Who are these guys anyway?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/08/2010 (5769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Here’s a sampling of local amateur comedians you’ll find at open mics around town:

Heather Witherden, 42

Coming off the Fringe, where she did two shows, Breast Friends and Tazzy’s Angels, Witherden has come a long way. She entered the comedy world a few years ago through a contest at Café 100 “and I came second to a skinny blond.” She was fired up, but “my family wishes I’d use a stage name. My husband is in the military and I have a high school-age boy. Now that my son is a teenager, I was a little worried. What do a 14 year-old-boy and a 42-year-old woman have in common? A body ravaged by hormones — and we’re both growing our first moustache.” Bada-bing!

Tim Gray, 23

Two years ago, Gray entered a media comedy contest in a mall and started talking about computer abbreviations such as LOL and BTW and completely bombed. “I saw their faces and the tension. I said ‘thank you’ and went to the bathroom and cried.” But, says Gray, “I was hooked by the purity of it. The audience is not there to love me because I’m a cute guy, or I’ve done a few good deeds, or because I really want them to. The only time they’ll actually laugh is if I’m really funny. I was drawn to that pure level of judgment.”

Dan Huen, 22

“I started off in competitive improv, but now I’m 100 per cent working toward stand-up comedy as a career. Last spring, I did seven open mics in one week. I never get tired of it. I even worked at a strip club where the guys in the audience made gun signs with their hands when they got comedians instead of the strippers. At the Winnipeg Comedy Festival this year, I was on hospitality and got to hang out backstage with comedians who’ve made it and they gave us lots of tips and encouragement. It doesn’t pay much yet and everybody has other jobs, but it’s a lot of fun.

Ryan Ash, 25

He has been in the comedy biz for the last four years, working out of Edmonton, and has done business gigs and corporate shows. “I moved here for my girlfriend.” Ah, love. Ash is busy trying to establish new contacts and gigs in Winnipeg while flying west to cash in on old gigs established there. “I really like writing and producing shows and comedy in terms of performance, and I like acting. I was an actor before I was a comedian.”

Dan Glasswick, 27

“I just started comedy eight months ago — a relative newcomer to this. It’s become an all-encompassing hobby that pertains somewhat to my field of film. You can utilize a lot of comedy skills to launch a career in film and TV. I’m shy of the (comedy) stage thing, so this gives me experience and confidence. I’ve been trying new jokes lately. The only thing that would throw me off is they’re not laughing. That always sucks. Nobody likes silence.”