I can’t do Juno. For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to impersonate Ellen Page’s Juno for my Acting and Voice class, but something just wasn’t right. I’d like to say that it’s because I didn’t get teen pregnant and therefore I had a hard time associating with the main character’s plight, but when it comes down to it, I really think I’m just not cool enough to use a hamburger phone.
So, very last minute, I scrapped the teen pregnancy idea and was inspired to try something a bit more relate-able: the incomparable Bridget Jones. I performed three bits of hers from the first movie and strung them all together. I’m not embarrassed to say that I’m more Bridget Jones than I am Juno MacGuff. In fact, when my acting teacher told me I played it well, I told him any woman could because every woman is Bridget Jones. Blah, anyway, the point is that this acting class is good for making one realize what types of characters we, as comedians, are more apt to play. Apparently I’m good at playing lesbian pundits and tragic spinsters. Not…really surprising… but there you have it!
I was exceptionally pleased at the teacher’s response to my performance, because recently, I’d been slightly put off that class, most likely due to lack of participation, uncertainty about my own quality and general sense of anxiety about all of the other classes for which we have to produce material. I mentioned that the professors here were typically very encouraging. Well you have to work for this one’s praise and I was slightly surprised to receive it today. Yay! How delightful!
I think it’s the beginning of a good week, which is great because I was a bit of a grumpface last week.
Another cool thing to happen today, was a presentation by Mark Breslin, owner of the Yuk Yuk’s comedy chain. He spoke to us about the nature of the comedy biz in Canada and what to expect when we leave Humber. He was also very encouraging, although he didn’t placate us with false hope. A lot of: work hard, it might be 10 years before you get anything, but don’t give up because doing comedy is a calling, and unless your Norm MacDonald, you’re gonna have to work your ass off if you want to get good at it. Also, it helps to be a bit crazy. Just, moderately insane… at least.
Check.
Thanks Mark.
Anyway, here’s a bit from Bridget’s monologue, if you wanted a little hint of who I got to pretend to be today:
clown college confessions 