Spizzerinctum!

“Spizzerinctum”: ‘Drive; as in energy coupled with a will to succeed.’

My drive into ToonTown last night almost came to naught due to a lack of energy, and a willingness, no, an eagerness to secede; to secede from comedy, to secede from the contest, to align myself with my blankets and pillows and hibernate! Just as well that I don’t take my own self too seriously; I continued on to Beily’s, and the last night of the contest preliminaries.

No familiar faces when I arrived, so, I ordered a glass of water and sat back to watch the evening unfold. There were a fairly good number of audience members present, but they are quickly engulfed by, and disappeared into, Beily’s cavernous maw! After about fifteen minutes the Master appeared, accompanied by a chap I have referred to before as the, ‘Black Knight’, Jody Peters. Jody is a local comic made good. He originally hails from the town of Aberdeen, just East of Saskatoon, where he now resides. He specializes in putting on his own corporate comedy productions, and, as a sideline, is often the voice of animated characters in film productions.

Jody came over and sat with me, and we chatted while the Master hustled about in his frenetic preparations. Jody was adopted and raised by Mennonite farmers, and, subsequently, is the only Africanadian Mennonite I know. A lot of his humour is derived from being raised in a redneck Saskatchewan community, (we have lots of them!). While it’s not his usual shtick, he’d been talked into entering the last night of the contest preliminaries.

There were a few other comics present by this time, most notably Joel Jefferies, as well as a couple others whom I’m not as familiar with. The Master got us all together and gave us the ‘lowdown’ on next weeks’ contest, but, I won’t bother you with such trivia here. Then the show commenced with the Master opening; first up was Jody Peters. I’ve seen Jody perform many times in the past, and always find his act dynamic, warm and entertaining; tonight was no exception! He ended with a bit I’d never seen him do before, called, “Black Superman.”

“What would a black superman be like?
He wouldn’t waste time rescuing white people from bus accidents!
No! He’d head to the toughest redneck bar in the American South,
Waltze through the front door while announcing he was looking for white women!
When the gun smoke cleared, Jody continued, Superman would be unscathed,
Bullet proof! Then he’d challenge the white boys to come outside and see who could fly!
But, once in a while, just for fun, Jody went on, he’d allow himself to be lynched!
Here Jody pantomimed swinging from a tree by his invulnerable neck.”

He presented good comedy; his jokes were funny, and, as you can see, some of his comedic commentary makes you wince and smart just a trifle!

Next up was Joel Jeffery, and he presented a good, solid set of his best material, but, for reasons unknown, didn’t seem able to establish a solid connection with the audience last night. Then the Master was up again, and began a comic diatribe about Canada being a country where you can get arrested for blowing bubbles! (Ed. Note: This in connection with an actual event this summer just past, when Canada hosted the G8 summit.) Finally, he introduced yours' facetiously, (while at the same time making just a little fun of me!)

When I was handed the mike, I watched with eyebrows raised as the Master walked away, and intoned,

“Arrested, ...for blowing bubbles?!?”
Sounds like a nightmare of Ricky,
On the, ‘Trailer Park Boys!”

The audience loved it, but I don’t know how well it would go over with people not familiar with Canadian television/movies. Ricky and Bubbles are two characters on our show, “Trailer Park Boys”; if you’ve never seen it, you should, as it gives great insights into the evolving Canadian psyche!

Wow! Best night I’ve ever had at Beily’s! The audience, who had seemed a little cool up till then, perked up and responded to my jokes as though we’d all rehearsed together! Too soon, it was over, and I departed for my one hour trip home to Kinley, and a four hour nap, immediately followed by another one hour drive to work! And it was worth every minute!