Canadian Comedy Awards

Alan Thicke is our hero

April 14th, 2012

Alan Thicke and Thicke's Kids - Winnipeg Comedy Fest - Save The World Telethon

Our performance at Thursday night's Winnipeg Comedy Festival "Save The World Telethon" gala was a success. Working with Alan Thicke was, collectively, a career highlight for all of us. Jane is still speaking in her spot-on Alan Thicke voice that she honed while standing in for him in rehearsals before he arrived Wednesday night. We think she may have actually forgotten her real voice. The whole night was a blast. Big thanks to Frantic Films and the Winnipeg Comedy Festival for asking us to partake. Hopefully it will air sometime this decade.

Speaking of long delayed TV appearances, our musical gala from LAST year's Winnipeg Comedy Fest looks set to finally air. Rumour has it June 14th is the date. We'll keep you posted as we get closer to.

 

AHHHHHH!!!!

April 5th, 2012

Things could not really be any busier right now for us. They've been so busy in fact, that until now, we haven't even had time to update you on our next performance, which is actually just a week away! It kind of just materialized out of nowhere, and since the moment we were asked to do it we've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off getting ready for it.

We're very excited to announce that for the 4th year in a row we'll be performing at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival. Our involvement has gotten amped up every time we've returned and this is a whole new level. In fact, we're pretty sure it's a career high for all of us. Alan Thicke, star of TV's Growing Pains is hosting next Thursday night's "Save the World Telethon" televised gala performance at Pantages Theatre. And we've been recruited to play his "entourage" as he hosts, as well as to perform a big song and dance at the end of the show that we've written especially for the night. It's gonna be a blast and we're excited for you to see it. For details and to buy tickets, click here:

Buy your tickets!

Apart from preparing for that (which would be a big enough job on it's own) we're also in the final stages of polishing off our pilot script and finessing our pitch so that we can fly to Toronto as soon as Comedy Fest is wrapped to meet with the big four networks. We're very excited about that and can't wait to update you on how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed. Actually, please just keep your fingers crossed for the entirety of April. We'd appreciate it. You'll adapt.

 

Emerging from our cave

February 27th, 2012

Like the bleary-eyed groundhog who recently emerged from his hole to inform the world we'd have a short winter this year, HTA is just now emerging from our intense writing period where we buckled down and wrote the whole damn TV pilot! Having never attempted something that ambitious, we had NO idea what to expect, but we're very pleased to inform you that we're quite happy with our "finished" product and we think you will be too. We say "finished" because there are still many hoops to jump through on the way to getting this show on your TV, (next step, flying to Toronto in early April to pitch the script to networks) and through the process, many things are likely to change. But for now, what we have is something we really think you'll like, and we can't wait for you to see it.

Now a few odds and ends.

Our appearance on the televised 2011 CBC Winnipeg Comedy Fest musical gala is still coming. We'll be sure to update you when we find out when. We've heard that CBC is really happy with it and wants to give it a good publicity push. So we just have to be patient while they figure out when to air it.

Winnipeggers, if you haven't already, head on down to McNally Robinson and pick up the final issue of Sandbox Magazine. Not just because there's a nice final writeup about HTA, but because the magazine is (was) fantastic and will be greatly missed.

Lastly, we're excited to announce that, despite our pilot commitments, HTA will indeed be returning to the Fringe this summer once again, this time with something a bit different. Not a gritty drama or anything, but definitely a change of pace. We're excited about the possibilities. Much more info to come in the months ahead.

Things are just ramping up this year, so stay tuned for many more updates very soon!

 

 

HTA on the Uniter's 30 Under 30 List

December 1, 2011

HTA was thrilled to discover that we've been selected this year among the 30 people and groups that make up the University of Winnipeg's Uniter's 30 under 30 list; a list that "feature(s), in no particular order, a group of Manitobans who are 30 years old or younger who are making a difference and impacting their community in some way, or who are outstanding in their field – whatever that field may be." Sounds good to us! Thanks Uniter!

Read the full article

Also, we just got our hands on a sweet preview copy of the CBC Winnipeg Comedy Fest Musical Gala which will air in the next couple months. It turned out really great. It was sad to see the whole show, which was two hours live, get cut down to 45 minutes for TV. All the acts lost lots of really good chunks, but we're really happy with what they kept of ours. Congrats to Frantic Films and CBC on the production. Can't wait for it to air. We'll obviously keep you posted as soon as we find out when, specifically, that will be. But in the mean time, you can check out this preview clip.

Lastly, a mini update on the pilot: All this fall, HTA has been working hard to get ready to write our TV pilot this December. We've been studying and disecting examples of great TV writing, reading up as much as possible, and even practicing by plotting out hypothetical spec scripts for existing TV shows. And In two weeks time we're finally officially locking ourselves in a room for two weeks and getting this baby written. It's scary, fun, daunting and exciting all at the same time. We can't wait to see what comes of this writing process. Send us your comedy vibes starting on December 12th!

 

Last chance to catch some HTA

October 22nd, 2011

Tonight is HTA's last live performance for the next while. After tonight we'll be buckling down to write our pilot. So come on out and see us off, and help support the Winnipeg Fringe Festival while you're at it. Tickets are $18. The show begins at 8:00, at the Warehouse Theatre.

The group on the Red Carpet at the CCAs

Last week we were in Toronto for the Canadian Comedy Awards. We had a fantastic time, both performing at the Comedy Bar, as well as attending the awards night. Sincere congratulations to PicnicFace who took home the "Best Sketch Troupe" prize. To have even been considered among the best sketch groups in Canada, given how little we've been seen on a national level, was a huge honour. We certainly hope to follow in PicnicFace's footsteps over the next couple years on our way to our TV show.

Now wish us luck as we get to writing it! As always, if you want to support us in a more tangible way, just click the PayPal link to the left to donate! Thanks for your support!

Busy times for HTA

October 6th, 2011

Ontop of working on writing our TV pilot (which you can still donate towards by clicking the link to the left, hint hint) HTA has 3 big events this month.

First up: tonight we'll be participating in the Winnipeg Reel Pride film festival short film competition. Our three most recent YouTube sketches were selected to compete for a cash prize (chosen by audience support). Join us at the Gas Station Arts Centre to view them on the big screen and cheer as loudly as you can! Here are the deets:

Reel Pride 8th Annual Short Film Competition

October 6th

7:00pm

Gas Station Arts Centre

445 River Ave. Winnipeg, MB

Admission by donation

 

Next up, we're flying to Toronto to participate in the Canadian Comedy Awards, where we're nominated for Best Sketch Troupe in Canada. Not only are we going for the awards ceremony, but we'll be performing while we're there. If you're in the Toronto area, come check us out at the Comedy Bar. Here's the info!

Hot Thespian Action at the Comedy Bar

Saturday, October 15th

9:00pm

Comedy Bar

945 Bloor St. W. Toronto, ON

Tickets $12 (Here) or free with a $35 Festival Pass (Here)

 

Lastly, but not leastly, upon our no doubt triumphant homecoming (see? We aim to make you laugh. Have you SEEN our competition?) we'll be mounting an hour long show at the MTC Warehouse (Tom Hendry Theatre) for two nights only. A mix of some the biggest hits from this summer's Fringe Best of Fest winner "A Show of Hands," along with a few of our alternate Best Ofs that haven't been seen in a while (and that lots of you requested after Fringe)! It's a night of our most top notch material and it should be lots of fun for everyone. Come out and support the Winnipeg Fringe, and see HTA for one last time before we retreat into a dark cave for a few months to buckle down on this pilot script. By the way, have I mentioned you can donate to that? Any way, here is the info:

Hot Thespian Action in BURNT CD

October 21st & 22nd

8:00pm

Tom Hendry Theatre at the MTC Warehouse

140 Rupert Ave. (at Lilly). Winnipeg, MB

Tickets $18 | $14 early bird (until Oct 14 at 11:59pm) (Here)

Call 942-6537 for more info or visit www.winnipegfringe.com

Hope to see you out!

 

Another Fringe gone, exciting stuff ahead

July 25th, 2011

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to see "A Show of Hands" at the Winnipeg Fringe this year and helped make this Hot Thespian Action's most successful Fringe yet. Between the multiple 5 star reviews and huge loud audiences, we had an awesome time. And it seems you did too!

Now HTA is switching gears. This fall we begin work, in earnest, on our TV pilot. We have the details all sorted out, we just need to actually get it written. This fall we'll publicly announce some of the details about our project. We're really excited to show you what we've been working on!

This pilot would not be possible without all the amazing support of our fans who have contributed to our pilot so far. As we write this, there are 5 days left in our IndieGoGo fundraiser. And through it, we've raised more than $6000. But we have lots more to raise. So if you're reading this, and you like the idea of having some Hot Thespian Action in your life every week, please consider donating whatever you can to help get this TV pilot off the ground. You can do so by clicking here.

Now, we'd like to take the time to officially thank all those who have contributed to our fundraiser so far.

Thank you

George Hudson, Michael Duggan, Liette Kelsch, Maureen Hardy, Susan Loewen, Ken Mandziuk, Corey Birch, Kaj Hasselriss, Dean Harder, Jamie Pearce, Chris Loewen, Colin Connor, Laura Lussier, Philip Olcen, Kimberly Halpenny, Alexis Martin, Chris Werstiuk, Heather Witherden, Lizabeth Kogan, Ben Myers, LATravel Group, Rick Morgan, Robb Paterson, Sharon Pearce, Linda Hahn, Clare Lawlor, Peggy Miller, Brandy Schmidt, Corey Quintaine, Filip Tretjak, Mandi Maxwell, Jen Brocklehurst, Lindsay Brown, The Collins Family, and Tim Loewen.

And also a big thanks to many who contributed but who do not want their name publicly revealed.

And a huge "oh my god, you're amazing, how can we ever repay you?" thank you to

Cathie Morgan

who took generosity to a new level and just floored us with her insane (in a good way) contribution(s!). Cathie, we all owe you huge, and we can't wait to write a part for you in our pilot!

 

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