I balked at making an announcement because deep down I think I didn’t believe it would happen, but the CBC Comedy Festival graciously offered their partnership with Access so I could do backstage interviews and coverage. Yesterday was our first night covering Trevor Boris’s homecoming show. Not only did Trevor kill it for over an hour with his stand up and videos, he also gets the dubious honor of being my first interview. He actually ended up taking the mic and interviewing me, then we sang a little Justin Bieber so you can look forward to that when we showcase the footage we’re getting this week.
Also got to talk native Winnipeger Bruce Clark about the Storytellers Show he’s putting on for the fest which I’m going to put a heavy recommendation on. Scott Thompson also laid down a healthy portion of a new set he’s been working on, not to mention getting pulled on during Trevor’s portion of the show to be “outed” for a secret he’s been keeping. Based on the talk I had with Scott after the show I don’t think I should further expose his secret here, you’ll have to wait until Scott figures out how he wants to attack it and hear it from him.
Add to that list Al Rae, director for the whole festival, and my friend Chantel Marostica (who’s going to destroy every show she does this week if last night was any indication) and it really felt like a star studded evening. Me and my camera guy Paul were definitely guilty of standing around star-struck at some points, it was hard not to feel like a grubby child who’d snuck in. My good buddy Dan Huen was the backstage host last night and he told me today he got instructions to do a better job of wrangling us next time. I knew we looked amateur before I heard about Dan’s new instructions. At one point I had this conversation with Paul:
Me: I feel awkward. Do you think we’re in their way?
Paul: Well, we are standing in their bathroom.
In our defense, that bathroom had great lighting for interviews.
Looking forward to tonight, won’t have to worry about embarrassing myself because I’ll be covering the Winnipeg show and talking to all the comedians I’m lucky to share a stage with on a regular basis.
Also, this backstage picture is not in any way shape or form from the festival. The backstage at the Gas Station is really small and I avoided asking for pictures with the comedians because I didn’t want to look any more bushleague than I already did.
