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LONDON, Ont. - David Letterman's talent director isn't afraid to use the A-word when it comes to his first ever trip to London.
"It's an audition. That is what it is. I'm looking for comics for David Letterman," says Eddie Brill from New York of his appearance at the eighth edition of the Canadian Comedy Awards and Festival. Brill will be at Yuk Yuk's on Friday night for a 9 p.m. show.
As the man responsible for booking stand-up comics on the Late Show With David Letterman and as its warmup stand-up, Brill will be auditioning hopefuls in front of a live audience.
It's a long shot, but it's not impossible for a stand-up comic to make the leap from an audition to Letterman. After all, Brill knows the stand-up game. "The fact that I'm a comedian who books for a TV show is pretty rare," Brill says.
Yuk Yuk's London's Connie Whiteway, who owns the downtown comedy club with her husband, Barry Whiteway, terms Friday's lineup "a Letterman showcase" -- not an audition.
"It's the furthest thing from an open mic night," Whiteway, of London, says of the lineup she has helped organize for Brill's assessment.
He doesn't know any of Friday's standups. That doesn't faze Brill. He's a friend of Whiteway's and trusts her judgment.
"He's a sweetheart . . . we hit it off immediately," Whiteway says of Brill. "I hunted him down through connections I have in New York." They first met at Toronto's Great Canadian Laugh Off where Brill was a judge a few years ago.
"I don't hide," Brill says of his willingness to talk with stand-up comics after an audition. If a comic's touch isn't right for Letterman, Brill will tell them that. If they need to work on some aspect of their performance, he'll say so, too.
If they're right for Letterman and ready now, "fantastic," he says.
But Brill doesn't want anyone auditioning Friday to go away from Yuk Yuk's without having heard from him.
"It's so important to laugh. It's so healthy to laugh . . . (we're all) going to suffer the same fate," he says.
Brill is also hoping to hold a workshop on Saturday. He is still waiting to see if a class of six signs up for the $275 workshop. "Hopeful, always hopeful. That's the story of my life," Brill says of waiting to see if the stand-up students sign up in time.
Brill has worked on the Late Show with David Letterman for more than 10 years as the audience warm-up and talent co-ordinator for the comedians who appear on the show. The New Yorker started stand-up comedy in the late 1970s at college. Brill has taped more than 100 television shows in six different countries.
The awards opened last night with the Funniest Person in London event.
Today, former Londoner Steve Patterson brings his one-man show Friendlier Fire to the Grand.
In addition to Brill and company at Yuk Yuk's, Friday night is a big night at the 2007 Awards. The awards, produced by the Hensall-based Bayley Group, recognize the best of Canada's live, television and film performances. They are being handed out at a private industry dinner on Friday.
Music & Mayhem (Grand, 8 p.m.) and the Wild West show (McManus, 10 p.m.) are elsewhere at the fest that night.
Yuk Yuk's has stand-up comedy during the fest with Nikki Payne headlining for three nights starting tomorrow. The 2007 Funniest Person in London performs as part of tomorrow's "new faces" show.
