TW: This is Terrill Wyche for OpenAir, and we have for today...
RT: Rob Tymek.
TW: OK, Ive been coming here (The Phog Lounge) (for) roughly about a month, and Ive dug your sets. How did you get into slam?
RT: How do you get into slam? Um, (pause) I think it came mainly from seeing Matt (Gypsy Eyes) at the Juice Poetry before that, and plugged the slam out of Juice Poetry Reading. And I decided to go. It was simple as that. It was word of mouth.
TW: Tell us about some of your background in the arts.
RT: OK, my biggest claim to fame right now in the arts community would be that I run my own theater company called Monkeys with a Typewriter. Its all about producing original drama written by a local playwright. So, Im actually a local playwright myself. Ive lost count of the number of productions that Ive put on for myself or had other theater companies put on, and Ive actually made money on it. So, I actually consider myself a playwright now. In terms of the arts, thats my biggest artistic achievement right now. Its having a theater company.
TW: So how does your artistic training influence your delivery and technique?
RT: My formal training?
TW: Yeah.
RT: Very little. I dropped out of drama school, very early on into it. Obviously (I) did a lot of high school drama, pursued it at a post-secondary level, found it to be fairly useless. There are a lot of degrees that you need in order to do a career, but drama is certainly not one of them. It really depends on the program. I am aware now of some really good post-secondary programs that teach drama, but the one I was in, by going out and just experiencing the real world would have done a lot more for me and thats eventually what I wound up doing.
TW: I notice that you have an incredible sense of comedic timing and delivery. How did you develop that?
RT: How to develop that? Um, thousands and thousands of hours performing as a professional clown more than likely. Um, obviously some theater experience too. You know. Ive done comedy clubs. All my comedy, I actually do officially under a stage name which is Tim Pimlico cause I dont like to blend my drama and my childrens entertainment stuff too much with my comedy side. So Ive done a lot of comedy clubs too. But in all honesty, I probably developed most of my comedic timing from being a professional clown. Cause you get thrown in these peoples basement(s), and youre being basically, not totally outright, but youre being told, We just blew $120.00 for you to come here and entertain us for an hour, so you better be damn good, and you better make us laugh our asses off. And you know, you dont develop comedic timing more quickly than under those circumstances. So thats where a lot of that comes from.
TW: We saw you in an independent film, about two weeks ago...
RT: Mmmm. Hmmm.
TW: Tell us a little bit about that.
RT: The independent film is entitled, The Eternal Present. It was by Otto Buj whose actually a fantastic filmmaker. Hes right here from Windsor. His whole goal was to produce a movie locally, so he put out some audition calls in the Windsor Star, so I actually read that particular newspaper now and again. Although more times than not it ends up as a liner for my bird cage. Thats some of my comedic timing (facetiously added). But anyway, (laughs) so I responded to it, I checked it out. There was an audition. I acted really well with Otto. He saw me in this very, very, creepy role. Im not sure if that should be flattering, but um....
TW: Well Vincent Price made a living at it.
RT: Thats right! Thats true! So I played a creepy undertaker, and I had a great time doing it.
I actually did at one point get to climb into a real coffin, not for the movie. I was just in a funeral parlor, wondered what it would be like to be in a coffin. So, I had some time between takes. So, I climbed in, creeped the hell out of everybody else that was filming with me that day. So, that was a lot of fun.
TW: OK. Tell me what are some of the things you intend to do with your poetry.
RT: My poetry specifically?
TW: Yeah.
RT: Um, Im gonna keep slamming for sure. Cause, ya know. Theres some money in slamming, at least. So, thats nice, and may I be honest with you, Ive got a very capitalistic side to me. If youre not going to pay me some cash, Im only gonna do so much for ya.
TW: Thats good.
RT: Yeah! So the slam is nice. I dont do the reading rooms as much. Theyre not offering me any money to do the reading rooms. Cause there other things besides slam. There are a couple of reading rooms here in Windsor, and um, I have to admit I kind of have fun doing this too, even when Im being serious. And so, I dont mind if Ive got nothing to do on say a Wednesday night...Theyre doing the Juice (Juice Poetry) or the Kinetic Poetry. Um, Ill go out and do it. You know; if for nothing else I can practice my sets for the slam. So um, I have spoken to one or two local publishers on both sides of the river, and it expressed an interest, but for whatever reasons, the deal hasnt gone down. But Im not really pushing to get my work published, its not a big goal of mine. When it comes to writing, Im really much more interested in plays, and therefore producing original plays that Ive written. So poetry is very much a back burner thing, and its very much something I do just for a laugh.
TW: Thats interesting, but you do it so well....
RT: Thank you.
TW: Have you thought about doing any CDs? You know a lot of poets have CDs.
RT: Yeah, I hear about this whole CD thing. Um, I think from my own perspective. I cant ever see myself listening to an entire spoken word CD from beginning to end. So, I wouldnt wanna put someone else through that. So I.....CDs that interest me....I notice that people are sort of self-publishing a bit, and I may turn around and do that some day. Maybe sell that. Sort of as I perform spoken word. Ya know maybe some day. I might develop a bigger ambition to do this, but at this point, its a hobby. I think, more than anything.
TW: Hmmm. Interesting. Well, so its more or less a labor of love.
RT: For the most part, I used to that a lot with radio too actually. Ive done a lot of community radio. It was the same thing. It was just goofing off and having fun. I would like to do some professional radio and get paid for it some day, but it turned out to be just a good time more than anything. Literally friends and I would get together and gatecrash CJAM because the DJs would not show up to do their shows often. So we just take over the airways a couple of hours til somebody showed up to do their show, and that was fun. And ya know it was funny cause like I actually did a real radio show there too, but it was just hilarious that so many people that did radio and took it all serious, and I was there more just to goof off than anything. And the same thing with poetry really, I find that when you start taking your craft or your art too seriously anyway; youre shooting yourself in the foot. You get caught in your own hype. I think.
TW: Well that should do it for this session of OpenAir. This has been Terrill Wyche. Thank you.
RT: Rob Tymek.
TW: OK, Ive been coming here (The Phog Lounge) (for) roughly about a month, and Ive dug your sets. How did you get into slam?
RT: How do you get into slam? Um, (pause) I think it came mainly from seeing Matt (Gypsy Eyes) at the Juice Poetry before that, and plugged the slam out of Juice Poetry Reading. And I decided to go. It was simple as that. It was word of mouth.
TW: Tell us about some of your background in the arts.
RT: OK, my biggest claim to fame right now in the arts community would be that I run my own theater company called Monkeys with a Typewriter. Its all about producing original drama written by a local playwright. So, Im actually a local playwright myself. Ive lost count of the number of productions that Ive put on for myself or had other theater companies put on, and Ive actually made money on it. So, I actually consider myself a playwright now. In terms of the arts, thats my biggest artistic achievement right now. Its having a theater company.
TW: So how does your artistic training influence your delivery and technique?
RT: My formal training?
TW: Yeah.
RT: Very little. I dropped out of drama school, very early on into it. Obviously (I) did a lot of high school drama, pursued it at a post-secondary level, found it to be fairly useless. There are a lot of degrees that you need in order to do a career, but drama is certainly not one of them. It really depends on the program. I am aware now of some really good post-secondary programs that teach drama, but the one I was in, by going out and just experiencing the real world would have done a lot more for me and thats eventually what I wound up doing.
TW: I notice that you have an incredible sense of comedic timing and delivery. How did you develop that?
RT: How to develop that? Um, thousands and thousands of hours performing as a professional clown more than likely. Um, obviously some theater experience too. You know. Ive done comedy clubs. All my comedy, I actually do officially under a stage name which is Tim Pimlico cause I dont like to blend my drama and my childrens entertainment stuff too much with my comedy side. So Ive done a lot of comedy clubs too. But in all honesty, I probably developed most of my comedic timing from being a professional clown. Cause you get thrown in these peoples basement(s), and youre being basically, not totally outright, but youre being told, We just blew $120.00 for you to come here and entertain us for an hour, so you better be damn good, and you better make us laugh our asses off. And you know, you dont develop comedic timing more quickly than under those circumstances. So thats where a lot of that comes from.
TW: We saw you in an independent film, about two weeks ago...
RT: Mmmm. Hmmm.
TW: Tell us a little bit about that.
RT: The independent film is entitled, The Eternal Present. It was by Otto Buj whose actually a fantastic filmmaker. Hes right here from Windsor. His whole goal was to produce a movie locally, so he put out some audition calls in the Windsor Star, so I actually read that particular newspaper now and again. Although more times than not it ends up as a liner for my bird cage. Thats some of my comedic timing (facetiously added). But anyway, (laughs) so I responded to it, I checked it out. There was an audition. I acted really well with Otto. He saw me in this very, very, creepy role. Im not sure if that should be flattering, but um....
TW: Well Vincent Price made a living at it.
RT: Thats right! Thats true! So I played a creepy undertaker, and I had a great time doing it.
I actually did at one point get to climb into a real coffin, not for the movie. I was just in a funeral parlor, wondered what it would be like to be in a coffin. So, I had some time between takes. So, I climbed in, creeped the hell out of everybody else that was filming with me that day. So, that was a lot of fun.
TW: OK. Tell me what are some of the things you intend to do with your poetry.
RT: My poetry specifically?
TW: Yeah.
RT: Um, Im gonna keep slamming for sure. Cause, ya know. Theres some money in slamming, at least. So, thats nice, and may I be honest with you, Ive got a very capitalistic side to me. If youre not going to pay me some cash, Im only gonna do so much for ya.
TW: Thats good.
RT: Yeah! So the slam is nice. I dont do the reading rooms as much. Theyre not offering me any money to do the reading rooms. Cause there other things besides slam. There are a couple of reading rooms here in Windsor, and um, I have to admit I kind of have fun doing this too, even when Im being serious. And so, I dont mind if Ive got nothing to do on say a Wednesday night...Theyre doing the Juice (Juice Poetry) or the Kinetic Poetry. Um, Ill go out and do it. You know; if for nothing else I can practice my sets for the slam. So um, I have spoken to one or two local publishers on both sides of the river, and it expressed an interest, but for whatever reasons, the deal hasnt gone down. But Im not really pushing to get my work published, its not a big goal of mine. When it comes to writing, Im really much more interested in plays, and therefore producing original plays that Ive written. So poetry is very much a back burner thing, and its very much something I do just for a laugh.
TW: Thats interesting, but you do it so well....
RT: Thank you.
TW: Have you thought about doing any CDs? You know a lot of poets have CDs.
RT: Yeah, I hear about this whole CD thing. Um, I think from my own perspective. I cant ever see myself listening to an entire spoken word CD from beginning to end. So, I wouldnt wanna put someone else through that. So I.....CDs that interest me....I notice that people are sort of self-publishing a bit, and I may turn around and do that some day. Maybe sell that. Sort of as I perform spoken word. Ya know maybe some day. I might develop a bigger ambition to do this, but at this point, its a hobby. I think, more than anything.
TW: Hmmm. Interesting. Well, so its more or less a labor of love.
RT: For the most part, I used to that a lot with radio too actually. Ive done a lot of community radio. It was the same thing. It was just goofing off and having fun. I would like to do some professional radio and get paid for it some day, but it turned out to be just a good time more than anything. Literally friends and I would get together and gatecrash CJAM because the DJs would not show up to do their shows often. So we just take over the airways a couple of hours til somebody showed up to do their show, and that was fun. And ya know it was funny cause like I actually did a real radio show there too, but it was just hilarious that so many people that did radio and took it all serious, and I was there more just to goof off than anything. And the same thing with poetry really, I find that when you start taking your craft or your art too seriously anyway; youre shooting yourself in the foot. You get caught in your own hype. I think.
TW: Well that should do it for this session of OpenAir. This has been Terrill Wyche. Thank you.
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