UPDATE- The Elvira Kurt performance has been moved indoors to the the Science II Cafeteria (Alumni Hall) located on the second floor of the Fraser Auditorium building at Laurentian University.
UPDATE - A rain venue has been finalized for the Elvira Kurt performance July 18.
In the event of severe weather or heavy rain, the performance will be held in the Science II Cafeteria (Alumni Hall) located on the second floor of the Fraser Auditorium building at Laurentian University.
Otherwise, the event will proceed as normal in the Bell Park Grace Hartman Amphitheatre. Guests are welcomed to bring their umbrellas and blankets to the show. For more information please call 918-2601 or visit www.laffcity.ca
A woman who was voted Canada's funniest female comic is looking forward to performing in the Bell Park amphitheatre next Saturday (July 18) at 8:30 p.m.
Elvira Kurt has been booked by Laff City, a local group promoting comedy entertainment, as a featured presentation of Sudbury Pride Week events.
“I have never played an outdoor venue. I am really looking forward to that. It will be fun. When I have been in northern Ontario, it was definitely not in the summer,”
she chuckled.
Kurt was voted Canada's funniest female comedian at the Canadian Comedy Awards and is a Second City alumnus.
She has written for the Juno Awards and CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes. She was also a lead in the Vagina Monologues in Toronto and Vancouver, and appeared as a guest on Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
She's done work for Comedy Central, a comedy network in the United States and she has previously performed in Sudbury as a Yuk Yuk's comedian.
Kurt said she always wanted to be a comic.
“Even when I was a kid I was the joker at school. I was an only child at home. My parents showered me with material goods, but they both worked all the time. My father was a welder. My mother was a massage therapist. They were old school, not hippies. I didn't get a lot of interaction with them. I sought attention elsewhere.”
She said in high school she went to the original Yuk Yuk's on Bay Street in Toronto but was intimidated by the weekend crowd. Later, when she found out there were amateur nights, she chose the Monday night for her debut.
“I went for a few weeks and realized I could do that at least. You didn't need to be funny. You just needed the courage to get up there.”
She says she makes fun of small things.
“I find humour in awkward social situations.”
She said she was nervous before going on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. However, he experience doing specials on CBC television helped boost her confidence.
“Jay Leno is huge. You realize the stakes. But it is not completely foreign to me. It was familiar enough that I can stay in the moment.”
Leno was a very supportive host, said Kurt.
“He has never forgotten just being a regular guy, a road comic. He has not forgotten that. So he treats everyone well, the way he was treated when he was in that position or the way he wishes he had been (treated). He is a very decent guy.”
The Tonight Show was not as tough as the Montreal's Just For Laughs show.
“The theatre is huge. There are a number of comics there, one after another. There is a lot of pressure to be the best. If you want to stand out, you have to be the funniest one.”
She said working an audience means being able to be nimble.
“It works or it does not work with an audience. You have to be fast on your feet to work your way out of something that is not working.” She added, “You know right away. I love that about it. There is instant feedback.”
She is constantly rewriting her material.
“...I make adjustments and hopefully every time after that I get closer to getting the most laughs out of it.”
Kurt wrote material for This Hour has 22 Minutes involving the scenes where the hosts sit at the news desk at the beginning of the show.
“I was writing when Rick Mercer and the original cast were still there. You learn the format. The killer is when you try to sell your pieces to everybody. Only so many pieces can go on and the cast has to read them,” she said.
“The cast can torpedo your piece. If they want something they have written, they will not read your piece. It is a tough blow to the ego. If they use your piece it is the glory you feel.”
Kurt has been brought to the city by a new group, Laff City, which was formed in February.
“The goal is creating a regular affordable comedy club format, which was lacking in the Greater Sudbury area,” said Derek Young, publicity director.
“Elvira is the most notable act we have worked with thus far and is a sign of good things to come for Laff City and our supporters."
Advance tickets are $27 at Records On Wheels downtown and at Rock Topic on Lasalle Boulevard. Tickets can be purchased at the gate for $32. The Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, Access Aids Network and Sudbury Pride will receive $5 from the net proceeds on each ticket sold. A rain venue is being firmed up by organizer Derek Young. Phone 918-2601.
