^ v ;: 's v :V"> ^ "» A' s / \ ^ s ^ s< \v - . v' '·5 *i *N ' \' s% v's' s\..s ' / /· v N>s% v^-s s ^ N v M M IS a M if iB a iK i , , * H H |P ' £ v $' « · " 1 i m i l m Wm . . ^ N J ! s' S ; ,, .... K S By Kathy Yanchus Entertainment Eater Du you ever step out o f the .shower and wonder what part of your body you washed Iasi? Well Paul Chato does and since he can't blame it on maternal amnesia, he figures he must be getting old. Routines have stopped being routines. Suddenly his mind is being deluged with perplexing questions: 'Do I plax before I brush? Du I -.have before I shower?" "My mind is hurting It's dreadful." says Chato. a member of the legendary Frantics Comedy Troupe who will debut his one-m an comedy show. I C a n 't Rem em ber What Part of My Body I Washed Last, at the Oakville Centre July 25th to 27th Chato says he Inis stopped going through life like a "zombie from Night of the Living Dead" and has become more aware o f things he blithely ignored before. Ilis ego has also been "sufficiently bruised" having watched his 30-inch waistline expand to 34-inches. Chato has been possessed by an intriguing state of mind and he would like to share it with you. (Showtim cs are H:30 p.m. each evening and tickets are SIS and S I2 for seniors and stu dents) It's been more than three years since he performed live, hav ing taken a job as assistant to the Head ol Programming at CBC when the Franlics disbanded. He's excited about the prospect. "I started w riting alter I left the CBC." says C hato. who headed CBC's TV Comedy department when he left the network earlier this year to form Gargantuan Productions. "I fell very strongly about the material I was writing and fell very strongly that the material needed to be performed. I f s really the material that drew me back into live work. It's very ex ciiiiie.' At 37. and with a wealth o f experience in the Canadian enter tainment industry behind him. Chato has finely-tuned his cyni cism. He has used it to coal observations about hi>. apathetic fel low countrymen, about life in general and about closing in on 40. The evening will include "piiln observations, a bit of madness and computer animation ("D on't gel your hopes up. it's not v-ry izood computer anim ation.") 'The show is kind of a search for one's self I know that con jures up a kind -if loathsome, self-absorbed skinny actors in leo tards' image." but since ('h alo has pm on about 10 pounds, "it doesn't present a problem." C hato has chosen to entrust his material to director Damir Andrei, whose last show. Divided We Stand, hail a successful run at the Canadian Staging Com pany's Berkely Street Theatre. "I love the collaborative effort. When you've spent a good chunk o f your creative life with three other people Chato says he was "incredibly impressed" with Andrei's work and found "we h a\s more in common lhati I thought." "We have ;ne same anger towards the system." he savs. II he finds anything positive in these chaotic economic and political times for Canadians, it is that more stimulating material will surface from the country's performers and writers. "You can't create wiihout anger." says Chain "Performers are the therapeutic mechanism for the nation." "W e're docile, boring, bovine, grass-calers." savs Chato ol Canadians. "W e're really the only western civilization which did not have a civil war as part o f its birthing process and it affected us artistically. We either copy other work nr it's so eccentric, nobody wants to see it." It's a story Canadians have heard about themselves before but Chain has witnessed firsthand the lethargic and condescending attitude reaped upon successful Canadians by their ow n kind. "Canada is the kind o f country where you make your own breaks or you don't get anywhere. There is no perceived value in anything anybody does." You make yourself into a commodity, you market yourself, you lake y ourself on the road and you make yourself a success, s a y s Chato. II Chato sounds somewhat burned out and bitter, he is. but as he says, out of anger comes innovation. Chato chose the C entre's Studio Theatre - where the Frantics performed many years ago - to prem ier his show because he liked Ihe location and "friendly confines." Along with a proposed tour of his one-man show. Chato is also working on a satirical late night news magazine program for CBC entitled. Make Five Weiners. I'll Eat S i\. where the reporters' modicum ol decorum is thrown to the dogs. Also in the developmental stages is a sim ilar formal for a U.S. channel entitled Report from the 5 1si State. Chato is originally from Don Mills. He studied Radio and TV verson before hooking up with Rick Green. Dan Redican and Peter W iiJman to form the Franlics. In their nine years together, the Frantic* recorded tw o album s. 120 radio shows. 20 TV shows and performed hundreds of live shows. As head of TV Comedy for the CBC. Chato was responsible for such shows as He feels a certain satisfaction in knowing that one ol his shows. Slick Around, made it. "In the I S. if one o f seven shows makes ii. that's great but in Canada il one o f three shows makes it. you've failed tw ice." So. there you have. A burned-out "biiter hitler" comedian. A pathetic sigln Canadians love him.