You know that dream where you’re at school giving a presentation and you look down and realize you’re completely naked? That’s what comedy class feels like. Every week you get up in front of a group of strangers (who later become friends) and you share material that is often personal. You attempt to make the woes of your life funny, and you bomb about 80% of the time. It’s great.
So, why comedy? Well, last summer, some of us went to dinner after a friend’s comedy show. During dinner one of my friends said “Lia, why don’t you try stand up?” I said that sounded terrifying and that I’d probably be terrible at it. The thought of intentionally being funny before an audience gave me the shits. I said maybe I would take a stand up class someday to conquer this fear. Then, my comedian friend suggested this class he had taken. He said he would vouch for me and get me in touch with his teacher. A few days later, while I was walking dogs in 85 degree weather, I got a call from his teacher. It was basically a ‘get to know you’ phone interview to see if I’d be a good fit for his class. I felt strange being asked if I thought I was funny or if other people thought I was funny…. All I knew was I liked pranks and making dumb videos. Anyway, I got accepted. When I showed up to class, my first thought was “great, I get to share my female perspective with this sausage fest,” I was sitting in a room of 8 guys when finally another woman walked in. I suddenly didn’t feel so outnumbered.
At the beginning of the course we were required to fill out a lengthy survey about ourselves. My boyfriend, who has also taken this class, warned me that I would most likely be depressed after filling out this extremely personal survey about my life. He was right. I wanted a shot of whiskey and my mother.
Every week, we were assigned a topic and required to write several premises about it. We had to structure them in a particular way. At first, it was hard to structure my writing according to someone else’s concept. However, it ultimately made my jokes a lot stronger.
Being funny is hard. This is the first lesson that I learned. Comedy forces you to analyze your life and tell the truth. If what you’re saying isn’t true, it’s usually not funny. I feel that I learned a lot about myself because you have to be honest in order to be funny… so there wasn’t much to hide behind. There’s something truly cathartic about being vulnerable with a group of people who are all sharing their insecurities and what they’re most afraid of and trying to find the humor in it. I have decided that writing comedy is better than therapy… mainly because you get laughs at the end.
This class helped me process a lot of things I was going through in my own life and lead me to bond with an amazing group of individuals.
At the end of the 10 week course, we had a showcase. I could hardly sleep or eat the week leading up to it. I invited everyone I knew, even the ex’s. The showcase was a blast and one of the greatest highs. It felt so good to cross the finish line with the team I had worked so hard with and learned to care about. Since then, I have booked a handful of shows, I won the “Next Comic Standing” contest at the Ha Ha Comedy Club, have networked with other comedians, performed on a loading dock (coz why not), and am continuing to write with my former classmates.
Here is a clip from the showcase to give you a taste! Come see me perform this Friday at The Comedy Store at 6:45 PM!
xo Lia