A former Dartmouth comedian isn’t laughing over an unpaid appearance fee for military shows in Afghanistan.
Tracey MacDonald was one of 15 entertainers from across the country who performed at shows in late November and early December for troops in Kandahar, Kabul and Camp Mirage, a secret airbase in the Persian Gulf.
“Some of us got paid, some of us didn’t,” she said. “I’m still owed $1,500.”
According to Ms. MacDonald, who now lives in Los Angeles, the problem lies with Robb Hartlen, who runs a Fredericton company called Comedy HQ. He won the contract to run the show and booked the acts for the war-torn region.
“You risk your life, you perform for the troops, you make a commitment, you make a contract, and this guy didn’t follow through,” Ms. MacDonald said.
The military paid Mr. Hartlen for his services, said Jim Peverley, director of deployment support with the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency.
Officials fear other performers won’t want to travel to Afghanistan if they hear people aren’t getting paid for the gigs.
Mr. Hartlen admitted that he has not paid all of the people who performed on what the military dubbed the Smiles from Home tour. But he promised that they would all be paid by Friday.
Canada has roughly 2,500 troops in Afghanistan’s volatile Kandahar province, working under the NATO umbrella.New Brunswick comedian Marshall (Lucien) Button was part of the show run by Comedy HQ. So were Suzie McNeil, Deanna Johnston and Ty Taylor of the CBS reality series Rockstar: INXS, and the Fables, led by former Irish Descendant D’Arcy Broderick and former Wonderful Grand Band member Glenn Simmons.
Mr. Hartlen had expected to pay the entertainers a total of $99,750. But the promoter said that number turned out to be $107,750, leaving him to come up with an extra $7,500.
“I have other shows,” Mr. Hartlen said. “It will come out of the Comedy HQ account. It was a mistake that should have been noticed right at the very beginning. This was my first military show. So I think I was a little gung-ho and maybe didn’t cross a lot of the t’s and dot the i’s. ”
Mr. Hartlen said he intends to bid again on a military entertainment show slated to tour Afghanistan later this year.
Source: The Chronicle Herald
