It's long weekend! Awww...but you don't have a cottage. Instead of waiting by the phone for Matt or Brad or Linsday to ask you to come with, put down your technology and allow me to introduce you to hilarious humans in This Week In Comedy...

WED MAY 22 - SUN MAY 26 / STEVE BURR w/MATT DAVIS & FAISAL BUTT / ABSOLUTE COMEDY / 2335 YONGE / 8PM / $6-15

Your headliner, Steve Burr, got his start in New York. That's code for Do Not Heckle. He's since gone onto perform the world over, including entertaining the troops in Afghanistan and Japan. Oh, and whatever you do, do not heckle! Matt Davis is on this bill, and he will tear you to shreds if you try and get in his way. I'm not saying that he looks for opportunities to get into it with the audience, but he's one of those guys that's not afraid to keep going after a heckler even after they've waived the white flag. What's interesting is that, in my opinion, he can still maintain his likeability even when ripping an interrupter to pieces. That's a skill that's rare, even among professional comics.

THURS MAY 23 / COMICAL / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 930PM / $8 ADV $10 DOOR

Your host and producer, Michael Flamank, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of Comical with a studded cast. Your headliner, Chris Locke, is easily in the top five of Canadian comedians right now. Add in Fraser Young (Comedy Network), Julia Hladkowicz (Video on Trial), Dean Young (MTV), and Evan Desmarais (I Heart Jokes), and you have a recipe for fireworks.

THURS MAY 23 / NILE SEGUIN & REBECCA KOHLER / THE LOT / 100 OSSINGTON / 7PM / $15

On Thursday, Kohler and Seguin join forces to record a DVD. I first saw Kohler open for Tom Segura and Brendon Walsh at JFL 42, and she did amazing. It's no surprise that the Gersh Agency snatched her up as fast as they did. Funny enough, I caught Seguin for the first time at Comedy at Cam's on Yonge and I was thoroughly impressed by his sheer likeability. Between them, they've done everything from the Halifax Comedy Festival to Comedy Now specials. I think that the added push of recording their own DVD will bring out their best.

SAT MAY 25 / SUPERSTARS OF COMEDY / COMED BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 10PM & MIDNIGHT / $10

Alex has gotten to the point where his peers are constantly talking about how awesome he is. That's extremely rare when you consider how competitive and catty comedians can be behind closed doors. I had a chat with Pavone in September, and when I asked him what was next, he said,

No idea just keep plugging away at this...i truly have no idea man...I'm under the belief that when you get good enough someone is gonna see you but I don't know if that's just a way to keep yourself working hard...

Well, his hard work is definitely paying off. His act is lighting rooms afire, and bookings are coming in from all over the place. I'd bet that outlets like MTV and The Comedy Network are inspecting if not talking to him right now about joining their roster. It truly makes my heart happy to see a good human, getting exactly what he had coming to him, simply because he put in the work and kept the main thing the main thing.

About the Author: This is Michael Jagdeo, and I refuse to write about myself in the third-person. My blog, Diary of a Stand-up Comedian, walks you through the up's and down's (they're mostly down's, really) in my quest to become a killer comic in Toronto.