Parker and Seville Presents Side Sizzle

Having been around the Toronto comedy scene since 2007, comedy duo, Parker (Dave Barclay) and Seville (Matt Kowall) have released their first album Side Sizzle. Their release party was held at The Emmet Ray, 924 College St on June 16, 2015. Not knowing what to expect, I showed up, bought a beer and sat around for sometime.

Soon after I wondered: what’s happening? Why am I here? Is everyone just drinking and getting a free CD? Should I have invited someone to come with me?  Guess I’ll just take some pictures and see what happens. And boy did I wait….. sitting there, chatting with random people and eating the free food Matt purchased with his gift certificate he won at the ‘Pub Olympics’. I slowly drank my beer and wondering out loud: ‘Ummmmmmm, so whats going on?’ And as I was just about to give up and leave, they started doing stuff.

Evan Richardson from Vest of Friends came on first and unbeknownst to me performed a sketch scene from their CD. I thought that seemed too coordinated. It was then that I had one of those ‘Aha!’ Oprah moments I always see on her magazine covers.

Carmen Wylie gave a moving and mistaken wedding speech. He recalled knowing something was up when they would go home together after rehearsal all the time. And now instead of Matt living in Dave’s basement, he has moved into the “living room of his heart”. Matt seems like he’s moving up in life.

We then moved onto Carson Pinch from Flip Publicity who reminded the guys that “publicists don’t do reviews.” I believe that could’ve been my job.

And last was Tim Gilbert, who used to be apart of their sketch duo (trio then) as Mr. McGugin. He starts out as describing them as “diseased perverts”. Something tells me that he’s probably not a good wing man. Then goes onto say “that if you’re anti-semitic, this album is for you and the rest of the album seems fine.”

The duo was kind enough to sign my CD, saying ‘I was a treat’ and as gracious hosts offered me some leftover nachos for the road. Overall the performances were fun and the rest of the party seemed fine.