The Irrelevant Show - Radio Laughs at the Arden Theatre!

Every Saturday as Gibson and I drive to his drama class at the Foote Theatre School, we listen to CBC and because of the timing, The Irrelevant Show is on.  Now, I like the show.  I know a couple of the performers and have seen the others on stage around town for quite a few years so the choice to listen was primarily mine.  But a couple of months ago I started to notice quite a few chuckles from the back seat.  One day, after a particularly funny sketch, Gibson blurted out "I love this show!" So, when I noticed that the show was going to be recorded last Friday night at the Arden Theatre (right in my backyard) I picked up a couple of tickets to surprise Gibson with.  I told Mark and he said to grab two more so Oliver and he could join.  So the four of us headed out for an evening of Radio Funny!

It was so much fun.  Gibson was very excited when I told him of the tickets and we were treated to a great night of radio/theatre.  It was very cool to see the show live.  There is a lot that happens between the recorded bits.  I particularly love watching how the sound effects are created.  Dave Clarke is a very cool artist in that regard.  I was also very impressed with how clean it is.  There were a couple of times they had to back up to re-record a line, but that was primarily due to the audience laughing too loudly, not due to any 'mess up' on the part of the actors.  I can't wait to hear the 2-3 episodes on the air.  I think it will be cool when Gib hears them too.

As an extra special cool factor to the evening, however, was that Gibson got not one, but two shout-outs form host Peter Brown.  I had tweeted earlier in the day that I was taking Gibson to the show and part way through the first act Brown called out, "Is Gibson here tonight?! Are you having a good time?"  Gibson, being 9 and not fully understanding radio, gave a thumbs up, so Mark answered for him.  He got another shout out in the second act.  Gib said to me later that he was pretty stunned when that happened.  We went down after the show so he could meet Peter Brown and although it was hard to tell since Gibson is pretty shy and quiet, he was so excited.  It pretty much made this mom's night!

Anyhow, the Irrelevant Show is going on the road so you have to be in Toronto or Winnipeg to see them tape next.  I'll be keeping an eye out next season locally so that we can take the boys back.

If you are in Toronto or Winnipeg, you can catch them on the following dates:

Wednesday March 12, 2014 - Randolph Theatre, Toronto
Tickets available at Sketchfest
Wednesday April 9, 2014 - Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg
Tickets available at Winnipeg Comedy Festival

You can listen to The Irrelevant Show on CBC one at the following times:
Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. (3:30 p.m. NT) & 11 p.m. and Saturdays at 11 a.m.

A Little Radio Play...

I went to see/hear/participate in Fulcrum of Evil at Walterdale Theatre tonight. Usually Walterdale does not rent to anyone other than the ADFA and Fringe, but CBC Radio was looking for a place to tape a Radio Play written by Marty Chan and they wanted an audience for reaction, etc... So anyhow, Walterdale made a special arrangement. It was a lot of fun. My mom looked after the boys, so Mark and I both got to go and I was quite glad that I bought tickets today during the afternoon, because there was a waiting list to get in. Jam packed it was! The highlight was definitely Jeff Haslam as Faz Rool (sic). He was tres hilaire! I have read a lot about him in the Journal but this was the first time I had actually seen (and heard) him on stage. He was channelling Jack Benny and I quite enjoyed it. I also got to see Davina Stewart and Mark Meer and I had never seen them before. They are worth the hype they get. Script, hmmm? It was good, but the actors made it better than it was. It was a cool little night out and I was glad that I got to see/hear it.