Contributors

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Host

Dave Healey

Dave Healey is a writer, actor, improviser, director, musician and improv teacher. He’s appeared in numerous TV shows, commercials, films and plays. In addition he spent 3 years with Second City before being paroled, was a cast member and Artistic Director of Big City Improv and a member of the improv group The Chumps whose radio show "The Chumps Without a Net" ran on CBC radio. His plays have appeared in the Atlantic, Orlando, Winnipeg and Toronto Fringe Festivals in addition to being featured in the Toronto Short-Short Play Festival, The Pittsburgh New Works Festival, Buffalo’s Road Less Traveled Ten Minute Play Fest, Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival, The National 10 Minute Play Festival and The Newmarket National One Act Play Festival.  

https://www.davehealey.com/
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Co-host

Ann McDougall

Ann McDougall is a graphic designer/illustrator, writer, and performer based in Toronto. Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Ann has a BA in Theatre from York University. Her work includes a variety of storytelling festivals, children's theatre, corporate and medical voiceover, and occasionally something really fun like Flashman. 

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Co-host

Gene Abella

Gene Abella is a Canadian Comedy Award winning actor, improviser and comedian. He has appeared on stage in plays such as: Plan "Live" From Outer Space andJust East of Broadway. Gene has also appeared on various films and TV series such as: Operation Christmas List, CBC's The Detectives and Prime Video's The Boys, to name a few.He has performed stand-up, improv and sketch at the Rivoli, The Laugh Resort, Tim Sims Playhouse(Toronto) , Upright Citizens Brigade(NY) and the Athenaeum Theatre(Chicago). You can hear him playing various roles on the Audible book series, "Imminent Disasters".Out of all the roles Gene has played, the role he is always proud of in real life is "Dad".

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Co-host

Jane Luk

Jane Luk is an actor, improvisor, writer and director.  Selected film and TV appearances include Handmaid’s Tale, Murdoch Mysteries, Kim’s Convenience, Angel Falls Christmas, Anne With an E, The Clark Sisters, Saw lll. She is launching two web series “Chateau Laurier” and stars in Streams Flow from a River by Christopher Yip on Apple TV, Super Channel, and Prime Video. Jane has also voiced various animated series and video game characters. Jane is a four-time nominee for the Canadian Comedy Awards for Funniest Female Improvisor as well as arecipient of a Dora Award and Chalmers Award for Best Youth Script. Jane recently directed 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan Lori-Parks for University Players in Windsor. “Smokey Topaz Multimedia Extravaganza” Her independent short “How to be More Chinese” enjoyed a two-year broadcast with the Comedy Network in Canada.

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Co-host

Jeff Rosenthal

Jeff Rosenthal has been performing improvisational comedy on and off since 1995. His large size and substantial hairiness mean that his physical presence is memorable even when his improv isn't. Jeff also performs music at clubs and conferences, and provides musical accompaniment to comedy shows. Early on in Jeff's showbiz career, he was told, "Don't give up your day job!". He has taken that advice seriously, becoming a professor of statistics at the University of Toronto.

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Co-host

Melyssa Ade

When it comes to the Flashman series, Melyssa Ade couldn't be happier to participate. Melyssa has been an actor for over 30 years. Selected credits include: tv (Max Glick, Eleventh Hour, CTV’s Master Control) film (Jason X, Interstate 60) and stage (Fringe, Summerworks, and Dora nominee for best actress Indie Theatre 2004). She was the Artistic Director of the Short-Short Play Festival 2015 & 2016. She is especially proud of her involvement as a co-curator of The Toronto Cold Reads for over a decade. Her other favourite role is MOM to Stirling.

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Co-host

Oliver Georgiou

Oliver is an actor, comedian, and clown based in Toronto. He runs SODA Impro, an unscripted theatre company, and performs as half of the comedy duos Johnson & Georgiou with Lara Johnson and Jan & George with Reid Janisse. Recently, he’s developed three original roles onstage: Mitch in Emily Dix’s adaptation of The Birds (Bygone Theatre), Edwin in Kristen Da Silva’s The Bluff (Theatre Orangeville), and Mr Gordon in Vishesh Abeyratne’s workshop of Blood Offering (Alma Matter Productions). Last year, he was invited to headline the Detroit Improv Festival, and played the leading man in Vampire Zombies… From Space!, a 1950s horror-comedy homage. He is an alumnus of Second City Toronto House Co, and was part of the all-star cast of Wayne & Shuster, Live! At Hart House Theatre. He can be found on all podcast streaming sites the Canadian Podcast Award winning series Caverns & Comedians.

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Co-host

Sam Agro

Sam Agro is an illustrator, writer, and performer with a long history of experience in improv and sketch comedy. Sam creates storyboards for both live-action and animated media, including such projects as Paw Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fly Away Home, and several instalments of the SAW movie franchise. He also dabbles away at the fringes of the comic book industry and is a frequent essayist on pop culture subjects. Sam makes his home in Toronto with his wife Beth and their neurotic cat, Little V.

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Co-host

Sean Browning

Sean Browning is (in no particular order) a writer/actor/musician/humourist/fantasist/LGBTQ+ ally/father/husband and mostly ridiculous. Acting credits include CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries, Netflix’s Painkiller, plus voice work and mocap on Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Musically he is one half of alt-pop duo Spoil The View and also records solo as Sean Browning’s Outré Space. His first novel (dark sci-fi comedy) “I Don’t Seem So Bright in a Well-Lit Room” was published by Story Well Publishing in 2019 and is available at all online bookstores, and his second novel (a comedic fantasy) “What A Strange Thing We Are” is due out in 2024. He lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife, three kids, and various anxiety issues.

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Co-host

Vicki Jenkins

Vicki Jenkins is an actor, visual artist, creator and arts educator.  She holds an Associate of Arts Degree from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and received the 2002 Voice Award, and an Advanced Studies in Actor Training Diploma for participation in the 2002/03 Academy Company. She is also a graduate of the Second City Toronto’s Conservatory Program. Favourite roles include Mary Haines in The Women, Reggie Fluttie in The Laramie Project, Maxine in The Tongue of a Bird, and Anne in She's Mine.  She has beaten cancer three times since 2004 and would like to never have to do that again.

Guests

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Guest

Kristina Agosti

She has performed in several Vancouver Fringe shows voted Best of the Fringe, including “This is a Play,” and “This Fringe Venue is Being Held Hostage. She has an extensive background in theatre, film and tv, with a focus on new Canadian work with companies across the country. Kristina writes and performs one person shows, including the critically acclaimed “Chicks Up Front” and most recently performed her show “Perched” in NYC. A past winner of the World Improv Championships at the Just For Laughs Comedy Fest in Montreal, and an alumnus of the Vancouver TheatreSports League Mainstage, she has improvised and performed stand up on stage and screen across North America.



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Guest

Laura Kyswaty

In her many years of experience, Laura Kyswaty has appeared on screens both large and small around the world, and onstage across the country. Roles have ranged from comedy to drama, leading lady to supporting cast. Her studies in improvisation at the Second City Conservatory, along with her performance degree from York University, allow her to tackle a wide variety of projects.

In her spare time she dances and choreographs for a local Toronto company, is a communication coach for executives in some of North America’s top companies.