From Press Release
The Williamson Playboys in: BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE SOME PANTS?
Written by and starring
Paul Bates and Doug Morency as the legendary Williamson Playboys
Hard economic times got you down? The Williamson Playboys (Second City alumni Paul Bates and Doug Morency) want to remind you how good you’ve got it. The world’s oldest father-and-son Cajun music duo suffered through the Great Depression and lived to sing about it. The Roaring Twenties weren’t so rollicking. The Dirty Thirties were more than messy. And World War II wasn’t all Nazis, Churchill, and chocolate rations. In this hour of hilarious songs and stories, the Playboys aim to set the record straight and tell you what really went down in the turbulent era of the ‘20s and ‘30s that started with reckless partying and ended with wanton warring.
Writers and stars Paul Bates and Doug Morency created the Williamson Playboys in 2001. Doug (on ukulele) plays Cecil Jr., aged 141 years. Paul (on tuba) plays his father, Rufus. Together, they claim to have invented Cajun, jazz, blues, rock, rap, lullabies, and every other musical genre known to man!
The Playboys are a hybrid of comedic styles: they sing original songs, improvise historical tales, and invite questions from the audience about their storied career. Since first appearing at the Second City, they have become favourites in Toronto’s comedy scene, and have also played to sold-out audiences at the Chicago Improv Festival, Montreal’s Just For Laughs, and the Winnipeg Fringe. Most recently, they performed at the CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and were featured on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. They are also Canadian Comedy Award winners.
In addition to being the Williamson Playboys, Morency is a regular on Degrassi: The Next Generation and Bates is a writer for CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos.
The Playboys are happy that their continuing 128-year-long world tour finally brings them to their first Fringe of Toronto festival. They will be joined by their personal biographer and historian Sandy Jobin-Bevans (Second City, Comedy Network’s Hotbox, and this year’s Toronto Fringe production of Because I Can), who will help elicit the ‘Real’ history of this era from these walking time capsules…well, barely walking.
The Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto
Sat July 4 at 6:00 pm; Sun July 5 at 4:15 pm; Tues July 7 at 4:15 pm
Thurs July 9 at 7:45 pm; Sat July 11 at 4:15 pm; Sun July 12 at 7:45 pm
Tickets: $10, call the Fringe Hotline at 416.966.1062 for more info or www.fringetoronto.com