James Mullinger is Living The Dream

James Mullinger is Living The Dream, written by James Mullinger

According to James Mullinger, his one-man comedy show Living The Dream sold out every night during its tour in his home country of England last year (he currently resides in Saint John, New Brunswick). It's a complete shame that his first of six shows in the Mainline Theatre mainspace did not. However, this did not seem to phase him in the slightest. As an amateur stand-up comedian, I can only dream of being able to bring and maintain the amount of sincere, passionate, positive energy that Mullinger brought to his show on opening night.

In Living The Dream, Mullinger guides the audience through some of the best and most of the worst moments in his life to date, tying them into the theme of "living your dreams". Using embarrassing childhood photos, journal entries, and love notes, he reveals he wasn't always the charming, dapper, endearing man he is today. His honesty about himself and the foolishly hilarious things he did in his youth to get attention put the audience in a comfortable position to laugh hysterically at his well crafted self-deprecating material. The only bit I felt wasn't a big hit was his commentary on poorly written online reviews of Montreal's hot-spots for tourism; an attempt at playing to the locals that just didn't go over as well as his emotionally relatable anecdotes directly relating to the theme.

From start to finish, Mullinger's affable disposition kept the audience feeling safe and thoroughly entertained, even throughout the montage of penis drawings from his childhood. I had never before felt more welcome as an audience member at a comedy show. Seriously, if you're reading this and generally feel unwanted in your life, go see James Mullinger is Living The Dream and you'll feel like a bazillion bucks within the first 10 minutes. Bazillion isn't even a real word. That's how much I want you to support this performer.

James Mullinger is Living The Dream runs until Friday, June 20th at Mainline Theatre (3997 Saint-Laurent). Visit the Montreal Fringe Festival website for more info and grab tickets before it's too late.

--Jacob Greco hosts Don't Mess This Up, Jacob every Thursday at 1:30-2:00PM on CJLO.