Another successful Fringe Festival run from Accidental Humour Co. FIVE sellout shows! 4.5 and 5 star reviews! You proved without a shadow of a doubt that a multimedia one-act with a vaguely auto-erotic title can make it in this town!

Thanks for EVERYONE who supported this endeavor.

It was truly a labour of love and affection and we are glad to have been able to share our affection with you.

Of course, some special thanks are in order:

•Big shout out to Amber’s Brewery for the EXTENSIVE use of their excellent brewery facility for filming. Jim Gibbon was always quick to let us take over well beyond the two weekends we asked him for. Cliff also really liked the Grog. It was refreshing after sweating his sack off all day acting with himself.

•Thanks to Expressionz Cafe for letting us climb on top of their roof. And for letting us throw a cat off of it.

•Also a secret special thanks to the security at NAIT for not kicking us off the campus while we guerrilla-style filmed in their parkade. And for looking the other way while Will jumped over that derelict car.

•The Carrot deserves all sorts of love for going out of their way, coming in early on a Sunday morning so that we could start a fight in their lovely coffee shop. You should check them out. We believe in 118.

•Thanks so much to the ninjas from Phoenix Gym. We hesitantly asked you to maybe come and do a couple back flips for us and you showed up with a friggin’ springboard and crash-mats. You made out show 85% more awesome.

•Damien Heck, the musician, the ninja, the legend. There was a lot that Damien did for us beyond just sweet musical scoring and a balls-awesome themesong. Our contact with Phoenix Gym, he got the whole ninja ball rolling, not to mention chopping the shit out of Cliff’s throat.

•Jenna Schell came from heaven on a chariot of golden steeds to deliver some stellar design work for us. She made the fantabulous posters (all of them) and the excellent, EXCELLENT program design (all of it). And when we gave her crappy ads to represent our sponsors, she went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure every SINGLE ONE of them was beautiful. She has kerned herself tighter to our hearts. (That was a design joke)

•AND speaking of posters… Andrew “freaking” Suderman is to thank for THE most bad-ass photography work at the Fringe. I mean, no disrespect to everybody elses posters and promo material, but Drew schooled you. Hire him now.

•Micheal Beamish, although a member of Accidental Humour, “Beamish” wasn’t a billed actor in this production. Nevertheless, he can be seen towering over all others as the terrifying background character “Dolph” and he was almost ALWAYS there behind the scenes at the drop of a hat to help with production and fill in as an extra. He is a man with a heart of near-giant-stature.

•Murray Cullen, likewise, can be seen fulfilling numerous extra roles throughout Jim McCrackin. And if you thought Cliff was lifting himself off a rooftop… look again, it was none-other then body-double extra extraordinaire; Mr. Edwar… I mean, Murray Cullen. Thanks for being there, buddy… sometimes on time even!

•There is a man… nay, a legend, who came all the way from Calgary to take off his shirt for us. Mr Wolfe, Jonathan, that is, can be seen crushing Cliff with his bear-like embrace. He can also be seen filling the role of Rooker Milano, the ill-fated gangster. I say this with absolute conviction: Jon Wolfe is a man who is large in every way.

•Tom Pearson is also another one who gets his ass handed to him by our lead character, but with such grace and extravagance that we can’t be sure if he his ass was handed at all. Tom is another man who always jumps at the chance to help us both in front and behind the camera, and he is backed up by a whole family of magical Pearsons that have been supportive in many ways, including but not limited to, lending us their lovely projection screen, free of charge, every fringe festival.

•If you were watching carefully, you would have noticed one man, and one man alone, was shot no less then FIVE times throughout the course of Happy Whackin’s many exciting shootout scenes. In reality, that man wasn’t shot at all, and we couldn’t be more happy about that. Special props to Jeremy Banfield for being the most-used extra in the history of Accidental Humour. And for being the best at not dying.

•We had a lot of extras who showed up at the drop of a hat, usually early morning on a weekend when they could be sleeping. Some of those included David and Matthew Jahns, Lindsay Robinson, Simon Glassman, Mitch Ross, Shawn Vogt, Craig Theodore, Nik Macmillan and Tyler Clemmer. I wouldn’t want to meet any of those guys in a dark alley. Unless they have a flashlight.

•Thanks to Shannon Matenik.

•During the course of the Fringe itself we had several crew running support behind-the-scenes do all sorts of wonderful things. Whether it was the origami-ninja-star sweatshop we were running in Will and Kim’s apartment, or helping us setup and tear-down in record time, so many volunteered their time for this project. Thanks to Amanda Ross, Alyssa Banfield, Beverly Stadelmann, and Aiden Quinn for not only coming to our show, but doing lots of grunt work, too. (Plus some of them dressed as ninjas and handbilled for us).

•If you were lucky enough to see the show, you noticed a particularly awesome moment at the end of the play. No! Not that it was the end! I mean the climactic scene involving Jim McCrackin, an explosion and a window. Basically, you can thank Markus Stadelmann for building a structurally-sound window frame. Likewise at the beginning of the play, a particularly awesome moment involving a james-bond-like ejecting blade is thanks to the constructive ingenuity and guile of Ron Felzien. If not for our dad’s building things for us, half our show would probably fall apart.

•Amos Altman took a very vague (oh god, was it vague… like, I seriously can’t stress enough how vague it was, people) idea and turned it into a fully-realized story with actual characters that actually said stuff. His attention to detail and encyclopedic knowledge of every film genre that exists inside and outside the fabric of reality astounds me.

•Neil Legrandeur. Director, choreographer, ray of sunshine. Thanks for coming on board with this potentially retarded project and believing in it. So many problems were solved just because you were around to say “Oh, actually… I might know a guy who…” Thanks, buddy. You were the top three best parts of the show.

•Kim Stadelmann. Stage Manager, costume designer, and swift kick in our ass. We would still be just dreaming if not for Kim. She is the practical head that keeps us from tripping over our own ridiculous ideas. She is the eye of the hurricane. How many times did she break the rules for us? Never… but she did BEND them… Thanks Kim.

•The lovely Amanda Blair. The evil one. Or so she would have you believe. Always on time, always on the ball and always ready to work. Amanda is more professional an actor then Accidental Humour Co deserves in a project. Well done. Every physically impossible task that was thrown at her, she accepted and mastered. She tore this play a new asshole and then she kissed it all better….. ew.

•Cliff Kelly, man of mystery. Playing two characters, often times at the same time, Cliff probably had the most demands placed upon him acting in this play besides the thrill of rebuilding destructible window shutters every night. Few people realized that we actually had to artificially inseminate a sheep with a genetic clone of Cliff in order to complete many of the twin-sequences in Happy Whackin’. It took seven years to perfect the process. Unfortunately we could only keep the clone alive for six takes before it reverted into pre-gestation genetic material. So we used body doubles. Cliff was “a genius at splitting his personality” according to SEE magazine. I am prone to agree.

•Willie Banfield or “the cash” as we don’t call him. So far, he has been the producer of every fringe show because nobody else is dumb enough to front all the money to make these fiascos. It was him and Cliff that came up with the title… then decided it could be a show, too. This fringe, he stabbed a woman, jumped through a window, held Cliff’s dick in his hand and threw a kitten off a rooftop. He also took time away from that to play the title character in Happy Whackin’ Jim McCrackin. A step up from the five lines he had last year.

•Brent Felzien was there, too.

Thanks everybody. YOU made this show, not us. Except for all that really cool stuff… we did that. But YOU. YOU were awesome, too. It couldn’t have happened without all of you.
Love,

Accidental Humour Co.

“Happy Whackin’, Jim McCrackin: we called it early, and it turns out to be one of the most entertaining shows this year.” – Alistair Henning of SEE Magazine

“The Accidental Humour Co. is back with Happy Whackin’ Jim McCrackin, an action flick that starts on the big screen and spills out onto the stage of the Edmonton Fringe Festival.  William Bamfield is disenchanted hit man Jim McCrackin, knocking your socks off with the paring knife launcher hidden up his sleeve.  Cliff Kelly is a genius at splitting his personality as he plays identical twins Bradley and Steven Bishop – one a gin-soaked detective, the other simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Amanda Blair is cool and collected as Victoria, a woman who knows how to get what she wants and isn’t afraid to hold your mother as collateral.  McCrackin is out to finish his last job if he can only get over his irrational fear of felines; Victoria is out to get even and willing to call in the ninjas.  You’ll be swept away by stellar special effects and multimedia like none you’ve ever seen at the Fringe.  From start to finish, this show kept me on the edge of my seat.  Don’t miss it.”

by Jen Hoyer of SEE Magazine

Go directly to the review here.

5 out of 5 Stars!

Jim McCrackin be Whackin’ his way through the reviewers this year at the Edmonton, Fringe! Tickets will be going fast!

Check it out here, if you don’t believe me. I understand. Sometimes I’m prone to exaggeration.

“Captivating work by its lead actor, sharp writing and impressive staging set this comic riff on action movies apart from the chattering pack at this year’s Fringe.

This production is the latest offering from Edmonton’s Accidental Humour Co., the troupe that hatched a small hit at last year’s festival with For the Love of a Zombie. Once again the comedic action takes place partially via live performance and partially via projected video. Part of the play unfolds purely on stage, part purely on screen and sometimes the stage and screen action interacts. Sounds like a sure formula for gong show glitches, I know, but the production I witnessed went off without a hitch.

Edmonton’s William Banfield, sporting a Groucho Marx hairdo, plays Jim McCrackin, a veteran hit man reflecting back on his last job. When a mixup in identities brings his chosen profession a little too close to home, McCrackin is forced into a bit of soul-searching. With his insouciant derring-do and his sharp patter, Banfield creates a sympathetic and amusing anti-hero — a cooly confident killer with a mother fixation and an aversion to cats.

Cliff Kelly is also a delight as a rogue homicide cop straight out of the Sonny Crockett school of hambone overacting, and serves double duty as the cop’s missing twin brother; while Amanda Blair fills the role of the femme fatale with the heart of coal.

There’s plenty of gunfire and explosions, and action and thuggery galore, including an attack by a horde of black-clad ninjas.

It’s a wildly exuberant romp, as solid an hour of light entertainment as you’re likely to find this Fringe.”

by Richard Helm c/o the Edmonton Journal

This is perhaps one of the sweetest things to come out of our collaboration process. The excellent work of Damien Heck has produced a musical masterpiece theme song for the hilarious fringe show “Happy Whackin’ Jim McCrackin!”

I think it is prudent for your to listen to it right now: Jim McCrackin, He Be Whackin’
Tickets are on sale now!

The 2010 Edmonton Fringe Festival is upon us! And so you need to prepare to have your nuts dropped,  your ovaries raised or neither and/or both for the transgendered among us. Hey, we make no judgments at Accidental Humour Co. Except for this, because we judge it to be AWESOME.

Remember, tickets on sale NOW. And check out our media kit.

So without further procrastination:

I give you the HAPPY WHACKIN’ JIM McCRACKIN teaser trailer!

Happy Whackin’ Teaser Trailer!

From the makers of the smash hit For the Love of a Zombie. Comes Accidental Humour Co’s next big ridiculous thing.

Happy Whackin’ Jim McCrackin!

Jim McCrackin kills people for a living. Deal with it. But things are making him rethink his life goals. And when a bizarre mix-up results in his job getting waay to personal,  things get a little dicey.
This will be his last job. One way or another.

“4.5 Stars out of 5″ – The Edmonton Journal

“5 Stars out of 5″ – See Magazine

Download our Media Kit Here: Happy Whackin Jim McCrackin – Online Media Kit

Show Times:

• August 13       12:15 pm – 1:20 pm
• August 14       6:30 pm – 7:35 pm
• August 15       9:15 pm – 10:20 pm
• August 20       2:15 pm – 3:20 pm
• August 21       11:00 pm – 12:05 am
• August 22       4:00 pm – 5:05 pm

Venue # 5

King Edward School
8530 101 Street

Adult: $12    Student: $10

(Tickets SOLD OUT)

Tickets Available at:

https://tickets.fringetheatre.ca/ or call 780.409.1910

Mature Content, Violence, Cartoonish Violence, Adult Language, Gunshots. Rating: 14+

The festivities begin 9 PM at Zeidler Hall in the Citadel Theatre, downtown Edmonton, AB. There will be plenty of other great local short-films to be watched, but we especially want you to come and VOTE (that’s right… VOTE) as a card-carrying audience member for your favorite short.
Of course… we all know which one that is going to be, don’t we? Probably the latest thing from Highwire Films. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ALSO vote Rodney Cones into a top-three placement! We believe in you!!

See you there!

Below are some of the hilarious inner-dialogue moments that were hard to hear or not fully used in the final cut. Enjoy them to the hilt:

William discusses hot molten passion

William dives back in, to the hilt

Amanda doesn’t have the balls to do it

Amanda doesn’t make eggs, she eats ‘em

Mike goes on for a while…

Murray channels his inner clown