Where Calgary's Comedy Celebrities Strut Their NEW Stuff
The cream of Calgary's comedy crop perform their newest material. This isn't the stuff you've seen in their club shows or on their TV appearances. It's the brand new material that they are sharing with the world for the first time, and you can be there to witness it.
The producer of Red Carpet Comedy, Donovan Deschner, has chosen to combine this show with the release of his very first comedy album. On December 1 you can join Donovan and some of the Red Carpet Comedians for the launch of “I’ll Regret This”.
Donovan has arranged for this to be one of the more unique Red Carpet shows. There will be new jokes, old jokes, “covers” of some of his material from other performers, an interview with the producer, and it’s all going to be broadcast on CJSW’s “Am I Right??”! Tickets are still just $10 and will include your very own copy of the album and some other bonus take-aways.
Wednesday night was certainly one of the more eventful evenings of Red Carpet Comedy! Lots was going on “behind the scenes” to make it a very special night of new material with some old material thrown in for a camera crew. We had two videographers in attendance as it was the the first night of filming for a new documentary that will be coming out (likely in the new year) about stand-up in Calgary. Since a couple of the acts on the show had to do be filmed for this, they were allowed to break the usual “new material only” rule for the benefit of film.
To add to the excitement, one of the acts that needed to be on camera (Karen O’Keefe) was delayed at another show so we managed to stall by letting Cory Mack back on stage to practice the older (and sure-fire) parts of her act. Suffice to say; it was a little stressful for a few moments, but I’m certain that the audience will agree that it was completely worth it!
Another thanks to all of the performers: Cory Mack, Brian Stollery, Ryan Kukec, Donovan Deschner, Alan Cho, Jeff Toth, and Karen O’Keefe. As usual, they all have a lot more material than they had earlier this week. Kudos!
We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the “crew” that is needed to run one of these events every single month. Our photographers, Steve Nagy and Heather Schellenberg, were both on hand snapping photos while Karen Garth and Larry Baird were holding down the front door and sound board respectively. We couldn’t do it without you!
Photos from the show have started to make their way online. Steve uploaded a bunch today into a Facebook page album, and Heather’s should be appearing on the Facebook site shortly.
The next show is scheduled for December 1, 2010, and will be a very special night. Red Carpet Comedian, Donovan Deschner, will be launching his first comedy album, “I’ll Regret This”, that night. There will be special appearances by a number of Red Carpet Performers, give-aways, and a general celebration of this career milestone. Tickets will still be just $10 and include lots of bonuses. See you then!
The second season premiere of Red Carpet Comedy on Wednesday night was a huge success! All the comics did an amazing job and the packed house was treated to one of the best shows that we’ve had. Kudos to all the performers: Lori Gibbs, Tony Binns, Amanda Brooke Perrin, Brian Stollery, Ryan Kukec, Jeff Kubik, Cory Mack, and Donovan Deschner.
In addition to the 90 minutes of new comedy material we also previewed the film “Leave Them Laughing“, a screening of which will be taking place in Calgary on October 21 and sponsored, in part, by Red Carpet Comedy. The screening is being held to help raise funds for the completion of the film, thus far it has made its way through the festival circuit and is almost ready for wide-spread release. For all the details on the Calgary screening you can visit the screening’s website. The director, Academy Award-winning John Zaritsky, will be joining us for the screening and is offering an opportunity for a special VIP meet-and-greet. All the information and tickets are available online at http://www.leavethemlaughingcalgary.com. We hope to see you there.
Red Carpet Comedy will be back on October 27 with another show of all-new material from Calgary’s professional comics. Tickets for that are available online and we’ll be posting the confirmed performers closer to the show date.
The days are getting shorter, the leaves are changing colour, and Calgary’s comedy professionals have a whole summer’s worth of new material ready to try out at Red Carpet Comedy. This highly-reviewed (by both comedians and audience members) stand-up comedy room is returning to Calgary on September 29!
Tickets are already on sale through the Eventbrite system at http://RedCarpetComedy.eventbrite.com. As always they will also be available at the door. Either way they are just $10 each! Be sure to arrive when the doors open at 7:00PM to get yourself a drink and some of the amazing appetizers at Club Paradiso.
Performers are just now submitting their interest in appearing on this “season premiere” show of Red Carpet Comedy, and we’ll be announcing who you will get to see via our Facebook page and Facebook event invitation.
All of the comedians hope that you’ll be able to join us for Season 2 launch of Red Carpet Comedy!
Right before the May 5 Red Carpet Comedy show, Andrew Schultz from Citytv here in Calgary caught up with Donovan Deschner to chat a bit out what RCC is doing. This video clip aired the morning of May 4:
It’s a pretty good summary of the show for those that have never seen it. We’ll be back in September with more shows. Subscribe to this blog or join our e-newsletter for all the details as they are announced.
We could have not asked for a better wrap-up to the first season of Red Carpet Comedy! About 90-minutes of new material was created and I’m sure that some of it will live on in the comedians’ regular acts. Thanks to everyone that performed last night; Donovan Deschner, Don Wood, Dan Guiry, Brian Stollery, Mike Tod, Ian Wallace, Jeff Toth, and Trent McClellan.
Congratulations to Don Wood on being last night’s More Time In A Day Prize winner! He’ll receive 10-hours of Virtual Assistance from More Time In A Day!
Our summer hiatus has begun (we don’t want to compete with ice-based drinks on patios), so we should be back with Season 2 this fall. In the meantime, we’ll let you know via this website and our Facebook page where you can catch some of the various Red Carpet Comedians in and around Calgary. For example…
On March 31, 2010, Cory Mack phoned into CJSW’s, Am I Right??, to talk to Evan and Jesse about the April 7, 2010, show. She shared her views on the room, what it’s like to write comedy, and the experience for the comedians and audiences alike. While you can download the whole episode via their podcast in iTunes (it also has a great talk with comedian Kyle Kinane), Cory’s section is also embedded below:
[audio:http://redcarpetcomedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Cory-Mack-on-Am-I-Right.mp3|titles=Cory Mack on CJSW's Am I Right??]
The final show of the first season of Red Carpet Comedy on May 5 will feature a large group from Calgary’s Underwear Affair. In preparation for their June 5 run to fight cancers below the waist they are holding numerous “Participant Nights” to rally support and enthusiasm amongst the runners and walkers. People that are not a part of the event are still more than welcome to attend the show… you’ll just see an added 5-minute speech from an Underwear Affair organizer, otherwise it’s a regular Red Carpet Comedy night.
If you are curious about what the Underwear Affair is all about, you can check out a video featuring Captain FancyPants’ first attempt at stand-up comedy which he used to share some details about the event:
The Underwear Affair has arranged for free tickets for any of their participants for the May 5 performance. You can simply enter the special promotional code on the ticket buying site. To get the code, you can contact Captain FancyPants through Facebook.
Tickets are otherwise available now as usual and the Facebook event page for the May 5 show is online. The show will actually feature the “material that made it,” as the performers will be allowed to do some of their regular material so long as it was first featured on the Red Carpet Comedy stage.
With this being the last show before the summer hiatus it’s expected to fill up quickly. Reserve your tickets now!
Wednesday night’s Red Carpet Comedy proved without a shadow of a doubt that there are no hack premises in comedy, only hack comedians. Thankfully… none of the Red Carpet Comedians are hacks of any kind. Each of the eight performers had a complete new set of comedy to share and by the rave reviews of the show it’s pretty clear that some of that material will find its way into some regular set lists.
Photos from the event, courtesy of the wonderful Heather Schellenberg, have been uploaded into a Facebook album. She has been getting photos of the past few shows and really out-did herself with this set. Thanks, Heather!
The next show is slated for May 5 and will be the “Best Of” Edition wherein each performer will be allowed to share some older jokes so long as they were first said on the Red Carpet Comedy stage. (Click here for the May 5 Facebook event.)
On April 3, 2010, the creator and producer of Red Carpet Comedy, Donovan Deschner, stopped by the CBC Daybreak Alberta studios to talk with Russell Bowers about creating and refining comedy. You can listen to the interview as published in the show’s podcast:
[audio:http://redcarpetcomedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2010-04-03-Red-Carpet-Comedy-on-Daybreak-Alberta.mp3|titles=Red Carpet Comedy on Daybreak Alberta]
Tickets for tomorrow night’s show are still available and the line up for May 5 is already taking shape. Hope to see you at one of the shows!
