OUR STORY
SHAME IS BIO
Who were Shame is Right?
They were an intelligent sketch group that produced full scale revues of all new material from the years of 2005-2008. They performed several times at at Toronto Sketch Fest, the LA Comedy Festival, The Second City, The (now defunct) Diesel Playhouse and more. At the time they were in their late 20s/early 30s full of young and funny and ready to take on the world
The Story:
Fifteen years ago it was 2005 and an improvisor (who is a now beloved radio host in Kitchener) drifted into an weekly free long form improv workshop with a parrot (he owned a parrot that heckled us) and a pitch. He had a meeting with someone at CBC who wanted a sketch radio show. Four people volunteered for the job. They were us: Amanda Barker, Dale Boyer, Trevor Martin, and Marco Timpano.
We met weekly for 2 months. We wrote radio scripts that reflected our lives and full of things that we hadn’t seen before in sketch. 2005 was a world that only seemed to have an appetite for anyone who was dubbed “the next Kids in the Hall”. Many, many wonderful sketch groups were dubbed that. We were not.
We wrote our world. We wrote scripts that dealt with the awkwardness of being a Asian boyfriend in a white girlfriend’s household. We wrote hilarious, in depth looks at Italian Canadian culture. We wrote what it was like to be an American in a Canadian world. And a Canadian in the rest of the world. We wrote feminist commercial beer parodies (15 years later, one of us is the voice of Coors Light, because it took that long for advertising to realize that women actually drink beer).
That was us. Asian, Italian, Feminist, American, Canadian and much, much more. And guess what? There was no appetite for it. Too specific, too other, too feminist, too race related…CBC didn’t want us. We were no Kids in the Hall.
But we had all of these scripts. And they all seemed to circle around this idea of Shame - what brings us shame? What should society be ashamed of? What is a world without shame? And we had a friend who suddenly had a venue for cheap and needed anything to get bums in seats. So in 2005 we did our first full length review - at the Diesel Playhouse, which was formally The Second City and is now the Bisha Condos. And it was so successful that in 2006 we did our second. And then in 2007 we did our third.
We eagerly took part in the new Toronto Sketchfest. We were awarded the 2007 Steamwhistle Arbitrary Award of Merit there. Despite working our butts off it was the first time we felt truly recognized. We went on to perform in “The Best of the Fest” shortly after - remember that?
We released shows like Albums - it was a Toronto Sketchfest workshop with Jim Millan (who Amanda went on to work with for 3 years after because THANKS JULIANNE) that made us see our shows this way. Like a band, went on to tour. We played Toronto. A bunch. Then we broadened our horizons to places like...Kitchener. Then LA a bunch of times.
We returned saying things like “We were the official selection of LA comedy fest, 3 times over!”, and “two people from Arrested Development were in our audience...have you seen Arrested Development? Oh its so great, I’ll lend you my DVDs, I have the whole first season, I just need to get it back from someone”.
And then the same Second City where we had all first met suddenly wanted a piece of us and that writing and effort went to them because, well, they paid! These terms will show our age but - Ed Co, Tour Co, Biz Co, Boat Co, and the Mainstage - between the four of us we did it all. Other projects came our way and we kept having to put our Shame is Right plans on hold. Busyness breaks up the best of bands sometimes.
And then life hit. Amanda and Marco started dating. Dale and Trevor got married. Amanda and Marco got married. Babies happened. Or they didn’t. Travel. Greying Hair. Losing Hair. Losing greying hair. Getting cast on the mainstage of Second City and doing 4 revues there. Canadian Comedy Award winning one person shows. Penning a million dollar movie script. Touring North America for 3 years in an award winning 50 Shades Parody. Shooting Pilots. Touring the world for corporate improv gigs. Getting pulled aside at airport security because you were talking about shooting a pilot while you are touring the world for corporate improv gigs. Co-hosting a popular radio show on Sirius XM for 5 years. Creating an animated kids show. Creating another stage show. Winning more awards. Creating a production house of 5 award winning podcasts. Working in Casting. Creating an interactive show about clothing swaps. Writing a novel. Shooting a ton of series, and a ton of roles. If it shoots in Canada, likely one of us was on it. And the commercials. So, so many commercials. Over 200 for us 4. At the beginning of 2020, we would often talk about getting the band back together, the way older, successful people do. Maybe someday, you know, when we have a lull.
And then….the lull came.
Covid. And we are all home. And we are all on CERB. And suddenly, for the first time in 13 years, we have time. Time to write. Time to create. The means to record remotely, as though we are all in one room. A recording studio and production capabilities we never dreamed of back when we were in our 20’s, holding a yard sale to pay for flights to Los Angeles. So what do we do?
We write. We create. We blow the dust off of old scripts too and make ourselves laugh once more.
We talk to the contacts that it took 15 years to make and they say inspiring things like “sure we will play you on the radio” and “so glad to hear you are back” and “I’ve never heard of you”.
And we say simply, “Its a shame you haven't. But you will”.
Who were Shame is Right?
They were an intelligent sketch group that produced full scale revues of all new material from the years of 2005-2008. They performed several times at at Toronto Sketch Fest, the LA Comedy Festival, The Second City, The (now defunct) Diesel Playhouse and more. At the time they were in their late 20s/early 30s full of young and funny and ready to take on the world
The Story:
Fifteen years ago it was 2005 and an improvisor (who is a now beloved radio host in Kitchener) drifted into an weekly free long form improv workshop with a parrot (he owned a parrot that heckled us) and a pitch. He had a meeting with someone at CBC who wanted a sketch radio show. Four people volunteered for the job. They were us: Amanda Barker, Dale Boyer, Trevor Martin, and Marco Timpano.
We met weekly for 2 months. We wrote radio scripts that reflected our lives and full of things that we hadn’t seen before in sketch. 2005 was a world that only seemed to have an appetite for anyone who was dubbed “the next Kids in the Hall”. Many, many wonderful sketch groups were dubbed that. We were not.
We wrote our world. We wrote scripts that dealt with the awkwardness of being a Asian boyfriend in a white girlfriend’s household. We wrote hilarious, in depth looks at Italian Canadian culture. We wrote what it was like to be an American in a Canadian world. And a Canadian in the rest of the world. We wrote feminist commercial beer parodies (15 years later, one of us is the voice of Coors Light, because it took that long for advertising to realize that women actually drink beer).
That was us. Asian, Italian, Feminist, American, Canadian and much, much more. And guess what? There was no appetite for it. Too specific, too other, too feminist, too race related…CBC didn’t want us. We were no Kids in the Hall.
But we had all of these scripts. And they all seemed to circle around this idea of Shame - what brings us shame? What should society be ashamed of? What is a world without shame? And we had a friend who suddenly had a venue for cheap and needed anything to get bums in seats. So in 2005 we did our first full length review - at the Diesel Playhouse, which was formally The Second City and is now the Bisha Condos. And it was so successful that in 2006 we did our second. And then in 2007 we did our third.
We eagerly took part in the new Toronto Sketchfest. We were awarded the 2007 Steamwhistle Arbitrary Award of Merit there. Despite working our butts off it was the first time we felt truly recognized. We went on to perform in “The Best of the Fest” shortly after - remember that?
We released shows like Albums - it was a Toronto Sketchfest workshop with Jim Millan (who Amanda went on to work with for 3 years after because THANKS JULIANNE) that made us see our shows this way. Like a band, went on to tour. We played Toronto. A bunch. Then we broadened our horizons to places like...Kitchener. Then LA a bunch of times.
We returned saying things like “We were the official selection of LA comedy fest, 3 times over!”, and “two people from Arrested Development were in our audience...have you seen Arrested Development? Oh its so great, I’ll lend you my DVDs, I have the whole first season, I just need to get it back from someone”.
And then the same Second City where we had all first met suddenly wanted a piece of us and that writing and effort went to them because, well, they paid! These terms will show our age but - Ed Co, Tour Co, Biz Co, Boat Co, and the Mainstage - between the four of us we did it all. Other projects came our way and we kept having to put our Shame is Right plans on hold. Busyness breaks up the best of bands sometimes.
And then life hit. Amanda and Marco started dating. Dale and Trevor got married. Amanda and Marco got married. Babies happened. Or they didn’t. Travel. Greying Hair. Losing Hair. Losing greying hair. Getting cast on the mainstage of Second City and doing 4 revues there. Canadian Comedy Award winning one person shows. Penning a million dollar movie script. Touring North America for 3 years in an award winning 50 Shades Parody. Shooting Pilots. Touring the world for corporate improv gigs. Getting pulled aside at airport security because you were talking about shooting a pilot while you are touring the world for corporate improv gigs. Co-hosting a popular radio show on Sirius XM for 5 years. Creating an animated kids show. Creating another stage show. Winning more awards. Creating a production house of 5 award winning podcasts. Working in Casting. Creating an interactive show about clothing swaps. Writing a novel. Shooting a ton of series, and a ton of roles. If it shoots in Canada, likely one of us was on it. And the commercials. So, so many commercials. Over 200 for us 4. At the beginning of 2020, we would often talk about getting the band back together, the way older, successful people do. Maybe someday, you know, when we have a lull.
And then….the lull came.
Covid. And we are all home. And we are all on CERB. And suddenly, for the first time in 13 years, we have time. Time to write. Time to create. The means to record remotely, as though we are all in one room. A recording studio and production capabilities we never dreamed of back when we were in our 20’s, holding a yard sale to pay for flights to Los Angeles. So what do we do?
We write. We create. We blow the dust off of old scripts too and make ourselves laugh once more.
We talk to the contacts that it took 15 years to make and they say inspiring things like “sure we will play you on the radio” and “so glad to hear you are back” and “I’ve never heard of you”.
And we say simply, “Its a shame you haven't. But you will”.
