 |
The star of CTV's The Jessica Holmes Show last year, she's become the newest permanent member of CBC's Royal Canadian Air Farce comedy troupe this week.
And she couldn't be happier.
"I'm a little floored, to tell the truth," said an exuberant Holmes in-between rehearsals with the Air Farce veterans Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and Roger Abbott. "Everyone in the comedy industry bows to them, but they're normal. I keep wanting to say "you're comedians, aren't you supposed to be weird?' "
Describing her transition from star-of-the-show to low-man -on-the-totem pole with the veteran satirical troupe as "surrendipitous", Holmes guested on the show after appearing in Air Farce regular Don Ferguson's new comedy pilot XPM shortly after The Jessica Holmes Show was terminated.
Her show lasted only one season, but that was long enough to establish her as one of the best celebrity satirists since SCTV's Katherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin.
Producing 22 episodes of sketch comedy, Holmes created a long cast of satirical characters including a doped-up Liza Minnelli and a scary Celine Dion along with the homophobic Candy and Blabka, the happy Russian.
Holmes claims that she was not disappointed that the show wasn't renewed and insists that there's no bitterness between she and her fellow cast members, Roman Danylo, Aurora Browne and Jennifer Goodhue, who now have their own weekly CTV series Comedy Inc.
"I know nothing about that show," she said. "I haven't watched that show I haven't spoken to anyone on the show, so I have no comment."
As an "Air Farceur" Holmes gets the chance to add to her list of characters, while giving the aging farceurs, who've been together more than 30 years, a much-needed shot in the arm.
"Air Farce is purely political satire, so unless someone I do happens to be in the news that week, I won't be doing them," she explains. "Having said that, the characters I like, like Liza and Jacko have a tendency to be in the news a lot."
The biggest adjustment Holmes has had to negotiate was staying abreast of the news. "I used to buy People magazine for inspiration," she laughs. "Now I have to read four newspapers every day."
A veteran of improv comedy, the Ottawa native studied at Canterbury High School before graduating from Second City.
"I'm a high-energy performer," said the twentysomething star, who did her one-woman show Jessie's Girls at Arts Court last month. "This is really exciting in terms of the stability. I don't need to panic into the writing. I show up Mondays, there's my script and away we go. I'm extremely happy right now."
The Royal Canadian Air Farce airs on CBC television Fridays at 8 p.m. and repeats on Monday at 7:30 p.m.