When I stumbled upon my first open mic…
I met a yellow legal pad, stained with beer and moxy, daring anyone to sign up for the promise of an audience.
What’s any theatre kid to do?
Bomb miserably. But I needed to keep doing it.
My time in stand-up mostly taught me humility, but it also put me in front of the microphone and connected me to community.
Hosting & Organizing
I found my niche in comedy as a host and producer, in part because it let me showcase other storytellers. It connected me with writers and performers I admired. Then, a buddy and I imagined how a regular platform in a thriving arts scene could benefit the community. So for the next several years, our nonprofit partnered with creative talent and local business to invest in education and literacy.
In 5 years, we hosted over 20 charity shows which funded education grants and targeted literacy initiatives, including:
6 bilingual classroom libraries for Dual-Language Immersion campuses
Jr. Author Workshops hosted for elementary students in partnership with Denton’s MLK Rec Center
Classroom and technology grants awarded to DISD by the North Texas Comedy Festival
Community Storytime events in Denton Public Libraries, local bookstores, and area businesses
All in all, we raised over $20,000 for local arts and education
Ticket sales made lots of things possible, like writing workshops that took kids through the creative process
In classrooms, coffee shops, and the local rec center, kids wrote delightfully silly stories like this one
Whether hosting writing workshops or comedy shows, my role was showcasing storytellers
It's something I've enjoyed doing for a long time
We commissioned local artists to bring the kids' characters to life
Kids and comedians share a talent for both silliness and for storytelling
The comics who entertained at our charity shows also entertained at community story time events
Performers swapped their material for picture books and finger puppets
Some comedy venues by night hosted story time and writing workshops by day
Performers showed up for the community, and vice versa
Regardless of age or background, everyone shares the language of laughter, which is what we named the nonprofit
The fundraising comedy shows were for adult ears only, but kids events were free and family-friendly
Nothing topped closing out a comedy show by reading a story the kids had written, so everyone knew what it was all for
All in good fun
My time in stand-up may not have landed me a Netflix special, but it did allow me to serve my community alongside valued creative and business partners.