@general_weirdness did such an incredible job putting this whole project together, I’m BEYOND excited to share it with you! What is some strange thing your parents could do when you were little that made you feel like they were omniscient beings?

Pistachios are the silliest named nut. Prove me wrong. My friends Lianne and Corey are huge lovers of magic. Every time they invite me over, shenanigans ensue. Corey always comes up with fun and challenging ways to keep me on my toes that’s for sure. The sweet potato & onion card experiment was a fairly huge hit on here. I’m wondering if it’s something about the innocence of food creating extraordinary moments that is making everyone freak out so much. 😂 🤣 🤷‍♂️ Whatever it is, I’m glad the magic is spreading! Thanks for believing, Share this with someone who’s absolutely NUTS for a good time! 😉 xo, -AK P.S. It’s actually magnets, up my sleeve, a fake finger, 3 inches of fishing line, a fake glass and paid actors (before anyone comes into the comments trying to tell me how I did it…) 🤦‍♂️ 😂 🤫

There’s something so raw, so real and so visceral about being able to create a moment of impact with another human. No camera tricks. No AI. No production budget. No tech riders. Just a couple of decades of hard work, mixed with someone saying “Hey man, my friend hasn’t seen your work. Could you show him something?” I never intended on becoming what I have become. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to write scripts. I wanted to be loved by others. But becoming whom I have, has led me to being able to live all those things. And it’s one of the best feelings in the world. What would you get out of bed and do every day? Even if nobody paid you? Thanks for believing, xo -AK

I didn’t win my speech competition today, so here’s something pretty from the archives. Not that it matters at all, but for those who want the details of my day… I made it to the semi-finals, but got sent home afterwards. I’m disappointed that I didn’t do more to be better prepared and to understand the technicality that ultimately cost me the championship, and led to my disqualification. Next time I’ll show up even better prepared and read the fine print. 😬 Congratulations to all the talented speakers and competitors. It was an amazing weekend and one I’m very grateful for. I learned a lot about myself and about the world of speaking this weekend. I met new friends, laughed, cried and worked out my mind muscle lots. It was a blast and I’m so grateful for the opportunity! I spent a little too long beating myself up for flopping, but it wasn’t a full day this time, just a couple hours. Progress not perfection! Be kind to yourself, xo, -AK P.S. Failure SUCKS. But what sucks more is staying the same. But don’t get me wrong, it still sucks. I wish I was wired differently most days…but unfortunately/fortunately I’m not.

This is an ironic video to post the day before I enter a speech competition, which is exactly why I’m posting it. I tend to be verbose. I tend to rush my words. Blend my thoughts. Jump between sentences. Move fast. Tomorrow I must go slow. I must breathe. I must give my audience a chance to absorb my thoughts. To indulge in and metabolize my words. There is so much that can be said with the silences between. Some of the most effective communicators I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with tend to speak in sound bites no longer than 10 seconds at a time. Little delicious morsels of verbiage, mixed between a cocktail of deep thoughts, and the ever present array of healthy self-awareness. Reach for the cup, but be mindful in how you do. ☕️ xoxo, -AK P.S. I drink mine black. Huge thanks again to @toluamore for having me on his pod alongside Dex from @centrefortalkingarts !

There is no explanation or description I can give Jeff that would do him justice. Just go to the shop and meet him yourself. He’s one of my favourite people. Seriously. Sharp as a tack, helpful as all heck and never fails to bring a laugh. Jeff, thank you for the decades of service, inspiration, and oddity. If you’re reading this and need an excuse to go to Vaughan, let this be it. xo -AK P.S. I’m entering a speech competition this Sunday and my talk’s title is “Real Magic is in You”. In case you needed the reminder. 😉

I’ll be taking up a lane soon, and this is a reminder to all those who still fall under the spell of the lowest form of human vibrations which is judgement, gossip and criticism. It’s so funny to me that people will say “BILLIONAIRES SHOULDN’T EXIST” instead of “Poor people starving to death shouldn’t exist.” It’s always easier to hate and tear down than it is to build up. I hope that soon more folks will learn to celebrate, and elevate while keeping their petty judgements, insecurities and “I’m offended” comments to themselves. The world shouldn’t have to pretend to be this bubble-wrapped safe space that nobody is afraid to walk through. If something offends you, GOOD…it means you’ve been privileged enough to be educated, informed on the use of language, able of mind and body enough to have a visceral reaction and understand that you can disagree or form your own opinion. How SPECIAL a place to be, and to exist. How WONDERFUL. Question why you got “triggered”. Try to deconstruct what upset you. Instead of trying to rid the world of all of our varying triggers, how about we start focusing on building stronger, more resilient people who can handle holding onto someone else’s perspective without having to adopt it as their own, but also without having to breakdown into crumbs just because it differs from their own? Cool? Cool. Comedy friends, save this to have it on hand next time someone comes at you after a set because you “OFFENDED them/Her/Him/zey/zeir/xim/xam/xom/banana”. Cheers, -AK xo P.S. If this post offended you think but this and all is mended, we may as well be 20 seconds back in time for all the chance you’ll change your mind. 🤷‍♂️ 😉

Sometimes you show up to things and you hope it will go well, but the closer you get to the moment, the more you realize it’s just not going to go as swimmingly as you’d hoped. This was one of those times. It was an impromptu appearance, for a semi-engaged crowd, with lots of noises & distractions going on around. I did my best to reset the crowd’s expectations, reframe their experience and bring some energy so that they’d go away from our short time together with hopefully even a modicum of a feeling of change within themselves 😆 Here’s one of those moments where my introvert just wants to climb inside of himself and go home, speak to nobody for 3 days and have a good cry. It’s never all sunshine & rainbows in the live entertainment game. 😔 But even on the more cloudy days, I remember the alternatives…and count my blessings…I’m the MOST unemployable person in your instagram feed. Seriously. Ah well, I’ll try again soon. xo, -AK

Dear Canada, your homework this week is to think for yourself. Today was stressful for me, it wasn’t so much a choice between the lesser of two evils, but rather the evil of two lessers. Maybe you managed to feel good about your decision, or maybe you’ve turned off the parts of your brain that allow you to consider never-mind hold an opposite opinion & belief to the one you’ve been holding so far and for so long. The truth of the matter is simple, it wasn’t that long ago that the province of British Columbia was seriously suggesting glory holes as a safe way to engage with others, and bartenders had to wear 2 face-diapers and a plexiglass shield across their cakeholes. Rhetoric and commentary from the south flips a switch in the good Canadian people’s minds & they somehow magically forget the last 9 years of economic tragedy. The cultural narrative that is being spun for us is quite terrifying. I took 6 hours to decide whom I should vote for today, I read the first few chapters of Mark Carney’s book. I watched news clips, read interviews and transcripts. I called friends, and spoke to business leaders. I considered Poilievre’s recent rally appearance while others grieved in the company of our current PM. Both are an artificial display of empathy, but one of them makes me more sick than the other. I listened to Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault speak about the future of the Greens in Canada. I looked at how and when proportional representation might ever become a thing in this country. I had fun seeing Jagmeet’s Tiktoks and took a look at what has happened to his party under his leadership. I’ll be honest, I didn’t spend much time studying the Bloc, PPC, or Rhino parties. The truth is, I waited until 9:17pm to cast my vote this evening. Under Federal electoral law, I cannot decline my ballot like I can in the provincial elections. To quote my friend Suzie, it feels like we’re all waiting for the results of an STI screening this election. I have kept my brand, my work and my art apolitical for most of my career. Tonight, I’ll not be changing that. What I hope to change is some perspectives. Continued in pinned comment ⬇️