Comedy
Theatre
As a student at Chatham-Kent Secondary School Sparks enjoyed doing improv and performing in drama class and at assemblies. His first TV appearance was a televised swearing-in ceremony in which he and a friend did a sketch about a border officer interviewing an immigrant. In 1997 his farce Chuck Sent Me won the Grand Theatre Stage Presence Competition for young playwrights. [2]
At York University his one act plays Richard Keats' Apartment of Doom and Home to Mother both won the Vanier College playwriting competition in 2000 and 2001 [3] while A Thanksgiving That Would Even Make Great Aunt Gladys Proud and My Favourite Aunt also took 2nd and 3rd prize in 1999 and 2001. [4] Apartment of Doom and My Favourite Aunt were both remounted as Toronto Fringe Festival shows. [2]
At York University, Sparks contributed humorous articles and reviews for the student newspaper The Vandoo and was promoted to an editor, but quit after frequent complaints by Vanier College administration led to tighter guidelines.
Improv and sketch
Sparks first began performing comedy regularly with York University's Vanier Improv Company as a student, [5] where he became a standout and met his sketch troupe mates The Minnesota Wrecking Crew . [6] They would go on to be nominated four straight years (2003–2006) for the Best Sketch Troupe Canadian Comedy Award, winning in 2003 and 2004. In 2006 they won again for Best Taped Live Performance for the CBC special Sketch with Kevin McDonald . [7]
The MWC became the "house troupe" at Second City Toronto's Sketchy at Best showcase, [8] where they would perform sets of mostly new sketches every week.
Sparks was a member of the sketch troupes Rocket 9, Gazebo Pals [9] and the CCA-nominated Shoeless, and has also hosted Comedy Bar's Sunday Night Live more than any other guest. [10]
Stand-up
After performing on the show with the Wrecking Crew a few times, he began working the door for Toronto's legendary ALTdot COMedy Lounge at the Rivoli in 2002. At show producer Zoe Rabnett's urging he tried performing stand-up in 2003 at The ALTdot COMedy Lounge and went on to win that year's Tim Sims Award, [11] given to Toronto's most promising new comedy act, [12] in just his 20th set. He then also won the 2004 Best Stand-up Newcomer Canadian Comedy Award, becoming the first person to win both.
After his Tim Sims Cream of Comedy showcase, he was invited to write and star in his own series of shorts for The Comedy Network, From the Desk of Ron Sparks, [13] based on real letters he has written since childhood.
Stand-up credits include Just for Laughs as well as the Halifax, Winnipeg, [14] Laughing Gas [15] and YYC Comedy Festivals. He was JFL's Toronto Homegrown Champion in 2007 and has performed in various JFL and JFL-42 shows including Set List, The Alternative Show with Andy Kindler and The Debaters . He has opened for such comedians as Kyle Kinane, Moshe Kasher, Russell Peters, Kevin Pollak, Marc Maron, Janeane Garofalo, Norm Macdonald, Joan Rivers, Brian Posehn, Mike Wilmot, David Cross, Andy Kindler, Tom Green, Doug Stanhope and Todd Barry.
His 2008 CTV Comedy Now! stand-up special won a WorldFest Award and two Canadian Comedy Awards. [16]
When the ALTdot added a second weekly show, the SketchDot COMedy Lounge, Sparks was invited to do a weekly Weekend Update style segment, The News Desk with Ron Sparks. [17]
Film & TV
On television he starred in MuchMusic's highest rated show Video on Trial and its spin-off, Stars on Trial , also writing for those and other MuchMusic series. He co-wrote and starred as Chris Christie in the series You Got Trumped, for which he won multiple awards. He was also a regular panelist on the Super Channel series Too Much Information and has been a regular on various Ed the Sock series (including co-hosting the cult hit This Movie Sucks!), and T1's The Toronto Show as Ron the Hollywood Reporter and other characters.
Other TV credits include NBC's The Firm, The Beaverton , This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Meet the Family, Straight Man, Clumsy & Shy, Dark Rising: The Savage Tales of Summer Vale, The Jon Dore Television Show, Sox in a Box and The Invasion Report.
Film credits include Medium Raw, Dark Rising, By George, Sweetener and Ham & Cheese.
He is the subject of the book The Essential Actor's Guide: Spotlight on Ron Sparks. [18]
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