Local licenced-maniac Jason Rouse (apparently a fellow victim/survivor of Greenhill Place on Quigley Road) has already been cracking major ribs in Canada, having won a 2001 Gemini award for Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Series, as well as Yuk Yuk�s Outstanding New Comic of the Year (2003). He is currently starring in the film, Whipping Boy.
He began his improvisational gig by casting about for any tattoo-laden audience members (he�s got some fairly elaborate ones himself) and followed up with a discourse on the sorrier aspects of Hamilton - the Barton Street jail, proliferation of plywood boards in and around Jackson Square, Maxim�s (and a corresponding reference to Dofasco) and its �free-range children�. His fiberglass solution for homelessness in Toronto was hilariously absurd but better than anything Mayor Mel Lastman has ever suggested. Other gags involved a �retarded� romance in Montr�al, high-speed orgasms, cats, his Grandpa, �goddam hippie faggots�, mannequin dating and various celebrity sniper attacks, including Sarah McLachlan�s Lilith Fair. At this point, my mascara needed a wipe from laughing so hard I was crying, but I was hooked by this amazing young man�s corporeal talent for mimicry not seen since Red Skelton or Dick Van Dyke.
I�ve deliberately left unmentioned the final skits of his show, so as not to completely expose his �bag of tricks�, but take note, this show is not for sissies. As Bette Davis is quoted as saying, �Until they call you a monster in the acting business, you�re not a star�.
As a final note, I�d like to express some appreciation for Yuk Yuk�s manager/music director, Eddy Spelic. My companion and I were delighted with his selection of pre-show songs � sure wish there had been a dance floor handy! Eddy advised that the last Thursday of every month is Amateur Night at the club (situated at the Ramada Hotel on King Street East), so if you�ve got the guts to try and make people laugh, this is the place to do it! Just get there early or you�ll be standing up, for sure.
