One month to the day that klusterfork entertainment brought The Coincidence Men to Peterborough’s Gordon Best Theatre, the ladies will also get their rightful due.
Toronto-based all-female sketch comedy trio The Red Hot Sili Peppers will headline the “Impros All-Pros” comedy show on Friday night (March 21) at the Hunter Street West venue, joining host Linda Kash and local improv performers Jennine Profeta, Janet Van De Graaff, and Megan Murphy for a night of laughter, with Danny Bronson providing musical accompaniment.
Tickets to the 8 p.m. show cost $20, with advance tickets available by e-transfer to klusterfork@gmail.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the door if available.
The Red Hot Sili Peppers — Emily Callahan, Julia Ettlinger, and Glenna Walters — arrive fresh on the heels of their appearance at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival where they ultimately won the peer-voted Sketchiest Sketch Troupe Award.
“We were really excited — we admire all the people in the Toronto comedy community, so to be recognized in that way is really special,” says Callahan. “We were like ‘Whoa, are we dreaming? This was too much fun.'”
The Red Hot Sili Peppers have been having too much fun for some three years now, with Ettlinger noting they came together “sort of intuitively” during a Second City improv comedy training program.
“We fell in love with each other and knew that we worked really well together. Then we entered a sketch (comedy) competition called Sketch to the Death from which we took home the Best Newcomer Award. Now, a year later, we just finished our first-ever show that we produced ourselves and we’re bringing it to Peterborough.”
Walters adds the trio went through the Second City class together and “knew we didn’t want to be with another group. We signed up for Sketch to the Death having never written a sketch together. We didn’t know if we were funny — we had never done it before. How do you know? But it worked out.”
“We’re super grateful that we get to be friends. Whenever the three of us get to hang out and write, it’s work, but it feels we’re just three best friends laughing. That’s such a lucky feeling to have. It feels unique, like we’re in our own bubble where we get to laugh and have fun.”
Based on that, asked if they would do what they do for free, Ettlinger quickly counters, to group laughter, “We do it for free all the time.”
“That’s how you know you like it; it’s almost like when you get paid, you’re like ‘Oh, OK … thank you,'” adds Callahan.
Meanwhile, the sketch writing process is as collaborative as what audiences see and hear.
“We write together,” says Ettlinger, adding “We didn’t plan on doing it that way, but it’s worked out that way. We sit down, usually in the same room but sometimes on Zoom.”
“What that lends itself to is we’re able to collaboratively make this finished product that always highlights everyone somewhat equally. The goal is to make the best sketch. I think we’ve gotten really good at writing for each other. I know what Glenna’s style is. I know what Emily’s style is. They know what my style is. Writing for each other is really fun too.”
“Part of the magic we’ve created is being able to work together to create something. The goal is for the sketch itself to be the shining character.”
Callahan adds the creative process sees the three of them text each other constantly.
“We’ll send each other ideas. We’ll think it’s funny. We’ll sit with an idea and think ‘OK, how do we make this into a two, three, four, five, 10-minute sketch? Where are the legs?’ Sometimes there are no legs. Sometimes there are legs and it’s very fun.”
“What we really try to aim for is to be relatable,” adds Walters. “The funniest comedy is when someone can relate to it, and laugh at themselves too.”
The first half of this Friday’s show will see the Red Hot Sili Peppers, joined by Kash, Profeta, Van De Graaff and Murphy, stretch their improv legs. Then, in the second half, they’ll perform most of the scripted sketch comedy show that brought them their peers’ nod at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.
While Walters has appeared in a previous klusterfork improv show in Peterborough, this marks the first performance in the city for Callahan and Ettlinger.
“When I did the klusterfork show, I was quite nervous,” recalls Walters.
“I was thinking ‘I’m a 23-year-old girl. I don’t know if any of this is going to be funny.’ And then the audience was just amazing. Obviously, Linda (Kash) is also incredible. Whatever she touches is gold, but I was shocked that Peterborough was hungry for comedy and improv. It was beautiful.”
While being very funny has been key to The Red Hot Sili Peppers’ success, Callahan credits their continued upward trajectory to the one thing that is unique to sketch and improv comedy.
“We say to each other before we go on stage ‘You know what? If we forget our lines, at the end of the day, we are improvisers — we’ve got each other’s backs,'” she says.
“That’s why I love it the most. It really is a team sport. No matter what you do when you go on stage, someone has to come out and help you out, and help you get through it. At the end of the day, that’s where the funny also is.”
As for having each other’s backs, Ettlinger adds the three of them “physically touch each other’s backs” before going on stage.
“I do it with new people I play with and with these gals I’ve been with for three years,” she says.
Callahan also performs as a stand-up comic. She says her improv background was key to giving her the confidence to go it alone before an audience.
“It is a completely different ball game,” she says of stand-up. “Some people like that the responsibility is all on them. They don’t want to have a team for whatever reason. But improv, that kind of stage presence, got me to that mic because it gave me that comfortability with being on stage in general.”
All three concur that improv training, whether one wants to pursue the comedy genre professionally or not, is far from a wasted exercise.
“I tell everybody ‘Get in an improv class,'” says Ettlinger. “It’s the best thing you can do for your life. It rewires your brain. You start to make choices and then have to sit with those choices, and support other people’s choices.
“If you ADHD, it’s incredible. If you have anxiety, it’s incredible. If you have depression, it’s incredible. If you don’t have any of those things, you probably don’t need to be in an improv class. Just kidding.”
“Improv helped me know who I am as a person,” adds Walters.
“It made me more comfortable with myself. It made easier for me to talk to strangers and show my true personality. You never know where it can go. I did not think it would go this far. I just wanted something to put my creative juices into and it’s taken me into a whole new world I didn’t think I would be a part of.”
That “whole new world,” says Ettlinger, is there for The Red Hot Sili Peppers to conquer.
“I have very high hopes; I don’t see it ever going away. I see us being on television. I see us going all over the world performing. More importantly, I think we’re going to be friends for a very long time.”
“One of the most nerve-wracking things about comedy is not getting laughs,” adds Walters. “But before we perform, we say ‘Just make each other laugh.’ That’s the most important part. If I can crack up Emily or Julia on stage, it has been an awesome night.”
“We are winners if we make each other laugh on stage,” Callahan affirms.
For information about klusterfork entertainment, and to learn more about upcoming improv comedy workshops and classes, visit www.klusterfork.com.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of klusterfork entertainment’s Impros All-Pros.
