Rhodiola and humour

There are studies and papers on the positive impact rhodiola has in the creation of fluids associated with laughter. Insert joke here...

I was hoping to introduce the Wits to rhodiola tea grown from Alberta, dried from Alberta and poured by a Saskatchewan boy. There are no Saskatchewan boys who know what rhodiola is so I am stuck with it...

We will not have time to do all the Wit class activities and fully appreciate the experience you have just been a part of in Wit Love. I try never to admit a show was great... it's a male thing... so... wow... Wit Love was great!

I am trying to acquire boxes of the 1st ever capsule... maybe...

The show demonstrated the reason I agreed to help. Women are funny and more important know haw to have a great time!

Happy Endings

It was my first night at Wit and Writing For Women.  I walked from the Bloggers room into the room of the Performers and noticed Eva on the stage.  She caught my attention when she shouted, “THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” and starts to pant.  The other Wits laugh at her.  I wish I knew what she was talking about.

Eva gives the Wits an assignment to create an ending for their performance.  She goes around the room and helps them with endings.  Derek (The Lone Male) is helping the Wits out as well.  I keep thinking to myself…lucky man to be surrounded by all these beautiful vivacious women!  No wonder he wants to instruct! 

I feel envious of the Performing Wits…I wish I was going to be on stage on Valentine’s night with the rest of them.  If only I joined this Meetup sooner.  I have to admit that I was so impressed at finding out so many Wits were performing for the first time. 

Each Wit starts sharing their creative endings for their performance.  As they are sharing their endings, all that can go through my head is…Happy Endings.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Happy Endings…it is the type of ending that you get at the end of a massage at a parlor with special “add-ons” for their clients.  Yes, I have a twisted mind.  It may also explain why I think I am in the right Meetup group for me. 

There was so much laughter!  Eva and Derek helped each Wit with their creative endings by giving suggestions.  There is so much support in this group.  I am really looking forward to volunteering at the show.  Although it was my first night with this group, I felt like I belonged.  Thank you Eva for creating this group…and thank you for getting me out of my pajamas on Valentine’s night!

Is testosterone or dollars to blame?

There are many female comedy writers so we know women can write funny..., is it the female delivery that is to “blame” for the perception woman are not funny? Perhaps it is our presents. Our gift of sexy-ma!

Personally I think testosterone is up when a women’s in the room and sometimes, some fellows would rather lay than laugh. It must be so hard to laugh when, it’s hard. 


I read recently that when a male comic headliner is performing the bar sells more booze, women  comic they sell more food.  Is this simply an economics issue? Jeeps, that would be a relief!

~EvaPea

Top 5 signs it’s Valentine’s Day at your house

#5. You’re using chocolate body paint to sign cheques.

#4. Ripped photos of your ex mysteriously show up in the blender.

#3. There’s chocolate flavored vomit by the kitty litter box.*

#2. “You’ve Got Mail” has been a repeat DVD for 3 weeks.

Drumroll...

...and the #1 sign it’s Valentine’s Day at your house:

You use Fruits & Passion aromatherapy massage oil to fry your sweetie's bacon and eggs.

- "Sweet n' Sour Hearts", writer's group

Comedy can increase your fertility?

From today's Globe & Mail:

"A study of 229 Israeli women undergoing in-vitro fertilization shows that a 15-minute visit with a professionally trained 'medical clown' increased their likelihood of pregnancy to 36 per cent.Women who did not get a comedy routine had just a 20-per-cent chance. The researchers believe the clown eased them women's tension - significant since stress factors into infertility. So send in the clowns, just not the Stephen King kind."

In related news, a study of 165 Canadian men found that dressing as a clown was correlated to a 100 per cent decrease in sexual activity.

Hey handsome.

Women are funny!

I have a bias when I write this post. Over the past 15 years or so I have taught the skill and delivery of stand up comedy to hundreds of individuals in classes. I am often asked who is funnier men or women? The answer is simple... women.

The basis I have lie in watching each group perform and writing with all. The women are funnier in story, technically better in delivery and far superior in the writing. Women get what is being taught.

Men on the other hand come into class wanting me to validate their comic superiority over all who live. It is a man thing and an ego thing. I am better than all men by the way but that is taking us off topic. The point is women listen and apply the skills they are taught. The class graduation comedy shows prove they are funnier.

And yet...

If I ask someone... anyone... who is funnier the resounding reply is men. There is a belief that has no basis in reality supporting the idea men are funnier than women. It's almost like men are trying to prove their superiority without offering proof.

Man has created streams to reward comic performance and writing and then set up systems that support men only to be paid and valued. Why are there so many men in comedy? Because the game has been rigged in their favor.

The simple way to give credit for comic performance regardless of gender or religion or colour or weight, is to become aware the Emperor has no clothes. Once you challenge the assumption men are funnier than women you wind up acknowledging the talent of most women and you get to enjoy far more laughter.

My advice to everyone is look for the funny and you won't notice who is creating it. But it will mostly be women.

Funny Mood?

An emotion is a chemical reaction that happens in the brain, if the emotion is sustained it turns into a feeling …sometimes the feelings turn into moods.  Occasionally a feeling can turn into four children but that is another blog post.

Moods can be charming and not so charming.  A good mood can pick up an entire group and everyone wants to be your friend.  A bad mood is like dog dirt on the bottom of your shoe…sometimes you don’t know it’s there till the end of the day when there is no one around to blame for the funk in the air.

Using our humour to alter mood is cost effective like staying single. Growing up my family laughed always, often and we were constantly cutting up one another. More than once I received a smack to the back of the head for "making" my brother and sister laugh at the dinner table. I had help occasionally from the mashed potato-pea mixture at the end of my fork; for the most part the funny came from mocking, acting out, word play and mime. I was pretty funny.

As we grew up so did our humour. Through our teens we ventured into practical jokes, fake fire drills, changing our names for the substitute teacher and rolled on the floor rehashing the prank phone calls we made earlier in the evening. "I'd like to speak to Buddy" ensuring the response "there's nobody here" was the height of our creativity. We were all funny.

Laughing with girlfriends always lifted moods. When did we forget how effective laughing is or did we just never connect the two, laughing and mood?

I took my first stand-up course in January 2000. I learned to put my angst into joke. Nothing is more empowering than telling an accountable joke. Owning the less charming events in my life has made me in some ways untouchable by my past, leaving me present, which is the only place I can eat ice-cream with chocolate sauce.

I will leave you with an example of Owning the less Charming Events.

I let a him stay at my house while I took my kids on vacation. I came back to a voice mail from a hooker, the message made it clear that he called her, she came over and... well I burned the sheets.

Set Up of the Joke: While I was in Disneyland

Punch Line: He was making my house his happiest place on earth.

I told that joke instead of the portraying myself as a victim of him and his antics. Of course I had all the experiences of betrayal, anger, etc but after the initial shock wore off the joke made it easier to talk to my girlfriends about. Yes I used this joke, and several other about that experience, in my routine for a number of years.

I'm hilarious just ask him.

~EvaPea

Titillating Tuesdays

I started blogging--which has me loving Tuesdays, the funniest day of my week, 'cause I get to go to Wit and Writing for Women.

This is my comedy group, which is teaching me to be funny.

Not sure the teacher grasped what she was taking IN when she took us all ON. We're a big group, but you know what they say… the bigger the better…

I know from experience that each week we can't wait to come and roll around on stage. Once the dreaded Monday is over we spend Tuesday in a tizzy of titillated anticipation, excited for our next "let's make an ass of myself night," where we women get together rolling around with each other on stage, in the board room, laughing at ourselves and the things us girls do in front of one man and his video camera.

A few weeks ago some of the girls were getting ready for their first live stage performance. Eva coached them on their "happy endings", the finales to their bits of funniness performed for their kind audience of friends, family and loved ones. After all, who really cares to listen to us anyways? We're just a bunch of women, right? We can't be funny… can we…?

Our classes look something like this….