Earlier this year, funny people from across Canada were invited to vie for the chance to become 2019’s SiriusXm Top Comic, by submitting a link to footage of their best performance. Then, from the hundreds who registered, 60 were brought in for an audition — 30 in Vancouver and 30 in Toronto.
There were three nights of auditions in both cities, with ten comics each. Nick and I were invited to be part of the audience for the one held at Yuk Yuk’s on Richmond Street last week.
Each person had a five minute set, which was evaluated by a panel of judges. The whole thing was professionally recorded, and everyone will receive a video and audio file of their performance.
And, three were chosen to move on to the next round.
The 18 semi-finalists will have their tapes streaming on the SiriusXM Top Comic website, and the public will be able to watch them all and vote for their favourite. Do that here!
The six comics with the most votes, plus two chosen by industry judges, will then be invited to the gala event which will take place during Toronto’s Comedy Festival, that happens in September. Anyone who wants to buy a ticket can come and see the final round played out live. (We went last year and had so much fun. I wrote about it here, if you’d like to see. I also did a second post focusing on the remarkable venue in which the finale was held.)
In the end, one Canadian Top Comic will be crowned. The winner will win $25,000, plus a number of opportunities to perform in excellent shows, including one which will be held in Europe.
↑ Comedian Ben Miner was the host for the evening. (Note, his Toronto Raptors hat … this was the evening before the big game that made our team champions!) ↑
↑ While the judges were making their selections, the audience was treated to a set by comedian Adam Richmond. ↑
↑ The semi-finalists with Ben Miner. ↑
Based on what we saw last week, the person named Top Comic will be a very funny person, in deed. We thought everyone who auditioned was great, but alas, someone has to win. Congratulations and good luck to those moving to the next round!
Thanks for reading, xo loulou
