FOS Randy Masters filed the following report on Yuk Yuk’s Second Annual Great Canadian Laugh-Off:
The weather was unseasonably warm in Toronto last week, which was a nice surprise. Some great crowds came out for the semifinals, from March 26-31. I attended the first three shows, then appeared on the bill that Thursday night (along with fellow New Yorker, Andy Hendrickson). The winner that Thursday night was local comedienne Michelle Shaugnessy.
The competition, as to be expected, was tough. The first prize was $25,000. True, it’s $25,000 Canadian, but still. Apparently, Yuk Yuk’s is trying to get a more international bill of comedians, and they had a pool of 64 amateur and professional comedians from all over Canada, the U.S., South Africa, England, and Ireland. I was told by one of the organizers that there was also an Australian comedian scheduled to be on the bill, but he got turned away by customs in L.A. There were no details as to why he was turned away, so we are left with our imagination.
The finals were held on April Fool’s Day and it was quite an event. There were six large cameras placed strategically around the club, and the atmosphere behind the scenes was tense (the show will air on the Comedy Network in Canada later in 2007). I’m told that last year’s Laugh-Off went over four hours, so they were trying to reduce that down to under three (it ended up being a tight 2-1/2 hours).
It was a sold out house (they seat at least 300 at that club) and the cameras added an extra bit of electricity to the already pumped audience. Yuks owner, Mark Breslin, hosted the show and traded in his white tux (which he wore last year) for a black pinstripe suit. The celebrity judges were as follows: Michael Cox (talent executive for the Showbiz Show with David Spade), Bruce Hills (COO of the Just for Laughs Festival), Brent Haynes (Comedy Network), and Eddie Brill (comedian and booker for the Letterman show).
After a week of great comedy, the finalists on Sunday night were: Pio Modi (Hamilton, ON), Michelle Shaugnessy (Toronto, ON), Dylan Mandlsohn (Toronto, ON), Greg Cochrane (Toronto, ON), Paul Myrehaug (Toronto, ON), Matt Billon (Toronto, ON), Jennifer Grant (Vancouver, BC), and Al Prodgers (Capetown, SA).
Breslin announced early on that some people felt that last year’s second place winner should have won more than a set of steak knives. So he brought out a replacement second prize: a full set of cutlery.
Last year’s winner, Jeff McEnery, did a very funny set–bringing back a medley of his greatest hits from last year (you can check out part of his winning set on YouTube).
And the winner of the $25,000 prize and the title of Great Canadian Laugh Off Champion went to: Paul Myrehaug!
The second place winner of that wonderful cutlery went to: Dylan Mandlsohn!
There was a big bang as two canons went off and streamers filled the stage. Amid the hoopla, there appeared a very pretty blonde girl in a sparkly green outfit displaying the classic Big Check.
