From her apartment in south Parkdale, Kathleen Phillips makes videos using inanimate and found objects. She creates dramatic or comedic scenes between them or acts out monologues and then posts the videos to YouTube.
"Making those videos is my painting," she said. "I don't know if I am making art, but creatively it allows me to do a lot because I am working with everything I have - my voice, with visuals and technology. It allows me to be as imaginative as I can."But those short videos have proven more popular than one might expect, some with 6,000 or 7,000 views. One, the story of how a witch made her nose fall off, has been viewed more than 17,000 times."Doing things like these puppet videos that I put together are just a way for me to tell a story with more than one character," Phillips said. "I don't know if I think of myself so much as a comedian, as an actor and a storyteller."Phillips, 30, is originally from Keswick, Ont., about an hour and a half north of Toronto. She has been living in Toronto for 12 years after coming to the city to attend Ryerson University. She started out in theatre and said one of the reasons she decided not to stick to that avenue of performance was because she really wanted to perform her own material."Comedy allows you to do that just about as often as you want and you can be as prolific as you like," Phillips said. "There are no restrictions really. I don't have a set script per say, but I basically have a planned out bit, kind of a loosely written monologue that I perform in character."She has a few reoccurring characters like Joe the landlord and Charlotte the harlot. But Phillips said most of the time she said she isn't too big on names or on using costumes. Phillips performs live regularly at Laugh Sabbath at the Rivoli Cafe and Club on Queen West, and is a member of the children's theatre group, Cow Over the Moon, and just came off a two-week stint with the television program This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which she was selected for after auditioning."I got to get involved in the writing process where I had input in sketches and could talk to the writers and submit my own stuff as well," she said. "I really enjoyed it."Phillips will perform at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival at Theatre Passe Muraille on Nov. 12. Visit www.torontosketchfest.com for details on the festival.