great… In a way, plays and concerts are “competition”, too, but -in Calgary, anyway- we are definitely a niche market, which is why it can be surprising when fans of our work are themselves surprised when we aren’t more well-known, selling out every show and/or competing with Saturday Night Live for a television audience (Note: it’s not easy to get a TV show. I think, if it were, everyone would have one… We at the LLBS understand that this argument is flawed with the advent of some reality television, where talentless people flourish because of “fame” achieved from a sex tape… We’re not bitter, but the LLBS sex tape has garnered little-to-no attention)… Even our own Gavin Williams will soon trek to Toronto to see if he can push himself to this “next level” for sketch comedians/improvisers (and apparently there are lots of ladies in Toronto, and Gavin likes him some ladies)… And with his experience with Loose Moose, LLBS, and creating his own work here in Calgary, he has given himself the groundwork for success… He may have, as the NKOTB once sung/spoke, the right stuff… Godspeed, Gavin Williams… Make it so (Captain Picard reference!)… And the day may come when the show itself joins him… You know, once he gets a TV show… Anyway… before that happens, we have to finish our season… One show in Red Deer on April 7th, our season finale (Happy Endings… April 25-28) and then MSunderstood, a fundraiser for MS (@ The Auburn on May 7th)… So… Let’s keep this word-of-mouth thing going, sell some tickets, make some laughter, and then make out with Pat Quinn!

Hugs!

So… First, the bad news… Leprechaummunist ended… Good news? It ended with uproarious applause from our gallant audience… Presumably because they enjoyed the show and not because they were simply glad it was over… And then we all went our separate ways… And now the world awaits our season finale, the appropriately titled Happy Endings (April 25-28)… But we of the Late, Late Breakfast Show have one show to go before that… In RED DEER! APRIL 7th! 8pm! Scott Block Theatre! 4816 50th Ave! REEEEED DEEEEER! Online tickets are already selling like some flour-based breakfast food, so get ‘em while you can… They’re even available through this website (to your right… no, the other right… Where it says PURCHASE TICKETS HERE.. or something)… I mean, sure, there might be a couple of tickets left to purchase @ the theatre on the night of the show, but do you really want to take that chance? So… We are calling on you… Sylvan Lakers, Bentleyians, Rimbeyites, the Blackfaldsish, Lacombers, Crestomererers, and -yes- Red Deeriators (and, sure, Edmontonians) to fill our theatre and witness the sublime sketch comedy of the Late, Late Breakfast Show. We’ve already started to put it together… And soon, we’ll be revving our engines, takin’ the hogs out of the garage, heading down that dusty trail… And then… That’s right… We’re coming Red Deer… We’re coming hard… We’re coming so hard that you’ll never be the same… Yeah… Anyway… Sketch Comedy! Yaaay!

HUGS!

ANOTHER SHOW IN THE BOOKS… THREE SHOWS LEFT… INCLUDING 2 SHOWS FRIDAY NIGHT! 8PM AND 1030PM. AND -WHAT?- THERE’S A SECRET PASSWORD FOR A SWEET DEAL ON TICKETS FOR THE 1030 SHOW? YEEEEEEES! AND  THE SECRET PASSWORD FOR THE 1030 SHOW IS… NUN-CHUCKS! WRITE THAT DOWN, ‘CAUSE THAT PASSWORD GETS ALL WHO UTTER IT A TICKET FOR $10, AT OUR FINE BOX OFFICE @ BIRDS AND STONE (204 16TH AVE NW)! NOTE: THIS PASSWORD IS ONLY GOOD FOR THE 1030PM SHOW! BOOM! IF BY SOME MIRACLE THE 1030 SHOW SELLS OUT BEFORE YOU ARRIVE, THEN THIS PASSWORD SHALL BE… UM… QUITE WORTHLESS… LUCKILY THERE ARE STILL SEVERAL TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR BOTH FRIDAY SHOWS AND THE SATURDAY SHOW, SO YOU’VE GOT THAT GOING FOR YOU, WHICH IS NICE… ANYWAY…

HUGS!