Of the more than 200 entries into a nation-wide comedy contest, there’s just one entry from Westlock — but they’ve got high hopes for their project.
Randall Robinson, Tracy Eliuk and Judith Garcia comprise burnout, a comedy troupe created specifically for CBC’s ComedyCoup contest, and they’re hoping their rural-Alberta humour will give them a shot at the grand prize of $500,000 and a half-hour comedy special to be aired nationally.
“They’re looking for ideas for a TV series, and the premise for our show is it’s going to be following a social worker, and the crazy things that happen in her life,” Robinson said.
“With a premise like that, they’re boundless opportunities for fresh material.”
The premise of their show is that a big-city social worker, played by Eliuk, is transferred to a small community in northern Alberta. She thinks it will be a great opportunity to get out of the rat race and settle into a quieter life.
She quickly realizes the small-town life might not always be as quiet and peaceful as it’s cracked up to be.
She finds herself in a small office with one eccentric co-worker who may or may not be smoking “the little cigarettes” in the office (Robinson) and another eccentric co-worker who treats the office like her own private yoga studio (Garcia).
“We’re drawing on that experience from having lived here for the past 10 years now,” Robinson said. “The only other show I can think of along these lines would be Corner Gas, which was set in a small town in Saskatchewan.”
While many Canadian shows are set in large urban centre like Toronto and Vancouver, very few come from smaller rural areas. For burnout, however, the opportunities for comedy that arise out of day-to-day small-town life are boundless.
Robinson said he first stumbled upon the contest by accident when he was looking for Oilers updates on the CBC website.
He shared his discovery with his partner, Eliuk, and they brought in their friend Garcia to round out the trio.
“I’ve got the gear, so I thought what the heck. I know some pretty funny people in town,” Robinson said. “I thought I’ve got as good a chance as anybody to have a decent relevant idea as anyone that could be made into a good TV show.”
The contest will be spread over the next couple months, with initial trailers about a minute long already available for viewing at comedycoup.cbc.ca. Winners will be determined, in part, based on votes from fans so Robinson is hoping Westlock residents will help them out.
Each week, competitors will be given a task and asked to upload a new 60-90 second clip to the website, and the entries will gradually be whittled down to a final five competitors.
Voting for the first round begins Oct. 26. Voters will need to sign in and register to the site to be able to take part.
Before the voting begins, however, viewers can rate the videos and pick favourites.
For more information, visit comedycoup.cbc.ca.
