Preview
FUNNY FEST
Featuring Amy Trofimuk and Big Daddy Taz
Runs until June 15
Various venues (check www.funnyfest.com)
The Battle of Alberta Comics is a FunnyFest competition seemingly tipped in Calgary’s favour – not only does our city have five performers compared to Edmonton’s three, but the winner will be determined by the reactions of a local audience with a presumed hometown bias.
Still Edmontonians need not fret over competitive inequities, since the Battle of Alberta Comics is more about pleasing the crowd than it is about bragging rights. Of course some "your-city-sucks" type material will certainly work its way into the show.
"I might talk a lot more about Calgary and I’ll probably throw in my Edmonton digs here and there." says local comedian Amy Trofimuk. Originally from Canmore, quickly became a proud Calgarian when she moved to the city five years ago.
Her entrance into the world of stand-up comedy was a sudden one. "I was thrown upon stage at FunnyFest," she recalls. "I wasn’t ready, but it was sort of now or never. It was so nerve wracking. I did a tight three minutes." A highly positive reaction to that brief performance three years ago was enough to encourage her to continue on as a comic.
Born with the brittle bone disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Amy Trofimuk has literally suffered many bad breaks in her life.
"Last year was my first time ever onstage in a wheelchair – that was a learning experience," she says. "Half the time I didn’t know if it was sympathy laughs I was getting. Still, I got a lot of good material out of it.
"When I first started (in comedy) I really didn’t like to talk about my bone disease. Then once I was in a wheelchair I had no choice and it actually worked out very well."
If a comic can find humour in broken limbs, then why not in mental illness, too? Winnipeg-based comedian Big Daddy Tazz takes up that challenge in his performances.
"I am bipolar," he says. "I’ve went through suicide attempts and manic highs. I lost friends and I lost friendship with myself."
He recalls a particularly challenging day that was to include an important evening charity performance. That morning he woke up and "I was suicidal, I was just terrible," he says.
Tazz frantically called around in an attempt to see a psychiatrist and was told by one person he would have to wait two weeks. His response was: "Well I hope you have a Ouija board because I am not going to make it two weeks."
Somehow the former bouncer turned comic weathered the storm. "I took a nap then I got up and forced myself to do the show," he says.
The result of this particular ordeal was startling. "It was the best show I had ever done," Tazz says. "I got a standing ovation. I made some tremendous friends and I felt mentally, physically and emotionally that I had reached the next level."
Today Tazz sends out a message of acceptance and understanding in many of his shows and school appearances. Wanting to help others similarly afflicted, he will soon have links to mental health units on his web site (www.BigDaddyTaz.com).
Regarding his own comedy, Big Daddy Tazz says his focus is, "Life. Whatever I have been thinking about during the day generally makes it into my act."
"Sometimes my show makes people nervous because I talk about being bipolar and suicidal." He says. "It’s what I need to do to get the message out that people have to talk about it (mental illness). It’s a misunderstood and often misdiagnosed thing" |
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