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economist sunsuntribune entertainment saturday march 25 2006 13 ron james one of canada s best known standup comedians brings his latest show to york region by simone joseph staff writer on james has travelled to mexico had encoun ters with wildlife and made futile attempts to master new technology and he is coming to york region how do they do it back when yuk yules comedy club founder mark breslin was a comedian he would crack jokes at cocktail parties arid if he got a good reaction try out the joke on stage we as the audience often see comedy routines on stage but seldom know how the jokes are developed the truth is like novelists each comedy writer has his or her own technique some actually write jokes on stage by improvising then gauge if they will use a joke again by the reaction developing material involves a lot ofpracticing on friends mr breslinsaid by the end of the process you wont have friends left but you will have an act he said sometimes groups of two or three comedians will try put material in a coffee shop after the show he added but a large part of developing comedy is in the editing mr breslirisaid you learn to spot the good ideas earlier you learn to sepa rate the good from the bad markham comedian neil bansil says his best advice is to write about what you know adding comedy is a process of writing and rewriting many comedians go to small bars with a tiny audience to try out their jokes he said the best comedians try out their material in the weirdest places he said to tell audiences all about it the 48yearold is at markham theatre for performing arts april 4 and 5 as part of a provincewide tour presenting his new show gone with ron you can see people doubling over wiping their eyes mr james said about unending attraction of comedy theres always a crazy laugher in the house its an old art form j the rules havent changed the fasttalking comedian has been showcased on just for laughs on the comedy network cbcs comics and madly off in all directions he won a gemini award for his work as a writer with cbc tvs this hour has 22 minutes and appeared on the nbc talk show late night with conan obrien in 2004 mr james new show bounces v from the war in iraq to home ren ovations midlife meltdowns to airport security family vacations to future shop blue shirts flatu lent elders in church to party- hearty camping trips of youth cutting a wide swath from past to present andback ah this is done in a metaphor- laden highenergy style complete with lengthy and verbose descrip tions sometimes his style makes jokes hard to follow but that has nt hurt his career james certainly belongs in the pantheon of canadian purveyors alongside the gordon lightfoots pierre bertons and stompin tom connors a 2004 globe and mail review said when asked if there would be any york region content mr james said while he has lived in toronto for 25 years he has not spent much time north of steeles avenue perhaps nows the time to walk around if it the local con tent doesnt fly ill know who to blame ron james plaidshirted funnyman scarcely allows the audience time to breathe between fits of helpless laughter the halifax chronicleherald said even in conversation over the phone mr james easily flows from comedy bit to bit putting this listener into a contortion of laughter with no end in sight it seems for mr james even an audience of one is not too small to entertain for while mr james is a veter- an comedian performing in front of an audience still has not lost its charm for information or tickets call 9053057469 or 18667688801 showtime is 8 pm markham theatre is on town centre boule vard in the hwy 7- warden avenue area for more information visit shanterocom or ronjamesca