Chris Borris of OSSTF says working as an EA is impractical financially.

 Ontario has one of the best secondary and post-secondary school systems in the world. While teachers are well compensated and negotiate with the province annually over wages and benefits, the same cannot be said for all ‘education workers’ — the educational assistants, continuing education teachers, instructors, psychologists, secretaries, speech-language pathologists,

Capital Comedy Review —The drive-in experience and BCP is back

 The relativativity of the perception of time is interesting to me. Like how summers when you were a kid seemed to last a lifetime, but as an adult two months can just fly by. I’m feeling this phenomenon when I consider the last time we had Derek Seguin on the

Capital Comedy Review: The drive-in experience and BCP is back

 The relativativity of the perception of time is interesting to me. Like how summers when you were a kid seemed to last a lifetime, but as an adult two months can just fly by. I’m feeling this phenomenon when I consider the last time we had Derek Seguin on the

Capital Comedy Review: Jon Dore, Bryan Hatt and more

 Generally speaking, for a comic to not show up for a booked spot is not good form. Sometimes this happens. Like last Tuesday for the Launching Pad show. I heard pretty close to showtime that the host couldn’t make it. I had just been speaking with local comic David Haddad

Capital Comedy Review: Ahmed Ahmed, Big Comedy Parade and more

 With the end of the Summer Comedy Competition, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Yuk Yuk’s Ottawa return to regularly scheduled programming. Tuesdays are generally reserved for the Launching Pad show which features some of the more experienced comics in the city, and Wednesdays return to New Talent Showcase - shows for

Capital Comedy Review: Summer Comedy Competition Finals

 Photo: Chris Borris and The Honourable Catherine McKenna present Michael Lifshitz with trophy The 2019 Yuk Yuk’s Mike MacDonald Summer Comedy Competition came to a close last week with a brilliant final on Wednesday the 28th. This year Yuk Yuk’s partnered with sponsors Ottawa Life Magazine and Crackup Comedy Festival and in

Capital Comedy Review: More semi-finals, Jeremy Hotz and a Cornwall show

 From left: Rynestone, Clint Gibbons, Mike Bombay, Kyle Mesdag and Jesse Reynolds Like most people, I used to rely on traditional methods to sense the close of summer and the corresponding approach of autumn. Things like leaves changing and days getting shorter. More recently my summer has become measured in

Capital Comedy Review: Semi-finals, Pride and Dylan’s birthday extravaganza

 One would think mid-summer may not be a super busy time in the comedy world as people tend to prefer being outdoors, but this year seems to be an exception. I suppose an argument can be made that escaping the heat to laugh in a cool basement might be appealing.

Capital Comedy Review: Competitions, Kyle Brownrigg and Big Comedy Parade

 Photo: 2016 Alterna Crackup Comedy Festival (from left: Gerry Dee, Jessica Holmes, Tazz Norris, Tim Steeves, Patrick McKenna, Chris Borris, Kyle Brownrigg and Harry Doupe) In case you haven’t heard, Ottawa is basically a world superpower city for the production of stand up comics. Many of the best in the business

Tragedy plus time equals comedy

 I looked around at the roughly one hundred people gathered in the cool, dark basement, with excitement as my favourite show was about to begin. A Spotify playlist provides the background music until the sound channel switches to the intro CD starting with Gob’s Paint it Black. As the beat

Yuk Yuks Gets X-Rated for January Comedy Showcase

 Images supplied by YukYuks.com. The Pterodactyl laughs as the Drag Queen comic flashes the audience. Yup, it was going to be that kind of night at Yuk Yuks.   Okay, so it was a hairdresser – one of many populating a crowd that night with perfectly coifed manes – but