Interview: Lee White of iconic Winnipeg improv comedy duo CRUMBS

Posted by: Paul Little  •  November 7, 2012 @ 7:26am

Filed under: Interviews

With Winnipeg improv duo CRUMBS recently returning from their second European tour of 2012, and the 2012 Winnipeg if... Improv Festival taking place this week, it seemed like a great time to catch up with CRUMBS performer Lee White (the other half of the duo, Stephen Sim, spoke with us this past summer during the Winnipeg Fringe Festival). Armed with a video camera and audio recorder -- and ready to talk with Lee about the group's long history in the Winnipeg comedy scene, their decade of European travel, this year's Winnipeg if..., and his various comedy game show iterations -- I headed to Lee's apartment in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday night.

However, while I went in with the intention of recording a 10 to 15-minute video interview, our chat started to take a life of its own: the topics grew; the answers were detailed, informative, and yes, even interesting; and at the strong suggestion of Lee himself, ShowbizMonkeys.com launched a brand new "Five Questions" feature to close out the interview. Frankly, it was all great stuff! The problem, of course, was that the interview finished around the 40-minute mark. With that kind of length, it left me with the choice to either make significant cuts to the video or change up the plan and release the whole thing as an audio interview and downloadable podcast (much more palatable for that kind of length).

I came to the conclusion that this interview was too good to chop to pieces, and thus went with the podcast, which is now the latest in our Kinda Sorta Like a Podcast series. Lee White gives us our most in-depth interview to date!

As you enjoy this insight into the mind of a nearly-lifelong comedy performer (plus some really silly questions at the end), don't forget to check out this year's Winnipeg if... Improv Festival -- the 13th annual! Shows are running from Wednesday, October 7th through Sunday, October 9th at the Gas Station Arts Centre, and you can get your tickets right here. Besides Lee and CRUMBS, other festival performers include Chicago's Joe Bill, Edmonton's Rapid Fire Theatre, Picnicface's Mark Little, Winnipeg's Outside Joke, and ShowbizMonkeys.com's own Aaron Merke. There's even a non-improv comedy showcase Thursday night featuring stand-up comedians and sketch troupe Hot Thespian Action.

Tags: Lee White, CRUMBS, Winnipeg Improv Festival, Europe, Stephen Sim, DJ Hunnicut, improv, stand-up, game shows, Five Questions

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Paul Little is the founder and Managing Editor of ShowbizMonkeys.com. When not interviewing his favourite musicians and comedians, he can also be found putting on and promoting music and comedy events with The Purple Room in Winnipeg, or co-producing the live comedy game shows Pants on Fire and The Great Patio Showdown. (@comedygeek)

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