Sarah Tollemache [Interview]

Hello Folks! And I’ll be damned if we don’t have another amazing comedian to share with you all during this week of comedy. Today we have some words with someone who is actually one of my favorite comedians working today. It’s the hilarious Sarah Tollemache! Sarah has been one of those comedians who has continue to pop up on the old proverbial radar through a multitude of podcasts, and just the overall knowledge of who the finest NYC based comedians are out there working today. With a brilliant somewhat self-deprecating style & a hilarious take on the world around us, I simply can not convey just how much I enjoy Sarah’s comedy.

And as you all know by now, I am a huge fan of podcasts. And Sarah has an absolutely brilliant podcast for comedy fans with friend and co-host Adrienne Iapalucci called The Vadge Podcast, that I cannot recommend enough.

2018 saw Sarah make her network television debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, as well as stellar year overall. And we are so excited to see what Tollemache has in store for 2019. And we are so excited that Sarah was kind enough to kick off her upcoming year of excellence by gracing our digital pages here today! So Folks, let me stop with the babbling and share these wonderful words from the brilliant Sarah Tollemache!

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When did you first realize you were a hilarious human being, and you wanted to make people laugh for a living? 

Probably in elementary school. I grew up watching a ton of HBO comedy specials. I would repeat acts like Eddie Murphy or Robert Klein to my friends at the lunch table and enjoyed making them laugh so I was always constantly trying to think of something to say. I love goofing off and or that feeling of hanging out in the back of the class. It all paid off because in middle school I got voted most humorous. I’m still really proud of that credit. 

We have managed to speak with many fine figures from the world of the Upright Citizens Brigade over the years because we are fascinated with what it has become over the last couple of decades. So, how did you get your start in UCB? And what have you enjoyed the most about working with the theatre?

I was in Houston at the time. That’s where I got my start in stand up comedy. Then my friend Paul told me about UCB. He had taken several weeks intensive classes and then would come back and try to teach his comedy friends improv and then we formed our own group and would put on shows around Houston. Then after a year of that I decided to make the move to New York to pursue stand up. No one was getting discovered in Houston. Once in NY I signed up for all the improv classes. I liked improv but realized I was never going to make it in improv. I’m not an outgoing person. I still really enjoy it and think it’s only the best when you are doing it with friends. It was hard getting a group of relatively unknown strangers to meet up several times a week to work on improv. After deciding I probably wasn’t going to make it in improv I decided to get into sketch. It has always been a dream of mine to write for SNL and still is. I like sketch and I tend to think in sketch rather than stand up form. I love sketch because I love meeting with funny people and collectively working on putting on a show. It is the best time and a thrill to watch your peers move on to become big successes.

Congratulations on your recent nuptials! You married to another damn fine comedian, in an almost unfair pairing of comedic powerhouses! The life of a comic seems a bit anxiety driven and insane to manage with just one person, but when you are both out there doing your thing across the country, that has to be hard. So how do you make it work? What is a sort of grounding force that helps you manage the hysteria?

We’re super supportive of each other and I go on the road with my husband quite a bit which is really fun. I’ve dated several comics and I would have to say it is easier to date a comic. They just get it. You can go out every night to work on your set and they get it. They also get the neurosis of it. 

You currently reside in what is still the hotbed of great comedy, the cheerful little town of New York City. But, you do tend to hit the road a bit, and I always love to ask comics this one question: What is a hidden gem of a city in the U.S. that is especially great for comedy? Besides the obvious NYC or L.A. or even Chicago, what is a smaller city that is ripe for comedy?

I think DC is the best. It would be my fallback city. I love the architecture of it. I love how all the buildings are not high rises. Also, their comedy scene is amazing there. Sean Joyce has really built up scene there. It also seems like a city where everyone loves to go out. Plus I feel like the gossip there has to be amazing. 

I also love the shows at Comedy on the State in Madison, Wisconsin is cool. The crowds there are the best and so is the staff and they have a great green room with video games and snacks. 

You had a brief role in our past guest, and old friend, Henry Phillips’s delightful film Punching Henry, amongst a plethora of brilliant comedians (such as another old friend, Stephanie Allyne). How did you become involved with this project? Have you worked with Henry in the past? 

I’ve known Henry for years. We dated for a while when I first started doing comedy and we have remained good friends over the years. He’s probably one of the funniest people I know. He just asked me to be a part of the bachelorette scene and I said, Yes! I will never turn down a role from Henry. He is so good at creating a funny story. I also did one of his You and Your Fucking Coffee web series for JASH! He was always getting in these predicaments where he would seriously put people out with his coffee demands which always made me laugh. I highly recommend binge watching them.

I have recently discovered The Vadge Podcast, and I am very intrigued by it. I’m just getting started here, but for me and the readers who may not be familiar with the podcast, what can we expect? What are we going to love about it?

It’s a podcast hosted by the very funny Adrienne Iapalucci. Adrienne has the best jokes and no one is doing what she is doing. We became friends and thought we should have a podcast together. We named it Vadge because we thought people would be drawn to it thinking that we talk about out vaginas a lot, but we don’t, just a little bit. Come to find out you need to offer more to get people to listen. We record it from her car wherever we can meet in the city scheduled around our spot times and we shoot the shit. We always go on these weird tangents and come up with bits from it. 

What does the future hold for you? Any projects or dates coming up that you would like to tell our readers about?

No projects for now, mainly just working on trying to get a half hour or 15-minute special on either Netflix or Comedy Central as well as another late night spot. 

What was the last thing that made you smile?

Any animal video. I’m really into these puppy bulldog video where they are learning to walk on a linoleum floor and it’s just so spazzy and adorable.

Check out Sarah’s appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from last year, and find her on Twitter & Instagram, @stollemache, for dates: