I know, I know, you're all still mourning the death of our patio season, but this week's line-up will return us to glorious summer with this scene of yuks! That is to say, follow me as I walk you through This Week In Comedy...

TUES OCT 15 / WRITE CLUB / 1150 QUEEN W / DRAKE UNDERGROUND / 8PM / $10

Here's the deal: You're given a topic, and one week later, you pit your prose against your fellow man, battling it out for literary supremacy in front of a live audience. It's almost like a debate club for adults — and adults, like children, can be assholes. But hey, that's why it's so much fun! Personally, the nerd in me loves the concept. I often get the feeling that stand-up, in all its glory, sometimes stifles the voice of the writer who just wants to express himself in an open forum without the confines of having to get a laugh every ten to twenty seconds. (Note: Above clip is from LA's Write Club)

SAT OCT 19 / QUINNGLOURIOUS BASTERDS / MAPLE LEAF GARDENS / 60 CARLTON / 9PM / $20

One of, if not the hardest working comedian in Canada, is at it again. He's the new breed of comic, in that he's a stand-up, an actor (no, not student films), and a producer. A lot of people from the outside looking in might try to imitate his success by trying to follow in his footsteps, but the thing they might not get is that he sincerely loves stand-up, acting, and producing. He's gone through the struggles of having empty rooms, countless auditions without a callback, you name it. Many will ask how he does it, but they'd be asking the wrong question. The question they should be asking is why he does it. The answer, simply, is because he loves it. He's doing his dharma. (Disclaimer: Quinn's my friend).

THURS OCT 17 / JACQUES BARRETT / COMEDY BAR / 945 BLOOR W / 930PM / $8 ADV $10 DOOR

Jacques Barrett, your headliner from across the other pond, is awesome. I'm particularly fond of him because there's something subtly charismatic about the laid-back, confident way he compels my attention so that I'm straining to catch every word. But, how have I not mentioned Marc Hallworth before!? The last time I saw him he killed at Spillin' The Beans, one of the hardest rooms to play in Toronto. It's funny that he's opening the show for Jacques, because Marc is similarly charismatic. Click here for a clip of him doing his thang at Yuk's.

About the Author: This is Michael Jagdeo, and I refuse to write about myself in the third-person. My blog, Diary of a Stand-up Comedian, walks you through the up's and down's (they're mostly down's, really) in my quest to become a killer comic in Toronto.