Improv January 24 2020
Improteater Impeerium (Estonia)
Rauno graduated Tartu University's Viljandi Culture Academy in theatre studies in 2009. He is a freelance actor and belongs to several theatre groups including Teatribuss and Rändteater Vaba Vanker. Rauno readily confesses to living for spontaneity.
Erki graduated in 1995 from Tallinn University with a degree in languages and with a masters degree in theatre directing in 2005 from Russia's Theatre Arts Academy (GITIS) . He is a freelance director and even more freelance actor and completely freelance in yet other areas that catch his attention. Erkki prefers to be around those who are better and smarter than himself.
Marius graduated Tartu University's Viljandi Culture Academy in theatre studies in 2009. He is a freelance actor and works belongs to the Eneseimetlejate Klubi (roughly translated to Self-Admiration Club), a world music collective performing folkpop in Estonian. Maarius is a fan of that something that can be created from nothing.
StandUp January 25 2020
Andy Valvur returns to Toronto for the inaugural funniEST in January 2020 after he brought the house down at StandUp@Tartu in 2015. Andy was born in New York, grew up in Japan, went to boarding school in Switzerland and university in California and therefore stand-up comedy was the only logical career path. He started performing in legendary San Francisco clubs like Cobbs, The Other Cafe and the legendary Holy City Zoo. From there he moved to Los Angeles where he worked at the Comedy Store and on to New York where he was a regular at the IMPROV. He has written for the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, the San Francisco Chronicle, Maxim and The Realist. He was also a writer for PBS's Emmy nominated Durst Amendment starring Will Durst. These days he mostly spends his time in Europe performing in theaters and at comedy festivals.
Tanya Henley, hosting funniEST's StandUp night, is an actor, comedian, writer and producer. While studying at the University of Toronto, where she received her BA in Cinema Studies, she trained with The Second City Toronto. She also attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and began performing stand-up comedy. Tanya has performed at high profile comedy clubs in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles including Yuk Yuk’s, Stand-up NY, The Comedy Store and The Hollywood Improv.
Krall graduated Estonia's Music and Theatre Arts Academy's theatre performance program with the 15th graduating class. This is code for something very special in Estonia. Krall is now a freelance actor, part of the musical group L'Dorado and belongs to Ajateater and 1Teater theatre troups. Krall lives by the adage 'all that glitters is not gold'.
Paul Lillakas returns to funniEST after StandUp@Tartu in 2015. He is a graduate (with honours, whatever that means) of the Humber School of Comedy Writing and Performance. He has performed on both the Yuk Yuk’s and Second City Toronto stages. He lives in Toronto with his gorgeous husband Alex and his hobbies include: attempted piano, travelling and playing “what’s that crumb from” in bed.
Liia Kajak is back after StandUp@Tartu in 2015. Raised on a strict diet of Looney Tunes and Monty Python, she is surprised and relieved to have turned out somewhat normal. Liia believes that laughter is the best medicine and when you learn to laugh at yourself, your unstoppable.
Helle Wichman, born and raised in the hectic metropolis of Okemos, Michigan, has four older siblings, meaning that she learned to think fast and make 'em laugh if she wanted to keep any of her Hallowe'en candy. Helle is giving her stand-up debut at funniEST.