On April 11 at 4:32 p.m. (I checked the call display), as I was making Coq au Vin (chicken with red wine; much classier than what I usually throw together for supper) for the fam, the phone rang. As it was almost the dinner hour, and I didn’t recognize the phone number, I assumed it was a phone solicitor and geared myself up to be a smart aleck to whoever was calling. It wasn’t a phone solicitor.

Kathleen from Ottawa Yuk Yuks said hello and then said, “Lori, would you like to be on the 15th season of Comedy Now?”  I don’t remember what I said. I hope it was “yes.” I felt a form of shock begin right in the centre of my belly and radiate out to the rest of me. I’m fairly sure that my mouth didn’t close fully for the duration of the conversation.

I am beyond grateful for the opportunity and am very careful to not let my enormous head grow any larger (no, it’s not mostly hair, it’s mostly cranium I assure you). I have showcased lots of time for other opportunities and been passed over. And I will be again. And each time I don’t get something, I have a period of rejection, and it hurts. A wise man put it simply: “You get what you get.”  One mustn’t take the news, good or bad, personally. After feeling rejected time and time again, I have learned the lesson that what keeps me going in comedy is the love of it… the small town gigs I mentioned in my last blog, the old guy last night who bearhugged me and exclaimed, “I loved your skit!” (skit! classic!), the road trips with fascinating, hilarious comedians… comaraderie, silliness and love of our craft… taking someone away from their lives for a moment and seeing the smile on their face. It’s gorgeous.

Grateful for all of it. Love,
Lori