Despite a Joe Flaherty no-show and the always-cranky Dave Thomas, the night went swimmingly. I was mostly a wall-hugger during the improv set afterwards, but I can't afford to get myself all banged up before next Tuesday night. And you'll be hearing all about that in the days to come...

Before you get the wrong idea, Colin himself is always a blast to work with -- the best thing about him is that, even after getting so famous, there's nary a trace of ego to be found. That being said, the situation we found ourselves in yesterday was a little less than ideal.

Someone over at Nickelodeon got the clever if unoriginal idea of putting together some stock footage of picnics, and have two Whosers ad lib lines to it. Since Ryan Stiles wasn't available, and since Colin and I share the same agent, I got the gig -- I knew that would pay off sooner or later!

And I earned every American cent I made in the five hours spent in studio, trying to make funny with seemingly endless clips of ants and nerdy 50's families. As we laid down our first hundred takes (no lie) Colin and I found ourselves in that frustrating place between improv and script, and without a strong hand to lead the way; I knew going in that Colin would get the celebrity treatment, but our star-struck producer had some trouble effectively directing the session.

We finally got into a groove towards the end, but it just goes to show ya... Sometimes even dream gigs end up being work.

I read about it in this Newsday article, courtesy of Wired News. Of course Newsday, in all their wussiness, could never be so forward-thinking as to actually link to the game so readers could play it for themselves -- that's what I'm here for!

I got an annoying call from the Canadian Film Centre last Friday. Apparently they're submitting a survey to the Ministry of Education, indicating the success of their programs, and probably to get some kind of government handout. I was asked two simple questions:

1. "Did you successfully complete the nerd school course?"
2. "Were you working on January 31st of this year?"

I answered "yes" to both, but quickly realized that my answers wouldn't indicate whether or not I was working in my specific field of study. Since the Film Centre attracts folks who are already professionals, of course we'll be working after our time there is done! After five months-plus of zero income, do we have any other choice?

I promptly changed my second answer, and noted the lingering bad taste in my mouth.