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Comedy festival for January’s Blue Monday


Blue Monday, the 3rd Monday in January, has been posited as the most depressing day of the year - the holidays are over and the bills from that are coming in, New Years' resolutions are all but abandoned and it just doesn't yet seem to be getting any lighter outside.  What better time to get out of the house, into Tartu College and take in some comedy that is tailor made for our Toronto Estonian community?
Andy Valvur headlines funniEST Estonian Comedy Festival January 24-25 in Toronto

 

And so it is that the inaugural funniEST Estonian Comedy Festival welcomes back headliner Andy Valvur (pictured) who brought the house down in January 2015 at Tartu College, together with our homegrown talent to open and host, and the improv group Impeerium.  The festival, organized by Ellen Valter and Paul Lillakas with the financial help of Tartu College, Northern Birch Credit Union (formerly Estonian Credit Union) and Estonian Foundation of Canada and the logistics  support of korp! Filiae Patriae and Estonian Studies Centre/VEMU as a fundraiser for the International Estonian Centre runs 2 nights with a free pre-festival warmup improv workshop open to 20 participants who register via vemu@tartucollege.ca. All shows are in English and doors are at 7pm.

The festival opens on Friday January 24 at Tartu College with Improteater Impeerium, an improv group from Estonia.  Krall, Rauno, Erki and Maarius had the audience in stitches in January 2017 and are returning with their accessible fun show back to Toronto with fresh music, fresh material and their abundant charm.  

Then on Saturday January 25 at Tartu College, Tanya Henley, of Second City and Yuk Yuk’s fame will host a standup night that includes opening acts of Paul Lillakas, Helle Wichman, and Liia Kajak before Andy Valvur returns to the Tartu College stage.  They all, of course, have charm in abundance too.  Please visit estoniacomedyfestival.com for bios on all performers.

Festival passes are $50, available via eventbrite, at Tartu College and Northern Birch, and cover admission for both nights.  If all festival passes have not sold out, single nights will be available at the door – please keep an eye on www.estoniancomedyfestival.com or the funniEST event page on facebook for updates on that front.

See you there! 
Ellen Valter & Paul Lillakas