An Evening With Stephen Leacock
Whenever I go into a bank, I get rattled. The clerks rattle me, the wickets rattle me. The sound of money rattles me. Everything rattles me. The moment I cross the threshold of a bank and attempt to do any business there, I become an irresponsible idiot.
Thats it. Now I was about to ut down the cororate structure. Big business. Even the Russians liked this story and printed it in their humorous magazine as an example of a decadent western capitalism. I finished that sketch and they love it. Then I told them I was an anarchistic polygamist, opposed to all forms of government, objected to any kind of revealed religion, and that the state, property and marriage was a tyranny of the bourgeoisie. Now they knew where I stood. I breezed through one sketch after another. Placing my pauses, emphasis and accents, just as Leacock had done. I had listened to his recordings from the CBC radio archives in Toronto and had thoroughly steeped myself in his vocal intonations, remembering to build each sketch to its proper climax and punch line.
Before I know it the bell rang. I looked at my watch. Most students tire of a lecture in about.five minutes. Clever students do it in three. Others never go to a lecture.
The gave me a thunderous applause. I bowed and told them to leave their dollar at the door as they passed out.
An indescribable feeling of exhilaration went through me as I stepped back from the lectern and made my exit. Yes. This was going to be my lifes work. Portraying Stephen Leacock to the world.
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Wry a la LEACOCK
Canadian actor John Stark and acclaimed humorist Stephen Leacock have more in common than a country –Stark felt a kinship with the coveted Mark Twain Medal winner in the first grade, when he began to use humor to party cruel taunts with clever comebacks. The connection strengthened as he matured, and finally bore fruit in 1972 when he premiered his performance portraying Canada’s first internationally-renowned writer to a Canadian Literature class at Simon Fraser University-and they laughed at his beloved Leacock.
Thus was launched a lifelong quest to recreate the globe-trotting humorist’s inspired tomfoolery. Stark collected Professor Leacock’s extensive writings and interviewed relatives, friends and students in the pundit’s Mc Gill University classes to recreate the magic of the man who mimicked every avaricious, dishonest, sacred and corrupt aspect of society and stood up for underdogs everywhere.
And after more than thirty-five years, Stark has now put his performance in print. This is the script of the internationally-acclaimed one-man show he has toured with throughout the world, based on his own link with a man who knew tragedy and turned it into a triumphant look at life with a smile, a laugh and a simple philosophy that can still uplift generations.
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