Second City is hosting their “Spotlight at The Second City” again this week, with two nights of fabulous performances from some of Toronto’s best new comedians. Ben Kopp and Calvin Rea, better known as Glen and Vinny, are two of this week’s spotlight artists! I get to talk to them about clowning, how they first met, and what it’s like to perform at the legendary Second City.

Could you please introduce yourselves to my readers and tell us a bit about your role with “Glen and Vinny”?

We met at TMU back in 2015, in the acting program. We are both active members of the Toronto theatre community and perform as Glen and Vinny at comedy nights throughout the city.

Calvin is a playwright and actor, and recently starred in the Canadian Premier of The Comeback at Globus Theatre. He also produced a workshop of his play Everything You Did For Me at Tarragon Theatre. Ben works as an actor, a composer for musical theatre, a music director, and a convocation name reader.

What first got you started into the world of clowning?

In our third year of theatre school we studied Clown with Leah Cherniak, a graduate of the Jacques Lecoq school in Paris, and a big inspiration for us. That was when we first performed as a clown duo and immediately fell in love with the red nose, so much so that we’ve been performing together ever since!

What was your inspiration for “Glen and Vinny”?

Clowns are always true to a small part of your own personality, so we wanted their names to be connected to us somehow and finally landed on Vinny (from CalVIN) and Glen (from BEN). Beyond just their names, we think Glen and Vinny are appealing to us as performers because they are an exaggerated version of ourselves. It’s rewarding to draw on our individual skillsets to build these characters together. 

What’s one aspect of your clown character that you wish you used more in your everyday life?

Clowns are inherently innocent. They love to entertain but are also very young at heart. Carrying that sort of openness in everyday life is something we both strive to achieve. 

What’s it like to be performing at the legendary Second City?

We feel so honored to perform this month at Second CIty, and are so grateful to Spotlight for hosting us. Second City has such a rich history in Canadian comedy, and we’re lucky to be a small part of that. For Ben it’s especially cool because he recently started working at Second City as a music director, understudying the shows Duel Citizens and Rizz the Season. He’s looking forward to being on the stage this time, instead of beside it!
We hope you can catch Glen and Vinny at Second City’s Spotlight, December 9th and 10th!

I want to thank Calvin and Ben for taking the time to answer my questions! For more information about the Spotlight at The Second City and tickets, visit: https://www.secondcity.com/shows/toronto/spotlight-at-the-second-city-tor

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