Holodeck Follies achieved another milestone: an electric Star Trek improv set to a receptive crowd at Fan Expo Canada on Thursday night (701A).

Thanks to John K. Kirk (Roddenberry Entertainment, 1701News, Pop Mythology) and Sam Maggs (Fangirl’s Guide To The Galaxy) for the well wishes beforehand — it helped to calm pre-show nerves.

Thanks to Quentin Thwaites and Altovenue for capturing some moments.

Approximately 250 Star Trek fans laughed and cheered us through one of the best shows of my life.

As a lover of variety and spontaneity, I reached out to cosplayers Lee Scion and Roger Perzan before the night to join us for cameos.

Dressed as Sauron, Roger slowly and menacingly approached up the middle aisle. Striking me down (in mime) he was then engaged by Zach in a futile attempt of bravery. The Captain dead and an Ensign ravaged in the first few moments of the show!

Roger isn’t a performer but he was inspired in the moment and emboldened by the crowd. I love that improv gives people the courage to try new things. It was amazing.

Lee was equally a delight, but she was interested in staying on to improvise.

She was great as the leader of a xenophobic planet. She handled the spaghetti-basketball egg infested Zach (audience suggestion) and Bajoran Dr. Kira with ease.



There were great had-to-be-there moments from the whole crew, including an in-one-voice song between Zach and Andie, a Russell Peters/Ferengi parody by Alan, Tracy’s bad bedside manner sticker aphorisms and 10-Forward crowdwork, and Chris’ wonderfully wicked Weezly Pincher having his moment to shine and then be told to shut up.

If you have other favourite moments in the show, please remind me:



I had a wonderful rant with Tracy about The First Cut Is The Deepest and singing a come-uppance song (“Give A Vulcan A Kiss”) to Lee’s character that had the crowd snapping their fingers and joining in the chorus. As with every show, I also love having the chance to play and flirt with my wife in front of everyone.

At the end of the show, we gave away some prizes — books, chocolate, and a flask. The icing on the cake though, was the multiple requests for photos with the cast. Here are a couple we found posted online:

@TorontoDandies Just a great time with you ladies and gals! pic.twitter.com/eazIVJfzY6 — SJ: 👻📝📱📷📢 (@SJRepsU) September 4, 2015

STAR TREK THEMED IMPROV TROUPE (AND THEY SANG) #FanExpo2015 pic.twitter.com/WwrrlguYw2 — Yez And (@KezVR) September 4, 2015

tl; dr — I hope to make performing at Fan Expo a new annual tradition.

In the meantime, we’ll see you at the next Holodeck Follies on October 7th!