UPDATE VOID

There has been a lack of updates, as of late. A million apologies.

First, the promised, though somewhat shortened, account of the "Colbert" taping. The first part, where he does rapid fire jokes about the evening's topics ("TONIGHT...") was very amusing, especially since he seemed to be on the verge of collapse as he spoke. The WORD was also excellent. As a couple of points during the taping, he lost his place on the prompter, causing him to sheepishly admit "I fucked up...". Then he conferred with the stage manager, figuring out where he should restart taping. Things were apparently going fine until "the pills started kicking in". When the audience laughed at that joke, he said "Don't humour me! I'm not humouring you! It's tit for tat!". They decided to take the taping from a camera switch, during which time he was taping his papers on the desk. It's funny because he was cracking up at they started taping again, so I can only assume that the broadcasted show had Stephen delivering a story, changing cameras, then suddenly and for no reason cracking up. I should have downloaded it to see what it looked like.

One of the main stories was a Sport Report (remember, that's pronouned "Spore Repore) on the subject of College Basketball. Apparently that's what Americans mean when they say "March Madness". I honestly had no idea up until this point. Despite my unfamiliarity, it was pretty darned funny. Such is the power of Colbert.

The interview was with a mountain climber. In keeping with the theme, Stephen "climbed" his way to the interview area. Besides the interview itself, I can't really dish any dirt. I can tell you that the stage manager guy has little cards that tell Stephen how much time he has left, so consider the lid of that bombshell to be blown off.

At the end of the show, Stephen thanked us for coming and we were herded back into the hard streets of NYC. On the way out, I tried to roll my twenty-sider on "The Desk:, but one of the security guards stopped me. Fair enough. I wouldn't want polyhedron marks on my desk if the situation were reversed.

Now, it is May, and I have returned to working at Parks Canada. We've got some new members of "The Maple Sugar Gang" and they are all of a friendly sort.

Also, I'm writing and directing a Fringe play for Garkin Productions called "Bookworm". The show features Amanda Klaman and Ray Besharah and it will be at Arts Court (the good venue, not the Library... UNNECESSARY BURN on the Library).

It's a comedy and it's funny. Everything I ever wanted from a show. There will be tasty updates on the rehearsal process as things move forward. I think I'll bring my camera to today's rehearsal, so maybe I'll put some pictures up here.

Other news: I didn't get cast in "She Stoops to Conquer", but lots of cool cats did. This includes Eddie May buddy Zach Counsil, all-around cool guy Scott Goldman and Ottawa treasure Paul Rainville. Third Wall has also announced their new season. They've got "Top Girls", "Empire Builders" and "Tartuffe" on the chopping block. I'm not the world's biggest Churchill fan, so I'll probably give "Top Girls" a miss. "Empire Builders" will be directed by Joel Beddows, so I will definitely see that one. "Tartuffe" is being translated by David Whiteley and directed by James Richardson. Good combo.