Albert Howell
Encyclopedia
Albert Howell is a Canadian
improv comedian
and poet
. He has appeared in several films and television shows, and has received recognition for his screenwriting
as well as for his improv
work.
in Calgary
where he trained with Keith Johnstone
. He started performing in local comedy club
s with his friends Roman Danylo
, Peter Oldring
, Rebecca Northan
, and Graeme Davies.
In 1993 Howell joined the cast of The Second City
and performed there until 1997, including a brief period in Chicago
where he performed with Tina Fey
. In 1997, he and Andrew Currie formed The Devil's Advocates, a comedy duo that found success after appearing on Speakers' Corner
. They were offered the job of hosting Improv Heaven & Hell on The Comedy Network
, which starred such improv greats as Teresa Pavlinek
, Jack Mosshammer, Bob Martin
and Colin Mochrie
. Howell also appeared on Open Mike with Mike Bullard
and The Conan O'Brien Show
.
The Devils were nominated in 2000 for Best Television Performance at the Canadian Comedy Awards
and Howell was also nominated for Best Male Improviser that year. He appeared at the Just For Laughs
Festival and the Chicago Improvisation Festival 3 years in a row.
, Jennifer Goodhue, Terry McGurrin
.
He has written for the last five seasons on the CBC news parody
show This Hour Has 22 Minutes
where he is currently the head writer
. He has also appeared on the show, which stars Mark Critch
, Gavin Crawford
, Cathy Jones, Geri Hall
, Shaun Majumder
.
Howell has appeared in the films Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Childstar
, Plain Brown Rapper, and Take This Waltz
directed by Sarah Polley
.
and has won three Writers Guild of Canada
awards and a Canadian Comedy Award.
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
improv comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. He has appeared in several films and television shows, and has received recognition for his screenwriting
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is a freelance profession....
as well as for his improv
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
work.
Improv comedy
Howell began his career at the Loose Moose TheatreLoose Moose Theatre
The Loose Moose Theatre Company , is a theater company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was co-founded in 1977, by Keith Johnstone and Mel Tonken. LMTC has an international reputation for developing the theatrical style of improvisation and specifically the work of Keith Johnstone...
in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
where he trained with Keith Johnstone
Keith Johnstone
Keith Johnstone is a drama instructor whose teachings and books have focused on improvisational theatre and have had a major influence on the art of improvisation.-Education:...
. He started performing in local comedy club
Comedy club
A comedy club is a venue, typically a nightclub, bar, or restaurant where people watch or listen to performances, including stand-up comedians, improvisational comedians, impersonators, magicians, ventriloquists and other comedy acts...
s with his friends Roman Danylo
Roman Danylo
Roman Danylo is a Canadian comedian, improviser and actor based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. He currently stars in the CTV television network show Comedy Inc.-Career:...
, Peter Oldring
Peter Oldring
Peter Oldring is a Canadian TV actor and comedian.- Biography :In addition to performing with The Second City improv group in Toronto and Los Angeles, Oldring has appeared on Canadian television. He was also a regular cast member of the redneck-themed sketch comedy series Blue Collar TV...
, Rebecca Northan
Rebecca Northan
Rebecca Northan is a Canadian actress, improviser, theatre director, and creative artist. She is known for playing the hippie mother Diane Macleod on the CTV & The Comedy Network sitcom Alice, I Think. Rebecca Northan was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta...
, and Graeme Davies.
In 1993 Howell joined the cast of The Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
and performed there until 1997, including a brief period in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
where he performed with Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
. In 1997, he and Andrew Currie formed The Devil's Advocates, a comedy duo that found success after appearing on Speakers' Corner
Speakers' Corner (TV series)
Speakers' Corner was a television series which aired weekly on Citytv and A stations in Canada, featuring numerous unscripted short segments on a variety of topics as recorded by members of the general public such as rants, big-ups, shoutouts, jokes, music performance, etc. After the video was...
. They were offered the job of hosting Improv Heaven & Hell on The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media specializing in comedy programming.The channel operates two time shifted feeds, East and West ....
, which starred such improv greats as Teresa Pavlinek
Teresa Pavlinek
Teresa Pavlinek is a Canadian actress, writer and television producer, best known as the creator and star of The Jane Show.-Career:...
, Jack Mosshammer, Bob Martin
Bob Martin (comedian)
Bob Martin is a writer, actor, and comedian from Toronto, Ontario, Canada born in England circa 1963. He has both performed in and written many TV shows. He also provides the voice of Cuddles the comfort doll on the Canadian TV show Puppets Who Kill, aired on The Comedy Network.He starred in the...
and Colin Mochrie
Colin Mochrie
Colin Andrew Mochrie is a Scottish Canadian actor and improvisational comedian, most famous for his appearances on the British and US versions of television improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?.-Early life:...
. Howell also appeared on Open Mike with Mike Bullard
Open Mike with Mike Bullard
Open Mike with Mike Bullard was a Canadian late-night talk show which was broadcast live from 1997 to 2003 on CTV and on The Comedy Network in primetime. It was hosted by comedian Mike Bullard and initially taped at a studio at the back of Wayne Gretzky's restaurant in Toronto, Ontario before CTV...
and The Conan O'Brien Show
The Conan O'Brien Show
Conan is an American late-night talk show airing each Monday through Thursday on TBS in the United States. The hour-long show premiered on November 8, 2010, and is hosted by writer, comedian and performer Conan O'Brien...
.
The Devils were nominated in 2000 for Best Television Performance at the Canadian Comedy Awards
Canadian Comedy Awards
The Canadian Comedy Awards, founded by , are an annual awards ceremony celebrating notable English speaking Canadian comedians for achievements in Live, Radio, Film, Television and Internet media over the previous year...
and Howell was also nominated for Best Male Improviser that year. He appeared at the Just For Laughs
Just for Laughs
Just for Laughs is a comedy festival held each July in Montreal, Quebec, founded in 1983. It is the largest international comedy festival in the world.- Information :...
Festival and the Chicago Improvisation Festival 3 years in a row.
Writing and acting
Howell was a writer and performer for five seasons on the sketch comedy show Comedy Inc.. The show also starred Roman DanyloRoman Danylo
Roman Danylo is a Canadian comedian, improviser and actor based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. He currently stars in the CTV television network show Comedy Inc.-Career:...
, Jennifer Goodhue, Terry McGurrin
Terry McGurrin
Terry McGurrin is a Canadian actor and writer from Ottawa, Ontario.Terry is perhaps best known for doing the voice of Jonesy Garcia in the TV show 6teen. He has also done voices in TV shows such as Medabots and Stoked...
.
He has written for the last five seasons on the CBC news parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
show This Hour Has 22 Minutes
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics, combining news parody, sketch comedy and satirical editorials...
where he is currently the head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
. He has also appeared on the show, which stars Mark Critch
Mark Critch
Mark Critch is a Canadian comedian; he was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.He was a writer for This Hour Has 22 Minutes and is now a star after two appearances in the 10th Season and recurring in Seasons 11 and 12...
, Gavin Crawford
Gavin Crawford
Gavin Crawford is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for The Gavin Crawford Show and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Crawford is a graduate of the BFA Acting Program at the University of British Columbia...
, Cathy Jones, Geri Hall
Geri Hall
Geri Hall is a Canadian actress and comedian. She has appeared on the CBC's This Hour has 22 Minutes in October and November 2004, March 2007 and became a permanent cast anchor in October 2007. Other appearances include the Rick Mercer Report and numerous television commercials...
, Shaun Majumder
Shaun Majumder
-Life and career:Majumder was born in Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador to a European descended mother from Newfoundland and an Indian father. He started his entertainment career as an announcer for the YTV game show CLIPS, and soon was hosting the network's popular morning kids show Brain...
.
Howell has appeared in the films Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, Childstar
Childstar
Childstar is a 2004 comedy film directed and written by Don McKellar. It was screened at several film festivals between September 2004 and July 2005.-Plot:...
, Plain Brown Rapper, and Take This Waltz
Take This Waltz (film)
Take This Waltz is a Canadian comedy-drama film, released in 2011.The second full length film directed by Sarah Polley, the film's cast includes Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, Luke Kirby, Jennifer Podemski, Raoul Bhaneja, Albert Howell, Diane Flacks and Diane D'Aquila.-Film...
directed by Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
.
Awards
Albert has been nominated for a Gemini AwardGemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
and has won three Writers Guild of Canada
Writers Guild of Canada
The Writers Guild of Canada represents more than 1,800 professional writers working in film, television, radio, and multimedia production in Canada...
awards and a Canadian Comedy Award.
Politics
Howell was also a minor candidate for Mayor of Toronto in the 2003 municipal electionToronto municipal election, 2003
The Toronto municipal election of 2003 was held on November 10, 2003, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to elect the Mayor of Toronto, 44 city councillors, and school board trustees.David Miller was elected mayor ....
.