The Chronicle Herald: A New Stratus-phere
TRISH STRATUS claims that hosting a comedy talent search should be second nature for her.
And who’s going to argue with her?
The former World Wrestling Entertainment fixture will be the host of The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend, an upcoming series for CBC.
"Comedy comes naturally in my personality. I like being fun. That’s just naturally me. To do it professionally is a great thing. It’s nice to be around people that are just as goofy as you are. That’s just fun energy. This isn’t going to be work for me," said Stratus, 31, during a phone interview from Toronto.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native retired last fall from the rigors of the ring and the road but had no intention of disappearing from the public eye.
"I got married at the end of September. My husband and I built a new house and were just settling into our new life when I got a call to do a show with CBS called Armed and Famous. So I haven’t had a chance to relax and do that whole thing you do when you retire," she said.
"What I’m finding is I love doing my thing out there. Why I retired from wrestling was mostly because of the physicality of it all. Your body can only take so much after seven years on the road. Now I’m enjoying being able to pick and choose my schedule and spending more time with my husband."
Armed and Famous, a short-lived reality show which put Stratus and other celebrities on the street as law enforcement officers, was pummelled in the ratings by the American Idol juggernaut.
Helping Second City find a new member proved an irresistible lure back to television for the former champ, who turns out to have a history with the troupe after sustaining an injury in 2004.
"When I broke my thumb wrestling I was not able to go on the road and do the regular shows. I was sitting around and I was just doing the Monday night shows and I was sort of off on the weekends, which is rare in wrestling because you’re never off unless you’re injured.
"I decided, ‘You know what? Let me go down to Second City.’ I’ve always loved improv and Second City itself. I went down to Second City here in Toronto and I took some improv classes."
It turns out Stratus was honing skills she had been using since her WWE debut in 2000. Even the most precisely planned match has some wiggle room.
"It was kind of funny because the reaction was like ‘What are you doing in a class?’ Well, because we’re always learning and in wrestling, people don’t really realize, a lot of it is improv. I didn’t realize how much I did use that skill until I started practising with Second City people. I went, ‘Hey, I’ve done this my whole career so far,’ " said Stratus.
When Second City got wind that they had a famous pupil in one of their workshops, it wasn’t long before Stratus was invited to do a special show on the Toronto theatre main stage.
"I handpicked six different scenes that are classic Second City sketches and with the main stage cast I ended up putting on a show that was sort of Saturday Night Live style," she said.
"Since then they’ve kind of welcomed me into their little family. They do their improv sets following every show so I’ll pop in and do some improv with them."
Second City executive producer Andrew Alexander, who also guided the SCTV television series, had already gauged Stratus’s appeal when the CBC series was being planned.
The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend will be an eight-episode talent search series starting with regional auditions before getting to the finalist segment produced at The Second City theatre in Toronto.
Auditions for the show will take place on March 27 in Halifax at the Bubbles Mansion bar on Prince Street, March 20 in Vancouver, March 24 in Calgary and April 4 in Toronto. More information, including audition registration information and audition tips, is available at www.nextcomedylegend.com
The top contenders will be tasked with creating a show comprised of classic Second City sketches, improv and fresh collaborations worthy of such alumni as John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd, Dave Thomas and Eugene Levy.
The Second City, originally founded in Chicago in 1959, opened its theatre in Toronto in 1973. Virtually from the beginning it became a farm team for the film and television comedy industries and boosted such luminaries as recent Academy Award winner Alan Arkin, Mike Nichols, John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.
The producers hope that the series will become a platform for satirizing the reality television phenomenon in addition to finding a new sketch artist.
"It has to be. That’s what Second City is based on. That’s what they’re known for. That’ll definitely come into play and I think it’ll be a unique show," said Stratus.
And unless something really wacky happens, she stands less chance of breaking a bone in comedy than in her old job.
"Unless it’s my funny bone," she said.
"Just kidding. That was terrible."
by tim arsenault
source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Entertainment/563146.html
And who’s going to argue with her?
The former World Wrestling Entertainment fixture will be the host of The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend, an upcoming series for CBC.
"Comedy comes naturally in my personality. I like being fun. That’s just naturally me. To do it professionally is a great thing. It’s nice to be around people that are just as goofy as you are. That’s just fun energy. This isn’t going to be work for me," said Stratus, 31, during a phone interview from Toronto.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native retired last fall from the rigors of the ring and the road but had no intention of disappearing from the public eye.
"I got married at the end of September. My husband and I built a new house and were just settling into our new life when I got a call to do a show with CBS called Armed and Famous. So I haven’t had a chance to relax and do that whole thing you do when you retire," she said.
"What I’m finding is I love doing my thing out there. Why I retired from wrestling was mostly because of the physicality of it all. Your body can only take so much after seven years on the road. Now I’m enjoying being able to pick and choose my schedule and spending more time with my husband."
Armed and Famous, a short-lived reality show which put Stratus and other celebrities on the street as law enforcement officers, was pummelled in the ratings by the American Idol juggernaut.
Helping Second City find a new member proved an irresistible lure back to television for the former champ, who turns out to have a history with the troupe after sustaining an injury in 2004.
"When I broke my thumb wrestling I was not able to go on the road and do the regular shows. I was sitting around and I was just doing the Monday night shows and I was sort of off on the weekends, which is rare in wrestling because you’re never off unless you’re injured.
"I decided, ‘You know what? Let me go down to Second City.’ I’ve always loved improv and Second City itself. I went down to Second City here in Toronto and I took some improv classes."
It turns out Stratus was honing skills she had been using since her WWE debut in 2000. Even the most precisely planned match has some wiggle room.
"It was kind of funny because the reaction was like ‘What are you doing in a class?’ Well, because we’re always learning and in wrestling, people don’t really realize, a lot of it is improv. I didn’t realize how much I did use that skill until I started practising with Second City people. I went, ‘Hey, I’ve done this my whole career so far,’ " said Stratus.
When Second City got wind that they had a famous pupil in one of their workshops, it wasn’t long before Stratus was invited to do a special show on the Toronto theatre main stage.
"I handpicked six different scenes that are classic Second City sketches and with the main stage cast I ended up putting on a show that was sort of Saturday Night Live style," she said.
"Since then they’ve kind of welcomed me into their little family. They do their improv sets following every show so I’ll pop in and do some improv with them."
Second City executive producer Andrew Alexander, who also guided the SCTV television series, had already gauged Stratus’s appeal when the CBC series was being planned.
The Second City’s Next Comedy Legend will be an eight-episode talent search series starting with regional auditions before getting to the finalist segment produced at The Second City theatre in Toronto.
Auditions for the show will take place on March 27 in Halifax at the Bubbles Mansion bar on Prince Street, March 20 in Vancouver, March 24 in Calgary and April 4 in Toronto. More information, including audition registration information and audition tips, is available at www.nextcomedylegend.com
The top contenders will be tasked with creating a show comprised of classic Second City sketches, improv and fresh collaborations worthy of such alumni as John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd, Dave Thomas and Eugene Levy.
The Second City, originally founded in Chicago in 1959, opened its theatre in Toronto in 1973. Virtually from the beginning it became a farm team for the film and television comedy industries and boosted such luminaries as recent Academy Award winner Alan Arkin, Mike Nichols, John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.
The producers hope that the series will become a platform for satirizing the reality television phenomenon in addition to finding a new sketch artist.
"It has to be. That’s what Second City is based on. That’s what they’re known for. That’ll definitely come into play and I think it’ll be a unique show," said Stratus.
And unless something really wacky happens, she stands less chance of breaking a bone in comedy than in her old job.
"Unless it’s my funny bone," she said.
"Just kidding. That was terrible."
by tim arsenault
source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Entertainment/563146.html
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