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Steve Patterson (a bundle of, apparently, endless energy) warmed up the audience by telling us how important we were to the "lifelike feel" of the show, how we would experience "gradients of humour," and that we had the power to lift a participant's self-esteem to new heights or send it plunging to the depths of self-loathing. Then we practised titters, chuckles, laughs, and hoots and howls, all the while watching a "Vu-Meter" that was apparently showing us the volume of our response. Hmmm. It seems that laughing at nothing also gets funnier when it happens again and again.
The debaters were Graham Clark & Don Kelly on the merits of wearing fur, David Pryde & Andrew Younghusband on DIY: good or bad, Elvira Kurt & Charles Demers on social networks: good or bad, and David Hemsted & Scott Falconbridge on bald is beautiful (or not). It was not easy to choose the best debater, except for Elvira Kurt, whose outfit and hairdo brought back memories of Martin Short's Ed Grimley from SNL and who jumped around the stage and accused a gurgling baby of heckling her. We stamped, hooted and hollered for every debater, and then, for some technical reason, we had to do it again and again until Charles Demers told us that he just "loves losing as many times as possible." Between sets that funny Francophone, Derek Sequin, kept us laughing without telling any jokes, and everyone did what they were told by a disembodied voice known as "god," including retaping part of David Hemstad's monologue in order to omit a reference to having a "short curly hair in your mouth."
For 3 1/2 hours on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, everything was funny, even going for a pee. Thanks, guys.
