Becky Braunstein [Interview]

Hello Folks! And welcome back to a Friday edition of Trainwreck’d Society! As we foreshadowed earlier this week, TWS is now based in Alaska! Anchorage for now, but soon be moving out into the burbs of Eagle River. It’s been a long ass week, but we are getting settled in at the new HQ. And speaking of Eagle River….

We have Becky Braunstein with us today! Becky is an absolutely hilarious human being who just so happens to hail from The Eag (I’m calling it that now) and currently resides closer to my own personal hometown in Portland, Oregon. She is absolutely hilarious, and one of the best voices in comedy today. Much like many of our other past guests, I happened to catch Becky on numerous podcasts and decided to give her a listen. And, as it should be obvious because we only have very funny people on this site (comedian wise that is, although there are exceptions), I LOVED her act. She’s poignant, truthful, and most importantly of all, straight up hilarious.

Becky was kind enough to tell us a bit about growing up in The Eag (It’s going to stick, watch it happen), her entrance into the world of comedy, and so much more. Be sure to follow her on the socials, and check out beckybraunstein.com to see what she has coming up. Enjoy!

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What inspired you to get into the world of comedy? Was it something you aspired to do since your youth, or did you happen to find yourself in this world one day?

What a question. I want to say, “The usual – I didn’t have any friends as a kid,” but that’s not an answer unless you’re intimately familiar with the most common recipe for a comedian.  I’m funny because of that experience, I guess, and I’m able to express it because of my mom. She’s one of those people who was just always funny. She had a funny way of putting things, and I think her voice comes out of my mouth when I do standup. As far as getting into comedy, the desire to perform was always there, and I’ve been an actor much longer than I’ve done standup comedy. When I was a kid, my goal was to get the hell out of the small town in South Dakota that I lived in, and I accomplished that pretty early on by moving to Eagle River, Alaska at the age of 10, so I suppose it first became a viable career direction after I tried out for a community theater play on a whim, made them laugh a lot at the audition, and got cast in one of the main roles. I was always under the impression you had to be serious and glamorous and skinny and dramatic to be an actress, and was just as surprised as anybody when I found out, like, wow – people find me amusing just the way I am. That feeling you get when you perform and people really like it and they react? That’s really, REALLY addictive. I lived in Alaska, so I just did theater and improv comedy, because that was all we had. There wasn’t a standup scene when I lived there, so it didn’t even occur to me that standup was something I could do. Then I moved to Portland, Oregon because I got diagnosed with metastatic thyroid cancer and needed better medical care. I wanted to move outside to pursue my career and opportunity and all that too, but the cancer thing really pulled the trigger. I hadn’t performed in several years, and then I got hit in the face with how short life is, and decided to get back onstage. I think I got into standup just because I wanted to perform but I didn’t want to have to coordinate with other people – HA! I’m a lone wolf. I started doing standup in Portland, and I’m glad I did, because it’s an excellent place to get your foundation. Audiences here make you think, and they know when you’re not giving your best.

What was your first paid gig in the world of comedy? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still impact your work to date?

Hoooo boy, you know my true first actual paid gig in standup technically was a small live show in Portland that was co-headlined by Kristine Levine, who was sort of a Portland comedy legend before she moved out of state, and Jessa Reed, who I think also used to live here – funnily enough, she and I both ended up doing half hour specials in the same TV series (Unprotected Sets). Kristine asked me to host the show, and I was like all business, like preparing and practicing and sweating buckets, and thinking about what to say, and I just had no idea what it was going to be like. I was so uptight and I learned immediately that to be a good host, you had to at least seem like you were just going with the flow. I still remember sitting at the table with Kristine and Jessa, and Kristine was describing me to Jessa, and she said, “You know when you watch somebody when they’re first starting out and you just know they’ve got it.” That was a huge boost of confidence for me, and it took me a few years to be able to relate, but I do know what she meant by that now, I see it in newer comedians and it makes me think of her. And then, before the pandemic, I opened for Tom Segura at two sold-out tour shows in a 3,000+ seat theater, which must be what it felt like to stand in the middle of the Roman colosseum, and the first night I thought back to that show before I went out on stage. 

So, as many of our readers know, Trainwreck’d Society will soon be relocated its “headquarters” to your former home town of Eagle River, Alaska. I was wondering if you could give us just a brief synopsis of your time growing up in this area? Did you draw any sort of inspiration to join the world of comedy from living in this region?

Wow, what can you say about Eagle River, really? It’s still a very small town, and it used to just kind of be a Blockbuster, a Carrs (what the rest of the world would call Safeway), a 7-11, and a whole bunch of mountains. I lived in the mountains part. Then we got a WalMart, where I had my first ever job, as a people greeter. Yes my whole job was to say hi to people and give out carts, and get cussed out when the alarm went off and I was supposed to ask to see their receipt. They offered me 25 cents an hour more to be a cashier, and I refused because I didn’t want responsibility. My store manager once told me that Sam Walton was “smiling down on me.” Living on a mountain is very conducive to comedy, because you grow up with a perspective that is fundamentally unique, and you have to learn to amuse yourself. We got one trick or treater in the 17 years we lived there. He got the whole bag of candy. I think he’s the CEO of a Fortune 500 company now. My brother and I used to ride our bikes down the mountain into town to hang out with our little friends as teenagers, and it’s amazing we didn’t die. I used to burn holes through the bottom of my shoes trying to slow myself down when my brakes melted down. Risking my life for Blockbuster and 7-11. I never had a Blockbuster card, which I’m proud of. I saw what happened to other people who had one. They always ended up having to rent the movies for the group and then got stuck with the late fees. No effing way. Weird shit happens to you in Alaska, and you get desensitized to it. I had a bear come to my front door one day, and I was telling somebody about that, just pretty matter of factly, and they were like, holy shit you need to do this on stage. Apparently bears don’t ring doorbells in the lower 48.

And you eventually made your way closer to my own beloved homeland, down to the great city of roses, Portland, Oregon. We have featured many folks who were from, or started out, comedy in the PDX area (Sean Jordan, Amy Miller, Matt Braunger, etc.) but have since moved on, and in some cases, back to Rip City. So, I am always inclined to ask what you love about the comedy scene around there? What sets it apart from the other regions you have worked in?

First of all, I still have no idea why it’s called the Rose City, second of all, all three of the people you mentioned are super cool people who are important to me. Sean grew up in the next town over from me in South Dakota and was probably the first person from that state who was ever nice to me, Amy there’s not even enough space to tell you how much of an impact she’s had on my career, and Matt stopped by to do a set on my show when we were just getting started which was a huge deal – and he’s just a great champion of Portland comedy in general. Portland is a great city for comedy for so many reasons, but my favorite is that audiences here appreciate scrappy, homemade, did-our-best-with-what-we-have type shit, like my show. That kind of environment is so good for creativity because they want you to take chances and do something different, and a lot of the time even if it doesn’t work, as long as you commit it’s still entertaining. Another great thing about Portland comedy and for sure what sets it apart from other scenes is that while of course there’s always some degree of fighting and drama as in any dysfunctional family, we’re unusually supportive of one another. We all know each other’s acts and we’re always the ones laughing the hardest in the back of the room when somebody does something new for the first time. Obviously not every single comedian in Portland is like this, but we do have that reputation. In the TIme Before, I used to do a lot of out of state festivals, and everywhere I went, people would comment on how the Portland comedians are all just in love with each other. They couldn’t believe how much we were in each other’s lives. In New York City, I was telling another comedian backstage at a show that in Portland, we all sit in the house and watch the other comedians at the main club’s weekly open mic, and he laughed for like five minutes when he realized I was serious.

Can you tell us a bit about your show Becky with the Good Jokes? How did this come to be? And can we expect a triumphant return when (if) the world ever gets back to “normal”?

How did Becky with the Good Jokes come to be? WELL. Let me tell you. I was performing at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival (RIP <3) and one of the organizers texted me and said, hey, you get to host your own show. We need a clever name really quick so we can put it in the program, any ideas? And in the space of about ten seconds, I said, how about Becky with the Good Jokes? (In case someone ends up reading this in the year 3021, it was a reference to a very famous line in a song by Beyonce, who was a very famous singer in the 21st century. She might still be, you never know. Beyonce might live forever.) They loved it, printed it, and I thought, hey this is my show, why don’t I turn this into an experience? It was kind of a depressing time in the world, and I wanted it to have some element of happiness, so I made these gift bags for audience members who were willing to get up and share some good news from their life. I was just so excited and we had such a great lineup, and I think my natural excitement just blazed through, and people seemed to really like it. Guy Branum said to me on his way out, “What a delightful little show.” And I thought, holy shit if Guy liked it, we have to do this again. So I started doing it monthly at a really weird venue in Portland called the Funhouse, which is like a creepy clown themed bar and performing space. It felt like a huge gamble because it’s an expensive show to produce – we bought a banner, and confetti – there’s a confetti finale – and we pay all the performers, including a musical guest, then there’s little gift bags for each performer, prize bags for audience good news sharers with my face on them (enjoy some on my instagram) and I do carefully curated preshow playlists, my tech producer runs sound and lights, AND there’s a late night show style video bit at the start of each show. Jesus that is a lot of work, now that I think about it. It’s just myself and my producer, I make all the bags and stuff myself, and then I have a stage manager and a door person, and that’s our scrappy little pirate crew. We sold out the premiere, and that was a relief, and we always used to get a pretty good crowd. I like hosting. I like being able to do whatever, and go with the flow, and interact with the audience. Little running bits that make the show unique. Okay fine, I guess I miss it somewhat. It’s so much work though, you wouldn’t believe it. Will it return post-plague? We’ll see. A million dollar budget and a 50-person crew would be very helpful. Netflix? Hulu? Paramount? Who’s got me here? Tell me that wouldn’t be the cheapest show you ever produced.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

WOW, do you ask everybody this? Oh man, this is heavy. What does the future hold? Here’s a different answer than if you’d asked me in January 2020. I’ll try to be a serious person and answer a comedy/acting/entertainment industry relevant answer and not say a smartass thing like “haha probably just a shit ton of cold pizza and insomnia.” I’m really happy to be doing more acting, and I hope that’s what I’m going to continue to do. I wish I could tell you to tune in to my new tv series or whatever, (cross your fingers; write your senator) BUT this year I am on a couple of shows for a scene or two where you’ll be like, “Oh, I know her. Fun.” Which is kind of incredible in and of itself for a covid year, and I’m really grateful to have been able to work, thanks to the Portland film crews taking covid safety protocols so seriously. Which – attention industry people – is ANOTHER EXCELLENT REASON TO FILM YOUR TV SERIES OR MOVIE IN PORTLAND, not to mention the tax credits and incentives. What can you tune in and watch right now for free? I have a youtube channel on which I’ve been posting short comedy history story videos with funny animations and stuff, which take SO much time and work (I’m noticing a pattern here) but are really fun and I’m very proud of them. I think it’s fair to put them in the ‘zero dollar budget but still entertaining enough that this should have a million more views than it does’ category. If you knew how much work they are, you’d be even less modest than that. It’s all happening, at youtube.com/BeckyBraunstein. 

If you were greenlit & received an unlimited budget to create the biopic (series, film, etc.) of any figure from the days of comedy past, who would you choose? 

Oh, NOW I get my unlimited budget. I actually do have an idea like this that I’ve been kicking around for a while now, and it’s someone I would love to play in the film, but that’s all I want to say, because I might just get my shit together and actually do it. So who’s my second place if that one falls through? This is the hardest question to really answer though, because I’m pathologically indecisive when it comes to my projects. It took me four years before I started my own live comedy show, which is unusual. I think most comedians attempt that in year 1 or 2. I got some really good advice from Seth Rogen a couple days ago, who, when I asked him if it’s worth putting energy into whatever idea you have at the time even if you’re not all about it, or if you should wait until you have the perfect idea, told me, “I firmly believe you have to LOVE your idea or you’ll burn out on it.” I didn’t want to hear it, but I think he’s right. I kind of wanted someone to just tell me, you have to just hit the gas on whatever ideas you have or you’ll wait forever hemming and hawing over which one is the perfect one, and you’ll never find it. But deep down I know that if I’m not obsessed, it won’t survive the week. So back to the biopic, okay, idea 1 gets rejected, and they’re like, Becky what else you got? Hm. I kind of like the idea of a gritty realist behind the curtains film about Harold Lloyd, who was a very famous comedic silent film star that kind of changed the state of comedy in film because he had a much more subtle, realistic acting style than the other actors at that time. He made a bunch of comedy films and did his own stunts, including hanging from a clock tower – you just have to see it. He got part of his hand blown off in a PR stunt involving dynamite (yikes) and kept right on going with a prosthetic hand, and you would never know it unless you look really close. He definitely wasn’t a perfect dude, but he was sure as hell interesting. Let’s read Jack Huston, Paul Rust, and David Krumholtz for Harold. We’ll film it in grayscale. We’ll film it silent! But it will be all the real life stuff that was going on. I would totally watch that.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

I was just working on a really stupid, ridiculous animation for my next comedy history video, and it made me laugh hysterically, so I hope that means people will enjoy it. I mean if you don’t find your own stuff funny, how could anyone else?

Anna Roisman [Interview]

Any way, the real reason we are here is showcase some words from the insanely hilarious and immensely hilarious comedian of the day, it’s Anna Roisman, Everyone! Anna is a beloved comedian and writer in the world of comedy. Her work has appeared on everything from MTV, College Humor, and People Magazine. I will be the first to admit that I first became aware of Anna’s brilliance on a platform that, which is technically supposed to be used, actually sort of made me sad. Yes Folks, it was that damn Twitter.com again. But, when so many of the people from the world of comedy follow somebody, and their presence is just so damn hilarious, it’s too easy to become a fan of somebody so damn talented.

So Folks, I am going to take my jet-lagged ass back on to bed, but I felt it absolutely necessary to get these fine words from one of the best voices in comedy today. We are so excited to have Anna Roisman grace our digital pages today. She’s a multi-faceted human being, but a one of a kind hilarious. You’re going to love what she has to say. So enjoy some words from the great Anna Roisman!

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Steven Rogers [Interview]

Jake Flores [Interview]

Photo by Trevor Graham Rathbone

Hello Folks! And a happy Friday to you all. As regular readers may have noticed, we have been fortunate as of late to have some absolutely hilarious people on the site who work in the world of comedy. And today is absolutely no exception. It’s Jake Flores, Everyone!

Jake is an amazing comic and podcaster. As he discusses some what below, for die-hard comedy fans, the name Jake Flores is synonymous with DIY comedy. He has built a huge following through his act and with the popularity of Pod Damn America. And more importantly, he did it HIS way. Now, of course sacrifices have to be made, he is just human after all. But what I have always found impressive about Jake, beyond just being absolutely hilarious, is an obvious glimpse of diligence on his part to always do the right thing. He says what he thinks, but not in a ridiculous Trumpian kind of way, you know?

Jake is also a brilliant writer, having written for The Observer and other outlets. And his 2014 album Humours is such an amazing hour of hilarity that I would personally put it up there with some of my favorite albums of the last ten years by the likes of Amy Miller (Solid Gold), Sean Jordan (The Buck Starts Here), or Sarah Tollemache (Voluptuous Boy). He also has yet ANOTHER podcast, which he will tell you about below. He is an absolutely hilarious and was generous enough to share some words with us here today. And for that, we are so grateful. So, please enjoy some amazing words from Jake Flores!

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What inspired you to get into the world of comedy? Was it something you aspired to do since your youth, or did you happen to find yourself in this world one day?

When I was a kid I was pretty antisocial. Wasn’t great at making friends, school stressed me out, but I watched a lot of TV. I think a combination of old sitcoms like Taxi, really tightly written shows like The Simpsons and News Radio, and then later on just straight stand up on Comedy Central planted a lot of the seeds in me. When I was a little older I wanted to play punk music. I liked the subversive nature of it and the fact that you could do it yourself without much money. I was terrible at music though, still am, but was told in school I was a good writer. Eventually I found out about open mics and all these elements sort of came together. When i first started out I wanted to do with comedy what punk did with music: take it out of the big bourgie venues, make it edgier in content. I think it worked. Much like punk music, my early comedy also was unlistenable.

What was your first paid gig in the world of comedy? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still impacts your work to date?

I think the first time I ever got paid was at a bar called Beerland in Austin TX. It was a music venue and the show was run by some scenester types who were expressly intent on taking comedy out of the clubs. Nowadays like literally every bar has a weekly stand up show, but back in 2007 this was an entirely new concept. The DIY thing really stuck with me. Everyone at the comedy club open mics was just sort of waiting for some manager to come and tell them they were allowed to work the club. I think we were all assuming they had some kind of monopoly on the elements that made stand up work, but to see it happen in a dive bar I realized that you really just need a mic and maybe some drinks. I also remember realizing that the audience is different people depending on where you do it, and I liked the scene crowd more than the strip mall types.

I always like to ask comedians who (used?) to travel across the globe making people laugh this one question: What are some of the more obscure cities and/or venues that you have enjoying performing in? What are some places that most people may not realize are wonderful places for live comedy?

I fucking LOVE touring for exactly this reason. Last time I went to Memphis they had no proper comedy clubs, but a BANGER bar scene. It kind of seemed like everyone was just in it for the love of the game since you couldn’t really headline a Funny Bone or whatever around town. I also had a great time in a small college type town in northern California called Arcata a couple years ago. I also keep having these really fun shows at this place called Leftwoods in Amarillo TX because there are like 6 people there who like me and the bar will let you go long on a monday and sleep in the built in condo. The room where you crash is literally connected to the bar so you can just go buck wild and then go hit the bricks. Great time.

Besides the fact that it is practically required for every comedian to have a podcast, I am always curious to know the origin behind fine shows such as yours, the wonderful & renowned Pod Damn America podcast. So what made you want to put this show out into the digital ether?

It’s funny, in politics people always accuse each other of being really cynical and grifting for cash and fame, but PDA is really a labor of love. I’m not trying to use it to become a cable news pundit or something. I started it because I’d always had an interest in history and socialist politics, like since I was a kid. I went to a magnet high school where a teacher gave out Howard Zinn books to kids when they graduated. I had a lot of run-ins with the cops, and then later in college I studied a little sociology. But I put all this stuff on the back burner when I got into comedy.

In the process of pursuing a career, and really thinking about what that means, while simultaneously working really gritty day jobs, I started to think about class politics again. Being able to seriously pursue something as dumb as stand up comedy is a lot easier if you’re rich, so there’s a class element to it that directly conflicts with all the meritocratic stuff we’re told about it. The funniest person doesn’t always make it in this business, it’s usually the person that has the most free time to put in, which costs money. So I was thinking about this stuff a lot, and then Trump got elected and I decided I wanted to catch up on my education because it felt too absurd to be a comedian and not be putting any work into understanding how that happened.

But reading theory and history and shit takes a lot of time that would have tanked my ability to do comedy on top of working all the time, so I turned it into a comedy project. Really I just wanted to make a comedy show out of my study group, and monetize it if I could. I kind of wanted to make a materialist version of what Duncan Trussel does with his podcast, where he talks about what woo woo metaphysical stuff he’s reading every week. Anyways all of this ended up working because I got lucky with this thing where I pissed off Homeland Security and they came to my house and was able to funnel the buzz from the viral story about it into the show.

And basically the same question for your latest pod, Why You Mad. You’ve actually had some friends & past guests here at TWS on the show, including Steve Hernandez & Myq Kaplan. So what made you want to bring this intriguing show out into the digital world?

WYM also happened pretty organically. Luisa [Díez] is a pal of mine and I’d had her on PDA a couple times to talk about the comedy/politics discourse and I think we just kind of realized we had good chemistry. Steve Hernandez actually suggested we make a side project, and I decided to pitch it to Luisa because the more I thought about it the more I realized we have really similar views on the certain things that we center around on the show. We’re both applying our understanding of art and art history and theory and all that stuff to the stand up game in ways that I don’t think other people in our circles are really willing to do. I admire her integrity a lot and I really enjoy coming to her with ideas that my own scene has made me feel crazy for thinking and then hearing her go “No man, of course it’s like that!” Honestly this show keeps me sane. Also, being latino is really complicated in this day and age and it means a lot to me to be able to talk about that with someone who’s involved in my world. I moved to New York from Texas and I really lost a lot of those connections, so talking about that stuff on our show has been a boon to my mental health. WYM is really cathartic for me. I guess I put a lot of work into PDA and try to really make a shiny technically valuable product with it, but WYM is where I let my hair down and really express myself. I’m glad I have them both.

If you were greenlit & received an unlimited budget to create the biopic (series, film, etc.) of any figure from the days of comedy past, who would you choose?

Honestly? Boring answer, but Lenny Bruce. I’m a big fan, and like him, I also had a run in with the state over comedy, and am a leftist. What’s crazy about him is all these conservative types try to claim him these days, and I just don’t think they understand what he was talking about at all. Free speech is really complicated and it gets twisted by people a lot, but back in the early history of this country it was a left wing cause, and Lenny was a damn beatnik. I would love it if someone told his story in a way that engaged with how his beliefs clash with what the free speech movement is all about today. 

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

I might try to write a book this year. Or maybe a screenplay. But honestly I’m sitting pretty until comedy comes back. I plan on spending the rest of the pandemic reading theory and trying to use my comedy chops to make it funny or easy to listen to or whatever. That’s it. Listen to PDA and WYM and if you’re an internet freak sign up for our patreons and Twitches and Discords and stuff. I’ll get back to touring when it’s safe.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

I live in this shithole loft and I’ve been fighting the city and our landlord to get our heat turned on and to fix the leaks in our roof and that sort of thing. This has been going on for years while I was out on the road. Anyways recently I got the place looking kind of nice, got them to put a stove in for us. The main thing is I had this tarp hanging from the ceiling catching roof water, and I was finally able to take it down the other night after they fixed the roof. So I went outside to smoke a cigarette and I was looking at the empty Brooklyn streets, now that all the rich artist types have fled back to their suburbs and whatnot, and I was really taking in the moonlight, and then that song “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlyle came on my spotify mix. That shit made me laugh.

Myq Kaplan [Interview]

Photo by Levy Moroshan

Hello Folks! Today we have yet another absolutely wonderful interview to share with you all! It’s Myq Kaplan, Everyone! Having Myq on the site is not only a real treat, it is actually reminiscent of something that occurred no more than two weeks ago. As regular reader(s) of the site might remember, we had a wonderful comedian on the site name Mike Carrozza. He was a cat that I just seemed to hear extensively during the promotion of his album via podcasts that was released last year, as it was basically the only way to let any damn body know about it. Well, today we have that again with the brilliant Myq Kaplan.

Yes, I started to hear Myq on just about every podcast that I keep in my quickly rotation. And his album that was released in May, A.K.A., would have landed at the top of the list had I decided to do a list of my favorite comedy albums of 2020. He is an absolutely hilarious human being, and much like the aforementioned other Mike, he seems to be one of the nicest guys in comedy. It’s still a rare condition in the world of stand up comedy, but Myq has proven that it can be a solid quality to have, and also to still be so damn funny.

We are overjoyed that Myq was willing to take some time out of his schedule to answer a few questions for us here today. So without further babbling, please enjoy some wonderful words from the great Myq Kaplan!

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What inspired you to get into the world of comedy? Was it something you aspired to do since your youth, or did you happen to find yourself in this world one day?

I was an aspiring singer-songwriter as a teenager. I was very good at aspiring. An inspiring aspirer. Some of my songs were serious and some were funny. (It’s possible that some of the serious ones might be now funnier to me than the funny ones.) I started performing at music venues in the Boston area where I was going to college, wherever I could, and just started contacting all kinds of clubs, bars, and subway stations to see if I could play there.

I found the Comedy Studio and asked the owner, Rick Jenkins, if I could perform at his comedy club. He gave me five minutes, which meant I could play approximately one and a half songs. 

I did two real short ones, and talked a little bit in between. People laughed. I loved it. So I went home and started thinking of things to say that might make people laugh in the future, you know, for in between songs. Later I would come to call that “writing jokes,” and the time between songs would become known as “my standup comedy.” 

Sometimes when people ask me “when did you know you wanted to do comedy,” I tell them “it was right after I started doing comedy.” So, the answer to your question, I suppose, is that doing comedy inspired me to do comedy. But what inspired me to do the first comedy? Music, remember? It’s turtles all the way down, until you get to music.

What was your first paid gig in the world of comedy? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still impacts your work to date?

Good question! I honestly don’t remember a lot about it. I will tell you about my SECOND paid gig, which was a short set at a fundraiser maybe a year or two into really pursuing comedy. I love performing at fundraisers because even if it goes poorly, people can’t demand their money back. “This comedian was so bad, I actually don’t want to help cure this disease anymore!”

This show was booked by Rick Jenkins, the owner of the Comedy Studio. After his shows, Rick would always thank me for performing, even at times when I felt like he was much more doing ME a favor by allowing me to perform. So, I would say that a theme that has run through my comedy career since the beginning is “gratitude to Rick Jenkins.”

I always like to ask comedians who (used?) to travel across the globe making people laugh this one question: What are some of the more obscure cities and/or venues that you have enjoyed performing in? What are some places that most people may not realize are wonderful places for live comedy?

It’s hard to answer exactly, because I don’t know what most people realize or don’t. Most people know about NYC, I bet. Maybe they know about other cities also. How about Minneapolis? I don’t know if that’s obscure either, but I’ve recorded two of my albums at Acme in Minneapolis, and I love that comedy club and the whole area very much. Here’s at least an obscure fact about it: I’ve heard that the Twin Cities area has more theaters per capita than NYC. You hear that, New Yorkers? Get some more theaters if you want to be number one! OR… relocate from New York to Minneapolis in enough volume, to up the population there so that the ratio shifts in your favor. That would be a weird thing to do, but if it’s important for you to win this strange competition of the arts, go for it!

One of my favorite places I’ve performed a few times is Motorco, a rock venue in Durham, NC. A comedian (and now friend) named Deb Aronin booked me to perform there for the first time I think around 2015, and I’ve been back a few times since. Deb does such a good job curating the experience for the audience, visiting comics, and the local comedy scene. Every time I’ve been there, the place has been packed with people who really want to be there for the specific show that’s happening, which is nice. I’m a big fan of people wanting to be experiencing what they’re experiencing.

Also around that time, I did a couple small tours through the Southeast with my best bud Zach Sherwin. We loved performing at little theaters and bars and rock venues in Athens, Asheville, Nashville, Louisville, among others. (I feel like I’m doing a radio ad for my past self: “but wait, there’s more!”)

Ooh, how about Greenville, SC? That’s probably a city that not everyone knows has a lot of fun comedy happening. Or at least, it certainly did the times that I was there. Shoutout to Nick Shaheen, another nice comedian friend who brought me to Greenville and many other places for the first time. Some so obscure even I’ve forgotten them, maybe.

And beyond being a necessity these days for comedians to have a podcast, I am always curious to know about the origins of truly original shows such as yours, Broccoli & Ice Cream. You’ve even had some friends & past guests of TWS like Sarah Tollemache, Tom Thakkar, Kevin Avery, Shane Mauss, & more on the show! So, what made you want to bring this delightful show out into the world? And what made you decide on the format?

Thanks for asking this question so kindly. You are nice.

The short answer is that I love talking with people. Comedians. Artists. Friends. I like learning about how people are creative, and what brings them joy. So I started asking them.

The long answer is the same, but with this sentence added for no reason.

Photo by Mindy Tucker / Artwork by Ramin Nazer

If you were greenlit & received an unlimited budget to create the biopic (series, film, etc.) of any figure from the days of comedy past, who would you choose?

I’d love to see the life story of Dick Gregory widely shared. He was vegan for 50 years, which I understand for him began as part of his non-violent practice as a civil rights activist in the ’60’s.

That’s one thing that I knew, and now looking at his Wikipedia, I see there’s so much more that I didn’t know. He once fasted for six weeks to protest the US government’s violation of Native American treaties. He helped investigate the murder of MLK. He marched as a feminist with Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. He was BANNED FROM AUSTRALIA, because they thought he would “stir up demonstrations against the Vietnam war.”

This is an incredible life. And I only knew about the vegan part of it, which was just the tip of the iceberg lettuce. Oh, also he was a comedian. And he cared so much. About so many causes. So many people. So many animals. All of the, it seems. Here’s a final quote from him for now: “Because I’m a civil rights activist, I am also an animal rights activist. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and vicious taking of life. We shouldn’t be a part of it.” Someone make this movie please. Or if someone already did and I don’t know about it, great! And can you let me know?

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

Right now, the future seems theoretical in many ways. I hardly know what the PRESENT holds for me. To make a prediction about the future seems fantastical, like I’m telling people to come check out my new comedy tour through Narnia.

What will happen? Hopefully, a vaccination, and then a return to touring. I was planning to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2020, and I’ll hopefully get back there the next time it is safe, healthy, possible, and happening.

In the meantime, I’m doing a lot of online shows and releasing several podcasts a week, both Broccoli and Ice Cream and a new one I started during the pandemic called The Faucet. You can follow me on social media (@myqkaplan everywhere) and find out what’s happening as I find out what’s happening. And you can listen to everything that I’ve done already. There’s a lot of it. My most recent standup album (of about 5) is called A.K.A. and it’s the best one I’ve made. I’m proud of it and happy with it and would love for anyone who wants to listen. I hope you enjoy it.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

This question. Thanks for asking it. And all of them.

Lisa Curry [Interview]

Hello Folks! We are kicking off the week and month with a true banger of an interview, with an absolutely hilarious and multifaceted human being. It’s Lisa Curry, Everyone! Over the last few years, Lisa has become a staple in the world of comedy. Not only was she a globe-trotting stand up comedian in the before times, but Lisa wrote and worked on hit shows like The Office, The Jim Jeffries Show, and TruTV’s hilarious comedy competition show Comedy Knockout, which featured appearances from several hilarious people who have also graced our digital pages. Lisa has had a career with a list of achievements that only begin to reflect just how absolutely god damn funny she is.

If I am being completely honest (I mean, what’s the point of lying?), my first realization of Lisa’s brilliance came from a place that is sometimes the most uninspiring digital place on earth. Of course, I mean Twitter. It was a couple of years ago when I began to notice that everybody on that wretched site that I actually admired was sharing Curry’s witty and hilarious tweets, and that I should jump on board. And it’s been a hell of a ride since. In addition to that, she also became a regular attendee of You Up with Nikki Glaser, alongside our dear friend and past guest Tom Thakkar. So, for all of you regular readers out there, you can probably guess that she runs with the same wonderful folks we have bene known to showcase in the past. So you know she’s damned hilarious!

As Lisa will mention below, Lisa has a new podcast! It’s called Long Story Long with Lisa Curry. It is currently premiering on Sirius XM’s She’s So Funny Channel 771 each Thursday until February 11th at 12 p.m. PST, 8 p.m. EST. After that, look for her brilliance on iTunes! Read on for more deets.

So Folks, please enjoy some wonderful words from the hilarious human being, the great Lisa Curry!

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What inspired you to get into the world of comedy? Was it something you aspired to do since your youth, or did you happen to find yourself in this world one day?

I kind of slowly stumbled into comedy. I always loved performing – I was in dance as a kid and I’d often put on little recitals with my friends at home, but I was in my twenties before I really realized that comedy is a viable line of work. My family is working class and so I grew up thinking jobs in the arts were a mere fantasy. I watched a ton of comedy with my family, mostly sitcoms, but because it was the only genre of television we watched, I didn’t realize it was comedy. As in, I thought everything was funny. It didn’t occur to me that there were shows without jokes in them. I don’t think it really sank into my brain that anyone on TV was making money, or at least I didn’t consider it. I thought Johnny Carson and Jerry Seinfeld had somehow been ordained as comedians.

What was your first paid gig in the world of comedy? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still impacts your work to date?

I couldn’t even guess what my first paid gig was, but I’m sure it didn’t pay much. I started standup in Los Angeles, which is about as good a place to start as Antarctica. Nothing pays and everyone’s waiting for a celebrity to drop in and do some time. I’m glad that’s the case, because it’s part of what drove me to go on the road. The gigs I’ve done outside of LA have been incredibly impactful to my life and career.

I always like to ask comedians who (used?) to travel across the globe making people laugh this one question: What are some of the more obscure cities and/or venues that you have enjoyed performing in? What are some places that most people may not realize are wonderful places for live comedy?

I had one of the best shows of my life in a theater in Copenhagen. I couldn’t believe how good the crowd was. Of course, that’s not really an obscure city, but I certainly wasn’t anticipating the very warm welcome I got. Another unlikely place I love is Wales. I was the first American to perform in the Mach Comedy Festival, and so I’m very partial to Wales. The people there are very warm and welcoming and love to laugh.

Can you tell us a bit about your new show Long Story Long with Lisa Curry, currently on Serius XM? While it seems just about mandatory for comedians to have a podcast these days, I am still always curious to know what makes them want to do their own specific show? So what made you want to do this project?

I had been sitting on the podcast idea for a while, but wasn’t quite bored enough to follow thru with it. Separately, I had become a regular guest on Nikki Glaser’s show on Sirius. The producers liked my appearances on the show and offered me the opportunity to launch my own podcast on the network. I love working with Sirius. It’s great to be able to reach their audience, especially now with standup comedy on pause.

If you were greenlit & received an unlimited budget to create the biopic (series, film, etc.) of any figure from the days of comedy past, who would you choose?

Carol Burnett. She’s incredible! Has been for decades. To my knowledge, no one has made a flashy documentary about her. Those are all reserved for men and serial killers.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?

Who knows! I’m dying to get back to standup, but I’m unwilling to put people’s lives at risk to tell jokes. I have a couple projects I’ve been shopping around. Hopefully, one will take off soon. In the meantime, you can subscribe to Long Story Long on iTunes, so you’ll get new episodes as they drop there beginning February 18th.

Your readers can find me at my website: lisacurry.net / on Twitter: @lisa_curry / on Instagram: @olympianlisacurry . 

What was the last thing that made you smile?

My dog. Every morning I wake up, I’m so grateful to get to spend another day with her.