Wednesday 29 July 2015

Media Interviews n Stuff


The Hustle: Greg Houston
September 21, 2015
|
mclean

http://www.mcleanisms.com/#!The-Hustle-Greg-Houston/h06fp/55fc5f270cf25fa7fe1026ca


CREATIVE PROFILE: GREG

June 10, 2015

GREG HOUSTON

OTTAWA, ONTARIO

I AM a Pizza Demon Comic. I started doing comedy 3 years ago in a University Sport Pub for a charity event - just like Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, and Drew Carey. It went well? all things considered. So I signed up for Yuk Yuks Ottawa in March 2012 and had a killer set - the owner came up after and said great job! So I decided comedy was easy and then sign up for Yuks again May 23 2012 and I went on stage and bommmmmmmmbed so hard. I ate a big pile of poop on stage and the owner ripppppped into me. That's when i consider taking comedy seriously and the start to my career. I've have some mild success thus far with some cool credits, like opening for Doug Stanhope and working with Mike MacDonald. Doing festivals like Cottage Comedy Festival, Ottawa Explosion Festival, Chinatown Remixed. For some reason I won "Least Worst New Comic 2012" and "Best Independent Show 2014" from the Ottawa Comedy Roast and Award Presentation Show OCRAPS. 
I also do Yoga volunteering because somebody's gotta clean up that sweat and fold towels to get your namaste on. 
I also swear to god one day I will make a canoe that real live human beings can use. 
I'm also a pretty fresh uncle. (re #UncleDumDum) in the family game. Babies are cool? But also terrifying and gross. Thank god my nephew isn't ugly. 
I MAKE local comedy-centered events for the Ottawa region with funny people from all over Canada and partner with cool groups and people like OXW, Herd Mag, Apt613 and dope local venues. I get to employ my artistic friends to make event posters and cool online/social media stuff. I also have a couple shows that involve bands or DJs and so i get to book some wicked acts too and give the a different crowd/venue than they are used to. I also got to throw a Pizza Art show at a local bar/resto called Oz Kafe. It was the most stressful thing in the world BUT it friggin rocked! We had like 10 artists from a bunch of different medias - graphic design, illustrators, painters, wood-workers, textile creators - and they all made sick pieces that were pizza themed (because I know nothing about art but I know A LOT about pizza). So then we had a pizza party vernissage where I got the Rock n Roll Pizza Party DJs to come spin. We also ordered about $200+ of pizza for the art show attendees! I'm hoping to do this yearly whilst changing the artists around. I'm going to pick up wood-working as a hobby super soon at Ottawa City Woodshop. So get at me for some bad shelves, maybe a paddle or cutting board?
I LOVE Ottawa, Comedy, Friends, DIY (spoiledrotten shout-out), Making-Out, #UsingHashtagsIncorrectly, Drinking, Xtremely Friendly Softball, Arboretum Festival, Ottawa eXplosion Weekend, Yoga, My dumb Newphew, Curling, Badminton, Beer festivals, Thomas Abrams, Pizza, Space Jam.

WWW.GREGHOUSTONCOMEDY.COM
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
FACEBOOK

Gracias, Greg! Hey person reading this: are you creative? Fill out your Creative Profile here. Fun times.

http://www.herdmag.ca/comedy-explosion/




Comedy Explosion at the Gladstone


chris locke 1
Photo courtesy of Chris Locke
This weekend at the Gladstone Theatre, Ottawa Explosion Weekend will take over the venue….with comedians. It will be the first time the Gladstone plays host to standup comedy as well as the popular Ottawa Explosion Weekend. But an amateur comedy event this is not. With comics as celebrated as Mark Little, who was recently featured on Conan and is widely popular not only in Canada but in the US as well, and Chris Locke, winner of the 2014 Canadian Comedy Awards for Best Male Standup, podcast supernova, and Just for Laughs veteran—this is an A-list event not to be missed.
Greg Houston HS punx
Photo courtesy of Greg Houston
But what would comedy in Ottawa be if not for its most prevalent hipster-comic, Greg Houston, who has hosted and performed all over our city and works his ass off to build an alternative comedy scene worthy of our attendance. Houston, who curated the event, has teamed up with Ottawa Explosion Weekend to bring us what will surely be a wild and laughter-filled weekend produced by local talent as well as featured talent from across the nation.
Or learn the old fashioned way by reading the details below.
ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE
$12.50/night or $20 for both nights
Order tickets by sending Interac Etransfer to:
capitalrehearsal@rogers.com
Please add $1 proccessing per transaction (not per ticket ordered).
Please print your accepted money transfer as proof of payment to present night of.
AA/19+
$12.50 adv / night – $20 adv / both nights
7pm
The Gladstone Theatre
Comedy Explosion 1


Written by herd






http://apt613.ca/comedy-explodes-in-ottawa-this-weekend/




Comedy Explodes in Ottawa this Weekend

Written by  on 

Chris Locke, and his cat Bernadette, from the Comedy Explosion Facebook pageChris Locke, and his cat Bernadette, from the Comedy Explosion Facebook page




If you’ve ever found yourself walking about this city and thinking something the lines of, “I’m simply not laughing anymore,” you might be in for a surprise treat this weekend. Why? Because this weekend will see a veritable explosion of stand-up comedy in the form of Comedy Explosion, a pre-Ottawa Explosion explosion of comedy!
Featuring the Toronto-based headliners Mark Little and Chris Locke, and showcasing some of the best of Ottawa’s local comedy scene, the festival will run this Friday and Saturday at the Gladstone Theatre with ticket prices at $20 for both nights, $12.50 for one. It’s the first time stand-up comedy has been featured at the thirty-three year old theatre. And though it’s possibly a departure, it does seem to fit well. I mean, the theatre is already licensed.
“We tried to get the best comedy talent Ottawa could offer,” said festival presenter, and festival performer, Greg Houston. “Plus where else can you see standups like Mark Little and Chris Locke for $20?”
Indeed, both Toronto comics come highly acclaimed. Little, Friday’s headliner, has won the Just for Laughs Homegrown competition as well as Yuk Yuk’s Great Canadian Laugh Off. He’s a regular on TV’s Mr. D and writes for This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Ottawa Comedy ExplosionSaturday’s closer, Locke, is an alumnus of MTV Canada and has won the Canadian Comedy Awards Best Male Stand Up. Add to those closers the plethora of local talent on display, and you have yourself a couple solid evenings of comedy. See the Facebook page for the full lineup, which features such names as Tom Henry, Ian Gordon and Patric.
The festival is a pretty clear sign that there’s something going on in the Ottawa comedy scene. Recently, it seems more comedy murmurings have echoed throughout this city, with the increasing prevalence of weekly comedy evenings and events. And if Houston has his way, this won’t be the last we hear from the Comedy Explosion.
“It’d be nice to turn this into a semi-regular thing,” says Houston. “But we’ll focus on executing this one really well and then hopefully…”
Plus, if he’s going out like this, he’s not going out with much of a laugh, and as all comedians know, you always, always go out on a laugh.
Comedy Explosion runs this Friday and Saturday (the 5th and 6th of June) at The Gladstone Theatre.  Tickets for both nights are $20, and one night will cost you $12.50. For tickets and more info about Comedy Explosion, check out its Facebook event.  

GREG HOUSTON ON GRINDR AND INDIE COMEDY

Greg1

DAY 35: GREGAge: 29Hometown: OttawaDay of birth: July 22What were you like in high school?Loser, nerd, academic…I worked at Harvey’s, which made me way bigger. I was a huge dude through university and then a few years ago, basically when I started doing comedy, I started losing weight and that really helped my confidence. I was well liked, but I was probably pretty forgettable, too.Why do you think you were forgettable?I just didn’t have a lot of self-worth or confidence or success.Where do you think confidence comes from?I still don’t know. A buddy of mine recently said a thing that has stuck, “Fake it till you make it.” In my mid-twenties, I had a lot of bravado.What does bravado mean to you?To me, it’s bolstering fake confidence. But I didn’t feel cool. And now, some old friends will often say they think I’m different or that I’m “cool Greg,” but I just think I grew up. Do you feel different?I’m happy now. That’s the thing I didn’t realize in the moment then. I was probably very depressed. Generally speaking, I’m super happy compared to what I was.

Standup Greg Houston says comedy community growing in Ottawa

http://metronews.ca/voices/backstage-pass-ottawa/1119195/standup-greg-houston-says-comedy-community-growing-in-ottawa/ 


Laugh Track - Couch Assassin


http://www.larotonde.ca/maxxxed-out-mondays-scene-en-pleine-effervescence/