Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 120

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 120

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy 
Air Date: 04/20/2012 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Free Podcast Download Location: iTunes.

Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg

Rebroadcast: 04/25/2012 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

Wrapping up our Winnipeg Comedy Festival coverage, we were joined by Comedian Lou Dinos for a proper chat. 

On March 15, LOU DINOS celebrated his 30th year in the business. It all started in Toronto at a little club called Yuk Yuks, the only comedy club in the country, which at the time stayed open until 4 A.M. and did not serve drinks. He did five minutes and was scared to death. But he killed. Lou was 21.

Photograph by Leif Norman

After conquering the Great White North, Lou decided to pack his bags and head for the big city. In Los Angeles, he was offered a role in QUICKSILVER (with Kevin Bacon) almost immediately. He auditioned at THE COMEDY STORE and within a month, he was a regular there. His name was painted on the wall in the corner that faces Sunset Boulevard. Soon after that he hooked up with his childhood friend, Howie Mandel.

For five years they toured theaters across the U.S. and Canada together. After being with Howie for so long, Lou decided to go out on his own. His solo tour started out as a one year venture. He headlined clubs such as Charlie Goodnight’s (Raleigh), The Funny Bone (Columbus), The Punchline (Atlanta), and The Comedy Works (Montreal) and now years later into the new century he's still going strong.

This was Lou's fist time at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival. During our interview, he said his favorite part was the pinata.

We were also joined by Artistic Director and Comedian Al Rae to get his thoughts on the 11th year of the festival.

Photograph by Leif Norman

Al Rae is a Winnipeg stand-up comic and comedy writer. He is the winner of the Just for Laughs National Homegrown Comic Competition 2000. Prior to Little Mosque on the Prairie, Al was a writer on the sitcoms Blackfly and Big Sound (GLOBAL) He has hosted two comedy information shows for CBC Radio, That’s Capital about finance and Spin Off, a highly popular election satire show.

His twenty part comedy drama series Monsoon House with Russell Peters aired on CBC Radio in the fall of 2006. 

He is the winner of an Italian Prix Roma Screenwriting Prize and a Gemini Award and nomination for Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Finally, we touched on the controversy surrounding what has infamously become known as 4/20. To do that we broadcast live from The Manitoba Legislative building, the site of annual pro marijuana demonstrations.

We ended this weeks episode with a track by Michael Franti And Spearhead called Ganja Babe.

To download this episode please subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes Music Store or click here to be automatically subscribed. For more information, please visit http://wakeupwinnipeg.com or follow us on twitter at twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg

You can also become of a fan of our show on Facebook at Facebook.com/WakeUpWinnipeg

Until next week,
-Av
 
(c) 2012 A. Valpy - Wake Up Winnipeg/UMFM

Video: Fire on Albert Street in Winnipeg

By Andru Valpy
4/19/2012

On Thursday, April 19th, 2012 at approximately 9:30 a.m. emergency services responders were dispatched to the area of Notre Dame Avenue and Albert Street for the report of a working fire at a building.

Fire fighters worked quickly in an attempt to contain the fire within the 100 block of Albert Street.  The fire caused extensive damage and the properties are expected to be a total loss.






At this stage in the investigation the fire does not appear to be suspicious in nature.
This investigation is continuing by members of the Arson Strike Force Unit.     

(Updated: 4:29pm - Adds Photographs)
(c) 2012 Wake Up Winnipeg.

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 119

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 119

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy 
Air Date: 04/13/2012 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Free Podcast Download Location: iTunes.

Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg

Rebroadcast: 04/18/2012 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

This weeks we continued on with our Winnipeg Comedy Festival Coverage.

Our first guest was comedian Chantel Marostica who has roots to Winnipeg's comedy scene. We converse about her life as a female comedian and touch on some of the successes and challenges Chantel has faced throughout her career.

Another comedian who has done very well for herself is Jen Grant, who was scheduled to perform 4 times throughout the festival including Saturday's taping of The Debaters.

Jen Grant has performed at most festivals in Canada including the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, as well as the Halifax, Vancouver, St. John's Newfoundland and Sudbury comedy festivals and was the first woman and first Canadian to make it to the finals of the prestigious Boston Comedy Competition. And as if that weren't enough, Jen has also traveled to Egypt and Israel to entertain our troop. 

Our last guest was Gemini award winning entertainer, comedian and author Sean Cullen.

A Multi Canadian Comedy Award and Gemini recipient. Sean has appeared on The Tonight Show, The Late Late Show,Comedy Central Presents, The Ellen Show and also made finals of NBC's Last Comic Standing in Season 6, and he also has a multitude of roles in Seven Little Monsters, Odd Job Jack and Jimmy Two Shoes.

During our conversation with Sean we learned what we could expect from him throughout his 9 Winnipeg Comedy Festival appearances.

To download this episode please subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes Music Store or click here to be automatically subscribed. For more information, please visit http://wakeupwinnipeg.com or follow us on twitter at twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg

You can also become of a fan of our show on Facebook at Facebook.com/WakeUpWinnipeg

Until next week,
-Av
 
(c) 2012 A. Valpy - Wake Up Winnipeg/UMFM

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 118

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 118

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy 
Air Date: 04/06/2012 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Free Podcast Download Location: iTunes.

Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg

Rebroadcast: 04/11/2012 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

On today's episode we began our full coverage of the 2012 Winnipeg Comedy Festival!

To help entice our listeners into checking the festival out, we were joined by two well known Canadian comedians.

Starting off the program we welcomed Nikki Payne to our show. During our confab Nikki filled us in on what she's been up to and weighed in on the topic of bullying.

Following Nikki, a voice that some of our listeners may know from from another radio station. Fans of The CBC would recognize Steve Patterson's voice from his hit CBC radio program The Debaters.

On this weeks show, we had a proper chat with Steve about his experiences in life and learned more of his exciting new one man show called This Is Not Debatable. 

To download this episode please subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes Music Store or click here to be automatically subscribed. For more information, please visit http://wakeupwinnipeg.com or follow us on twitter at twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg

You can also become of a fan of our show on Facebook at Facebook.com/WakeUpWinnipeg

Until next week,
-Av
 
(c) 2012 A. Valpy - Wake Up Winnipeg/UMFM