This is Uncalled For - They are your new favourite comedy troupe

Bouncing off the walls, smashing funnybones, performing open-heart surgery on audience members and operating on their own fevered logic, Uncalled For is Montreal's most critically acclaimed improv and sketch comedy troupe. From their humble beginnings ten years ago improvising together at John Abbott College, Uncalled For has since toured across Canada and the United States and has written and produced several award-winning sketch comedy shows (including THUNDERSPANK!, Blastback Babyzap, Today Is All Your Birthdays and this year's Hypnogogic Logic). For the past six years, Uncalled For has also produced and hosted The 13th Hour, the Montreal Fringe Festival's late-night talk show/dance party. Among their other vast and numerous exploits, the troupe currently presents a monthly improv show at MainLine Theatre.

Uncalled For was born in 1980, 1981 and 1982. Equal parts Anders Yates, Caitlin Howden, Matt Goldberg, Dan Jeannotte, Mike Hughes and Nic Wright, the troupe is just as comfortable on land as they are underwater.

Having performed in Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Portland and beyond, the troupe can truly say that they are Intercity Champions.

History

The members of Uncalled For began performing improv together at John Abbott College in late 1999. Beginning in 2003 and continuing every year since, Uncalled For has presented increasingly experimental and popular comedy spectaculars at Fringe festivals across the country, starting with just Montreal and gradually expanding as far as Victoria.

In 2005, Uncalled For took over the helm of the Montreal Fringe's Late Night Talk Show, The 13th Hour. Producer Knot Brunswick brought in hosts Zack Winters and Sweet Sweet Jimmy Priest, special intern Rufus O'Hallahan, and Uncalled For's own Caitlin Howden and the show soon became a must-see event. Thanks to 11-second dance parties, the thrill of the money wheel, and a never-ending stream of celebrity Fringe guests, Zack and Jimmy have since been hosting not just The 13th Hour, but the pre-festival Fringe For All and the closing night Frankie Awards ceremony every year since 2005. Clips from the 2008 edition of The 13th Hour are available on youtube here, while 2009 videos can be found here.

The summer of 2006 saw Uncalled For producing Real Time by Matt Alden at the Toronto Fringe, starring Caitlin Howden and Dan Jeannotte, stage managed by Matt Goldberg. The show received rave reviews and was so popular that it was held over for several additional performances at the Diesel Playhouse in Toronto and later picked up for a one month long engagement in Rochester, New York.

Since 2006 Uncalled For has been writing and performing their own scripted material in addition to improvising. Their first ever scripted sketch comedy show, Ugly Is Forever - featuring Dan Jeannotte, Mike Hughes, Anders Yates, William Ward, Don Anderson and Stephanie Breton - played at MainLine Theatre in the spring of 2006, followed by a two-man performance by Dan Jeannotte and Anders Yates titled Difficult and Full of Hardship at the first annual Montreal Sketch Comedy Festival a few months later. Uncalled For's Fringe Festival sketch comedy debut came with 2007's Thunderspank! - starring Matt Goldberg, Christine Ghawi, Caitlin Howden, Mike Hughes, Dan Jeannotte, William Ward and Anders Yates - which gained rave reviews and won the Frankie Award for Best English Language Script.

The year 2008 witnessed the birthing of Uncalled For's next sketch comedy masterpiece, Blastback Babyzap, featuring Matt Goldberg, Dan Jeannotte, Vanessa Matsui, William Ward, Nicolas Wright and Anders Yates. At the 2008 Montreal Fringe Festival Blastback Babyzap was the top-selling show in the entire festival, and went on to win the coveted Just For Laughs Best Comedy prize along with co-winners The Cody Rivers Show presents: Stick To Glue. The Toronto Fringe Festival followed, where Uncalled For were placed on the cover of Eye Weekly, which placed Blastback Babyzap at the very top of their Best of Fest list, out of 146 shows. Blastback Babyzap followed this up with a run at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal.

At the 2008 Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, Uncalled For performed selected sketches from both Thunderspank and Blastback Babyzap along with new works at the Second City Theatre and the Diesel Playhouse and were awarded the festival's top prize, the Second City Best of the Fest award.

Uncalled For's next creation, Today Is All Your Birthdays, written and performed by Matt Goldberg, Mike Hughes, Dan Jeannotte and Anders Yates toured through Montreal, Toronto, London (ON) and Ottawa, where it landed on the cover of the Ottawa XPress and won the Ottawa Fringe award for Outstanding Ensemble. A two-man version of the show, performed by Dan Jeannotte and Anders Yates later toured to Victoria and Vancouver (BC), Seattle and Bellingham (WA) and Portland (OR).

In 2010, Uncalled For reached an important long-term goal, and finally achieved a combined weight of 900 pounds. They have their sights set on hitting the 1000-pound mark by mid-2011.