Ian MacIntyre

Hey everyone, welcome to 2011! Lots of great stuff coming up this year, not to mention some fun stuff I recently posted online.

First, Sunday Night Live is back (actually, it never left) and we’ve got an amazing show coming up this Sunday with Deadpan Powerpoint mastermind and frequent Ian drinking buddy Mike Kiss. This will definitely be one to write home about, so come see it in order to be able to write home. Over the next few weeks we’ve got hosts from TSN, as well as a HUGE Superbowl Extravaganza (which will mostly likely involve watching the Superbowl). Check back for details.

New episodes of The Puffin online – check out our website or join our new Facebook Group for updates!

I’ve also written a couple of new pieces for Dork Shelf – here’s my review of The Green Hornet (meh), an article on the Dark Knight Rises casting (hell’s yes!), and some year-end TV and comic book thoughts.

In other news, I’m about half way through The Wire. Hey, why didn’t anyone tell me this show was this good? What’s that? Everyone told me that? Okay, I’m just lazy.

Hey everyone, just wanted to drop an update about some shows coming up this December. I’ll be appearing at the Bad Dog Theatre this month in the (now) annual holiday favourite, It’s a Wonderful Improvised Life. Not to mention a show I’ve been really looking forward to – Geoff Hendry & Associates Holiday Party for Hope Air. This is a great fundraiser for Hope Air, a charity that provides airfare for people to get to medical treatment. I’ll be doing PowerPoint Karaoke, along with one of my favourite improvisers, Jen Goodhue.

I had a great time at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival this past month, and Sunday Night Live’s been humming along nicely (this week with host Mark Debonis). Brian Crosby and I also have new episodes of The Puffin – you can listen to that here.

Oh, the McDonalds commercial I shot in September is finally airing. Seems to mostly be on CBC. Don’t feel pressured to buy muffins, though – I already got paid, regardless.

And finally, I’m linking a tribute to Leslie Nielsen. He is without question one of the funniest, most charming, subtle, and deadpan comedic actors of all time, and his movies had a huge impact on me as a kid. I remember my friends and I having our minds blown watching Airplane, The Naked Gun movies, and Hot Shots, to name a few. Heck, even in Men With Brooms a few years back he stole the show. A toast, to Leslie Nielsen!

Hey everyone, this week is the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival! 6 days of sketch comedy from all over North America (read. mostly Toronto, and wherever else people could afford to fly here from). There’s tons of great show this week – I personally can’t wait to see The Lusty Mannequins, Falcon Powder, The Majors, and a group called Ninja Sex Party from New York.

You can see myself in 2 shows, Saturday the 6th with Approximately 3 Peters at the Comedy Bar (with LA’s Newstradamus and Toronto’s Punch In The Box). Or you could come back Sunday night for Sunday Night Live with the Sketchersons! We’ve got a huge guest in the works, so check back for that.

Seriously, super-funny dude.

Oh, I almost forgot, you can see me do the free improv set after the Second City Mainstage Show on Friday (9:30pm, 51 Mercer St.). The show is Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes, and it’s pretty great. The improv set will feature the cast, myself, and a special guest… the Sassy Gay Friend himself, Brian Gallivan! This guy is seriously one of the funniest sketch comedians I’ve ever seen, and I can’t wait to do the set. Check it out!

Oh, I almost forgot, I recorded a commercial for Manitoba Tel this week. So… watch for that… Manitoba.

Right now I’m watching AMC’s new Walking Dead series pilot. I’m a fan of the comics, and really digging the show.

Hey everyone, just getting ready for this weekend’s Sunday Night Dead at Comedy Bar. We’ve got Sketchersons founding member Tal Zimmerman as host, and music by the Jean Shallots. Plus, a spooky haunted house for you to enter the bar through!

The last couple of SuNL’s have been great, with Leslie Seiler this week and Kevin McDonald last week. I think we even have a picture…

Oh, and then there's Scott Thompson. And some guy.

Just a reminder that this weekend’s special Canadian Comedy Awards edition of Sunday Night Live has a special guest host, from the Kids In The Hall… Kevin McDonald!

We’ll also have an appearance by Toronto Ward 19 City Council Candidate Sean McCormick, as well as TWO Special Guests! I can’t say who they are, but I do know who they are, and who they are is worth you coming out to see the show alone. I promise I’ll shut up about this show next week. For now, tickets are available here ($10, and they will sell out).

In other news, I get back to Toronto tomorrow, and I have 3 stand-up show lined up for this week: Wednesday at Corktown Comedy, Thursday at McVeigh’s, and Friday at the Dungeon Masters of Comedy!

I leave you this week with one of my favourite all-time Kids sketches. It’s so stupid, but still so well-crafted. The Kids in a nutshell. See you all on the weekend!

Hey everyone, remember that big Sunday Night Live news I told you about last week? No, you don’t remember? Well, it’s right below here.- yes, I understand you’ve got a lot of other things going o- really, no that sounds like a great show. Uh, send me a Facebook invite. Anyway, I can finally tell you that our host for October 17^th’s Sunday Night Live is Kevin McDonald, of Kids In The Hall! I’m understandably pretty excited by this – their show was one of the reasons I got into sketch comedy as a kid. It’s going to be a huge show, celebrating the Canadian Comedy Awards in Toronto that weekend (my fellow Sketchersons are nominated as “best sketch troupe”, for the work they did last year). I’ll have more details about tickets as they become available.

That’s not the only show I’m doing this month though. On Thursday the 21^st I’ll be at Comedy Above The Pub, Todd Van Allen’s room down at McVeigh’s (we all remember him from my appearance on his podcast this summer). The following week I’m doing stand-up at Clandestiny, hosted by this year’s Toronto Comedy Brawl champion, K. Trevor Wilson. Great shows, one and all. Of course there’s always a new Puffin each week, not to mention Sunday Night Live shows on the 24^th and 31^st (not sure how we’ll play the Halloween thing, but I can’t wait).

I’m also super excited to share my recently completed voice over demo, which has already been making the rounds. I recorded this as part of TA2 Sound + Music’s Voice Over Intensive, and I can highly recommend the course. Mr. Jason Deline is your teacher, and the guy is happy to impart a Yoda-level amount of voiceover wisdom.

As for stuff I’ve been enjoying lately, new episodes of Community have been just as hilarious as the first season. Watch it now. Next week I’ll be in Nova Scotia for Thanksgiving, catching up on TV and turkey. Hope everyone’s having a great October!

Hello everyone, welcome to October. I call it the best month for several reasons, mostly Halloween at the end of the month. My last two years’ costumes have been pretty… involved, as you can see here and here. This year I still haven’t settled on a costume – feel free to give me some ideas.

As for shows in the month of October, there’s already some pretty cool stuff in the works. This Sunday you can see me at Sunday Night Live, with our host Amanda Walsh (formerly of MuchMusic and other stuff). She was at read-through tonight, and was super-funny. After that show I’m taking a week off to head back to Nova Scotia for my traditional Thanksgiving meal of several donairs. I’m going to see if there’s an open-mic of any kind I can perhaps drop in on. After I get back, Sunday Night Live is gonna have a pretty awesome guest… I’m not sure I’m supposed to say anything, so I, uh, won’t. Yet.

As for shows here in Toronto, I’ll be appearing next Wednesday night at Corktown Comedy (one of my favourite rooms in the city, which I randomly ended up hosting last Wednesday). After that you can see Approximately 3 Peters at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, Saturday November 6th. There’s rumoured to be a special guest in attendance… okay, it’s my Mom. But it’ll be the first time she’s seen me perform live in years. Come on out and convince her that her son is funny. Finally, I’ll be doing my first set at The Rivoli’s ALTdotCOMEDY stand-up show, Monday November 8th.

Finally, I recorded a radio commercial for Mobilicity Wireless this week – listen for the one with the dopey guy who’s locked into a cellphone contract! Oh, and the McDonalds commercial should begin airing any time now.

In parting, two awesome events happening in Toronto this weekend. One is the Nuit Blanche festival, which is seriously one of my favourite things about this city. I highly encourage all to take part. Secondly is the Fresh Meat Showcase, happening Monday night at the Second City. I’m hugely excited and proud that my girlfriend Alice Moran has been invited to perform – 5 nominees will be selected for this year’s Tim Sims Encouragement Award. It’s gonna be an awesome night!

I leave you all with a picture from Nuit Blanche 2008. Be there!

I think this art was made out of old water bottles. Either way, we randomly saw the mayor checking it out!

Some fun stuff going on in the past few weeks, as well as some great shows coming up.

This week I shot a McDonald’s commercial, which saw me eat about 60 muffins (or at least, bites of muffins) in one day. Look for that commercial to start annoying you during your favourite shows in a few weeks.

Last night I hosted the latest show by The Majors (Pete Hill, Mike Kiss, Paul Snepsts, and Brian Crosby). If there’s an unfunny sketch about the Incredible Hulk, I haven’t seen it. I also just got the news that Approximately 3 Peters will be performing at this year’s Toronto Sketch Festival. Check us out Saturday, November 6th at Comedy Bar.

Speaking of Comedy Bar, I practically live there now. Sunday Night Live has been going great, and we’ve got another show coming up this weekend. Sunday, September 19th with host Dan Galea and musical guest Sarah Loucks.

Lastly we have new episodes of The Puffin, plus a review I recently wrote of The Social Network, for Dork Shelf. In the world of “things I didn’t have a hand in”, I saw this last night on The Daily Show, and this on The Colbert Report. I think it might be road trip time…

So this past weekend saw a lot of time spent at Comedy Bar. Friday night Alice Moran, Cam Wylie, and myself played our first Catch 23 show under the team name Mighty Morphin’ Pizzeria (so named for Billy, the Blue Ranger, and the pizza franchise he currently owns). Oddly we managed to win – so we’ll be back at Catch 23 soon enough!

Saturday was the Peters 5th Anniversary, which was even more fun than I could have imagined. Sets from Boiled Wieners, Ms. Chickaburns, and the Somethingorothers – it doesn’t get any better than that. You can also see the behind the scenes video Brian Crosby (Accidental Company, The Puffin) shot:

Seriously, thanks to all who came out and wished well!

The following day I did my second Sunday Night Live show, which saw me playing an escaping convict, a blind king, an angry father, and an underground muffin enthusiast. Thanks, theatre degree! Next week we’re back with an all-new host!

This weekend I’ll be covering the Toronto Fan Expo for Dork Shelf, and trying to sneak in as much Assassin’s Creed 2 as I can. See you on the con floor!

Hey everyone, so the moment is finally here! Tomorrow night at Comedy Bar we have the Approximately 3 Peters 5th Anniversary! Woo! As previously stated we’ll be joined by 2 amazing troupes – The Boiled Wieners and Ms. Chickaburns – but we’ve also added another seldom-seen comedy act to the bill. They’re one of my personal favourites… The Somethingorothers! Plus, the entire evening will now be hosted by Mr. Mike Kiss!

Oh, and there’s been press for the show – you can check out what Eye Weekly and Panic Manual had to say! You can also hear me go on at great length about the 3 Peters on last week’s Comedy Above The Pub podcast, with Todd Van Allen and Ian Atlas. That one was a load of fun.

Seriously, it doesn’t get any better than this show. We’ve got some of our favourite old material, plus a surprising amount of new scenes. The whole show starts at 8pm sharp, Comedy Bar (945 Bloor St. W. $5.00).

In other comedy news, you can also catch me… at Comedy Bar (I’m just gonna set up a cot there). Tonight I’ll be performing in Catch 23 with Alice Moran, and Sunday I’ll be performing with The Sketchersons at Sunday Night Live. Our guest this weekend is Graham Chittenden, and musical guest is Carly and Mark. So much comedy…

Oh, and if you haven’t seen it already, one of my favourite comic book series came to a close this week. Here’s to Brian K. Vaughan’s Ex Machina #50!