TALLBOYZ II MEN BIOS:

TALLBOYZ II MEN: TallBoyz II Men is a multi-award winning sketch troupe made up of Tim Blair (NBC Break Out Comedy Fest, JFL42, The Sketchersons), Vance Banzo (TIFF, OFF-JFL), Franco Nguyen (Bob Curry Fellow, NBC Break Out Comedy Fest, StandUp NBC, Second City EdCo.) and Guled Abdi (Tallest member of TallBoyz II Men). The Troupe was formed after the Boyz met each other through the Toronto stand- up comedy scene and agreed to combine forces for the greater good. In 2017 The Boyz performed at OFF-JFL, The Big City Improv Festival, and won Producers' Pick and Best Newcomer at the Toronto and Montreal SketchFests, respectively. When they're not performing sketch, improv, or generally raising some hell: you can catch The Boyz playing a mean game of hacky sack!

Vance Banzo: Vance Banzo is an actor and comedian based in Toronto. His comedy troupe ("his" being inclusive not possessive) Tallboyz II Men, was a featured part of the OFF JFL Festival this summer. An alumnus of the Humber School of Comedy, he can be seen recently on The Beaverton Digital. Banzo is a band member of Fishing Lake First Nation, Saskatchewan. Indian Horse, his feature film debut, was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival

Tim Blair: Tim was born and raised (in that order) in Toronto, Ontario. At the age of 15, he fell in love with comedy after being forced to do stand-up for a school assignment. Since then he’s graduated from the Comedy: Writing & Performance program at Humber College, became a regular at The Corner Comedy Club, formed the multi-award winning sketch troupe TallBoyz II Men, and performed at festivals such as JFL42, OFF-JFL, and the NBC Breakout Festival. Tim regularly does stand-up, improv, and sketch around Toronto. He can be seen Fridays 8PM at The John Candy Box Theatre as a part of Second City’s House Co. and Sundays 9:30PM at Comedy Bar on Sunday Night Live with The Sketchersons.

Franco Nguyen: Franco Nguyen is an actor comedian and filmmaker based in Toronto. He is a Chicago finalist for StandUP NBC. He is also a Tim Sims Encouragement award finalist and a Bob Curry Fellow. Franco was one of four people from the Bob Curry fellows to showcase in Chicago as part of the NBC Universal Breakout Festival. He is a graduate of the Second City Long Form Conservatory program and is currently completing his MFA in film and video production at York University. He is a proud member of the comedy troupe TallBoyz II Men. With the troupe he won Producer’s Pick at the 2017 Toronto Sketch Comedy festival, Best Newcomers at Montreal Sketchiest 2017, and he just returned from performing on OFF-JFL Zoofestival. Franco is also a member of the long form team Pepperoni Pizza Cats and cast member of the SECOND CITY Education 8 Company and House Company. He just finished a successful sold-out run of his one-person show Soaring in Liquid Skies at the Toronto Fringe Festival. The show combines video and live performance to tell the story of his Mother returning home to rural Vietnam for the first time in 28 years. The critically acclaimed show is set to remount in January as part of the Next Stage Theater Festival.

Guled Abdi: Guled Abdi is a 6'9" Toronto based comedian who's best known for being the tallest member of the award-winning sketch troupe Tallboyz II Men. You can catch him performing weekly at bars you didn't know had a comedy show.

MENTOR BIOs:

Mark Andrada: Mark Andrada is a Canadian Comedy Award winning performer/writer/director. On stage Mark originated the role of Swan/Chief in the World Premier of Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical. He has also worked as a puppeteer for The Canadian Opera Company, and as a clown for Canadian Stage, Zero Gravity Circus, and (with a terrific amount of unsuccess and irony) at a comedy club called Clownz in Quezon City in the Philippines. Mark has performed sketch and improv comedy as a member of The Second City, and The Annoyance Theatre in Chicago. Film and TV appearances include: Man of the Year (Universal), Man Seeking Woman (FX), 12 Monkeys (Syfy), Rick Mercer Report (CBC), Odd Squad (PBS), Covert Affairs (NBC/USA Network). As a director, Mark is responsible for 2-Man No- Show parts 1 & 3 (do not blame him for part 2), as well as Sandra Battaglini’s Hard Headed Woman. Mark is also a dilettante lighting designer: Off Broadway On Stage (Angelwalk), Stephan Maccio In Concert, Louise Pitre and Jackie Richardson – Heart and Soul (Jeffrey Latimer Entertainment). One time, Mark designed the lights for Dinosaurs Unearthed! an animatronic dinosaur exhibit at the Detroit Science Centre. Neat, huh? markandrada.com is rarely updated, but go for it!