*ANN PORNEL

CAST

Described by The Globe and Mail as “a right hot blast of funny,” Ann Pornel cut her comedy teeth as a regular cast member on Sunday Night Live, a weekly sketch show in Toronto, and continued creating biting satire at the venerated Second City Toronto Mainstage where she wrote three critically-acclaimed shows. She would move on to join the cast of She The People, which has toured at Just For Laughs in Montreal, Edmonton Fringe, as well as a limited engagement with Mirvish Productions. 

Ann is a Canadian Comedy Award winner and winner of the 2017 Entertainer of the Year award from My Entertainment World. Ann’s unique perspectives on diversity, body image and inclusion have garnered her spots at NBC’s Break Out Comedy Festival and JFL 42. Ann has appeared on and written for The Baroness Von Sketch Show, The Beaverton and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. She is currently one of the co-hosts of the iconic Great Canadian Baking Show, and was nominated for a 2021, and 2022 CSA for Best Co-Host. Excitingly, you can also catch her later this year on The CW’s comedic cooking competition show Recipe for Disaster.

*ANDREW BUSHELL

CAST

Andrew Bushell is an established actor in film, television, and live comedy. An alumni of Second City's Main Stage, Andrew's work ranges from comedic turns on the Kim's Convenience spin off Strays, Second Jen, and Shelved to the romantic leads in numerous movies for Hallmark, OWN and Lifetime, including this years Under the Christmas Sky, We’re Scrooged, Christmas Revisited and Christmas Plus One.

Andrew can also be seen in a recurring capacity on the popular Global TV series Hudson and Rex and CW's The Spencer Sisters.

*KIRSTEN RASMUSSEN

CAST

CKirsten Rasmussen is an actor/writer/ comedian and peanut sauce enthusiast living in Toronto, Ontario. If you want to see Kirsten on your TV screen you can find her screaming her guts out in Band Ladies on Highball TV, and throwing curveballs in Slo Pitch Season 1 & 2 on Out TV and IFC. Her other credits include Schitt’s Creek, TallBoyz, BitPlayas, Odd Squad, The Beaverton, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Dino Dana and a tiny but dignified masked role in Mrs. America. Kirsten has written on The Snoopy Show for Apple Plus and This Hour Has 22 Minutes on CBC.  Kirsten has won three Canadian Comedy Awards for her work as a live comedian, and sketch director.

She’s an alumni of The Second City Toronto’s Mainstage Company where she wrote and starred in three shows, and in their hit feminist revue called She The People,  and she directed the mainstage show The Skyline's The Limit.  Kirsten directs sketch for solo artists and groups in Toronto, most notably directing the Canadian Comedy Awarded Extravaganza Eleganza- an all Queer sketch revue, and  Dead Parent Society featured in the 2023 Next Stage Festival.  Kirsten has toured this country, the one below, the high seas, down under and Germany performing sketch and improv. Kirsten would like to thank wifey, and the holy trinity of siblings!

*KRIS SIDDIQI

CAST

Kris Siddiqi is a comedian, actor and writer from the great city of Toronto!
Recipient of the 2015 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Male Improviser and the 2014 “Best Of” Now Magazine Awards. Trained in sketch and improvisation since a young age, Kris studied with the world renowned Second City, joined the Mainstage cast in 2009 and wrote 3 revues with them. From there he went to voice work, becoming the Network Voice of Country Music Television, principal roles on many cartoons as well as becoming a series regular on the Comedy Panel Show on CBC Because News.

Kris also had the pleasure of co-hosting a gala for the 2021 Winnipeg Comedy Festival with his wife Aurora Browne, and performs stand up, sketch and improv all across North America. 

His most recent creation was the multi-award winning miniseries BIT PLAYAS. Conceived and originated by Kris, the show would go on to win 2 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Writing and Best Series, Best Representation of Communities Of Color from the Minnesota WebFest 2020, Best Actor in the Toronto WebFest awards, as well as multiple other awards from festivals all over the world. 

Kris’ recent film & tv credits include Netflix’s I WOKE UP A VAMPIRE, HBOMax’s TITANS, Aaron Sorkin’s MOLLY’S GAME, Amazon’s THE BOYS, AppleTV’s THE CHANGELING and a recurring face on IFC/CBC’s BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. 

And if he wasn’t enough of a huge nerd, Kris is also the sound editor, sound designer and main character for his fantasy radio-drama DWARVEN MOSS, which recently won Best Leisure Podcast from the Canadian Podcast Awards. 

*PAUL BATES

CAST

A veteran of Toronto comedy stages, Paul got his start at The Second City, where he wrote and performed in six revues. Other stage credits include SlapShot Live, It’s A Wonderful Toronto, An Inconvenient Musical; and SARSical, for which he received a Dora Award nomination. His live show HOOKUP plays to sold out houses at Bad Dog Theatre. 

On television Paul played Jeff on Dan For Mayor (CTV), and has also appeared in Circuit Breakers (Apple), Workin’ Moms (CBC), Kim’s Convenience (CBC), Baroness Von Sketch Show (CBC), Ransom (CBS), The Stanley Dynamic (YTV), The Ron James Show (CBC), Odd Squad (PBS), Against The Wall (Lifetime), and Puppets Who Kill (CTV). Film credits include The Comey Rule (Showtime), The Tuxedo, Welcome to Mooseport, and Camille. Voice credits include Max & Ruby, Elinor Wonders Why and Monster Pack. 

As a writer Paul has worked for The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos (CBC), Gaming Show (In My Parents’ Garage) (YTV), InSecurity (CBC) and The Second City Project (Global), and has written specials for William Shatner, Martin Short and others. Paul has won numerous Canadian Comedy Awards, NOW Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Award for Best Male Improviser, and the Canadian Podcast Award for Best Host for his podcast The Dubious Book of Famous Deeds.

Paul has directed numerous award-winning live comedy productions including Wayne & Shuster: Live (Bygone Theatre), Clickbait & Switch (Second City), Carson & Taylor Promise to do a Bunch of Flips, and 32 Short Sketches about Bees.

*CARLY HEFFERNAN

DIRECTOR

Carly Heffernan is thrilled to be directing the premiere performance of “101 Holiday Movie Moments.” She’s an award-winning alumna of The Second City Toronto where she wrote and performed in four Main Stage revues. She directed the Second City Toronto National Touring Company and went on to direct the critically acclaimed, Second City Toronto main stage revues, Come What Mayhem! and The Best is Yet to Come Undone. She created and directed the hit all-female sketch show, She The People which has played in Toronto, Chicago, Boston, Edmonton, Montreal and Washington, DC where it received the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for “Best Visiting Production.” She recently directed Season 3 of the CSA nominated TV show ABROAD (OMNI) and Second Jen (Rogers).

*SAM POLITO

STAGE MANAGER