Journey to Now

Stand-up

My path is comedic entertainment. I first stepped onto it by performing stand-up in San Francisco. Stand-up provides the word-math of writing jokes, combined with energy of an audience, and that nails the creativity and connection that feel like home. I love finding humor in life’s uncomfortable truths and using that to provoke thought and laugher. I started stand-up later than my peers so my perspective was refreshing to the audience. I moved pretty quickly through the regular shows and onto the main stages (Punchline, Cobbs, and headlining the now closed original Purple Onion). In laughter, one can plant a seed, so I sprinkled the Bay Area with messages of female empowerment before I headed across the country. I know being a stand-up isn’t my forever role but is an foundational first step on my life in comedy. I moved to NYC to experience the other jobs that live under Comedy’s umbrella. Are improv or sketch the forever job? I had to move into the experience.

Improv

Impatient to begin training, I enrolled in improv classes at the People’s Improv Theater (PIT). I took all 5 levels and landed a House Team spot. After being on House Teams for four seasons, I stepped away at the start of the fifth for a rare paid improv experience - an immersive improvised play off-Broadway. Improv is a unique ensemble skill and was a completely different way to use my brain than stand-up. From stand-up’s scripted solo performance to improv’s spontaneous ensemble story-building, I felt the foundation of my comedy experience gaining a breadth that opened roads in multiple directions. Learning a skillset that depends heavily on listening, affirming choices, and remaining present in the moment has turned in to a life skill that applies in virtually all situations. The stage allowed me to use it to connect playfulness and natural humor, while life allowed me to use it to connect listening to trust. A stand-up audience defies you to make them laugh, while an improv audience leans into a hope for your success. I learned I can harness both to the benefit of entertainment and empowerment.

Solo Shows

I felt the pull to create a solo show (one-person show) for years before I did it. The idea was originally planted by former WME talent scout after he saw my stand-up at Cobb’s. Four years later and across the country, I debuted my first solo-show to a sold-out crowd at The PIT’s Solocom Festival. Solo shows linked the audience connection of stand-up with the freedom of story, allowing me to use punchlines as an avenue instead of a destination. As a funny person I will always have jokes, but they don’t drive the story in my solo shows - radical honesty does. Thus far, my solo shows (Sexodus and Grey Haired Waitress) are about the unspoken conversations of life that most of us wish we’d had or heard. These conversations reveal shortcomings while providing a playground for jokes and change. My first solo shows is being turned into a book, and I know I have many more solo shows to share. Is this my forever job? It’s one of them. The one thing I know: life is a journey not a destination. As I’ve moved forward, it has slowly dawned-on me that my forever job isn’t one job but many expressions. It’s a direction not a task. I’ve been moving in the direction of my dreams this entire time. Forward on this path of comedic entertainment!