Sketch city

Comedy writer supports our troupes and
our smarter than average audiences

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Pat Dussault

Age: 29

Occupation: Comedy writer

Bio: This mega-garrulous Lebanese/Irish Mile-End resident with an expectant Jewish wife was working at the old Mexicali Rosa’s, regularly riffing with a fellow employee who sidelined with a local comedy troupe, when it dawned on him that he might actually be funny. Armed with a philosophy degree from Queen’s but unable to find any “philosophy factories” that were hiring, he took a tip from SNL hack Seth Myers that the best way to get on the show was to become a writer/performer. Since developing his writing/acting skills with Toronto’s Second City troupe, he has supported himself primarily through writing scripts via spec/development deals that rarely seem to get realized, something rather par for the course for most comedy writers. After plying his trade in New York, L.A., Toronto and Vancouver, Pat’s now back in Montreal to produce the fourth annual Sketchfest (May 18–24) at Théâtre Ste-Catherine while developing a production company that will feature all “this great Montreal sketch comedy talent” via the miracle of the World Wide Web. He drives a pragmatic, if mechanically questionable, 2006 Volkswagen Jetta.

Something Pat strongly believes: “Montreal is a great comedy town, leaps and bounds ahead of any other North American city, except maybe New York and L.A.”

Is it safe to assume that he’s never witnessed any local stand-up then? “Well, okay, but the stand-up scene is different than the sketch comedy scene. The audiences here get it, they get the jokes, they embrace irony and dark humour. You can do smarter humour here than other places. In a city like Vancouver, you’ve got to pretty well hit them over the head with a joke and then explain it to them.”

Something any burgeoning comedy writer/performer should know about Second City 2009. “It’s just a franchise now. It’s just a lot of unemployed Toronto actors going through the motions. And those other comedy schools they have, like the one at Humber College—oh fuck, they suck. The best thing you can do is put a troupe together, write shows, perform them, you know, just get your stuff out there.”

One reason why it’s so hard to sell a decent script: “Because the people optioning your stuff hire you to write these movies and then keep giving you these shitty ideas they insist you put into them. Like, ‘Let’s have your character cleaning toilets and then have the toilets explode so they’re all covered in shit—because shit is always funny.’ And then, when nobody wants to turn your script into a film because their stupid ideas have killed it, they say, ‘Okay, here’s your crappy script back. We’re not paying you anymore.’”

Musical preferences: Rolling Stones ’68-’72, Plants and Animals, Joe Jackson.

Last book read: Vernon God Little, by DBC Pierre.

Words of wisdom: “I want everything, I want it all at once and I want it right now.”

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