Welcome to Clown College Confessions,
I’m Brie Watson!
I’m a bilingual (English/French) stand-up, improv and sketch comedian/writer/blogger/producer/office-wench living in Toronto. I teach improv to students as part of The Second City’s School Programs and am a member of active improv troupes; Exit, Pursued by a Bear, The Younger Years and sketch troupe; Utilidors. I’m currently taking the Longform Conservatory at The Second City and am also an Improv Conservatory graduate of that institution, as well as a graduate of the Humber College Comedy Writing & Performance program. And of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, now that we’re on the subject. I was a Tim Sims Award nominee at Fresh Meat in 2012. I produce live comedy events around Toronto and have toured in Eastern and Central Canada.
I started this blog while at Humber, telling tales of what a green comedian’s first baby steps might look like. Then, when I graduated, I decided to keep documenting.
I’m also writing here because I have a terrible memory and I may need to resort back to this blog when I forget who I am after getting thrown out onto the streets from a Starbucks for smelling too much of urine and cat-vomit. (What?)
Please enjoy responsibly.
Brie
clown college confessions 
Hey I just found your blog and I’m going through it all. I was gonna try to be part of Yuk Yuk’s amateur show tonight but they didn’t put me on, boo! I called right at 10 am too! I was wondering if you might have some insight as to how they schedule their amateur nights.
I’m just killing some time before I go see the show. I’m still going despite being so blatantly excluded. I’m not sure how much I’m into doing stand-up but it’s definitely something I want to try a bit and hopefully have a blast.
So yea… get in touch with me if you want to help a nobody out :).
Hey Ted,
Yuk’s Amateur night in T.O. is REALLY popular and thus, super competitive. It’s not surprising you didn’t get on this week. SO many comics from around the city try to get a spot. It really is the luck of the draw.
Msg me back and I’ll let you know about some open mics in the city you might want to try out while you’re waiting to get on at Yuk’s.
Cheers!
Brie
Hey Brie,
Thanks for replying. I just got back from the show. It would be awesome if you can keep me in the loop. I didn’t know amateur night (at yuks) was that competitive.
I used to think getting my material in line was the hard part and actually delayed looking for an open mic to perform at. Now that I have my material straightened I feel like I want to use it real quick and but can’t find stage time. Life’s very annoying this way.
Anyway, I hope to hear from you!
-Ted
Ted,
I’m home for the Holidays, but when I get back to TO, I’ll e-mail you (tedgaming@gmail.com)? a list of open-mics I’ve acquired. Sound goooood?
Hi Ted,
I’m an up and coming stand-up comedian as well, and wanted to let you know that it took me 9 weeks of calling in before I got on Yuk’s Tuesday amateur night. It took one of my other friends (who’s now a professional comedian) 3 months to get on.
So keep calling! There are TONS of comedians that call in. The best thing to do is to go to the show, introduce yourself to Fatima (the show’s producer) so she recognizes your voice when you leave a message.
The next best thing to do is to put in some time at the other open mics in the city. That way, when you do get on Yuk’s, you’ll KILL!
Michael Jagdeo
@Jagdeocomedy on Twitter
http://michaeljagdeo.wordpress.com
Sounds awesome. Thanks Brie!
OK. E-mail sent! 😀
Thanks for blogging. Looks funny!!
But that’s the best thing about Starbucks. You can smell like as much urine and cat vomit as you want. You can even pay for your latte with greasy sewer pennies and they won’t care. Not like it’s the Gap, or something.
hey brie, i found your blog whilst googling humber and i’m wondering if you could do me a really huge favour and tell me a couple of things i have not been able to find out yet, (and i’m not currently in TO) my questions are: is it 5 days ? can you give me an idea of what the weekly class schedule is? how forgiving are they if you miss classes? how much time outside of classes do you need to put in weekly, (not counting stagetime as i do that anyway).
thanks in advance and i promise i’ll come see ya if i do get in and so move to TO
Hi Ben!
To answer your question, yes, the Humber Comedy program is a full-time college program, so you will be in classes from Monday-Friday. In my experience, they are NOT super forgiving about letting you skip class. (Although there may have been some exceptions along the way…)
The weekly class schedule is like that of a typical college program – 2 to 3 classes throughout the day, Monday-Friday.
There are often writing assignments, and certainly group work that take place outside the regular class time, but when it comes to actually performing comedy (stand-up, sketch, improv, what have you) – you’re left to discover how to self-produce, or get on bills as much or as little as you want. (ideally more often than not, right? If you wanna get good at it!)
Let me know if you have other questions, and I’ll be glad to respond. Humber is a great program, but if you have time restraints, I can certainly recommend alternate courses/training.
Cheers, and hope to see you in Toronto! 🙂
Brie