Welcome to Twitch IN-Comedy Page!
Claire Carreras is unstoppable on stage and drop dead talented.
She first got her start in the crazy comedy world while still living in Squamish. She auditioned and landed a roll in ‘KYHU Sketch Club’ a live sketch group that performed once a week at the Media Club and The Roxy. Keep Your Head Up Productions produced the group.
“Being a part of KYHU really made me open my eyes to realize how much you can accomplish if you just stick your head out there and go for it.” Claire says.
“My odd-boldness is actually a skilled trade!” She really bonded with the other members of the group and the KYHU clan became almost like a little family. “We spent a lot of time together, and we were all working towards the same goal, it was a great experience.” It could be very grueling she adds.
“We’d get our scripts on Monday (sometimes you had to memorize five or six scripts) and we’d rehearse Saturday and Sunday morning and perform Sunday night.” After the first season, Claire decided to take it to the next level.
“I packed up to Vancouver in August 2006 to continue with the group and establish myself as a performer in Vancouver”. Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned, and shortly after her move to Vancouver the Sketch Group split up. This broke Claire’s heart. After performing with the group for almost a year, it was like a part of her had been hit by a car. Now what?
Several of the performers in the group had been stand-up comics on the side. Claire would watch them perform after the sketch shows some nights and with the group splitting up many of the members took to the stage solo as a means to stay front and center. Claire was quick to start taking notes and pretty soon had developed a five-minute set. Her first ever onstage performance was October 10th 2006 at the Lamplighter on her birthday. Since that night Claire worked her material and fought her way onto any stage that would take her. By January 2007 Claire was a regular staple at comedy shows and performed regularly.
The standup started to slow down as Claire became more and more involved with her other projects but she never stopped writing. “I just want to be a Great entertainer” Claire says of her dynamic reputation as a performer. “Sharing a laugh with someone is such a great feeling, why wouldn’t someone want to be a standup comic? Laugh it up!”
Q&A with Claire In-Comedy:
Q. What’s the next big goal for you in the comedy world?
A. I’m currently working on writing a television series based around the real-life childhood antics of my family. You can view one of the trailers on my ‘Claire’ page (the purple eye). I’d like it to lead up into a full-length feature movie I’ve been working on also based on my family with more focus on my sister Karla and me. I’d love to join another Sketch group, but for now I think I might be too busy. But you never know! I’ll always be writing and working on new material so keep an eye out for me doing standup in your area!”
Q. What was the scariest thing about getting into standup comedy?
A. Well, I always had a real problem with not going over my time slot. Usually the MC will give everyone a set amount of time each comic can have the stage for, 5-7min. or something and you have to stay in that time slot otherwise you set the whole show back. I’d worry so much that I’d rush my segment and be under, or I’d be really hot on a particular night and go over. Smaller rooms it’s not too big a deal, depending on who it is that runs the room. But places like YukYuks you go over your time and they’ll cut your mic off. I think if you go over more than once there, they’ll black list you!
Q. Do you like sketch more than standup? What are the differences for you?
A. Well the nice thing about sketch is you’re not alone. It’s a team effort. And I find it more of a challenge to do live sketch especially if you are with a large troupe like KYHU was. There’s more organizing and rehersing involved and you gotta be in the moment because there’s so many things that could go wrong you have to be ready to improvise. Standup it’s really just you. So it’s a little lonelier up there but again, you only need to rely on yourself. I couldn’t pick one over the other.
 Q. Have you ever been heckled?
A. Yes! Oh my gosh, there was this one guy who insisted on screaming out at the end of my jokes about how un-realistic they were. So I put him into one of my jokes and called him out. That was the only really bad time. There was this one show I did where this girl in the audience had seen me a couple times and she kept beating me to the punchlines. Which was weird. I’d be mid joke and I’d hear her go “oh this ones funny”, and then tell everyone the punchline before I got to it. Actually…there was this one night at the Jupiter where this girl right front and center was just not having any of my material. She was a real party pooper. She came up to me after the show and told me she thought I sucked. I was like ok, well, that’s too bad for you, and I shrugged. Can’t please em’ all you know?
Q. what’s the inside scoop on the vancouver comedy scene? What’s it like?
A. Hmm…well I found it to be very serious when I was first getting into it. You think ok, here’s a group of comedians that should be laughing and joking around but it’s really very competitive behind the scenes. There’s a lot of pecking order and everyones always looking for a way to get more stage time over someone else, or sabatogue the person you have to compete against because they’re the same level as you. It’s kind of scary actually. I mean, I’ve seen people stealing other people’s venues, so they could take it over and give themselves more stage time. People trash talk quite a bit. There’s always gossip. It’s very clicky, there’s little circles of comics that kinda stay together and only let people in there immediate little group go up on their stages. It’s kinda weird. But it’s a very competitive sport and there’s only so many stages, and so much money in it…I had one comic try and discredit me saying that the only reason anyone laughed at my jokes was because I was hot. I was like ‘are you serious?’ you definitly need a thick skin in Standup. The crowd can turn on you but so can your peers.
Q. what’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you on stage?
A. my first show at Yuk Yuks, I was wearing these rediculously high heals that didn’t fit and when I came out on stage I got caught on the curtain and just bailed. Almost took out some guy sitting in the front. I got up, shook myself of, grabbed the microphone and said “well, we’re off to a good start!”. There was this one time I forgot a joke and got all the words backwards and just totally ruined the thing. That was embarrassing but I just went with it. I was like ‘well I totally ruined that joke, moving along shall we?” when stuff like that happens you just keep going. You know, nobodies perfect all the time, and at the end of the day you just gotta get up there and have fun and not take youself too seriously.
Q. Who is your favorite Vancouver comic?
A. Oh man, that’s a tough one. There’s a lot of really really talented comics in Vancouver. I really dig Simon King. The guy is funominal. Seth Perry and Ivan Decker are favorites for sure. Richard Lett’s great, we’ve actually become really good friends. I met him for the first time at one of our Sketch shows long before I started doing standup. Monique Hurteau is hilarious…I really can’t pick one, I have so much respect for everyone who has the balls to get up on stage and put on a show. I really look up to them all, that’s a very unfair question!
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