Montreal Comedy Festival: Of (driving to) Montreal
I'm writing this from the (what so far seems to be) fair city of Montreal, where I'm stationed for the week, covering/attending/stalking the Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival, the biggest festival of its kind in the world. I bet it says that to all the girls.
I just arrived at my hotel about two hours ago, but I've already made myself a regular at the hotel bar - a good start to the week. In a short while, I'm stumbling over to Comedyworks to check out my first show of the week - the "Best of the Fest," rumored to be including Boston-bred (and, now, New York-based) favorite Myq Kaplan.
But oh, what adventures I've had so far today.
I actually drove up here with 2009 Phoenix Best Local Comedian MC Mr. Napkins (a.k.a. Zach Sherwin -- also a STUFF featured spotlight performer. What a publicity whore, that guy.) and I'll tell you. Six and a half hours in a car with a dude -- plus a stopover in Burlington, VT for an impromptu midafternoon swim in Lake Champlain -- and you hear some stories. Mostly stories involving terrible puns, and about the hippie ladies who stalk him. Can you blame them? Look at this face:
![](//thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/phlog/zach-smile.gif)
That's the face of a guy who's smelled a lot of patchouli.
But we weren't alone in our sojourn North of the border. Our third travel companion? An origami bird, made out of trash. Meet Quack Sherwin.
![](//thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/phlog/quack.gif)
Ol'Quack has seen some serious shit, and boy, does he love to crow about it. Bird pun! Up top.
When you're stuck on the same goddamned highway for hours at a time, you make up little games to amuse yourself., For example, we debated, for quite awhile, how we should incorporate this slogan into the lexicon of our peers:
![](//thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/phlog/dutch-touch.gif)
What do you think "the Dutch touch" is? I suspect that it involves weed, clogs, and Chris Faraone. Just my 'pinion. Also, people still love vanity plates!? Exhibit A:
![](//thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/phlog/yay.gif)
Yay indeed, Montreal. Yay indeed.
To the comedy! <zoom!>