Tight 5 Student Showcase

Adrian Fernando: Been doing comedy as a hobby since the beginning of 2022, dabbled here and there before that, in a recovery program right now and comedy has been there for me when I needed it most, took the class with Tarah and Nina to become better at it! Liz has been one of my best friends for a while!

Elizabeth Buckley: I've been doing comedy since early July. I got into it because Adrian convinced me to do an open mic and I got hooked. I've also been finding comedy to be very therapeutic and it gets my introverted ass out of the house. I took the course to give myself some idea on how to continue comedy and actually create jokes. I loved the push the course gave me to continue to perform. I definitely would've loved to have a class where we did editing because i definitely find that one of the hardest things about comedy.:

Chris Lalonde: Performing comedy is the natural progression of my love and appreciation of stand up I've had since I was old enough to watch TV. For more than 20 years I have been going to live comedy shows and seen all the superstars, pros, and a few amateurs. First open mic was at Broken City on July 11 and was unbeleivably fortunate to meet Tarah and Nina a few days later at the Dirty Duck. Coincidence or a case of the stars aligning in my favour...? Caught the tale end of the Comedy writing course and it really blew my mind. In addition to learning about joke writing, I learned about other resources and how to develop a rapport with the audience.

Nina Wilder has been performing stand-up comedy since 2016, but before that has worked as an actor, writer, and all-things-entertainer.

She started producing stand-up comedy shows in 2019 and has since ran over 200 shows - at bars, restaurants, theatres, clubs and more. She started "Funny Under Construction" - a free online writing group for stand-up comics to improve their material, which has now grown to 200+ people from the US and Canada. She has run a 6 week comedy bootcamp, focusing on joke-writing principles, editing and staying true to your own comedic voice.

She has been an avid study of comedy, learning from the likes of Brett Martin, Greg Dean, Janice Bannister and more. She has a passion for helping others and being a resource to level up your comedy game.

As a comedian, she has opened for Michael Ian Black & Josh Adam Meyers at House of Comedy, has toured with Spenny (from Kenny vs. Spenny) and has been featured at Kelowna Comedy Festival and 5 Corners Busker and Comedy Festival.

Tarah Buchanan started doing comedy in Toronto in 2014 and hasn't stopped. Currently, she runs The Fish Bowl Comedy show every Wednesday at The Unicorn in downtown Calgary.

From NY to LA, Tarah has performed on stages all over North America. She has opened for SNL's Chris Redd and Melissa Villaseñor at The Great Outdoors Comedy Festival this past June.

Apart from comedy, Tarah is also the producer of The Speak Easy Podcast, a documentarian, and music aficionado.

Yianni Assimakis is a Theatre kid turned Comedy Producer. He is a playwright, acclaimed theatrical performer and the Host and Creator of the Revival BrewHaHa every Tuesday night at Revival Brewcade in Inglewood.

Host or Publisher Tarah Buchanan