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Emmett Hall is something of a comedy overachiever. He is one half of heavy metal band Knights of the Night, performs with the Sunday Service and is featured on their monthly podcast (A Beautiful Podcast), and still finds time to hang out with Sad Mag when he’s not illustrating My Little Pony. You’ve probably seen him all over town, but tomorrow night you can see him on the magnificent Cobalt stage. Read on!

Jeff Lawrence: Tell me a bit about yourself and what you do when you’re not being funny. Or are you always funny?

Emmett Hall: I am a British Columbian by birth who’s been working in the animation industry for about 8 years. Currently storyboarding on My Little Pony. My face is crooked, so I am always funny.

JL: I heard you are in a band called “Knights of the Night” where you play metal dressed as actual knights. Discuss.

EH: Comedian Ken Lawson and I realized we had a mutual love for heavy metal. Ken’s an extremely accomplished guitar player and I can fake my way through the bass and sing. We figured we could convince people to watch us play metal so long as we mince about in a jocular fashion. It’s tricky because we want to stay true to the glory of the music itself, but never stop taking the piss out the bombastic chivalrous personae blasting it out.  Our armour consists of long -johns and altered dresses.

JL: What do you like about doing comedy?

EH: I like that I can invent contexts that are completely unacceptable and incoherent in any other form of expression.  Comedy is also a very entertaining way exercise/exorcise my personal confusion and ego.
And most importantly, in the end times…when there’s nothing left, there will still be something funny.

JL: What do you dislike about it?

EH: The lack of satisfaction in performing, I guess. When people laugh at something I do, then I settle on the objective that that was merely the intended response. Generally nothing more. When I bomb, the weight of the all the work and effort I put in topples down in the wake of humiliation I subjected myself to.
How dramatic! Nontended response [sic]!

JL: What kind of humour do you find the funniest?

EH: Mine. Done properly. So not by me.

JL: On a scale of 1-10, where do you place your feelings on Valentine’s Day and why?

EH: I’d give it a 2 because Valentine’s Day is so important.

Sad Mag Comedy Show: Valentine Edition

February 9th

The Cobalt (917 Main Street)

Doors at 8:00PM, Show at 9:00PM

$10 cover, includes a 1-year Sad Mag subscription and dance party admission

RSVP on Facebook

We could not be more delighted that Sad Comedy: Valentine Edition will be hosted by the lovely Caitlin Howden. Originally from Montreal and trained in theatre at Ryerson in Toronto, she has a very long list of awards for being funny and also has a pretty amazing worst-show story. Read on!

Sad Mag: Who is Caitlin Howden?

Caitlin Howden: “OH, that’s me.” I emerge from the back of the room looking guilty and afraid.

“Why? What happened? What did I do?” I put away my cell phone, which I was using for one of my many fake phone calls I have to look less awkward in my own body. “Did I block anyone in? You’re not going to make me to a handstand, are you?”

SM: How did you end up in Vancouver? / What do you miss about Montreal?

CH: I spent 9 years in Toronto and I fell in love with it. I a very proud Montreal native, because it makes me feel just a bit cooler. I go back to both cities quite often. But I had never been to Vancouver. Everyone was talking about how booming the film and TV scene was out here. In Toronto, there are commercials and Canadian TV a-plenty, so I thought I would try my hand out here. Turns out as soon as I moved out here things just dried up. The US started offering the same tax credits that made Vancouver so alluring to US work. So here I am! Ah, but don’t feel so bad for me. Come on, stop crying. There is a happy ending, I have also fallen in love with Vancouver. I love my Canadian cities like I love my men; hard to reach and in threes. (improv joke)

SM: What was your first stage performance?

CH: I played Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz in grade 3. I thought I was playing Dorothy, because that was what my brain heard. Then we showed up for first day of rehearsal and I cried.

SM: What do you like about doing comedy?

CM: We make people laugh. And laughter is good for you. And it’s what I’m good at. Some people are good at having stability, going for regular check ups, paying their taxes, or sleeping at night without full on panic attacks.  It takes all kinds, right?

SM: What do you dislike about it?

CH: Please refer to what other people are good at in previous question.

SM: What was the worst show you’ve ever done?

CH: Probably the one where I fell off the stage while wearing a dress into a table holding three margaritas, a pitcher of beer, and a group of grown people who made a face I’ll never forget. They reacted to me the same way I would react to an open-mouthed shark falling on my face.

I had to do the rest of the 2 hour show with bloody knees, smelling of beer, and the lady-hose I was wearing to conceal my “less than a man, more than I’d like” leg hair was so torn up I went bare-legged and fancy-free. I could hear people in the front row whisper “Oh no, the blood is getting caught in her leg hair”. That was a shit night.

SM: Where do you get your inspirations?

CH: I like to stand naked in front of the mirror a lot. It’s usually my milky white skin that does the trick regarding inspiration.

SM: What do you like best: theatre, improv or standup?

CH: Well, Theatre is reaaaallllllly cute, and Improv did the funniest thing last night. Stand Up and I had a one-night stand back in 2003, so… I like them all, but Improv is the one paying my bills right now… .IMPROV! I CHOOSE IMPROV!

SM: What is the funniest thing you have ever seen?

CH: In this order:

See Caitlin this Thursday at the Cobalt! $10 gets you a one-year subscription, the finest comedy in Vancouver, and an all-night dance party.

Sad Com­edy: Valen­tine Edition

The Cobalt (917 Main St)

Thurs­day, Feb­ru­ary 9th, 2012

Doors at 8:00PM, show at 9:00PM

Cover $10 (includes subscription)

RSVP on Face­book