Mike's Bloggity Blog

It’s not very often that you get to see a comedic legend live in person and tonight, I got to see Joan Rivers.  Yes, that Joan Rivers and yes, she’s still alive.  It’s a show that almost got away from me, I’d actually forgotten about it and for once Groupon  made itself useful and had tickets for 50% off.  Ignoring that meant that Calgary wasn’t super interested in the concert, it didn’t matter. Joan was funny and I wanted some.

We ended up scoring sweet 4th row tickets and thankfully the theatre was almost sold out.  (Ahhh the power of Groupon.)  Now, I don’t think there really is a point to talking about how funny Joan Rivers was, cause I really thought she was freakin’ hilarious.  And if you don’t already know this, then you probably haven’t ever thought she was funny. She was everything you’ve heard: Rude, crass, hilarious, blunt, shocking, terrifying, humble and most of all, funny.

You’ll probably hear lots of people lots of people say lots of things about Joan, but at the end of the night, I was left really with one message, whether she meant it or not:  Be yourself.  And I’m not saying that in a cheesy youtube video on Ellen sort of way, but I just mean, keep doing what you’re doing.  Whatever you want to do, however long it might take you, just keeping doing it, at 79 years old, Joan has never stopped and my gut is sore from laughing, so surely she is doing something right, right?

She really is someone that that you have to see in person, but here’s a super quick clip of her opening the show tonight in Calgary.  It’s good to know that with all the things she’s seen and done, she still hates Air Canada as much as the rest of us.

Warning, there’s foul language…naturally.

Oh Jean Morrison, you did it again. If you happened to watch George Strombolopolous Tonight last night, you may have noticed a certain Artic Fox named Jean Morrison, who just so happens to be my Granny. At 89 years old she is now a finalist in the Winnipeg Gone Wacky comedy competition. The video of her chatting with George Strombolopolous is just too cute for words. While technically she is my granny, I’m more than happy to share her inspirational message with all of you!

Go Granny Go!

If you want to see her original routine, click here.

If you’ve been reading this blog during the past few weeks, you know that my granny, Jean Morrison, has made it to the finals of the Winnipeg’s Gone Wacky stand up comedy competition.  It’s been inspiring to see her following her dreams, even at 89 years old.  She’s a determined woman and I can’t wait to see what she does at the finals of November 24th.  If I could be in Winnipeg for the show, I’d be there in a heartbeat.

In the weeks leading up to the finals, my granny is training hard and getting her final routine ready for the big stage.  As you can imagine, the story of an 89 year old comedian has caught the attention of the Winnipeg media and this past Friday, my granny made an appearance on CTV Morning Live. (The picture is my granny with one of the show’s co-hosts, Kristin Hursh.)

I think she did a wonderful job and I know that she was so nervous.  I talked to her afterwards and she said that she hadn’t slept in two days!  Seriously, how cute is she?

Click here to watch the video, it’s called “89 Year Old Comic Wows Winnipeg”. (Hey CTV, you need to make your videos easier to share) and keep your fingers crossed for the 24th!

Good luck Granny!

It’s not every day that you ask your blog readers to vote for your 89-year-old grandmother in a comedian competition, but today is that day.  Actually, today is the second day that I told you about it, but I figured we could all do with a reminder, right?

The Winnipeg Gone Wacky competition closes on November 6th, which means you only have a few more days to vote for my granny, who is trying to make her dream of being a stand up comedian come true. Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up. Her name is Jean Morrison, and I happen to think she’s hilarious, I’ll let you watch the video, but I think you’ll agree.

Admittedly, it’s sorta annoying that you have to register to vote, but come on, it’s my granny! How can you not want to take a few minutes to vote for her!

Click here to vote!

Good lucky Granny! You’re the best!

Ever wonder who the funniest person in Canada is?  Well on Monday night, the Canadian Comedy Awards answered that question.

Debra DiGiovanni (Who I know from Video on Trial) and Steve Patterson, who hosts CBC’s The Debaters took home the golden microphone stand.  Actually, I’m not too sure what the award actually looks like, so let’s just go with the microphone stand, mmmkay? The hilarious, if not hard to understand, Nikki Payne won for Best Taped Live Performance.

Comedy awards for the best improv troupe, stand-up newcomer, best film, television show, sketch group, writing, directing and a handful of others were also handed out.  You can click here to see the complete list of winners.

Someone who might be a little more well-known to you, The Daily Show’s Samantha Bee was awarded Canadian Comedy Person of the Year. Jason Priestly won Best Television Performance (Male) for his role on HBO Canada’s Call Me Fitz.  I still haven’t seen this show, but it’s won so many awards, it’s pretty hard to ignore.  If only I wasn’t too cheap to order HBO Canada.

Congrats to all the winners!

Speaking of comedy, did I ever show you the video of my 89 year old grandmother doing standup comedy……?

Imagine for a second your grandmother decided to take the stage at an open mic comedy night..in Winnipeg.

Well fortunately for me, I don’t have to, because my 89-year-old grandmother did just that, and I knew she would, she brought the house down.  And luckily for you guys, there’s video of the one and only Jean Morrison to prove it.

It was all a part of the Winnipeg’s Gone Wacky contest and up for grabs is a chance to make it to the Top Ten and perform at the Comedy showdown.  The winner of that will be named Winnipeg’s Wackiest Amateur Comedian 2011, and she could win a $1,000 and a Blackberry Playbook.

You have to register to vote (which is annoying), but seriously, she’s 89, how could you not want to vote?

Click here to vote for her.

My granny has always dreamed about being a stand up comedian, and she’s dabbled a little bit, but I think this was the first time she intentionally went up and had a routine prepared.  I can’t imagine ever standing up like she did, especially in a crowd full of comedians.

I’ve watched the video probably nine times already and I continue to be in awe.  How lucky am I to have someone that has set the Morrison bar so high, yeah, I’m very, very lucky.

I feel like I’ve been posting a whole lot of cool opportunities and contests lately, I hope you guys are taking advantage of some of them because they really do seem pretty cool.  Here’s another one that just popped into my mailbox.

The Comedy Network is looking for some social media savy person to have the Best Summer Job Ever!

The job is essentially to be the social media guru for the comedy channel and it comes with a furnished downtown Toronto suite for two months this summer!  Now I don’t know very many internships that come with those kind of accommodations and probably amazing access to some great concerts and shows in Toronto, so it would definitely be cool!  The only rule says that you have to be 19 years old or older.

Hmmm…maybe I should apply.  Nah, I’m too busy already.  BUT this is one of those opportunities where you hear about afterwards and you wish you had applied, so why not just apply?  All you have to do is submit a tweet to @comedynetwork.  It takes probably five minutes to come up with something witty and it could literally change your life.

I don’t know, seems worth it to me!

Applications close June 6th!  Good luck, Good luck, Good luck!

Here’s all the details!

Wow! Wow! Wow!

I don’t know if this is news to you but I just found out that Joan Rivers will be gracing both Edmonton and Calgary later on this year!  Okay, way later on this year: December 5th in Calgary and December 6th, but I’ve waited my whole life, I can wait another few months, right?

Obviously Ms. Rivers is a comedic icon and over her fifty year career has changed the face of comedy almost as often as she’s changed her own.

Presale tickets go on sale Wednesday, April 6th and yes, I was able to snag the presale password for you, it’s: rivers.  Regular tickets go on sale this weekend! Ticket prices range from $52.65-$82.65

What do you think I need to do to get an interview with the comedic icon?  Probably something dirty.  I can’t wait.

Click here to get tickets for Edmonton. The Calgary link not up yet!

Remember last week when I told you that Ron James was trying to break a Tweeting record?  Well wouldn’t you know it, he actually did!  On Wednesday, December 15^th set the world record for the most tweets in a single day by an individual. Suck on that Kanye.  Ron posted an astounding 520 tweets between the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m., exceeding his original goal of 500 – a voracious number of tweets that have left his thumbs battered and bruised. Do the math – that’s nearly one message every 90 seconds in a 16 hour period!

The other cool thing about Ron’s world record attempt was those that benefited from it.  Every time that someone tweeted #ronjames, he made a donation to the Food Bank. That ended up being more than 1800 food items that were donated at this very important time of year.

Admittedly, Ron James has never really on my radar but he certainly has my attention now.

The Ron James Show, anchored by James himself will have it’s  fifth annual New Year’s Eve Edition special on December 31 at 9:00 p.m. (9:30 NT).

Former MTV Vj and “comedian” Pauly Shore will soon be coming to Canada for a national tour.

There was about twelve things wrong with that sentance.  Can you spot them all?

This post about the tour isn’t necessarily to promote the tour, it should serve more as a warning to residents of British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Whether you like it or not, Pauly Shore will be in your area, do whatever you have to do to protect yourself. Or go if you want.  Just thought either way you should know.

Prince George, BC. Sept. 2nd
Fort St. John, BC.  (2 nights?!?) Sept. 3-4th
Grand Prairie, AB. Sept. 6th
Slave Lake, AB. Sept 8th
Lloydminister, AB. Sept.10
Calgary, AB. Sept 11th (Of all days…)
Edmonton, AB. Sept. 12th
Red Deer, AB. Sept. 13th
Lethbridge, AB. Sept 14th
Medicine Hatt, AB Sept. 15th
Moncton, NB. Sept. 22nd
Fredericton, NB. Sept 23rd
Halifax, NS. Sept. 24th

For once a national tour skips Ontario and goes straight to the maritimes.  Lucky Ontario.

Maybe I’m being too harsh on the star of BioDome.
Will you go see Paulie Shore?

Click here to buy tickets…..