In the club: Comic McGee dishes on sandwiches and funny stuff

Kathleen McGee's bio describes her as "the girl your parents warned you about," which is code for the girl who makes you laugh the hardest. The comedian, formerly of Edmonton, has an act that's on the dark and dirty side, but McGee prefers to call it honest. More and more, that's what people want to hear.

The StarPhoenix chatted with the quotable comic before her show at the Capitol Music Club.

On how Wynyard became a part of her set: "I have a joke about Wynyard, Saskatchewan. It's not a positive one. It was probably one of the worst shows of my life. One of the audience members was this old guy who didn't have any front teeth. I asked how he lost them and he said he was herding cattle in the winter and the cow had frozen poop on its tail that hit him in the face. That's a bit that I tell all the time now and it kills. And people come up to me and they're like 'That happened to my uncle.' "

On the best club sandwich she's ever eaten: "The best club sandwich I've ever had was at the Broadway Cafe. And I eat a lot of club sandwiches. When I was in Saskatoon for two weeks I think I ate it six times."

On younger women at her last Saskatoon show: "They were really cute because some of the stuff I said they were like 'What? That happens?' I just said 'Listen to me. I am your leader.' "

On being considered shocking or vulgar: "It's becoming more acceptable for a woman to talk the way she talks to her girlfriends. It's guys that think we don't talk like this. I really love that girls are talking more about their truthful lives and not hiding stuff and not thinking that they're not a lady because they have sex or they drink."

On why she never gives up even though a comedy career can be frustrating: "I just love it too much, and all the skills I learned in business school are gone. I'm proficient in Office '97. I've put too much into this to quit."

On how she's still a baby in comedy even after a decade: "When I get frustrated that I'm not getting things, comics older than me will be like 'Shut up, you've got a long time to go, don't worry.' And the ones that stick it out in comedy are the ones that make it."

On knowing she would make comedy a career after her first time on stage: "It's a total rush. You get up there and you get a laugh and it's like a drug."

On women in comedy: "All over more and more girls are getting into it and I don't think it's going to be such an uneven playing field anymore. But I also don't like women that say it's hard. It's not difficult to be a woman in comedy if you're funny. I know that sounds bitchy, but I don't ever want to be put on a show because I'm a woman. I hate when they say 'We'll put on an all-women show.' Let's just do comedy. Why does it have to be a gimmick? I'm not a gimmick."

On her life becoming part of her act: "My act, mostly because I've had a shady summer, has become a little bit anti-male. But it's not that I think all men are bad, but my experiences lately are what I'm writing about and what I've had lately has been garbage. I think so many girls can relate to that."

Funny Video Imagines Harry Potter as the Villain

Move over, Voldemort, there's a new villain in the wizarding world--and it's none other than Harry Potter.

That's the message of this funny new video from BloodBlitzComedy called "If Harry Potter Was The Villain." Watch the video below to see how things would be different if the boy who lived was actually the boy who lived and then turned evil. It's quite funny, and the last image of Potter is pretty chilling.


The video splices together footage from the various Harry Potter movies and mashes up dialogue to make Harry Potter look like the bad guy. One of my favorite lines comes from Dumbledore, who says: "It is not in the nature of Harry Potter to be forgiving." Of course, that line was originally meant to describe Dementors.

Harry Potter will live on through a spinoff called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the name of an in-universe Hogwarts textbook being adapted by J.K. Rowling for the big-screen. Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne will play the lead role of Newt Scamander in the movie, which recently began shooting.

THE GENIUS OF MR BEAN (AND WHY WE’LL NEVER SEE ANOTHER SHOW LIKE IT)

As is the case with many great British comedy acts, Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean eventually got too big for his boots and didn’t know quite when to hang them up. With his two high-grossing but poorly received spin-off films Bean (1997) and Mr Bean’s Holiday (2007), Atkinson arguably tarnished the legacy of his physical comedy hero and let us all forget just how great Mr Bean was when he first appeared on the small screen.

One can only hope that Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley’s Edina and Patsy from Absolutely Fabulous don’t suffer the same fate when their much-anticipated movie is finally released (although some would argue that they already have, given the three latest lacklustre reunion episodes).

But now that it’s been nearly a decade since the last major appearance of Mr Bean, it’s easier to look back at this character’s legacy and acknowledge just how high the high points really were. The full series is available to watch for free on YouTube, if you’re in the mood for some retro fun. It also contains the animated series which, while made primarily for younger audiences, still has a fair bit of charm.

The first ever episode of Mr Bean aired on the first ever day of the 1990s, and became a defining comedy of the decade. The half-hour pilot episode titled simply “Mr Bean” featured three memorable acts, but it was the last that became legendary, in which Bean tries desperately to remain awake in church and sings a hearty ‘hallelujah’. It wasn’t until November 1990 that the second episode aired, and it then took the next five years for the full 14 episodes to be created and broadcast on disparate dates.

Atkinson was, by this point, very well known amongst British audiences for his performances in Blackadder and Not the Nine O’Clock News, but in Mr Bean, he found a genuinely unique character with whom his face would be forever recognised. The character developed over several years with sharply choreographed routines and was inspired by silent film legends and Jacques Tati’s comedic creation Monsieur Hulot.

The series became an international success story, largely because it contains almost no dialogue and the physical comedy translates to practically any cultural context. Atkinson and his co-creator Richard Curtis have never given much hint as to the character’s background, although the opening credits, in which he falls from a shaft of light to the earth, does suggest there’s something alien about this person.

And there’s also something immediately, recognisably British about Mr Bean. Consider the episode where he dines out at a top-drawer restaurant and accidentally orders steak tartare, having no idea what the dish actually is. Then, rather than enduring the slightly awkward moment of returning the dish or simply not eating it, he finds every possible place around the restaurant to hide the uneaten raw beef. While it’s Bean’s childishness and occasional selfishness which provides plenty of laughs, he’s at his funniest when he’s just trying to avoid minor embarrassments and social faux pas.

It seems pretty unlikely that in this day and age any network would give a half hour comedy special (as the first episode of Mr Bean was, essentially), based around an entirely untested character, a primetime slot to see if viewers connected. It seems even more unlikely that a network would then be patient enough to air 14 episodes over five years, most of them months apart.

But the thing which makes a series like Mr Bean seem almost impossible today is its content.

While there have been a few attempts at physical comedy-driven television (Frank Woodley’s recent Woodley bought physical comedy into a new template), a show based entirely around physical comedy seems almost impossible now. The concept of Mr Bean was such a simple one and none of the sketches linked together in any meaningful way; it was just show about a man not made for this world trying his best to find happiness and, more simply, a way to exist. We do laugh at him and his extraordinary solutions to life’s problems, but he also reflects back the social anxieties that so many people hold.

No comedy series has ever matched Mr Bean for sheer simplicity, and I’d be surprised if any series did in the near future. Networks are now searching for shows with, if not a complex plot then at least a complex premise, and that doesn’t necessarily leave a lot of room for a creation like Mr Bean: a comedy icon with a singular goal to endear and entertain.

Express Your Funny Side With Funny T Shirt

Humor In T-Shirt

If you are a fun loving person and also like to express your funny side to people, then wearing t- shirts printed with funny quotes and sayings is sure to grab the attention of many people on the road. You will not only be happy that you have made a unique style statement with your funny t-shirt, but will also have the satisfaction that you have tickled the funny bone lying dead inside many people. Some funny pictures, catchy and funny wordings, jokes, cool messages etc can be the things that can be printed on a funny t-shirt. The popularity of the funny t-shirts is growing every day and these t-shirts have become the dress code of the youth in India nowadays. Teenagers and kids are the ones whom we see wearing these funny t-shirts regularly.

Popularity Of Funny T-Shirt

The primary reason why the Funny T-shirts are so very popular all over the world is that they will help you convey a message to the entire world. Whatsoever you would like to pronounce to the world, be it comical content, prank, expressions, political quotes or your individualized views, just position it on your tee shirt and let the mankind experience your sentiments. Secondly, Funny T-shirts are highly fashionable and cool. It appears classy on children, adolescents as well as young adults and one finds it very easygoing and cozy to wear Funny T-shirts compared to casuals. Also, the funny t-shirts are made up of skin-friendly cloth and are especially cool and soothing as a summer wear. In the end, Funny T-shirts are an assured method or technique to bring a huge smile on people's face and spark off a conversation in any background.

Where To Find Funny Contents?

If you need to make your funny T-shirts be noticeable to many people, then it is important that you choose some of the best funny quotes and sayings that will immediately grab the attention of the people. There are also plenty of funny pictures that will tease every eye that just glances on your funny T-shirt picture. The best place where you will find lots and lots of funny stuff that can be used on your T-shirt is the internet. There are lots of dedicated websites that will help you with funny quotes and sayings that can be printed on your t-shirt.

Entertaining Without Stress

Let's be honest. In the event that you are focused on, fomented and fluttering about, your visitors will be uncomfortable and won't have the capacity to unwind. Here is a simple test of how well you are getting along. How frequently do your visitors inquire as to whether there is anything they can do to offer assistance? It is sensible that visitors may ask when they first arrive however in the event that you hear the inquiry again and again, you are doing something incorrectly.

The Dinner Party:

Do you turn into a contracting violet at the minor considered facilitating a supper get-together? Here are some speedy and simple tips on the best way to host an effective gathering and not be excessively wiped out, making it impossible to appreciate the exertion.

1.Arrangement it out on paper. Utilize the fundamental Who? What? Where? At the point when? How?

2.Don't over adjust. Your visitors won't be inspired by 10 starters, 3 dishes and a pastry truck for a take a seat supper party. On the off chance that you are doing a smorgasbord that is an alternate circumstance.

3.Equalization Colors. Terrible move: the majority of the sustenance in an impartial shading. This not just demonstrates that your nourishment decisions are exhausting but on the other hand are inadequate in sustenance. Great move: Lots of shading!

4.Utilize the sustenances of the season. Case in point: Do not arrange a menu utilizing strawberries as a part of the center of winter as it might be hard to discover any that are top quality. Do use pieces of fruit, pumpkin, and squash in your fall supper menus.

5.Dress to impress...the nourishment that is. Arrangement a menu that looks rich, yet doesn't expend three days to plan. It is all in the presentation. The most straightforward dish can look wonderful.

6.Have everything arranged and prepared to go ahead of time. Your visitors will be uncomfortable on the off chance that you are fluttering all through the kitchen.

7.Practice, practice, hone. Utilize your family for consistent practice runs. Continuously set the table with coordinating cutlery and dishes and place nourishment in serving dishes. Along these lines you recognize what you have and are not struggling to make sense of how to introduce your suppers to visitors.

Different Event Entertainment Suggestions To Explore

For anybody that has been interested in ways that they'll make their approaching event more effective, using entertainment ought to be greatly considered. Generally, many people enjoy some type of entertainment in an event, since it helps make the experience more enjoyable. There are formerly considered event entertainment, then a few of the following event entertainment ideas might be helpful for you.

To be able to make sure you get the very best response together with your entertainment options, you should think about the general age bracket of individuals which are attending your event. Using this method, it'll make it simpler that you should find entertainment that'll be suitable for everybody. This enables you to to select and eliminate various entertainment which help help you save time with entertainment planning along the way.

'Big Fish,' 'Next to Normal,' 'Fiddler' on upcoming Red Mountain Theatre season

Two new musicals, two classics and one based on a hit movie are on tap for Red Mountain Theatre Company's 2015-2016 season, announced at the RMTC gala at Old Car Heaven on Saturday night.

From "Big Fish," a recent musical based on the acclaimed book by Daniel Wallace, to the legendary "Fiddler on the Roof," the season celebrates "excellent storytelling," says Keith Cromwell, RMTC executive director. "Fiddler was the first show I saw as a child and is amongst what I believe to be on a short list of the most magnificent shows of all time."

Plan your week’s theatre: top tickets

Monday
It’s your last chance this week for Hedda Gabler at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. Blanche McIntyre’s revival of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia nears the end of its tour and is at Malvern Festival theatre all this week.
Tuesday
Enda Walsh’s highly anticipated new version of Roald Dahl’s The Twits is directed by John Tiffany at the Royal Court in London. Alison Carr’s Fat Alice explores the cracks that appear in an adulterous affair in the A Play, a Pie and a Pint season at the Traverse in Edinburgh. April de Angelis’s After Electra goes into London’s Tricycle theatre. Sue Glover’s The Straw Chair, a story of 18th-century rebellious wives, is touring to Ardross Community Hall in Ross-shire tonight.
Wednesday
Head to Glasgow and the start of the Behaviour festival where Gob Squad consider Western Society at CCA and Dead Centre’s densely rewarding Lippy is at the Citizens theatre. Wet House writer Paddy Campbell looks at the lives of children in care in Day of the Flymo at Live in Newcastle. Stewart Laing directs Titus Andronicus, set in a kitchen, at Dundee Rep from tonight. Graeae’s Blood Wedding is at the Traverse in Edinburgh. Penelope Retold is at Norwich Arts Centre tonight and then heads to Bristol’s Tobacco Factory tomorrow. Jonathan Miller’s revival of King Lear is at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds from tonight. Ella Carmen Greenhill draws on personal experience for the family drama Plastic Figurines at Liverpool Playhouse Studio from tonight. Grief finds a voice in an unusual way in So It Goes at Shoreditch Town Hall.
Thursday
Cross the speeches of Margaret Thatcher with 1980s top 10 hits by female artists and you have The Lady’s Not for Walking Like an Egyptian at the Royal Exchange Studio in Manchester. Andrew Hilton directs Sheridan’s The School for Scandal for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. Emlyn Williams’s The Light of Heart, about an elderly, alcoholic Shakespearean actor who gets a chance to play King Lear, gets a rare revival at Clwyd Theatr Cymru. Lots of things happening in Torbay over the next few days, where Doorstep Arts is showcasing work for children and adults including Bucket Club’s Lorraine and Alan, Spitz & Co’s Gloriator, PaddleBoat’s According to Arthur and more. Lewis Carroll gets an immersive makeover in Les Enfant Terribles’ Alice’s Adventures Underground at the Vaults from tonight.
Friday
Real-life stories of courage and ordinary people are explored in Chris Goode’s Stand which sets out on tour from the Old Fire Station in Oxford tonight. I’ve heard very good things about it. National Theatre of Scotland revives Iain Finlay Macleod’s Gaelic stage version of Compton MacKenzie’s Whisky Galore, touring and at the Sunart Centre, Strontian, tonight. Dark deeds and desires are explored in Invisible Circus’s Under the Dark Moon at Bristol Old Vic. King John, directed by James Dacre, opens at Temple Church in London before transferring to Northampton.
Saturday
John Ford’s 17th-century revenge drama, Love’s Sacrifice, is revived at the Swan in Stratford by the RSC. The waiting is over for Bugsy Malone, which starts previewing at the Lyric Hammersmith from tonight. Starting in Preston today is Derelict Sites, a terrific programme of work that takes place over the next week and features Greg Wohead, Drunken Chorus, Action Hero, Lowri Evans and more.

John Galliano sketches out his vision for Maison Margiela in Paris

John Galliano’s return to the Paris catwalk, as creative director for Maison Margiela, will be remembered as much for what didn’t happen as for what did. After the show, which took place in a small enclosed room at the Grand Palais on Friday evening, the assembled fashion crowd tried two rounds of clapping to try to entice the designer to take a post-show bow. It was all to no avail. In the tradition of Margiela, a brand founded by a designer keen to retain his anonymity, Galliano was nowhere to be seen.
His mark, however, was on the collection he sent out – or half of it anyway. As concise as the seating plan – so tight it saw French fashion royalty Carine Roitfeld perching at the back – Galliano used 30 looks to sketch out his vision for his new house, while being sure to pay homage to what had come before.
It was always going to be interesting to see how the marriage of Galliano’s flamboyant romanticism and the conceptual abstraction of the Margiela brand developed from the couture collection shown in London in January. The debut ready-to-wear suggested they are currently sleeping in separate beds.
The first look out was fairly quiet – a long camel coat with bright orange leather gloves and clumpy Mary Janes. This was followed by a succession of clothes that, broadly speaking, fell in either the Galliano camp or the Margiela one. A chiffon slip dress with black vest felt like a throwback to the brand’s 1990s minimalist roots. But models in neon makeup creeping along the catwalk carrying a paper bag or wearing a pinstripe bustier had all the hallmarks of Galliano. Other pieces tied to his work included a lace gothy frock and short taffeta skirts with tartan trim. Margiela-like experimentalism came from shoes covered in horsehair and a model in a body stocking with the black lines of an artist’s model drawn around her joints.

It was always going to be interesting to see how the marriage of Galliano’s flamboyant romanticism and the conceptual abstraction of the Margiela brand. Photograph: Rex Features

The two sides have craftsmanship in common. From a satin skirt of panels pinned together (Galliano) to a trench coat with patterns razored into it (Margiela), these clothes were beautifully made. They were also – surprising perhaps from both sides – strikingly wearable, even when modelled by girls in neon clown makeup. A trouser suit with schoolboy proportions was chic, as was a claret-coloured sequinned shirt dress and velvet jackets. Show notes referenced the importance of “studied craft” to the collection, while “the élan of the individual rises to the fore”. This may become common ground.
It wouldn’t have escaped the attention of those watching the show that Galliano’s return was on the same day as the show for Christian Dior, where the designer spent 15 years as creative director. Under Raf Simons, the creative director since 2012, Dior is a very different beast. For this collection, he took nature as its theme but had a typically conceptual approach. “I wanted the collection to deal with nature and femininity in a different way,” read the show notes. “Away from the garden and the flower, to something more liberated, dark and sexual.”
Patent finishes – more associated with fetish clubs than storied French fashion houses – were a recurring theme. Allusions to nature came from fox fur coats almost to the floor and curved patterns, like the waves in desert sand, on knitwear. Needless to say, Galliano-era theatrics were in short supply.
Galliano was announced as creative director of Maison Margiela in October last year. This was preceded by three years out of the limelight after he was sacked from Dior in February 2011 following antisemitic remarks made in a cafe.

At the announcement of Galliano’s appointment, Renzo Rosso called the designer ‘one of the greatest, undisputed talents of all time’. Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

With high-profile supporters in the fashion industry, from Anna Wintour to Kate Moss, a return was somewhat inevitable. Renzo Rosso, the president of Only the Brave – the company that own Margiela – is a longtime fan. At the announcement of Galliano’s appointment, Rosso called the designer “one of the greatest, undisputed talents of all time”. He now has a new platform to prove that to be true.