Cute Overload

Chris Leavins gets personal

Chris Leavins doesn’t get why every writer or performer doesn’t have a corner of the internet carved out for themselves. Just look at how it’s worked out for him: the Canadian actor and writer, who has appeared on Gemini-winning TV shows like Slings and Arrows, Traders and The Eleventh Hour and has performed in his own plays all over North America, is now famous not for his accomplished film, television and stage resume, but for Cute with Chris, a somewhat-monthly internet show where he shows pictures of peoples’ cute kittens or newborn foals or cringe-inducing finger cuts and gets his viewers to vote on and contribute to the content.

“When internet video came into its own in 2006, when I first saw YouTube and the video iPod, I said, ‘There it is, that’s the way for me to distribute all this work I’ve been doing in the theatre all that time,’” he says. “When I’m performing in film and TV, I don’t get to write the material or control the direction.”

True, Cute with Chris isn’t exactly raking in the cash (Leavins is still active in the film and television realm, saying “that’s how I fund all my internet work”) but it is raking in hundreds of thousands of viewers and has an almost cult-like following. Indeed, the tickets for Cute with Chris Live, which happens this Saturday as part of the Uno Festival, sold like hotcakes and Leavins says people are coming from as far away as Oregon to catch the show.

“I’ve structured it so for the fans, it’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the show is created, but I’m finding that lots of people who have never seen the show come out, a friend will drag them on, and it’s totally constructed so they will get it too,” he explains.

Cute with Chris Live is one of two performances Leavins will be doing in Victoria, the other being The Chris Leavins Story Hour, a reading series where he will be sharing some of the comedic personal essays he’s written over the years. Recently launched as a free iTunes podcast, Story Hour is something Leavins has been working on for awhile.

“When I first moved to Los Angeles, the first thing I did was register at UCLA for creative writing classes and devoted myself to writing and doing standup. I generated all this material and then didn’t have any way to distribute it,” he says. “I’ve been taking that material now that I have an audience and finding a new distribution method for it.”

The Chris Leavins Story Hour performance will have Leavins read a few of his recent personal essays, which will be recorded and then used for later podcasts. Leavins says the big difference between Story Hour and Cute with Chris is the former is much more about him.

“The odd thing about Cute with Chris is it’s really a show about the viewers. People really do not learn very much about me at all,” he says. “I think I’m a bit of a mystery to people who follow Cute with Chris.”

That’s not to say he doesn’t love sifting through thousands of wide-eyed puppy photos and peoples’ sob stories.

“I know Cute with Chris looks like it’s a show about puppies and kittens, but it really is a platform for people sharing. I’m constantly amazed at the things that people send me,” he says. “I invented a fake holiday called International Feel Sorry For Yourself Day where people could write in to me and share their sob stories and hundreds of people from all over the world sent me emails about their miserable, horrible life situations. I love hearing other peoples’ stories that way.”

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Cute with Chris Live
7pm Saturday, May 30
SOLD OUT
Chris Leavins Story Hour
2pm Sunday, May 31
Metro Studio, 1411 Quadra
Tickets $15 • 250-383-2663
cutewithchris.com
intrepidtheatre.com