By Fallon Bourgeois

Leslie Seiler (BA’00) is an actor, improviser, writer and director. She is used to being quick on her feet and adapting on the fly. But when the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to quickly shift to teaching her Second City Hollywood comedy class online, she was skeptical if this particular modification would work.  

“The basis of our comedy classes is improv, which is such a physical thing of using your body and being in the room with someone,” says Seiler who is based in Los Angeles. “When everything changed in March, I had just started teaching the class in person. So, we took a week off, trained, brainstormed and got online. I was amazed with how it all worked out.”  

Like many, Seiler never expected how quickly everyone adapted to connecting virtually. “Even though the students weren’t physically together, they were still in scenes together, and many of the activities that depend on physicality still worked. What I’ve found is that even though being on camera brings a different aspect often times you can make a more intimate connection.”  

Solace during trying times

While she says comedy always bring lightness and laughter it was difficult to see that in the early days of the pandemic. Though she ultimately found it offered solace during trying times.  

“When everything started to shut down, we were meant to start a new show at Second City Hollywood, but everyone said they weren’t feeling funny. So, we kind of shut it off for a week,” says Seiler. “Eventually we came to a place where we could still see the funny in our lives—like Zoom calls with family—and realized there were still things to satirize.”  

Much like teaching comedy online, Seiler has been pleasantly surprised by how Second City has been able to do virtual shows. “We’ve been using Zoom and have been blown away with how much it feels like a real show. We’ve had great energy and audience engagement through the chat feature.”  

The road to comedy

Comedy has long held a special place in Seiler’s life. She describes herself as “always being a performer and a bit of a ham”, but she didn’t necessarily see comedy as a career until her final days in Dalhousie’s Theatre program.  

“Back then we did final interviews to discuss what’s next, our ambitions, things like that. During my interview, my voice teacher, Susan Stackhouse, said ‘Leslie, I think you’re funny and I don’t think you’ve had a chance to explore that. You should move to Toronto and try to get in Second City.’” The rest you could say is history.  

Seiler took Stackhouse’s advice and left for Toronto after a stint with Theatre Antigonish. In the year’s since she’s had a dynamic career with Second City—the world’s premier name in improv-based sketch comedy and education. The method and style of Second City is unique and one that Seiler says provided a strong foundation for her career.  

 “The Second City method for writing is indulgent and organic. We write our shows and keep refining them through improv. It gives you an amazing foundation to write sketch and comedy,” says Seiler.  

 During her time with the Second City Toronto Main Stage Company, she’s acted, wrote, directed, taught and for three years she headed up the Conservatory Program. She’s also had roles in other theatre, television and films.  

Making a go of it

Two years ago, Seiler and her husband, who is also an actor, moved LA to “make a go of it.” 
“There’s this thing that happens to Canadian actors where you hit a plateau. For me, I wondered if there was something more. I wanted to see if I could elevate my career,” says Seiler. “I have this opportunity to do this and I am very grateful. It’s humbling to be here, but at the end of the day, if I came back to Canada and my career was the same, it wouldn’t be the worst.”  

Since being in LA, Seiler says a highlight was opening the show, Canuck as F*CK on the Second City Hollywood stage. The show features an all-Canadian cast and is produced by the Canuck Collective in which Seiler is a member.  

Of course, another highlight has been the excitement of walking onto the Universal Lot. “The first time I walked onto the lot to go into a casting office, I felt like this is it!” says Seiler with a laugh. “The interesting thing about LA is that it feels like a town where everyone is just going for it and there’s a shared sense of having each other’s backs. That’s a nice feeling.”  

Eyes forward

As Seiler looks to what’s ahead, like many she is faced with a fair bit of uncertainty as LA County has been discussing not having theatres open until 2021. She is keeping busy with teaching sketch and speciality classes online. Next month she will be doing solo stand up at the Burbank Comedy Festival, which will be entirely online from August 16-22. Seiler has three performance slots during the festival and is eagerly anticipating the opportunity to bring laughter to people right now.  

“I look forward to the challenge of finding the funny in everyday life, even in these tumultuous times. There are certainly a lot of shared experiences right now, that on a human level we can all relate to and that can make for poignant comedy.”