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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Some local stand-up comedians are getting a big break tomorrow night.

Hot Shots Pub is hosting a Last Comic Standing competition starting at 7 p.m. Three winning performers will have an opportunity to open for some professional funny folk later this month.

Cousins Cody Mitchell and Ryland Anderson are competing in tomorrow night's comedy competition. Both hope to achieve careers in comedy. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

Aurora Promotions and Productions is bringing comedian Gerry Dee to the Multiplex on Oct. 30. Dee, a former high school teacher, is known for appearances in the Trailer Park Boys movie, on NBC's Last Comic Standing and the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Much of Dee's comedy is inspired by experiences from his past teaching career.

He will be joined by ex-pat Newfoundlander Trent MacLellan and Yellowknife's George Tuccaro.

"It's going to be the biggest comedy act we've ever seen in the North," boasted promoter Gary Hubert.

It's bigger than any stage comic Lauren Froment has ever performed on.

The Sir John high school student performs her comedy at Javaroma and other venues around town whenever she gets a chance. She signed up to compete tomorrow night at Hot Shots. She's planning to riff about the humorous stuff that happens in her life.

"I've got some experiences that happened at school that I thought were pretty funny," she said.

Froment said she is getting a little help with her comedy from her teachers.

"I've been talking to a lot of the English teachers at school so I've got the Karate Kid - Mr. Miyagi thing going on," she said.

Cousins Cody Mitchell and Ryland Anderson are also on tomorrow night's comedy bill.

"I did my first show in high school in Grade 11 and I got hooked on it and then after I graduated I went to Humber College in Toronto for comedic writing and performance for a semester," Mitchell said. "I spent most of my time touring around comedy clubs instead of going to class so I got kicked out."

Mitchell got laughs in Toronto bars like Yuk Yuks, Gorilla Monsoons and the Roadhouse.

"I'm really quite a shy person in real life," Mitchell said. "People don't believe I will go up on stage but when I go up I deliver what I like to call 'shock and awe'."

His cousin is also using tomorrow's comedy show to advance his comic aspirations.

"It will be my first show so I have no idea what's going to happen," Anderson said. "I hope to get at least a three-minute set together and wow the crowd."

Anderson grew up in Tuktoyaktuk and moved to Yellowknife last year to complete his final year of high school. He is studying a management course at Aurora College this winter but is contemplating a comedy education.

"I hope to apply to the same course that Cody flunked out of over in Toronto," he said.

Competitive comedians can still sign up for the contest today at Hot Shots.