Hosted by David Shore
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No scripts. No rehearsals. Monkey Toast has been one of Toronto’s premier comedy shows since 2003 and they’re bringing their signature brand of improvised comedy to the LPT.

Theshow stars six of Toronto’s best and most experienced improvisers. Based off anaudience suggestion, our host, David Shore, will tell a true story from hislife for the cast to use as a springboard to their improvised scenes. The showthen goes back and forth between monologues and improv.

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David Shore

David Shore grew up at Bathurst and Steeles and is thrilled to be making his debut at the Leah Posluns Theatre. A Second City Mainstage alumnus, David is a two-time Canadian Comedy Award winner. He created and hosts Monkey Toast, the acclaimed live show founded in 2003 that has earned six Canadian Comedy Awards. He has also interviewed celebrities and written feature articles for Reader's Digest.

David lived in London, UK, for 7 years, where he founded and was Artistic Director of Monkey Toast UK, which quickly grew into one of the largest and most respected improv academies in Europe. He currently teaches improv at CBPro in Toronto.

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Lisa Merchant

Lisa has been studying, performing and teaching the art of improvisation for 35+ years.

She is a multiple nominee and winner of 4 Canadian Comedy Awards, 3 for Best Female Improvisor. Some television credits include: Murdoch Mysteries, Davey and Jonesie’s Locker, Private Eyes, American Gods, Degrassi XV, Train 48...

She performs regularly in clubs around Toronto. When in the UK she has enjoyed performing at Angel Comedy, Hoopla and FA (The Free Association).

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Kayla Lorette

Kayla Lorette is a celebrated writer and performer. Her early writing credits included YTV’s That’s So Weird and the Second City Project which both drew on her immense experience in improv and sketch comedy. She’s won numerous Canadian Comedy Awards including Best Female Improviser.  She co-wrote two short films("7A" and "She Stoops to Conquer") that both premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. "She Stoops to Conquer" also won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short. She also co-created, co-wrote and starred in the Crave series New Eden which followed the story of an all-female cult in the 1970’s.

Her more recent credits include writing and voice acting for the second season of Roku’s Doom lands and Netflix’s limited series Wayward starring Mae Martin and Toni Collette.

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Jan Caruana

Jan Caruana, a mainstay of Toronto stages, is best known for her quick mind and quicker wit as an improviser. Jan is a Canadian Screen Award nominated TV writer. She has won a Dora Award as part of the ensemble for “The Wonder Pageant” (Coal Mine Theatre) and nominated as a director for Holiday -The Improvised Musical (Bad Dog Theatre). She has appeared in films and television shows including Small Achievable Goals, Baroness Von Sketch Show (where she was also a writer),Mean Girls, and Kim’s Convenience. 

Jan can be heard on CBC Radio’s The Debaters, and as a regular panelist (and writer) on Because News with Gavin Crawford. 

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Herbie Barnes

Herbie Barnes is a multifaceted Indigenous theatre professional with a distinguished twenty-five-year career spanning acting, writing, directing, and teaching. Currently serving as the Artistic Director at Young People’s Theatre, his extensive stage and screen credits include principal film roles in Dance Me Outside and Spirit Bear, television appearances in Murdoch Mysteries and The Rez, and iconic stage performances as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey. Beyond performing, Barnes is an accomplished playwright, puppeteer, and dramaturge, having written for shows like Tipi Tales and directed major productions across North America, including The Play That Goes Wrong and Tales of an Urban Indian. He also actively mentors emerging talent as an educator at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and various academic and professional institutions.

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Dewi Minden

Dewi Minden (she/her) is an award-winning film score composer, pianist, trumpeter, and musical saw player with a Master of Music degree. Currently a resident Music Director with Comedy Bar Pro and an instructor at Toronto's Second City Training Centre, Minden has music directed major sketch comedy productions like What the Elf and earned Best Composer accolades for her short film scores, including Remembering and The Forest and the Trees. Early in her career, she spent a decade touring internationally with the found-object music and storytelling group the Robert Minden Ensemble, performing at renowned venues like the Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, and appeared in eight episodes of Canadian Sesame Street. Today, she remains a prominent figure in Toronto’s comedy scene, improvising live musical soundscapes for top local performers.

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Cale Bain

Cale's been doing improv for 38 years despite being so young. He's founding Artistic Director of Improv Theatre Sydney and has performed, directed and taught at festivals and as a guest at improv companies all over the world. He's also allergic to almonds, but not badly.

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Sandy Jobin Bevans

Sandy is a nine-time Canadian Comedy Award winner and an alumnus of Toronto’s legendary Second City Mainstage, where he wrote, performed, and directed multiple original revues. His extensive television and film career includes starring roles as the dad on the NBC Universal sitcom Bijillionaires, the father of four on YTV/Nickelodeon’s Life With Boys, and a divorced mall cop on The Parker Andersons. He has also hosted HGTV’s Great Home Giveaway, co-hosted the game shows Deal With It and Just Like Mom and Dad, and appeared in feature films such as Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle and You Kill Me.

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