Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Comedy Idol Update

UPCOMING EVENTS
Comedy:
Sunday, June 5 - The Comic Strip
Tuesday, June 7 - Yuk Yuks (Comedy Idol)
Saturday, June 18 - GiggleFest 2005, Waugh, AB
Sunday, June 19 - The Comic Strip

Writing:
-Dan Brodribb’s humor columns will be appearing in the Sunday Living section of the Edmonton Journal through the month of June
-headLINES appears every Saturday in the Edmonton Journal’s ed magazine supplement.

I told you. I told you Comedy Idol would be great last night, and if you were at Yuk Yuks, I was proved right. A red hot SEAN LECOMBER took the stage with something to prove, and he was a comedy wrecking ball up there and won the judges pick to advance to the finals on June 22. But to me the highlight of the night is the fact that in addtion to winning the People's Choice award, ANGIE ISMOND finally caught the eye of some key people in our business.

To use an NBA comparison (which is probably wasted here in hockey-obsessed Canada) If Sean is Shaquille O’ Neal; a dominating force who is nigh-unstoppable when he’s motivated--then Angie is Steve Nash. Like Nash, she’s unpredictable, a virtuoso improviser and able to make something out of nothing. The Angie/Steve Nash comparison also works because will always have to deal with inevitable but often unspoken stigma through no fault of their own (Nash is a white basketball player; Angie is a female comic). Finally, both have glaring holes in their respective games (Nash’s defensive shortcomings; Angie’s self-asphyxiating insecurity)

But that’s where the comparison breaks down. Nash is 30 years old, at his peak if not on the downward slope of his career.

Angie is 21.

So if we’re going to call Sean, Shaq, maybe it would be more appropriate to compare Angie to Dwayne Wade. At the beginning of the season ESPN sportswriter Bill Simmons wrote something like: “Everyone going to a Miami Heat game buys a ticket to see Shaq, and leaves thinking: ‘Man, is Dwayne Wade ever good.’” That pretty much sums up last night.

-A good friend of mine, singer/songwriter Vic de Sousa (www.vicdesousa.com) has put together a comedy show called GiggleFest 2005 at the Waugh 45 minutes east of Edmonton. Tickets are I’ll be MCing the show, which will feature the NAVIN ’The Disco Hindu’ PRATAP, PAUL PRINGLE, TIM KUBASEK, and headlinger BOB ANGELI. I’ve don’t know Bob, but I’ve met Tim and Paul in passing and they’re both good guys. I’m looking forward to sharing a stage with Navin again, since along with Angie, he was one of the people I hung out with when I first started getting into comedy less than a year ago. Coincidentally, we’ll also be sharing the Comedy Idol next Tuesday at Yuks, so come on down and watch the magic happen.

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