Funnymen need funds to promote film effort Titans of Comedy to perform in Brewer

BREWER – Take some of the state’s funniest comedians. Add a few Portland-area stage actors, a few boogie boards and a killer soundtrack. Then throw them all on the beach. What do you get?

“Boogie Board Beach,” the latest production from Titans of Film, headed by Orono native and funnyman Quinn Collins. The group shot the musical spoof, which co-star Steve Caouette calls “‘Beach Blanket Bingo’ meets ‘Grease,'” over the summer at various Maine venues, including the Bangor-Brewer Lanes.

This week, Collins, Caouette and Max Pelkey will perform a comedy show to help offset production costs for the film. The “Titans of Comedy” trio will take the stage at 8 p.m. Thursday at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer, where a trailer from the movie will also be shown.

“It’s not only about surfing, it’s about the love stories of the characters’ different relationships,” said Collins, who stars as Buzz, a boogie-boarding champ whose status and love life are challenged when out-of-towner Mitch moves in on his waves – and his girl. “It’s the best time I’ve had in my life.”

Collins now lives with his family in Portland, works as a lawyer and pursues comedy in his spare time. He met Caouette, a Sanford native, during a contest at The Comedy Connection. The two have worked together on several films, including two B-Westerns and a film noir-style cop story. They agree that “Boogie Board Beach,” their first feature-length film, is the best yet.

“This is the one I feel like something magic is happening with it,” Collins said.

But in order for that magic to happen, the Titans need money to promote, edit and transfer their video to movie film. All of the actors volunteered their time, but the postproduction is costly.

“The fun part is filming it,” Collins said. “The hard part is after it’s done. It’s like building a house without putting a roof on it.”

They hope Thursday’s comedy show will help them buy shingles, so to speak. Collins headlines shows in New England and New York, and he often opens for comedian Bob Marley. Caouette is a full-time comedian who tours nationally and internationally.

Collins’ act pokes fun at his home state, but he also has a problem with milk (the jump from 2 percent to whole makes no sense at all), clothing tags (why don’t they just make them out of glass and stitch them with fishing wire?) and chain-smoking Canadians.

“So I go to this restaurant and I ask for the nonsmoking section and they lead me to this table right in the middle of the room,” Collins says of a recent visit to Montreal. “That’s the nonsmoking section – right in the middle of the room. That’s like roping off a section of the swimming pool and saying it’s OK to pee in this area.”

When in Maine, Caouette does as the Mainers do – or at least makes fun of what Mainers do.

“Everything’s simple in Maine,” Caouette deadpanned in a recent phone interview. “We have one highway, and one temperature: cold. We have a few authors, but we only have one huge author. That’s because he scared the crap out of all the other authors.”

Tickets cost $13 per person (cash only) and are available at Frank’s Bakery in Bangor and Winterport Boot Shop in Brewer. For directions, call 989-1811. Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8287 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.