MATT BARAM
HERNIE BARNES
PAUL BATES
AURORA BROWNE
JAN CARUANA
PAUL CONSTABLE
JENNIFER GOODHUE
KERRY GRIFFIN
BRUCE HUNTER
LISA MERCHANT
GINETTE MOHR
SCOTT MONTGOMERY
DOUG MORENCY
JACK MOSSHAMMER
PETER OLDRING
JAMILLAH ROSS
JERRY SCHAFER
DAVID SHORE
NAOMI SNIECKUS
MARCEL STPIERRE
CAROYLN TAYLOR
JANET VAN DE GRAFF
JENNIFER WHALEN
Music By:
BOB DERKACH
SEAN FISHER
JAMIE LAMB
MATT REID
Matt Baram
Matt Baram has just left Toronto’s acclaimed Second City comedy troupe, where he wrote and performed in six hit comedy reviews. A classically trained actor, Matt has performed extensively in theatres across Canada. His film and television credits include: The Robber Bride, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, The Newsroom, Train 48, Veritas, Soul Food, Ace Lightning, and Queer As Folk. Matt is a regular on Punched Up for the Comedy Network.
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Herbie Barnes
Herbie Barnes blames television for his short attention span. It is that
short attention span has him working in so many fields of entertainment.
As an actor Herbie has worked on many stages across Canada, in such plays
as: Toronto At Dreamers Rock, The Gap, and The Hobbit as well as acting
in such films as: Hidden in America, Dance Me Outside, and the series,
Due South and The Rez. Herbie is also a director working behind the scenes
on such plays as: The Remember, Toronto At Dreamers Rock, and The Boy
in the Tree house, as well as directing the film RepREZentin' in Fort
Chip. Herbie also works as a writer for A.P.T.N.’s Buffalo Tracks,
the comedy of Painting the Town Red and Arts AlterNative. Herbie also
teaches in universities, theatre groups and communities, and is an ongoing
teacher with Second City and Theatresports. Herbie spends his free time
writing songs and doing improvisation.
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Paul Bates
Born and raised in Toronto, Paul Bates studied theatre at York University
and joined the Second City in 1998. There he wrote and performed in five
mainstage revues including the critically acclaimed Sordido Deluxo, Family
Circus Maximus, and Psychedelicatessen.
Paul's recent television credits include appearances on The 5th Quadrant,
Red Green, and Fast Food High. His recent film credits include a spectacular
death scene in Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo, and Mooseport.
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Aurora Browne
Aurora Browne started her career in comedy when, on a whim, she signed
up with a friend for an improv course. She was swiftly recruited by sketch
troupe Urban Myth and began performing regularly in Toronto's thriving
comedy scene. Her solo work began attracting attention and in 2000 she
was hired by The Second City.
During her three years with The Second City, Browne continued to be in
demand outside of the troupe. She additionally wrote and performed in
shows like The Chick and Cubby Comedy Hour, The March of Dames, The Eclectic
Circus, The Jack Miller Show, and many more.
Loved by audiences and critics alike, Browne has also been nominated for
numerous awards. In 2000, she was nominated for the Tim Sims Encouragement
Fund Award. As part of the Second City troupe she won the Canadian Comedy
Award for Best Sketch Troupe as well as Best Sketch Show, and individually
she has been nominated for Best Female Improviser.
Aurora is now one of the co-stars of CTV's hit sketch show, Comedy Inc.
Aurora has also guest starred on Corner Gas, Robson Arms, The Eleventh
Hour, Comedy Now! (Women of the Night), The Gavin Crawford Show and Cream
of Comedy. She also hosts Comedy Now! Women of the Night Part II
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Jan Caruana
A graduate of the University of Toronto/Sheridan College Theatre and Drama Studies program, Jan has been performing, writing, directing and teaching for over five years. But improvising is what she loves best. In 2003, Jan received a Canadian Comedy Award Nomination for her work with the musical improv troupe The Lambchops. Jan is one half of the character improv duo Joey Poon (who were once called "a wonderful diversion from our inevitable impending death") and performs regularly with her friend Rica in Me LikeyY (fast and furious 2-girl improv). You can see Jan performing at a number of venues in Toronto including the Toronto Neutrino Project at the Drake or co-hosting Theatresports with Kerry Griffin every week. Jan is also one quarter of Fox Force Five...the girls who bring you the critically acclaimed Sass and the City.
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Paul Constable
Paul Constable is pleased to be a part of Monkey Toast. For the first
half of this decade, Paul was a member of Toronto's world-famous Second
City, having logged in more than one thousand performances. Other theatre
includes They're Playing Our Song (Welcome Wood Productions),
Fire (Magnus Theatre) and The Compleat Works of William
Shakespeare (St. Lawrence Stage Company). Film & TV: Doc,
The Gavin Crawford Show, Rock My World and the
short film Full of Grace.
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Jennifer Goodhue
With her beginnings as young improviser in the Canadian Improv Games,
Jennifer Goodhue performed in various theatres prior to attending the
Theatre program at University of Ottawa. Upon her arrival in Toronto,
she naturally moved towards comedy where she co-created and performed
with sketch comedy troupes, The Willies and One Inch Punch. Her character
work on the improvised soap opera Sin City caught the eye of The Second
City. As part of a stellar ensemble, she wrote and performed in five mainstage
revues, two of which won Canadian Comedy Awards for Best Sketch Troupe
and Best Sketch Show.
Aside from co-starring in her third season of CTV’s Comedy Inc.,
she was also one of the few females cast for The Conan O’Brian Show
when taped in Toronto in 2004. Jen has appeared on Adventures in Comedy,
History Bites and The Associates, and worked on various cartoons, including
her role as Maki in Airmaster. In February 2004, she had an opportunity
to perform with an ensemble cast of the play The Vagina Monologues. She
can be seen at various live venues around Toronto and has enjoyed performing
at many Improv and sketch shows including Eclectic Circus, Catch 23, Sketch.com,
Sunday Night Live at the Poor Alex, The UH – O.C. and Grrlz Night
at Bad Dog Theatre.
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Kerry Griffin
An instructor at Toronto's The Second City, Artistic Director of The Bad
Dog Theatre, and recently nominated for Best Male Improviser at the Canadian
Comedy Awards, Kerry is recognizable to most Canadians from roles as "Dad",
"Husband", or "Co-worker" in numerous commercials,
or as the cuckolded husband in Train 48. He has appeared in the award-winning
comedy short, How to Be More Chinese, played "That Guy Who Looks
Like Kevin Nealon" in the improv revues Bosses and Other Reptiles
and Y2Krazed, and brought the role of "Hamsterman" to Canada
in the Toronto production of Co-Ed Prison Sluts. Lately, he can be seen
as unctious host James Tetley in the semi-regular Inside The Out Of Work
Actors' Studio, and has been a contributing writer to CBC's Street Cents.
Kerry lives with his cat.
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Bruce Hunter
Bruce Hunter hails from Calgary originally where he studied improvisation
and theatre at the University of Calgary under the guidance of Theatre
Sports guru Keith Johnstone. As well as playing theatre sports at it's
inception during the early years of the Loose Moose Theatre he worked
in the Dramatic theatre with One Yellow Rabbit and Ikarus Players, performing
in the first years of the Edmonton fringe. Moving to Toronto in 1980 to
study Mime with Ron East at the Toronto Mime School unlimited he then
toured around Canada and the United States Performing in San Francisco,
Los Angeles, North Carolina and Florida. Returning to Toronto he became
involved in Second City in the touring and London companies and started
teaching Improvisation to what has now been thousands of students over
his 20 years at Second City. Two years of teaching at Humber College in
the music and theatre department, as well as the University of Toronto
and Ryerson as a guest lecturer. Bruce also teaches in the industrial
world, focusing on listening skills, communication and stress management
in the work place. Bruce remains a professional (working) actor and has
performed in dozens of television shows and film projects: Hanson
The Day Reagan was Shot, Good Will Hunting,
Murder at 1600, Monk and Mean Girls
to name a few. He has won awards for his commercial work in Canada and
the U.S. Was seen on computers around the globe in Truth in Advertising
a parody of the advertising business. He recently won the Pretty
funny male improviser at the Canadian Comedy Awards. Bruce played
the lead in the 2003 Cannes award winning film The Truth About
Head. Bruce is also one of the founding members of the veteran comedy
improv group Illustrated Men who have performed all over the
world. He can be seen as Agent Jones in the Canadian independent film
Phil the Alien due out in 2005. Bruce can also be seen as
a writer and performer in After Hours with Kenny Robinson
and as Rocko in Puppets Who Kill. And Host/producer of AndGo,
an improv television show.
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Lisa Merchant
Lisa Merchant appears on Global’s Train 48, she can also be seen
on W (Women’s Network) in the sketch series Listen Missy. Live she
can be seen in David Shore’s Monkey Toast and at the Bad Dog Theatre.
Lisa presented and produced the March of Dames™ comedy festival
for 10 years. She was nominated in 2004 for a Gemini Award along with
fellow cast members for The Joe Blow. She is a 7-time nominee for the
Canadian Comedy Awards 2000-2004 and has won two Canadian Comedy Awards.
Lisa sits on the Directing Committee of the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund.
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Ginette Mohr
A writer, performer and co-founder of The Quickening, Ginette’s
theatre credits include: Electra, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Enchanted Forest, The Seagull, The
Idiots Karamazov, The Fool’s Whistle, The Hickadillys and Bird’s
Eye View (Dora nomination).
For comedy: The Second City National Touring
Company, The Bad Dog Theatre Company, California's Dell 'Arte International
School of Physical Theatre, Vancouver Theatresports, Rapidfire Theatre,
CNG Productions, Caroline's, Stand-Up New York, Shortweird Radio, Frightwig,
The Phil Hartman Comedy Awards (nomination), The Verge, Sin City, Inside
the Out-of-Work Actor’s Studio, Monkey Toast (Canadian Comedy Award
winner) and the Toronto, Chicago and Orlando Improv Festivals.
Dance:
The Edmonton Festival Ballet and Four Big Dances.
Selected Film and TV:
System Crash, Don’t Lick the Pig, Ladies Night Out and The Break-Up
Files. Ginette scripted and performed The Upper Canada Cougar Movement
and co-wrote and toured PRND21 (Centaur Theatre Award 2nd Runner-Up Best
English Play). She is currently developing a new piece for The Quickening
entitled Grey Fish.
Ginette holds a B.F.A. in Acting from Simon Fraser
University and an M.F.A. in Acting from York University. She teaches at
York University, The Bad Dog Theatre and The Living Arts Centre.
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Scott Montgomery
Originally from Winnipeg, Scott has been living and working in Toronto
for the last three years. Before coming to Hogtown Scott co-founded and
performed with Winnipeg sketch comedy juggernaut the Royal Liechtenstein
Theatre Company and The Probable Cast, producers of the ongoing Big Stupid
Improv Show. Locally you may have seen Scott perform as a member of
the Second City (either mainstage, or tour co. or both... or neither),
in Catch 23 or at Monkey Toasts past.
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Doug Morency
Doug is an alumnus of the Second City where most recently he directed Good's Good, Evil's Bad for the Mainstage. Before that he co-wrote and performed in seven productions including Sordido Deluxo, Y2K: The Chip Hits the Fan, and Family Circus Maximus, and he directed the Second City National Touring Company for two years in the productions, Canadian Idle and The Icecream Man Cometh.
His television credits include The Gavin Crawford Show on the Comedy Network, The Toronto Show on Toronto 1, CBC's Sketch.com, Supertown Challenge for Smith and Smith Prods, and The 11th Hour on CTV.
Doug's selected Stage credits include: Mirvish Productions' The Drowsy Chaperone at the Wintergarden, Tale of the Scorpion with Adrian Truss and The Black Dog Group, No Balls For Bouncy at the Tim Sims Playhouse and, The Language of Love at the Rhubarb Festival.
He is one half of the religious revival duo The Kupps and is also a member of The Williamson Playboys, a musical comedy duo, who have performed across Canada including an appearance at the 2004 Just For Laughs Festival.
He has performed all over the world from Singapore to Chicago, Hong Kong to Winnipeg, and Beijing to Hamilton and has won numerous Canadian Comedy Awards including awards for sketch writing and performing, ensemble improvising, and individual improvising.
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Jack Mosshammer
Born in the United States and later emigrating to Canada, Jack Mosshammer
has been performing/directing and teaching improv shows for the past 15
years.
He is a member of the Second City alumni, having written, performed,
and taught at both their Toronto and Los Angeles theatres.
He was a regular
on Improv Heaven and Hell and improvised soap opera Train 48 and in the
improvised movie Man Of The Year. Improv improv improv. He really likes
improv... improv.
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Peter Oldring
Peter started improvising 17 years ago in Calgary with the Loose Moose
Theatre. He has performed with Vancouver Theatresports, AllCanadian
Theatresports, the Second City National Touring Co and was invited down
to perform for the opening of the Second City in Los Angeles.
He
has been seen on Improv Heaven and Hell and has twice performed
at the Just for Laughs World Improv Championships. Peter is
the on air voice for Much More Music, and was a member of CBC Radio's The
Muckraker. He also stars in several cartoon series including
Fox TV's Braceface with Alicia Silverstone and the
animated feature film Miss Spiders Sunny Patch Kids with Brooke
Shields and Rick Morranis.
Some of Peter's film and television credits
include: K-19 The Widowmaker with Harrison Ford and
Liam Neeson, Focus with William H Macy, Hollywood North
with Jennifer Tilly, Hollywood Wives: The Next Generation
with Farrah Fawcett, The Man with Eugene Levy and Samuel L
Jackson, Lost and Delirious with Misha Barton, Back
to Zero, Dragons of New York,History Bites,
and Corner Gas. Most recently he stared with Pat Kelly
and Dan Akroyd in the feature film Intern Academy.
Currently
Peter can be seen regularly on the WB network and on Comedy Central
in the sketch comedy series Blue Collar TV.
He has twice
been nominated for the Canadian Comedy Award for male improviser
of the year, and once for a Gemini. Peter is a graduate of the National
Theatre School of Canada.
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Jamillah Ross
Jamillah Ross has been a member of the comedy community for some time now. She has appeared on such shows as After Hours with Kenny Robinson and The Toronto Show. Her favorite credit to date was starring in her own episode of Liocracy, with Canadian comedy legend, Leslie Nielsen. Jamillah has also performed with famed comedy troupe The Second City. Jamillah co-wrote and performed three shows at the Toronto venue, including Invasion Free Since 1812, her personal favorite. Most recently Jamillah was seen on the Comedy Network’s Popcultured.
As well as making the funny, Jamillah loves to sing. Don’t believe her? Then check out her CD, The Very Best of Love and Death, written and produced with the love of her life, Sean Fisher. Look for Jamillah as the ‘Sour Kangaroo’ in the Broadway smash, Suessical The Musical at Lorraine Kimsa Theatre For Young People, in winter 2006.
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Jerry Schaefer
Jerry Schaefer is a veteran of The Second City where he continues to work
as an instructor.
As a member of the comedy troupe The Chumps he helped create and perform
several long-running pop culture parodies and a series of improvised one-act
plays. They also improvised a series for CBC Radio.
In film he has worked with Carl Reiner and Bette Midler in That Old Feeling
and with Bruce McColloch and Natasha Henstridge in Dog Park.
His television credits include The Kids In The Hall, Comics, and SketchCom.
He is also a regular character on The Red Green Show where he plays Ed
Frid, an animal control expert who is deathly afraid of all animals.
Jerry was head writer for the CBC Radio comedy series The Muckraker. He
also wrote and produced satirical, current event comedy for What a Week.
Most recently he improvised a show with noted Beat poet Ken Nordine at
the Chicago Improv Festival.
From time to time he is paid to appear in television commercials, which
makes his parents very happy.
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David Shore
Two-time Canadian Comedy Award winner, David Shore, is an alumnus
of The Second City Mainstage, The Improv Olympic West, and of Paramount
Television’s Comedy Writer’s Apprenticeship Program. He has
written for VH-1’s Random Play, and was a film critic for (the now
defunct) FilmsOn.com. While at The Second City, David wrote and performed
in the award winning revue, Psychedelicatessen. Performance credits include
Showtime’s Street Time, and Toronto 1’s The Toronto Show.
David is an instructor at both The Second City Training Centre and the
Bad Dog Theatre Company.
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Naomi Snieckus
Naomi is pleased as a fruity, spiked, summer punch to be a part of the
Monkey Toast cast. She is currently in the cast of the Mainstage
Cast at Second City having done such shows as
Invasion Free Since 1812, Armaget-it-on!, Good's
Good, Evil's Bad and with the touring company in The Ice Cream
Man Cometh. A graduate from Ryerson Theatre School,
she has performed in theatres across Canada including; CanStage,
Buddies in Bad Times, YPT, and in Vancouver
at WCT, Stanley Theatre, Theatre
SKAM and Vancouver Theatre Sports and is a founding
member of the internet film company Rubber Chicken Farmers.
You may also have seen her on TV in The Dead Zone with Anthony
Michale Hall, The Immortal, ReGenesis, Train 48
or the feature film Lie With Me. Stay tuned to see her and fellow
Second City cast member Matt Baram in an upcoming smash hit You and
Me Both!
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Marcel St. Pierre
Raised by lobsters in the wilds of Atlantic Canada, Marcel has been a
fixture on the Toronto comedy scene since 1991. An alumnus of The Second
City, he was a founding member of improv troupe The Stand-Ins, quoted
by Eye
weekly in 1995 as one of the top 3 improv troupes in Toronto. He's currently
a founding member and artistic director at The Bad Dog Theatre Company.
(www.baddogtheatre.com)
An actor, writer and producer, he's appeared on
Traders, Kids in the Hall, Once a Thief, and Sketchcom. As writer/producer,
he'w worked for YTV, CBC, The Comedy Network and Nelvana. He is creator,
producer, writer and cast-member of Shortweird Radio (www.shortweird.com)
and co-founder of Frightwig Theatre, who's play PRND21 was awarded 3rd
place
honours in the Centaur Theatre's 2003 Best English Play category. He
believes in the power of love.
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Carolyn Talyor
Carolyn is an alumna of Second City, where she co-wrote and performed
in 5 original mainstage reviews including the Canadian Comedy Award-winning
Family Circus Maximus and Psychedelicatessen.
Television credits include
Queer as Folk, Nero Wolfe, The Gavin Crawford Show, The Zak Files and
recurring roles on Wildcard and Sue Thomas F.B.Eye.
Writing credits include
the animated pilot, Once a Week and CBC's This Hour has 22 Minutes.
Carolyn
can also be seen in the CFC feature, 19 Months, playing a cat-loving homebody.
Or you can catch her in that same role in her apartment on any given night...
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Janet Van De Graaff
Janet Van De Graaff came to Toronto to get her M.F.A. in acting at York
University. After a one and a half-year stint in the Second City National
Touring Company, she joined the Toronto Second City Main Stage cast. She
wrote and performed in five revues there, receiving two Dora Award nominations
for her work. Other theatre credits include The Brady Bunch Live (Bathurst
Street Theatre), Honest Ed: The Bargain Musical (Poor Alex), The Drowsy
Chaperone (Toronto Fringe Festival and Theatre Passe Muraille), All Hams
On Deck (Buddies in Bad Times), two seasons of the live improvised soap
opera, Sin City (Tim Sims Playhouse), and at the Drake Hotel in Drake
‘55. On television, Janet played Yvonne, the effervescent co-host
of WTN’s Go Girl! She received a 2002 Canadian Comedy Award for
her work on the hit series History Bites, which ran for five seasons on
History Television. Her film credits include The Last Don, The Five Senses,
Eloise at the Plaza, The Music Man, and Snow Cake. Television guest appearances
include Made in Canada, Twice in a Lifetime, The Gavin Crawford Show,
Queer As Folk, Wild Card, The Royal Canadian Air Farce, and Getting Along
Famously. A winner of the 2002 and 2004 Canadian Comedy Awards for Best
Female Improvisor, she currently imrovises every other Sunday night at
the Drake Hotel in the Canadian Comedy Award-winning Monkey Toast. Look
for her in the all-girl sketch show Listen Missy on the W Network and
on the new improvised mockumentary series, It’s Me…Gerald,
airing this fall on Showcase.
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Jennifer Whalen
Jennifer Whalen is a writer/actor who currently divides her time
been Halifax where she writes for the critically acclaimed television
show, THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES and Toronto were she mostly naps
on the couch. An alumini of Second City, Jennifer made the
transition from stage to screen writing for and sometimes appearing in, THE
GAVIN CRAWFORD SHOW. Jennifer developed the series
concept for INSTANT STAR, as well as co-creating, writing and producing
an animated pilot for the Disney Channel called THE BRONTE'S.
She recently co-wrote and starred in TO DIE FOR , a television special for
CBC. She is a story consultant and writer on BAD HAIR
RAE, an animated series in development for YTV. She is
looking forward to appearing in the SummerWorks show ALL HAMS
ON DECK as the Statue of Liberty.
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Bob Derkach
Bob is thrilled to be with Monkey Toast. He also continues as Music
Director/Keyboards for the concert theater companies Women Fully Clothed
with Kathryn Greenwood, Robin Duke, Debra McGrath, Jayne Eastwood, Teresa
Pavlinek and Whose Live Anyway--A Night of Improv with Ryan Stiles, Greg
Proops, Chip Esten, Jeff B. Davis. Bob was the Musical Director/ Keyboardist/ Composer/ SoundDesigner
for The Second City Theater mainstages in Toronto ON, Edmonton AB, and
Santa Monica CA from 1981-2006. He has just completed his fifth
consecutive season with Comedy Inc (CTV).
Bob's soundscape The Winds of
Mars opens Visions of Mars, which is an extra-terrestrial DVD-ROM
artifact intended as a time-capsule greeting for future settlers of Mars.
It is on-board NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander which was successfully
launched on August 4, 2007 and scheduled to land in the northern plains
of Mars May 29, 2008.
Visit his website at BobDerkachMusic.com.
Turn up your speakers and click on the Planets!
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Sean Fisher
Sean Fisher has worked in the improv and comedy scene for seven years
as an
improviser and music director. As an actor he has been nominated for the
Tims Sims Encouragement Award and two Canadian Comedy Awards for his work
in
the sketch duo The Goatee Boys. He appeared in the World Wide Short Film
Festival campaign which won the Golden Lion at the Cannes Film Festival
last
year.
As a music director and musician he has worked for The Second City,
March of Dames and Jessica Holmes to name a few. His music has also been
heard on Much Music, The Comedy Network, Just For Laughs and The Toronto
Show. He is currently writing and producing Jamillah Ross's debut CD.
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Jamie Lamb
Jamie is an actor, musician, and comedian. He has been improvising and writing music with top Toronto improvisors and comedians for years. He has worked with everybody... all great times! Jamie is also the only one in the show to have found actual monkey toast. It was expensive... and shipped here illegally from abroad. Check out www.jamielamb.com if you want more of The Lamb.
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Matt Reid
Matthew Reid began composing at the age of ten, and has been at it ever
since. Currently, he works as a musical director with Second City
, the Humber School of Comedy and the award winning improv troupe Slap
Happy. He is also the keyboardist for the Michael Gabriel Band.
He has composed a large body of eclectic works for film, television, theatre
and the concert hall and also specializes as a live soundtrack provider
for comedic and improv productions. Samples of his work can be heard
at http://stage.vitaminic.com/main/matthew_reid.
Matthew is also one half of the Canadian Comedy Award nominated sketch
duo Reid along with Browning. For more information on them, go to
www.reidalongwithbrowning.com.
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