Like many of Edmonton comics, JAMES WYNTERS entered the scene through PAUL SVEEN's comedy class (one of his classmates was MARK SALAMANDICK). His first set was at Yuk Yuks Londonderry Mall location in the early 2000s. Touring headliners performed seminars before amateur night shows; James remembers RUSSELL PETERS giving five minutes of advice, saying "That's all I got," and spending the rest of the hour taking questions. James shared a stage with BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT at The Comic Strip, but he remembers many less glamorous nights at open mics like the BRIAN HEGGE-run Livewire and an open stage at a biker hangout on Calgary Trail that lasted one night. "We were forced to do the show outside on the patio," James remembers. "A small group of unenthusiastic patrons barely paid attention until the host started singing Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" and tried to get them to sing along." Says Wynters, "I'm surprised we made it out of t...
KEVIN MCGRATH was active in comedy from 1984 until his death, June 28, 2021. He played every major comedy club in Canada as well as colleges and universities. He appeared on CBC, CTV, and The Comedy Network. TRENT MCLELLAN shared some heartfelt thoughts on Kevin's passing here . I am very fond of this clip, which Kevin posted in 2009 of himself performing at Yuk Yuks. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kxB0aUGTIM0
STERLING SCOTT reminded me of this room, which ran in the summer of 2007 out in St Albert and was run by BARBARA MAY. It was not a great room, made harder by the fact most nights the host would be getting progressively drunker and doing more and more time between acts with less and less coherency as the night went on. It was a good idea to try and be up early. I got to know JEFF NEESER a little bit at this show; he was a regular attendee and would often drive me home. I also started to develop my spontaneity on this stage. There was no value in doing prepared material, so I committed myself to going up with nothing and winging it.
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