Winny Clarke – Bathtime Tuesday

By starrymag | October 20, 2015

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

Q) Where did the idea for “Bathtime Tuesday” spring from?

A) I have been wanting to start a YouTube channel for a long time, probably a year. I’m a Taurus and I come up with a lot of really good ideas and never see them through. I’m a mega procrastinator. I enjoy collaborating with people and coming up with fun ideas, but then the see-through never happens. There are so many great YouTube channels out there and there are a lot of people in Toronto that I am meeting, such as Kaitlyn [Alexander] and obviously The Gay Women Channel has had a huge impact on me. I thought, “Why not give it a try?: I think the only thing that has stopped me was the fear of failing and I think that stops a lot of people all the time. It really didn’t have to do with this time of year, but everything to do with me facing myself and deciding I’m going to give it a try without putting any expectations on the outcome.

Q) How did concept come about for the show?

A) I originally was going to start my YouTube channel and just release sketches, but because I work full time and audition on top of that (where I sometimes book gigs) that I thought the amount of production time that goes into it is not realistic to get a video out once a week. I wanted to launch my channel for September, but didn’t think I had enough content to be able to get any sort of consistency. So, it was the middle of September and getting ready for an audition by blow drying my hair upside down. I think my dog was around and I looked over at the bathtub. It must have been a Tuesday (but I don’t’ know for sure) and thought “Bathtime Tuesday!” Then I thought, “What can we do with that?” So, I did some research in terms of what other people were doing in the bath and there wasn’t anything out there. So, I thought “Let’s go with it! It’s outrageous and I’m ridiculous and weird.”

Q) How often will each episode come out?

A) “Bathtime Tuesday” will come out once a week. The sketches will pop up every now and then, probably once a month.

Q) Will there be guests?

A) Yes! I want to bring in as many guests as I can!

Q) What will the sketches cover as far as topics?

A) “Bathtime Tuesday” will generally be comedic; however, I do also want to talk about more serious things. I have a good friend who played a really active role in my life in terms of me becoming an actor and embodying what that means. She is a life coach and she does coaching and retreats. We met in yoga (I’m a yoga teacher) so every now and then, because I want to keep it light and comedic, I will have some more serious topics of just going for your dreams and not letting anyone tell you otherwise. I think that is important. That’s what I am doing and I’m so scared all the time about it, but there is this huge group of people who want to support you and make it available to you. So, I will be talking about a lot of goal oriented things. I want to be able to inspire people as well as make them laugh.

Q) How long will each sketch be?

A) It will be a five minute type thing for now. I don’t want to bombard people with a bunch of shit to watch all the time. If, for some reason, it becomes a bigger channel with more subscribers, viewers and views and that is something people want to see more of then I will lengthen them.

Q) Do you put together the videos alone or do you have help with them?

A) I do have someone help me with the post production right now on my videos. I’m there the whole time and I’m very involved in how the videos are being edited and the content going into it, but I don’t know how to make it so crisp. I go in and edit it and then the professional comes in and makes it look that much better.

Q) We also know that you were just in five episodes of the show “I Do.”

A) I was so happy when I booked “I Do.” I auditioned for “Carmilla,” and I think maybe I got brought in for Danny. It was like the worst audition of my life. I was not prepared. It is the same producer on “I Do” and “Carmilla.” So, when I got a chance to audition for them again I was like, “I’m going to kill this audition!” I was ecstatic I booked the role. In my head, I couldn’t believe they brought me in to audition again.

Q) Who would you like to see explored more if “I Do” gets more episodes?

A) I’m sad we didn’t see Tim more. Kyle [Hickey] was hilarious on set already and he was so funny in the episodes. I think even if we could do more episodes so we could get a little more Kyle, get to know his character a little more, because he was comedic relief in all of the episodes.

Q) Where does your passion for comedy come from?

A) I have always been passionate about comedy. I love comedy, I’m a goofball and I love to laugh. That is something that is just such an important part of my life. I’m a huge Leslie Mann fan and Saturday Night Live fan. Right now, I haven’t watched SNL in a long time, but old school 80’s/90’s SNL I’m a huge fan of. Ideally, if I could book a sitcom I would be just over the moon excited. That would be like a dream for me. I really want to pursue comedy. There is not a lot of comedy in Canadian film and television. There is some! It is a little bit harder to break into it in Canada, but that’s where I want to be. I will do everything  – don’t get me wrong! I do have a true passion though for making people laugh.

Q) How prepare for the roles you take?

A) I always find the emotion that I want to play. I’m a very emotional person naturally so that’s where I think I can create a character from. Then, once I have an emotional decision, I can work around that. Most times before you audition for something, the casting director will ask if you have any questions (which you never want to ask a lot). If you have a legit question, you can ask. I get the emotional place from the script and the description and that’s when I make a decision.

Q) What kind of background to you have in comedy?

A) Right out of college, I joined an improv troupe called Dangerous Portion. From there my love for comedy grew. That’s when I started writing my own sketch and performing it. I did a year of training at the Second City here in Toronto as well.

Q) For Almost Adults, how did you approach your character Elliot?

A) My emotional decision right off the top was very flirtatious and light. So, that’s where I was coming from in the audition. It wasn’t this heavy, intense love or obsession. It was new. Any time you start a new relationship (and in my opinion with any new relationship – not just romantically) I find it really exciting. Anytime I connect with a human being, there is that connection. Whether it is platonic or not, there is this ease about the relationship. I’ve found that with Elliot and MacKenzie (Elise Bauman) that there was an ease right off the bat.

Q) Once you got into wardrobe, did everything feel more fleshed out to you?

A) Everyone on set was so fantastic. It’s going to be so good! Everyone is going to love it so much. I felt a little bit more confident in her. I didn’t realize in the audition that there was a part of her that was extremely cocky and I hadn’t found that out until rehearsal.

Q) What was it like working with the cast and Sarah [Rotella] and Adriana [DiLonardo]?

A) Everyone is so good! They shot quickly. They had full days. When you get into production that has full days like this and it runs so smoothly you really know that you are working with professionals, which is such a great feeling! You feel taken care of and safe amongst these people who are all playing a very important role in the production. Sarah is an amazing director. I know she had a vision for this film and she was very easily able to explain what that was if we weren’t getting it right in the first takes or coming out naturally. She was so great at explaining to us what she needed from us. She did it in such a way that I was like, “I want to do that for you!” I think we all wanted to be a part of this production and everyone wanted to put their very best work into it.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about “Bathtime Tuesday?”

A) Watch every Tuesday. Thank you to the lovely people who are watching and have subscribed! If you have any topics you’d like me to talk about on the show you are welcome to suggest that via twitter.  Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @WinnyClarke.