Vancouver Comedyfest - Post #1

An Evening At The Vogue ...

October 2nd, 2009

Although one of my goals for 2009 was to be part of the festival, I pretty much resigned myself to being a spectator. I think I was lucky to get on. A little over a month ago at the Sin Bin, I had a shit set in front of a festival scout. Thank God most of the other acts that night had difficulty with that crowd. Afterwards, I approached the scout and made the suggestions, “if the festival is going to have a show for comics who do well in clubs, but suck in bars – I would be a good fit for that show.” He smiled and suggested I send him a clip of what I can do.

I went home that night and sent him a link to my best set ever at Yuks (thank you D-Lo). He replied he liked the clip and asked me for some dates as to when he can see me again. I then went about procuring time at Yuks and Lafflines, so I can get a decent club setting for the scout to see me again. Thank you Rob! Thank you James! I got spots at both clubs.

The scout saw me do a solid 5.30min set at Yuks on a Thursday. I squeezed in three applause breaks in that five and half minute spot. Unfortunately, after the show the scout gave me the news that I would not be part of the show. He said he liked the set, and he offered some tremendous advice, but the decision was no to this year’s festival. He ended up saying that if he can find me a spot for me, he will get me one, but don’t get my hopes up.

Fast forward a week and a half to 3.30pm on Friday, September 18th. I get an email from the scout saying that he has a spot for me at 8pm that night but I had to respond asap. After a quick back and forth of emails, I was in the festival and I was going to perform at THE VOGUE THEATRE!!!! Are you fucking kidding me??? THE VOGUE!!! Needless to say, I was very excited to be part of the show.

Although the capacity for that theatre is about 1,100, I estimate that the crowd I performed for was about 400-500 people deep because I was the first comic up. Another aspect of the show I was excited about was performing in front of a predominantly East Indian crowd. I can now say with pride that my Apna jokes are Apna Approved! Boo-Ya!

I admit, I had some nerves going into the first joke which didn’t get the attention of the crowd to be honest. However, the second one got them on board and they supported most of the set. I hit the tiniest of snags during the Tunnel piece when I overheard a guy say, “talk about sex again.” Besides that, I thought I did well.

Set List, 9min
Kamikaze
This
Box Set
Flip Commitment
Brown Swimming
Porn
The Rabbit
Tunnel of Love
Juice

I wasn’t able to time it because my watch battery died that night and I think it would look horrible if I brought my berry onstage to use the voice recorder. So the time I have recorded is from the stage manager who said I did a perfect 9min.

Although I’m incredibly grateful to the decision makers of the Comedyfest to have included me in the list of performers, I am even more thankful for the opportunity when I see a strong list of names who were nowhere to be found in the shows. There was a jaw dropping list of local comics that I look up and learn from that were not asked to perform. It is not a place to say who should or should not be there, I’m just thankful that I got a first-hand taste of the festival. And I sure the hope the work that’s in front of me will be good enough to get me another invite to perform.

Am I Getting Spoiled?

October 1st, 2009


In a matter of eight days, I have exited the stage angry. Angry to the point, I was cursing certain members of the audience under my breath. Last week at Kino, my set was interrupted by an idiot who was showing off for his friends and it completely took away the focus from the stage. Last night at the Great Bear Pub, some guy shouted out a part of the joke that I was doing and I pretty much told him to fuck off. In both instance, I still believe the individuals are guilty of being bad audience members. However, in both cases, I had to talk myself down from doing something stupid like confronting them after the show. Yeah! That stupid!

Lately, I have had a great run of luck in regards to getting booked at Laffs and Yuks on a fairly regular basis. And not only am I being booked in these prime spots, I am getting great responses from the audience each time I’m up. It was on one of these nights which garnered me a spot on this year’s Comedyfest. Is the anger that I’ve displayed this past week one of first signs of entitlement? Am I starting to get the attitude that “I’m Dennis FUCKING Litonjua and they’re going to love me?” Am I starting to become a prick?

Before the Comedyfest, I was in the midst of trying to take a short break from comedy because I was exhausted. To be honest, I’m still in that head space where I need a break just to get my wits about me because life is going so fast for me at the moment. I am big believer in taking one step back before taking two steps forward. I think my lack of energy and the amount of stress is part of the reason why I’ve been getting angry lately. So, some time off will help me get better control of my emotions.

Another thing that I’m sure will keep me humble is going out to the non-club shows and working on other material. In the last couple weeks, I have organized the material that I want to revise and edit into four subjects – Work, Driving, Youth and Religion. Granted, they’re not ALL ENTIRELY NEW, but they have newer elements and are in the process of heavy revisions. That said, the first two, Work and Driving, are both coming along nicely. Unfortunately, the other two are proving to be a little more difficult. I believe getting back to the basics of developing material into a polished bit will be the ball busting experience that I am looking for to keep me from becoming a prick.



Dennis L.