Last night was another electrifying night at Yuk Yuk's Ottawa. Every seat was full, and the audience was as diverse was a Glee episode! Everyone was enjoying their time before the show, and then the Rolling Stones came on the speakers and people knew it was time to slow down their chatter, because when "Paint it Black" starts playing, it's close to showtime!
The evening's host and MC was none other than David Rotenberg. Sorry, make that RABBI David Rotenberg. So, a Rabbi walks into a bar......and starts telling jokes! Rotenberg has a strong presence on stage, and has many hits with his jokes on Jewish holidays. He gets heavy laughs when he talks about his time in the competition where he did not move forward but was then asked to host. He does good crowd work and is ready to introduce.................
39 year old Colin O'Brien, who starts by talking about his lack of ass, and how he is a skinny guy (he really is) but still has fat on him, but no muscle. He recalls the skinny ass bit later on and it goes well. This guy gets better each time on stage, and may be someone in the future to watch out for! Second up was............
Josh Williams, who does his jokes on his size, his love life, and "racism making a comeback". He gets great audience response, and handles it exceptionally well when they "aww" one of his self-depreciating jokes feeling bad for him, and he says "guys, I wrote the joke, it's not like I am sitting around the keyboard crying while writing it". He did a great job. Next up was.............
Newbie Robbie Stevenson. He is a young fellow who looks like Shaggy from the Scooby Doo cartoons. Slow start but gets some groans from some of his joke. He goes very dark in trying to do some "pro" women abuse jokes, which do not play well with anyone. He recovers with a few more laughs, and out comes..............
Kris Kinsbury. Kinsbury has been around for awhile, and his jokes play well with the audience. I have to leave to print some posters highlighting the changes to the fall Wednesday night sign in process, so unfortunately had to miss..........
Mike Lynch, but judging the close scores, I am guessing he did very well.
Rotenberg does some more jokes, all to good success, while moving the process to the professional comedians who will be "duking it out". It should be noted there are usually three professionals per show; however, due to family issues one had to drop out, so all that was left was..........
Alex Wood and Dave Atkinson. Both these comedians are strong and "never fail" in their comedy. They are also friends and are not thrilled at "one wins one loses" that comes with only two participants. That said, they bring an exceptional game this evening. Wood, whose charm on stage knows no bound, hits the crowd with copious laughter over his material on applying for Chapters. It is my new favourite bit of ANY comedian. Wood is on fire! But wait, out comes Atkinson, who hits joke after joke after joke and his theatrical training gives him a dynamic not all comedians have. To say it was close between these two is a severe understatement.
While tabulating the judges scores, Egyptian comic Wafik Nasralla entertains the crowd with some new material. Then Rotenberg comes out and..............
Amateur Winner is Josh Williams, and second place is Kris Kinsbury. Colin O'Brien was a very very close third, but alas only two move on.
For the professional Atkinson takes the win, and we are all happy for him, he has worked hard won the crowd and judges over tonight more than anyone else. That's that thing about comedy, no one, especially Atkinson, will say he is a better comic than Wood, or Wood better than him; however, on any given night, someone just hits the stage stronger, or wins the crowd over more, and for that night is the champion, but overall, they are all winners for showing up. Except the real winner is Atkinson, because he won.
Tonight was one of those nights in comedy that you sit back and really enjoy. Sitting back and watching a full house at Yuk Yuk's is always a treat, but watching the crowd really enjoy themselves, well that is something that makes the heart stir just a little bit. Every comedian, whether professional or amateur, works hard on creating a craft; an art form that they wish to entertain the crowd with. When the crowd is in full enjoyment of that art form, everyone wins, and we have Yuk Yuk's to thank for bringing it all together.
As the nights are filling up, it's best to make a reservation at 236-(LAFF). Two more weeks of prelims and then out comes the semi finals! See you there!
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