Bette MacDonald's Blog

Tis The Season 7!

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It's Tis The Season Seven!

And while we can't guarantee that there will be swans a'swimming, you can bet that there will be plenty of laughs! Come celebrate the holidays with Mary Morrison, Martin MacKinnon, Wayne Tomko, Marjorie, Donnie, Da and all the rest. Tis The Season has become a tradition for many. Year after year, this show plays to sold out crowds and rave reviews. If you haven't seen it, it's time. If you have, it's time again!! So put on an ugly sweater, take the turkey out of the freezer and come join us as we try to figure out what it is that makes this time of year so wonderful....... and infuriating. Fa la la la la la la la la!!!

Bette in new CBC TV comedy Mr D!

[image error] Watch Bette as school secretary, Trudy Walsh, in season 2 of CBC's hit comedy, Mr. D.

Reprinted from the Globe and Mail

"Mr. D. is dopey, deadpan and quietly hilarious. Gerry Dee stars as a seriously under qualified but ambitious teacher stumbling through classes and school politics. It's rare for a Canadian standup comedian to get a sitcom vehicle and in this instance, it works."

Tune in to CBC tv this coming January for season Two of Mr. D.!!

Copyright © 2012 Globe and Mail All rights reserved

Bette’s characters are a gift

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BY ELISSA BARNARD ARTS REPORTER - The Chronicle Herald

Beautifully timed comedy, songs make for a rockin’ show

Bette MacDonald is like a rock star.

As soon as she comes on stage in Tis the Season 6 the crowd roars with excitement and the energy is as high as the Star of Bethlehem.

The holiday sketch comedy and song show by MacDonald, her husband Maynard Morrison and guitarist Ralph Dillon is structured like a rock concert.

It builds up and up, with songs acting like ballads between hits to a frenzied finish of two hit sketches: Marjorie, Da and Donnie arguing between houses as they go carolling, and Mary Morrison subbing in as the Virgin Mary in her church Christmas pageant, much to the horror of Father Gillis.

The show is folksy and casual in tone but delivers impeccable comedy as beautifully timed as an angel’s song.

About Bette

[image error]Bette MacDonald, Gemini Award winner for her CBC TV performance in the Ha!ifax Comedy Fest, has been making Canadians laugh on TV, radio and stage for over twenty years.

The Halifax’s Chronicle Herald called her “a superlative actress, a polished ad libber… making the audience howl with delight by a lift of her eyebrows,  a shift of elbow or a single word”   following her ground-breaking performance poking gentle fun at the lighter side of the classical world with Symphony Nova Scotia in 2006.  In a rare move, the Symphony brought  the show back by popular demand the following year for another sold-out performance.

Bette has starred in three national CBC TV series including her role as Canada’s most unsuitable Governor General in Rideau Hall.  She has also guested on many popular Canadian television shows and has guest hosted for several segments of CBC Radio’s popular Madly Off in All Directions.  She has had starring roles at Neptune Theatre and toured nationally with the Cape Breton Summertime Revue sketch comedy troupe.

Bette has  co-hosted the ECMA awards show, appeared at the CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival and was a long-time favourite headliner at the Ha!ifax Comedy Fest.

Bette recently collaborated with husband/comedian Maynard Morrison and musician Ralph Dillon in a side-splitting Christmas show Tis The Season, which toured the Maritimes in 2007.  One critic said of the show:  “absolutely brilliant”  “people howled with laughter and took off their glasses to wipe tears from their eyes”.  Her pure torch-style singing voice is a spectacular addition to a brilliant collaboration of sketch and character comedy that fills concert halls across Eastern Canada and beyond.