“It All Started With a Groupon”


Natalie Metcalfe on her career at Second City

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atalie Metcalfe, whose credits include being an actor, writer, director, and comedian, says that her full-time job of writing sketches and performing improv is “an actual dream.”

Over the years, Second City (which has locations in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Chicago) has paved the way for many famous comedians. Former members of the Second City Mainstage Toronto cast included Catherine O’Hara, Colin Mochrie, Eugene Levy, Carolyn Taylor, and as of July 2019, that list has come to include Natalie Metcalfe.

Metcalfe is grateful for the opportunity, and she takes great pride in her work. As a member of the 83rd Second City revue, she is currently performing in “If I Could #Throwback Time,” a live sketch comedy show created through improv. I had the opportunity to speak with her after the show, when she discussed her experiences as a cast member, her creative processes, as well as her experiences as a woman in comedy.

After growing up in Cambridge and attending the University of Guelph, she headed to Toronto, where thanks to a roommate and Groupon, Natalie began her comedic endeavour.

“I had a roommate, she worked for this theatre, and she was like ‘I think you should try it,’” said Metcalfe. The theatre was Second City, a comedy enterprise which offers comedy classes on topics such as improv and writing, from beginner to advanced levels. Her roommate continued her push, telling her to “just go and try it.”

“So I did the Groupon thing,” Metcalfe said. She ended up taking all the classes she could. “I loved it so much. I’d never done improv before and it’s been the love of my life ever since. And it all started with a Groupon!”

Although Metcalfe grew up watching Second City TV, she didn’t think of comedy as a viable career path.

“I kind of fell into it and I’m so grateful. A great fall. But it’s also about busting your ass. I knew I wanted to get here but I didn’t know if it was going to happen,” said Metcalfe.

Making a career in an industry that deals primarily with live performances is not easy.

“You are performing in two to three shows a night,” Metcalfe explained, “and you just have to keep putting yourself out there in order for someone to see you and go ‘Okay, we’ll allow her to audition for this’ or ‘Yeah, we’ll put her with this company.’ But it’s just, nightly — every single night doing something,” Metcalfe said.

In a Second City Mainstage show, including the current “If I Could #Throwback Time,” the sketches that make up the performance are created from improvisation. Essentially, performers gather suggestions from a live audience and improvise a scene. The result of these improvised scenes become the base for the Mainstage cast’s final sketch performance.

“We built these shows from absolutely nothing. And, we built each line, in front of an audience, every night. There’s no writing of scripts… and sometimes that is amazing and the audience loves it and it’s great.”

Inspiration for scenes comes from everyday observations, said Metcalfe. “You’ll observe something and you’re like ‘That’s gotta be something.’ So, most of the things are true to me.”

Metcalfe described that in the creation process it’s important to reframe the understanding of what can be funny and how to make ‘funny’ happen. People tend to think about the hypothetical “Wouldn’t it be funny if this happened,” as opposed to focusing on “Isn’t it funny when this happens,” but allowing the absurdity of a situation to play out on stage results in a genuinely entertaining sketch and show.

When asked about her writing process with sketch comedy prior to joining the mainstage cast, Metcalfe said she preferred to write with other people.

“All of my sketches had been written with other people,” said Metcalfe. “I had a sketch-duo partner for a long time, and we’d write everything over bottles of wine and pizza. Like, just going back and forth with someone, or improvising just across a table. Just bits, over and over again.”

As a woman working to make a career in comedy myself, a topic that felt important for us to discuss was being a woman in comedy. She explained that while she has experienced some relatively negative situations, she has been rather lucky overall. Despite this, from the beginning of her career as a comic (and even now), there have been uncomfortable situations.

Metcalfe explained that there was a time when she would be the “token girl” in a show. “Those shows that you’re not paid for, and the shows that are done at a small comedy theatre, and people would have you on because… because you’re a girl.”

Things have changed, being a performer at Second City. Yet, there are still individuals who interrupt shows with inappropriate commentary.

“We’ve even had hecklers on this stage. People don’t know that they need to just sit there and just watch and enjoy,” said Metcalfe. “Sometimes we have people who say horrible things to us on stage, as women.”

Processing these situations is not always easy.

“I don’t want to just take something in and have to leave the stage afterwards, and be like ‘Why did that guy call me that?’ or ‘Why did he say that?’ I would rather address it. That’s what happens, that’s life. Someone said something bad and they have to deal with it. But, I’ve been very lucky, as far as being a female in comedy.”

Having situations like this occur during a show is obviously rude and inconsiderate to the performers, but as an improviser, there are ways of skillfully dealing with hecklers. “There have been times where we have blown past it, we’re pretty good at improvising around things too, so if someone says something inappropriate, we can shut them down. A go-to move is to always close a window on stage. Where, if someone is yelling, you can always go ‘I’m just gonna close the window so the neighbour shuts up,’” said Metcalfe, adding that it’s a good way to tell them, without telling them, to shut up. “We’re in full control.”

While women in comedy, and performers in general, have to deal with these situations on stage, Metcalfe described how far the comedy scene has come with regards to equality. She stated that major theatre companies in Toronto, such as Second City and Bad Dog Theatre Company, are currently all run by women. Metcalfe went on to add that the scene has come so far in gender equality, but there is still work to be done to create a comedic environment for everyone.

“We need to make space for people from all different backgrounds and different abilities. That’s where we need to be going. We’ve hit this wonderful benchmark for females, and we now need to push further. We have no choice now. We’re still working towards it, but we’re getting there.”

Metcalfe attributes her successes in comedy to working hard and “always learning.” She explained doing everything you can to learn more and surrounding yourself with “the best of the best,” have been key in her journey. Metcalfe added that writing and taking real experiences from her life have been crucial in creating genuine content for the stage.

“I want at the end of each show, for people to go, ‘She’s funny and I know who she is.’ I want them to know and understand me. That’s what I want up there, for them to see me as a human being rather than just a performer.”

Photo Courtesy of Natalie Metcalfe

 

 

 

 

A version of this article appeared in print in The Ontarion issue 188.2 on February 13, 2020.

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