05/09/05

The trip to Saskatchewan was fun. After being friends with Daniel for more than 5 years, we finally managed to hit the road together. (Yuks finally relented… or more to the point, we were both out of the shit books at the same time…. Kudos to Holly for putting this together…)

Dan is a curious, and kinda impish fellow. He uses charm to his advantage, and has a keen sense of his own abilities. He is definitely a comedy warrior, but it's obvious that the road has clearly left its mark on him. He drags on his personality with impunity, and lets it drive his show. His character leaves a frank and distinct impression, but its force of will that makes him funny. (Very funny indeed…)

His freewheeling style makes his show natural, and very easy going. Its pace is dictated by his whim. (One might even say it tends to be rather breezy…) But at no point is he compromising. When he decides to exert more control over an audience, they become better for it. He's a treat to watch.

Saskatoon was a very good show. I did well. There were a couple of soft jokes, but overall it was solid. I like it there. The people in Saskatoon are very nice, open sort of folk. Everyone I talked with had a warmth, and a little light in their eyes. It was a very positive experience.

I ran into a former employee of mine working at the hotel we were staying at. It was very strange to see him. (Given that the set of circumstances that led to his being "freed up for new opportunities" were quite strange in and amongst themselves…) He seemed happy, and looked healthier than I can ever recall seeing him.

After the show, which went rather well, we mingled with the crowd for a bit, and then went off to have a drink. Dan managed to strike up a conversation that met his fancy and I went off in search of some live music with a few of the locals.

I saw an average cover band, and had a couple of drinks, and met some nice people.

Overall it was a good day.

Regina, was not as good, but still went well. We were warned in advance that the crowd was going to be small (which helped…) and the show had a different feel to it. It was a slower pace, and the crowd reactions, while positive, were smaller.

The majority of the audience was made up of RCMP cadets. (Apparently I seem to attract them… Like last year in William's lake…) Happily they were pretty young, and still liked to party.

It wasn't a wild night. I was asleep by about 1:15 or so, but I had some odd dreams that I'm still trying to figure out.

The strangest thing about the trip was this. In Saskatchewan retailers have to hide cigarettes behind a curtain. The rationale employed here is that by hiding them, they can't be a lure for children. I think that's brilliantly stupid. Once again smokers are being treated like social pariahs. It felt like I was trying to buy porn. Soon you'll have to get them wrapped in brown paper.