What are you lookin at?

Valentine's Day show boast three comedians, four-course meal

Posted By LARA BRADLEY, THE SUDBURY STAR

You may recognize him as the Listerine Bottle, the Cash for Life Fairy or even the cameraman Michelle Pfiffer fired in Hairspray.

But Darren Frost will be coming to town as himself, to indulge in his first passion -- standup comedy. The Hellenic Centre is hosting a Yuk Yuk's Night featuring three comedians -- Frost, Tony Krolo and Christina Walkinshaw -- on Valentine's Day as a fundraiser for St. Nicholas' Church. Besides comedy, the V-Day event also includes a four-course meal thanks to Niko's Catering.

"It's kind of like Valentines Day slant to the show," Frost said in a telephone interview from his home in Toronto.

Darren Frost

"The host is Tony Krolo, he's one of the headlining comics as well. So it's like a two headliner comics show.

"It's going to be a fun show. It won't be too dirty, it won't be too excessive. A middle of the road type show. There will be some relationship stuff. I talk about that. I know Tony does, too. But it's not a 'he said, she said,' type show. Couples will want to come, too."

Frost has several versions of shows in his repertoire, from X-rated to squeaky-clean. Sudbury's show will fall somewhere in the middle.

"People will want to hear some of the bad words, but they don't want it to be too crazy. Generally, we read the crowd, see what they want. Read the age of the crowd," he said.

Although Frost grew up in southern Ontario, he has a strong link to Sudbury.

"I've done many shows (in Sudbury) over the years, but my main connection is that my wife was born and grew up in Sudbury," he said. "I was married in Sudbury, continue to go there well over 10- 12 times a year. Her name is Brandee Pigeon."

Frost has been a standup comedian for 17 years -- in fact, hasn't had a day job since 1995.

"I always wanted to do it as a young child, but then I went to business school to have something to fall back onto," he said.

When his stand-up career blossomed, he said goodbye to his daytime career in advertising. Still, the business stuff does come in handy. Frost figures he'll never be taken advantage of, when it comes to a contract.

However, in Canada it is difficult for most comics to living off of standup alone. So Frost has done a number of films and commercials.

"Most people recognize me from that rather than just standup ... For a period of time I was the Listerine bottle in commercials, I was the Cash for Life fairy. Lots of different mascot roles. In terms of movies, I was in Hairspray with John Travolta last year ... and then Fever Pitch with Drew Barrymore."

He's done everything from a voice on the PBS kid's classic "Timothy Goes to School" to an S&M cooking show called "The Leather Chef" for Unpluggedtv.com.

"When you live in Toronto, it kind of goes in waves, depending on what the economy is and how many movies are being filmed here," Frost said. "You live in Toronto, you audition a lot. Then when it's quiet for movies, I do a lot more standup and vice-versa ... I'm doing a lot of cartoon voices right now. You're constantly doing 40 things, so each month is filled."

In many ways, standup is a young man's game, 37-year-old Frost said.

He used to travel 40 weeks a year for standup gigs, crisscrossing the country, as well as touring internationally, including the doing the Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Some of his big gigs include the Peoples Comedy Festival in Toronto and the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. (He ha s also been twice awarded Top 10 Comedy Moments of the Year by Toronto entertainment magazine.)

"West, coast, east coast, go up to the north," he said. "The smallest place was in P. E. I., population 400. Like 300 of them were there. Standup is always interesting, it's never boring. The only boring part is the 23 other hours around the show."

The largest show he has ever done was the Just for Laughs gala in 2005, which had 2,500 people in the audience.

"The best show is never going to be that size because it's just too big. The best show is going to be around 400 people, who are there for comedy. Most times, it's a smaller town because they appreciate the entertainment. When you play Vancouver or Toronto, a lot of times it's arms-crossed, well, make me laugh."

These days, Frost has good reason to stick closer to home -- his two-year-old and five-year- old sons, who both have congenital heart defects, require surgery. In fact, when he spoke to The Sudbury Star on Wednesday, one had just returned from Sick Children's Hospital

Frost tends to do his standup writing in waves. However, he constantly trolls the Internet for ideas and information.

"Right now, I'm talking my kids, 'cause both my sons have health issues. Will I talk about that in Sudbury? Probably not so much ... Everyone has things in life they have to go through and still do their job. Mine is to make people laugh."

lbradley@thesudburystar.com

Tony Krolo has more than 50 film and television credits as a comedian, actor and writer and has performed standup comedy throughout Canada, the U. S. and Europe.

As a comedian, he's known for his ability to see the absurdities and provocations of modern-day relationships.

People might also know his face from his role as a Mall Cop on Disney's Naturally Sadie, a somber Detective on The Jon Dore Show and from commercials for Tim Horton's and Bud Light. Krolo has also been featured in his own comedy and sketch comedy specials.

Oh, and every Christmas he appears as the clumsy Cop in Tim Allen's The Santa Clause.

Christina Walkinshaw, originally from Vancouver, began her career taking Journalism at Carleton University and writing hilarious articles for the school paper. Walkinshaw then realized what she really wanted was a career in standup comedy. So at age 19, Walkinshaw began performing professional weekend shows at Yuk Yuk's Comedy Clubs all across Canada.

She has trained at The Second City Training Centre, Los Angeles and is a regular at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Her jokes have recently been published in the book "She's So Funny," among the likes of Ellen