MONKEY TOAST Moves Online To Book Guests From Across North America

Like all other live entertainment, six-time Canadian Comedy Award winner, Monkey Toast: The Improvised Talk Show, had to cancel all their upcoming shows once the country went into lockdown.

After testing an online version of the show in May, to see if the show would work with the performers all being at home and improvising with each other via Zoom, Monkey Toast producers, David Shore and Lisa Merchant, decided to bring the show back in the fall. They recognized that since they'd be doing the show virtually, they could now book guests for the show that didn't live in Toronto.

Over the past 18-years, Monkey Toast has welcomed a wide variety of local, Toronto celebrities, ranging from politicians (Bob Rae, Jack Layton), to musicians (Peaches, Kevin Hearn), to journalists (Andrew Coyne, Robyn Urback) to comedians (Sean Cullen, Elvira Kurt), to Olympians (Donovan Bailey, Elizabeth Manley), to authors (Lee Maracle, Linda McQuaig), to actors/actresses (Don McKeller, Diane Flacks), plus two Kids In The Hall (Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney), three Baronesses (Carolyn Taylor, Jennifer Whalen, Aurora Browne), and one when he was in town, Dr. David Suzuki.

For Monkey Toast's first show back in September, cast member, Herbie Barnes, helped book his old friend, beloved children's entertainer, Fred Penner, who joined the live online show from his home on Vancouver Island. This coming Saturday, October 3rd they'll be welcoming an old improv friend of Shore's, Gary Anthony Williams (Whose Line Is It Anyways?, Malcolm in the Middle and the upcoming Netflix series, The Crew), who will be joining the show from his home in Los Angeles.

According to Shore, "Fred Penner was an amazing guest and we didn't run into any technical issues so I've very excited about having Gary join us from LA. To know Gary Anthony Williams, is to love Gary Anthony Williams."

While Monkey Toast's November and December shows will feature local guests, Shore is presently reaching out to book more out of town guests in the new year.

For more information visit www.monkeytoast.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.