Delivery – A Documentary: Q&A with cast member Sean Menard

To coincide with Toronto’s famed Hot Docs festival, which is on now – in a nutshell has a very rave review to give to a documentary that’s just finding its bearings.

A friend of mine, Sean Menard, and his three castmates/co-producers have been tirelessly working on Delivery for the past 14 months – a documentary spearheaded by a soon-to-be first time father (Mark Myers) about four men who vow to try stand-up comedy for the first time. In taking classes, crashing Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival and interviewing its many legendary comedians, coming to terms with their own anxieties and senses of humour during the birth and re-birth moments in each of their stories – there is no doubt that when they signed on to take the stage for the first time, these guys embarked on a journey they’d never forget.

I was lucky to see the rough cut of Delivery at a private screening two nights ago, before they release the film to TIFF in two weeks – and I can’t emphasize enough that this is a film you will want to see. As the great film critics have always praised, Delivery has the ability to make you cringe, laugh, cry and absolutely everything in between. On a more personal note, I have to commend Sean’s modesty and composure throughout what must have been intense filmmaking. Not only was his father passing away during the making of the film, but I certainly hardly knew anything about his around-the-clock documentary making – a true testament to this funny guy’s character and humility.

Support this documentary – it shows us how the value of laughing, and making people laugh, is so much more than we think.

Here’s what Sean had to say about making the film, comedy, learning about the father he barely knew during his final months, and figuring out what’s actually funny:

JH: Describe Delivery, and what it’s trying to achieve, in a short few words. 

Sean: Delivery is a feature length documentary about a soon-to-be father (Mark Myers) deciding to make his first film about four guys trying stand up comedy for the first time (I’m one of those four guys), before the birth of his first kid. However, what begins as an examination of the art and craft of stand up comedy, and the fear associated with it, quickly becomes a story about loss, regret and hope when it’s discovered that my estranged father is dying of cancer.

 JH: Why did you decide to get involved with Delivery? What attracted you to the story line?

Sean: To be honest, I had no real idea what I was getting myself into. I had just got back from vacation in Mexico, learned that my department at work folded.  Then to top it off I was told my father had terminal lung cancer.  So, when Mark (the film’s director) called me to ask if I would be interested in helping produce the film I agreed. The guy is scary talented, so, my rule is basically: when Mark Myers asks you to be involved in a project, despite what you have going on in your life, you just say “Yes.”

 JH: You were going through some pretty heavy stuff during the making of the documentary, in that your estranged father was told he only had a number of months to live. Why, during such an intense and emotional period of your life, would you sign on to such a huge undertaking?

Sean: That’s a good question. I figured, what were the odds that during such a crazy time in my life someone would ask me if they could document it for a film?  I took that as an omen. I had no clue what would transpire or just how profound the journey would be.  Cut to the copious amounts of fart and boner jokes used in the film…

JH: There are a lot of those, for sure. Would you say the process of making the film was a little therapeutic for all of you?

Sean: Preparing to do a stand up comedy performance for the first time was very daunting. Because of what I was going through however, it didn’t seem nearly as scary. I gained a lot of perspective spending time with my father and realizing that potentially bombing on stage wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

JH: What did you learn from Bert, Shane and Mark during the process? What was the main takeaway from your stand-up comedy experience (the actual experience of being on stage, after all was said and done)?

Sean: I learned that when you take on something that is so damn scary, and do that with a few people that have never really done it before, and one of them happens to be over the age of 65 and has a weird Dutch accent – you all become a lot closer as a result. And better people for it. In closing, we bonded. Bromance styles.

JH: Special. You must obviously have a new found appreciation for comedy of all sorts – stand-up, movie, TV, your own friends? What or who do you find funny?

Sean: I grew up watching a tonne of SNL skits and really enjoy that type of comedy. I was the class clown in every educational institution I attended, from kindergarten up. But to be honest, I’ve never been a huge stand-up comedy fan. I do, however, look at the art of stand-up so much differently now. You have to be prepared to share some intimate stories and, really, become somewhat socially awkward. Meaning, things you normally would never say in a public setting to a bunch of strangers is sort of the name of the game with stand-up.  It’s not natural and extremely socially awkward – which also makes it sort of liberating and cool.  I sound like a weird hipster, but, damnit, it’s true.  I’m terrible at answering these questions, I’ve realized.  Can we start over?  I should have just said, I like Jerry Seinfeld and Russell Peters.

JH: No, no. You’re doing great. OK, so, in a perfect ending to this great story, where do you want to see Delivery go?

Sean: If I was asked this question six months ago I would have said the goal is to get into a major film festival (*cough* TIFF *cough*)  and ultimately receive a huge distribution deal.  Then, the four of us would kick back, sip on a few Cosmos, lay out on a beach somewhere laughing all the way to our bank.  Which would conveniently be located in the Caymen Islands relatively close to where we would be.  Although that is still the goal, my hope has shifted slightly to the dream of the film one day finding its way into the popular library of Netflix.  Mainly because my roommate the other day told me how impressive it would be if he could stumble home drunk one night and be able to load up Netflix and watch the film and then to wake up periodically throughout the film with a smile knowing that his roommate had achieved online movie streaming supremacy.

JH: Right on. Any other documentary-making in your near future?

Sean: I’m off to Dominican Republic in a few weeks for a baseball documentary that I’m directing. Fun fact: 30 per cent of all professional baseball players in America were born in the Dominican.

JH: That’s amazing (slash keep in a nutshell in the loop). To finish off, tell us one or two big things people probably don’t realize about what it takes to actually assemble a documentary. 

Sean: What’s interesting is that people have a better understanding nowadays for what goes into making a documentary. 20 years ago, television was more of a magic show that never really revealed to the audience the process, or gave them the tools in technology to try it themselves on a smaller scale.  Perhaps that’s not even interesting at all, I should never start an answer with “What’s interesting….”  It even sounds douchy for someone to read that… even more so when the follow up to that isn’t really all that interesting.  Point is, there is so much damn footage when you film for nine months, so just being able to take all of that and condense it into 90 minutes that are entertaining and make sense…is by far the hardest part.  Again, Mark Myers is a damn genius.

For more info, visit the Delivery: The Documentary’s site: http://www.deliverythedoc.com/