My First Native Conference

Taking Don Burnstick's advice, I started working the Native conference circuit.  It was a way for me to get more exposure and more stage time.  As well as make a little bit of money and travel a bit.
I did a search on the internet for Native conferences and was surprised at how many there were.  But then again, Native people will get together for any reason.
I contacted a few of them, introduced myself, told them what I could offer in terms of entertainment (which at the time was 15 minutes of comedy), asked for one night's accommodations and travel and a small performance fee.  I got some responses that said they would keep my name on file, others said they don't have the budget for entertainment, and so on.
The first conference I got was in Vancouver.  I think it was in November.  I remember I was supposed to fly out first thing in the morning, but there was a snow storm and my flight was delayed about 6 hours or so.  But I finally made it down there.
The conference was held at a resort hotel.  It was super nice.  Because most of the rooms were already sold out for the conference, I was put in a suite.
Before the conference, I connected with an old high school friend through Facebook.  He had never seen me perform before, so I invited him along.  The organizers said it was okay for him to join us for dinner.  I was set to perform after dinner.
Now, before this show, I had only really performed for university audiences.  University students are open-minded.  I can say just about anything I want.
I promised the conference people I would do about 15 minutes of material, which is all I had at the time.  These very same jokes, I had done them before in front of university crowds and got a good response, so I thought it would be the same for this crowd.
The show started off great.  My opening jokes got big laughs.
Now because I had just started on my comedy journey, I was learning as much as I could about the craft of stand-up comedy any way I could.  Because there were no other stand-up comics in Prince George to learn from and share ideas, I got my information from books and the internet.  And I read somewhere that when you're putting together your shows, start off with strong material, and finish off with strong material.  So your best jokes go at the start and the end.
My opening jokes were fine.  My middle jokes were good too.  I still have a lot of them in my current routine.  But my closing joke contained the phrase 'anal probes'.  This did not go over very well at all.  I don't know if you've ever heard a room of 1,500 people go silent before, but all I could hear were the clinking of forks on plates because people were still eating dessert.  And this came right after they were laughing pretty hard and loud.  I thought my mic went dead.  I thought they didn't hear the punchline.  But they did.  And they didn't like it.
And because this was my last joke, I had nothing else to say except good night.  Then I slinked off the stage and sank into my seat.  My friend just kinda rolled his eyes at me like he didn't know what to say.  What could he say?
Then the MC got on the mic and said, "The ______ is not responsible for the content of the comedian," and got a bigger round of applause than I did.  I felt even lower.
Then some lady came over and handed me my cheque and thanked me for my performance.  I turned to my friend and said, "Do you wanna get out of here?"  Luckily there was a door near our table and I didn't have to walk through the audience to get out of there.
But when I got into the hallway, some guy stopped me and asked me a few questions and said something like, "Yeah, you....were.....funny, until the end there."  And I just stood there as he was saying this.  I wanted to bolt.
My friend left.  I went to my room.  And I hid there until I had to leave the next day.  I even got room service breakfast because I didn't want to run into anyone that may have seen me perform.
I've since dropped that joke from my act.

Tomorrow Night's Show

I will be performing with Native American comic Jim Ruel tomorrow night in Prince George.  He is in BC to perform at a celebration about an hour and a half outside of Prince George tonight with female comic Shishonia, also of Native American descent.  Unfortunately, she is flying back to LA tomorrow so she will not be on the show.
So I thought I would take advantage of him being in the area and I threw together a last minute show.  I just found out that we are competing against a country music concert.  And for some reason, Indians love cowboy music?!  I'm still optimistic we will get a good crowd.
Mike McGuire will be our MC.  I've worked with him a few times now.  Also on the bill is a couple of local comics that I have not seen perform before.
Jim is part of the Chiefs of Comedy with JR Redwater, as well as Another NDN Uprising with Shishonia and Gilbert Brown.
The comedy tours featuring all-Native comics is based on the Original Kings of Comedy (Cedric the Entertainer, DL Hughley, Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac), and the Blue Collar Comedy tour (Jeff Foxworthy, Ron White, Larry the Cable Guy).  There's been a Latin Kings of Comedy, and a Queens of Comedy, it's about time for a Native version of it.
I'm looking forward to the show, as well as spending time with another Native comic and talking shop.  I'd like to know what it's like working in the States and especially at Indian casinos.
But I will let you know how the show goes in a couple of days.  I will be travelling home then.

My First Time at Vancouver Yuk Yuk's

Yuk Yuk's is a national comedy room and the biggest and best stage in Vancouver.  I had only performed in an actual comedy club twice before.  Once for the Great Canadian Laugh-Off in Toronto at Yuk Yuk's where I met the founder/owner Mark Breslin, and once at a now-defunct comedy club in Prince George called the Shiznit, or something like that.
After performing in Toronto, Mark Breslin said if I am ever in Vancouver, or any city where there is a Yuk's, to give him a call and he'll get me onstage.  Well, anyone can get onstage at Yuk's on their amateur night.  But I called him, and he set up a date for me to get up there.
It was a Wednesday night, Yuk's Pro-Am Night.  The week before, I went and checked out Yuk's to see what it was like.  On a pro-am night, or an amateur night, there are between 6-8 people performing, an MC introducing the acts and telling some jokes as well as a headliner doing about 20-25 minutes to close up the night.
When I was sitting in the audience, I was really impressed with a few of the local comedians.  A couple of them have since gone on to do Comedy Now specials.  One girl did not get any laughs, and I saw her run out of the club with her hands over her face.  It looked like she was crying.
But the one guy that made the biggest impression on me was Rob Pue.  To say he killed is an understatement.  He tore the roof off the place.  When I left Yuk's, I seriously considered not performing there the following week.  There was no way that I was gonna get those people to laugh at my little jokey-jokes.  I wasn't funny;  this guy was funny.
I had a week to prepare.  And to doubt myself.  Are these people gonna laugh at my little jokey-jokes?  You should've seen the way they were laughing during Rob's set.  And afterwards, you could feel a buzz in the audience and you know when you laugh so hard it takes you a moment to catch your breath?  Well, we all took a collective breath after he left the stage.  There was almost relief that he left because we couldn't laugh anymore without hurting ourselves.

Anyways, the following week I showed up at Yuk's to perform my first set on the big stage.  I had prepared all week.  But still I was unsure of how my stuff was gonna go over.
When I got there, they told me I was gonna go on third.  Fine, cool.
Then Rob Pue shows up.  And he asks for a spot.  Because he's a pro, they give him a spot.  He was now on third.  I was fourth and had to follow him!
How the hell am I supposed to follow Rob Pue?!
I was nervous already, but that made it worse.  I went for a walk in the hallway and pulled out my set list to look it over one more time.
Then Rob went up.  And he killed.  Again.  Just like last week.
The MC went out there and then introduced me.  I told my jokes.  They laughed.  They laughed in the right places.
I walked offstage and thought to myself, "What the hell was I so worried about?"
I held my own.  It felt good.  No worries.
The third time I did Yuk's, I was able to film it and it follows.

Opening for Don Burnstick

About a year after I started performing stand-up comedy, I opened for Don Burnstick.  A friend of mine told me he was performing in town and suggested I open for him.  I sent a couple of emails to his people and the organization that was bringing him in.  I got the OK and prepared my set.
I had seen him perform a couple of times before, once on my brother's birthday.  So I knew this was gonna be a big deal.  At the time, there were very few Native comedians around.  He was definitely the biggest Native comedian in Canada.
The gig was at a roller rink, during the summer, before a dance.  It was still light out, and some doors were open, so the room was still kinda bright.  And the tables were quite aways from the stage to make room for a dance floor.  So these were not the best conditions for a comedy show.
I met him briefly before the show.  I had my daughter with me and I walked around with her as a way of pacing.
He introduced me.  When I was onstage, that's when I really noticed how far away the audience was.  The show went OK.  I taped it.  I have a copy of it somewhere.  I remember he laughed really hard at one of my jokes.  The one about the Metis taking half a day off for National Aboriginal Day.

I forget how long it was when I opened for him again.  But this time it was at a hotel banquet room.  Nice stage.  Again, I didn't get a chance to really talk to him.  But I think it was at this time I asked him for some advice.  Or it might have been the first time I opened for him.
The advice he gave me was to work the Native conference circuit.  Native people get together for any reason.  There are Native conferences all over the country.  Youth conferences, health conferences, employment conferences, industry, etc.  And they always have banquets and they are always looking for entertainment after these banquets.
He suggested I send them my info, tell them what I can provide, ask them to fly me in, put me up for the night, feed me, and don't ask for any money.  Tell them you will do it for free.
I did some research.  There were plenty of conferences.  I contacted a few, but I asked for a small fee for my performance.
It allowed me to travel a little bit, made a little bit of money, but more importantly, I got stage time, I got to perform in front of appreciative Native audiences.  In Prince George, where I was going to university, there was no comedy club, there were no open mics.
I've opened for him a couple of more times since.  I'm grateful for the advice.  It allowed me to create my act and get my name out there.

This Past Weekend

I opened for Erica Sigurdson over the weekend at a place called Nancy O's in Prince George.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out the shows were sold out.  The first night I did my best material, which can be found on my youtube clip.  This was the first time performing at this venue, so I pulled out my 'A' material.  I did just over 5 minutes, which I haven't done in over a year.  For the past year, I've been doing full shows, so going back to 5 minutes was an adjustment.  But the shows went great.  The second night, I did a new joke, something I wrote a couple of days ago.  It went over well, a keeper for sure.  I'm not good at judging numbers, but there must've been about 40 or 50 people there.  If you've never been, I highly recommend it.  I hope to be back there soon.
Erica held a workshop for the comedians that opened for her.  We taped our sets and she critiqued them.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend.  But I am working on a workshop myself.  It is geared towards youth that are interested in trying stand-up comedy.  I am hoping to debut it at home on Haida Gwaii.  It would be a 3 session workshop spread out over three days to allow time for the youth to write and develop material.  And at the end of the workshop, the youth would put on a show with me hosting and headlining.  If it works out, I will be offering this workshop at high schools and friendship centres.

How I Got My Start in Comedy

Whenever I do interviews, the inevitable first question is always, "How did I get my start in comedy?"  And I tell them, "I was forced into it."  Which always takes people by surprise.  And I was forced into it.  It was either that or take an 'F'.  I got my start in comedy at university.  I took a class on Native humour.  Now it wasn't a class on how to be funny.  Remember, this was university.  We studied it. . We studied Native humour in all its forms, including movies, short stories, novels, songs, etc.  It was a discussion driven course.  We also had to write a short paper on our favourite humorist.  I chose Sherman Alexie.  And instead of a final exam, we all had to do a performance.  I told a couple of stories.
The first story was about how I wanted the job of the guy that played the suspect in the Crimestoppers commercials, because I always seemed to fit the description of the suspect.  I remember watching a Crimestoppers commercial and it showed a re-enactment of the crime and the actor looked nothing like the suspect.  I fit the description better than he did.  I should be the actor that plays the suspect in these commercials!
The second story came about after I won a trip for 2 to Mexico.  We ended up not taking the trip because we were pregnant at the time and she couldn't fly.  So we took the money instead.  $2000, I believe.  The second story I told was about the hassle I had trying to cash the cheque.  It wasn't really a hassle, it just took awhile.  I forget why exactly, but while I was standing there waiting, I came up with the joke.  Basically, I say it took so long because the bank didn't believe the cheque was real.  They held it up to the light, they put it under one of those UV ray lights (right in front of me), and said they may have to send it to the lab to verify its authenticity.
I was able to bring both stories together when a friend told me that I didn't want to become the actor that played the suspect in the Crimestoppers commercials because apparently these guys get stopped by the cops all the time.  What happens is, these old ladies see the commercials and when they see guy in real life, they think the actor is the ACTUAL suspect and they call the cops.  It happens alot. It's gotten to the point now where they have to carry cards around that say they are actors in the Crimestoppers commercials.  And my story went that even if I did get the job as the Crimestoppers re-enactment guy, and I did get stopped by the cops, and I had one of those cards, the cops still wouldn't believe me.  They would treat me much like the bank teller did.
Anyways, I told those stories.  I got a bunch of laughs.  I got 20/20 for my final performance, and an A+ for my final grade.  I think it was my only A+ ever in university.
I wrote an article for Spirit magazine about the first time I performed comedy.  It follows:

SPIRIT magazine article - Winter 2005 

This was from the "Are You Experienced" issue which looked at the Aboriginal experience in Canada. The articles were first person accounts on the Aboriginal experience. Adam Beach, Karla Robinson, and Waneek Horn-Miller also contributed. 

Here is my story: 

How It Feels...to be a Stand-Up Comedian 

The first time I went out on stage to perform stand-up comedy is a blur. It all went by so quickly. I was enrolled in a class at the University of Northern British Columbia called Indigenous Humour. Instead of final exam, we were asked to do a performance. I chose to do stand-up comedy. 

I was on stage for approximately 20 minutes, but it seemed like 2. I told two stories, the first about the hassle around trying to cash a cheque, and the second about wanting the job as the suspect in the Crimestoppers commercial because I always seem to fit the description of the suspect. 

Before I went onstage, I was pacing and pacing, trying to rid myself of the nervous energy. A single drop of sweat ran down my side. I had not memorized my routine, so I had my sheet of paper with me and was worried people might see it shaking, because my hands were trembling so badly. 

I remember people laughing and applauding, but I thought they were just being polite. When it was over, I just found the nearest seat and sank into it as far as I could. I was glad it was over. When the evening was over, people were congratulating me, but it all seemed quite surreal. I didn't know it at the time, but I had just stumbled across a new career path. Since that first time, I have continued with my stand-up comedy and have done approximately a dozen performances and I even opened up for Don Burnstick.

Greetings & Salutations

Well, I guess I should introduce myself.  My name is Brian Majore aka The Bloody Savage.  That is my stage name.  I am a stand-up comedian.  I've been doing this for about 7 years, maybe 8.  This blog is intended as an outlet for my random thoughts, a place to share my taste in music, comedy, whatever, and to let you know how my career is going.  I will post dates/times/locations of my gigs and afterwards, report on how they went.  I also have a few projects in mind and I will update you on how they are coming along.  In the meantime, check out some of my youtube videos.  Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvSuAV7oX7Y