Carla Collins is a busy woman juggling her comedy acting a new business project.
Author and comedian brings her laughs to the city
Only a comedian could write a self-help book called Angels Vampires and Douche Bags and provide candid and thoughtful lessons while entertaining audiences.
Described as “Canada’s Tina Fey” Carla Collins is seemingly one of the busiest women in show business as she juggles comedian-actress-author-angel duties while travelling across North America on her comedy tour.
“I have been doing a lot of comedy this year pretty much full time for the first time in my life along with touring for the book” Collins says.
On being compared to the popular and funny Fey Collins says you can “be described as a hell of a lot worse.”
“It’s a good one” she says. “I’m a big fan.”
Although she was in Calgary last year to promote her book this is the first time she’s doing comedy in the city.
“The shows have been going really well but I’m excited about Calgary because my best friends live there” she says.
Audiences can expect Collins to tackle a wide array of topics focusing on topical issues and pop culture from the television reality show Intervention to celebrities and vampires — both literally and figuratively speaking.
“And the plight of being a vanilla which is a white middle-class Catholic woman” she says. “I think my comedy is edgy with a heart. It’s like a Judd Apatow movie with fewer romances and swearing.”
Collins was born in Ontario but now lives in Malibu and loves talking about — and poking fun at— celebrities and the culture surrounding them.
“I think it’s funny” she says. “The show is a feel-good time with high energy and I’m discovering it’s never the same twice.”
When writing her first book Angels Vampires and Douche Bags Collins tapped into her own life experiences while helping the reader deal with the people in their lives. She says the book is more about the people around you and in your life.
“‘Angels’ are the people or things that help you relax or are always there for you” she says. “I think they can be sexy angels you know they don’t have to be boring.”
But “vampires”’ are things or people that suck the life out of you or can even kill you such as addictions “bad boys” and “crazy bitches.”
“And ‘douche bags’ makes me giggle but those are pretty self-explanatory and you don’t want any of those in your life.”
Collins is working on a second book that will come out in 2012 which also be comedic non-fiction though she won’t reveal much about what exactly it contains.
“It will be almost all funny.”
As if Collins wasn’t busy enough she is also working on a new business that may sound strange at first but makes sense when you think about it — Grin reapers which is comedy at funerals and wakes.
“It came about because I ended up doing comedy at wakes or funerals a couple times” she says. “You don’t want to get up there and be Andrew Dice Clay but it’s more personal and you end up celebrating the people. You want to do it classy.”
Collins says surprisingly — or not surprisingly — the room truly appreciates the laughs.
“I think it’s a nice way to send someone off by remembering the person and smiling and thinking about them. I’ve always been a fan of laughter even in those darkest moments.”
But if you don’t want to end up at a funeral to watch Collins’s comedy just check out her show at The Laugh Shop.
“People can expect their lives to change if they come” she jokes. “They will get rich and get lots of sexual action.”
