Review: Uncalled For Presents: The Trial of the Century (Fringe 2011)

Reviewed by Émilie Charlebois

I saw this show with someone who had never seen Uncalled For perform and someone like me, who has seen them many times. The verdict was still: delightful! The entire piece is an improvised trial with a special guest who’s name, background and crime are all decided by the audience who also supplies key witnesses and acts as the jury at the very end. Not only was it opening night, but this is the first time Uncalled For does something like this…and it kinda showed. The show started out a little rocky, but these guys never fail to make fun of themselves or each other when that happens, so the funny was still there (props to Dan Jeannotte’s snarky judge) and they pulled it all together for the end (Anders Yates’ closing statement was genius). As always, Uncalled For are a hoot to watch, and there is no doubt this show will only get better with every performance (every show is different)!

Show details.

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The Sunday Feature: An Interview With Uncalled For

How To Keep The Romance Alive in Your Improv Group: An Uncalled For Love Story

"I’m going to answer this in the most humble way I can think of. That is that, we are like the Beatles."

The boys talk about everything...and leaving the Fringe.

by Émilie Charlebois

After some record breaking email correspondence, I sat down for a few beers with Montreal Fringe veterans, Uncalled For’s Dan Jeannotte, Anders Yates and Matt Goldberg (also known as the 13th Hour’s Sweet Sweet Jimmy Priest, Zack Winters and Rufus O’Hallahan) to talk about relationships, being a nerd and of course the Fringe. It may have been the alcohol, the nachos, or the eleven year history they carry with them, but there was definitely a lot of love in the room.

The Sunday Feature, February 19, 2011

The boys of Uncalled For

Digital Drama Queen (Part II): 

How Uncalled For Hijacked My Inbox

by Liesl Barrell

In this instalment we’ll be looking at email marketing strategies, with a few insights to get you thinking outside the junk mail box. If you like what you read and want to hear about more strategies for artists, you’re in luck because I’ll be a panelist at QDF’s Marketing & Social Media Workshop on February 21. It’s gonna be the best thing since sliced internetz, so hope to see you there!

I’ll tell you a little secret: I hate emails.  I’ll tell you a little secret: As a marketer, I love emails. As a user, I hate them. 

Marketer love:

Email is still one of the most cost-effective methods to spread the word, despite social media titans proclaiming its death or the blogosphere constantly feeling for its pulse. When effectively deployed and paired with good, timely, useful content it can be an amazing tool to build awareness and keep people in the loop.

User hate:

I feel the same way you probably feel about bulk emails: I’m bombarded with constant, bite-sized information, and here come these cumbersome, awkward chunks of dull, stock-photo-ridden meh-inducing content. Often pointlessly seasonal (It’s Valentine’s Day so buy socks!) and needlessly long-winded, I confess to having no fewer than 12,353 unread emails in my primary account inbox. That’s a whole heckuva lot of ignored emails!

Review: Hypnogogic Logic

By Gaëtan L. Charlebois


WildSide launched its 14th edition tonight with much noise, and the noise came in the form of the troupe, Uncalled For, and their new work, Hypnogogic Logic. The company of four played to a packed house of devotees. It was a nice, explosive start to the Festival.


However...


As I have said elsewhere, Uncalled For is one of the smartest comedy teams in the city but the problem, with their new work, is they may be too smart by half. Their energy—both intellectual and physical, is in full view from the first moment of the evening (which has, as its conceit, that state of sleep in which the weirdest things happen in your dreams; ie: the sketches). But the person most clearly missing in action is a director (the program tells us they directed themselves). As a result, the pacing is too mad, the voices loud and fairly unmodulated, and finally the show overstays its welcome (and could have handled 15 minutes cut from its 75 or so)...high energy becomes, far too soon, relentlessness.

CharPo's Picture of the Week; December 10, 2010

Four Hairy Fellers

Uncalled For's Hypnogogic Logic (Photo by: Jeremy Bobrow)

Sitting: Mike Hughes; Standing l-r: Dan Jeannotte, Matt Goldberg, Anders Yates

The show plays the Wildside Festival, starting January 4