Third Beat

Ahh, Friday! Fresh faces, sanitary eating habits, and hydrated bodies. This was the way of life just days ago. It’s hard to believe now, after living in our own filth for the remainder of the weekend, that we were ever sober and possessed clean laundry.

I spent my time at the Del Close Marathon occupied with photography duties, so my recaps are brief (but pretty). Full sets of photos are not currently available, but I’ve chosen one from each show to tease y’all.

Favourite moments from Friday night:

Moments before door opening, Friday afternoon

-Chris Gethard as an unstoppable Andy Rooney during Stepfathers. Hilarious.

-Matt Walsh and Jon Glazer calling “time outs” during Apples & Oranges to explain improv technique to the crowd.

-Mark Sutton singing Dido during Bassprov. So out of context.

Wyatt Cenac sat in for Ed Helms in Satellites, the Dave Matthews Band inspired show. The ask-for was a favourite DMB lyric or song title, from a fan. The selected fan chose “Crash Into Me”. To which an actual douchey DMB fan responded “you’re not really a fan!”. Ok, I admit it, that d’bag was me. But no true DMB fan considers that song their favourite, and if they did they certainly wouldn’t publicly admit it. C’mon, fake DMB fans, leave Satellites alone! (I kid, of course. Sort of.)

Which does also bring up the point: when the (arguably) 2 biggest stars of DCM (Helms and Rob Riggle) bailed on shows, UCB’s lips were sealed. No changes were posted or made on the website. When everyone’s schedules are made so strategically (you can’t normally get BACK into a venue for hours after you’ve left), isn’t it kinda crappy to let people try to venue hop to see a specific person who isn’t even going to be there?

I’d had a long day so I turned in early, missing such epic performances as Yoda Hot Tub at 3am. But never fear — Sean over at The Comic’s Comic has the details of those shenanigans, including video of Brett Gelman’s backstage prep. Definitely worth checking out!

More to come re: Saturday’s shows, including my thoughts on staying awake long enough to witness my first-ever Match Game ‘76.

In the meantime, here are those shots from Friday night. Lots more under the jump.

Press Conference

View more photos

Variety’s annual list of 10 Comics to Watch was revealed last night.

I imagine anyone reading this blog is already familiar with all 10 names. Many aren’t exactly bold choices, as it doesn’t take an industry genius to predict a career upswing for someone recently cast in a major network sitcom.

The list, linking to their Variety profiles:

Wyatt Cenac, photo by Sharilyn Johnson

Matt Braunger

Wyatt Cenac

John Dore

Donald Glover

Ken Jeong

Nick Kroll

Ellie Kemper

Aubrey Plaza

Kristen Schaal

(Really, do we need to be told at this point that Kristin Schaal’s future looks bright?)

One nice surprise is seeing Canadian Jon Dore’s name on this list. He’s fun to watch on stage, just as fun to watch on the quirky Jon Dore Television Program (airing on the Comedy Network up north), and I’ve never heard anyone say a bad thing about the guy. Should he choose to head southward, good things will happen for him.

The majority of these folks are expected to appear at Just For Laughs in Montreal next week at the Comedy Conference, and they’ll no doubt be last-minute additions at some of the club shows and galas.