Grantblings

Puppet Up Toronto Tour Diary – Day 13 – Amazing Show

November is here! So shortly after midnight I began my novel. For those that don’t know, November is National Novel Writing Month where people attempt to try and write a complete novel in 30 days. I’ve attempted before and never completed it, but I have stated things that have become bigger projects later. The goal is 50,000 words in total by December 1, which works out to about 1666 words per day. So last night, again after midnight, I got about 1100 words down and then turned in for the evening.

In the morning, I got a tweet from Tyler Stewart, drummer of Barenaked Ladies replying to my query about where to find good Barbacue in Toronto. He told me of a few places, one of which was Stockyards, where Brian and I went last week. I looked up the two other places he mentioned and decided on Barque. I figured out how to get there on the subway and was off for some barbecue.

The trip out was easy and the place was easy to find. Nice little walk through the neighborhood where the restaurant is, lots of interesting shops.

The restaurant was a little trendy looking, but nice. Took a seat at the bar and was given a bucket of popcorn while waiting to order. It was the lunch menu, and if you know me, I like to order combos, but I finally decided on a brisket sandwich and then some pulled pork. I thought the pulled pork would come on the side, but they put it on the sandwhich. Didn’t phase me one bit. The barbecue was good and I had a pumpkin mousse for desert. Good stuff! Then I was back on the subway and back to the hotel to wallow in my meat coma.

After a bit I got up and continued on the novel. Another 771 words which puts me ahead. Just got to keep it up.

After writing, I practiced a little with the I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face track to get the beats down. I popped over to the theatre early to get some practice time in with the puppet too.

Tonight’s show was just absolutely amazing. The best show of the run and Patrick said one of the best shows ever. It really was a fantastic night. Backstage we could almost tell that it was going to be amazing because of the energy of the audience. Their laughter was infectious. Seriously. They were laughing, we were laughing. Everyone shone tonight and, more importantly, we shone as a team. That team included the audience as well.

So many funny sketches. The ‘What if’ of the War of 1812, the life story of Rob Ford (Toronto’s Mayor), a hilarious game show sketch, a scene where the first line was ‘Nice Pants!’, a great Bond song, the Hot Dogs recreating Annie….every sketch was just the tops. The improv was great, the puppetry was funny. Just a classic night and one I was so honored to be part of.

Alien Barbershop was okay, the suggestions was The History Of The Universe. Someone had also shouted out Easter as well and Patrick said, “Bonus points if you can work in Easter.” So my rhyme was:

There was a Big Bang
The universe started to fill.
And because it did,
We dye eggs in April.

Got an okay laugh. Not the strongest rhyme of them all, but I got them bonus points.

And tonight was just amazing because I got to do the Lady Singer in I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face and Big Java in Java. I cannot describe to you how that makes me feel. I still have a lot to learn on both, especially Face, but I got a great reaction on Face and look forward to developing it further.

After the show we took in some pub food and just basked in a really great show. We will go out there tomorrow night and try to recapture it again.

I love doing this show. Don’t want to do anything else.