How Do I Break Into Stand Up Comedy with Izolda Trakhtenberg

Well, at my recollection is I went, you know what I'm going to do. I'm going to take a stand-up comedy class and my husband, who is a comedian went, what? Yeah. So, so I did. So I signed up for something at the people's improv theater, which is called the pit here in New York city that we were, I think, 12 of us or something like that. And you were this immediately. I was like, oh, she's this bright, shiny spirit I was drawn to you immediately. And I don't know exactly what you wanted to get out of the class, but I just loved being in the class with you. What were, what were your interests as far as stand-up comedy, what made you decide, you know, what, that's, what I'm going to do. I'm going to take a stand-up comedy class.
That's a loaded question really, but I can break it down here. I, one of my best friends, it was her birthday and I was in New York city and I'm like, oh, you know, we, what can we do to laugh, to have a good time? She's actually a producing partner of mine as well. All I, Sandra Levy, I'm like, you know, we've gone to Broadway before and what's something we can do. So we went to PS kitchen, which is a vegan restaurant and the people who own the restaurant, they are, I think, lovers of theater and they're investors in theaters. So like the PS kitchen is just a side business that they have where everything is 100% vegan and they donate 100% of the proceeds to, I'm not sure where we should look it up online, but, but I just think that was really cool.
So her being a vegan and celebrating her birthday, we, you know, the backstory is we went to an amazing dinner and then I surprised her and God has Comedy tickets at the Broadway comedy club on 53rd street. Literally, I was like jolting in my seat the whole time shaking. And I was just like, I was revving up so big that night. I went back to my place and I Googled five top stand-up comedy in LA cause I know LA market. And then I Googled five top places in New York city. And I found the pit, the people's improv theater and it was September. And I was like, oh, there's a class starting in October. My birthday's in November.
It goes through my birthday. I'm like, this could be an early birthday gift to myself, you know, Comedy trying something new up. So I'm like, let's give it a whirl. So that's what got me inaction to join the class where we met.
That's amazing. I love it on so many levels. You know, we've been talking here and there about our connections and my birthday's in October and that comedy class was my birthday present to myself too.
Amazing. It's
Great. And I, and I think you're the person who told me about Alisandra levy because she and I have started bonding on Instagram over both being string players. She's an amazing basis and I'm a Fiddler and guitarists. So we've been talking back and forth about that connection as well. So it's incredible. Don't you think how many connections we have and it all started because we both wanted to give ourselves the gift of laughter. I think that's just wonderful.
Yeah, she's amazing. And she is a powerhouse. She does not only producing she's educated. I think she went to the university of Miami. She went, she went to university in Florida, I think Miami, and that's where she was educated for music and she does voiceovers and she's awesome. And that's why I actually, one of the reasons why I introduced you to, because you're both powerhouse, amazing creative women, but you're writing a series of podcast series, right?
I am. Yes. And I'm having a great time doing it. And I'm, I'm really blessed because I have a number of different actors, yourself included who have agreed to be on the podcast series on my it's. It's an adaptation from my book called the arbiter. And it's about imagine if you will, all of the mythological gods and goddesses were alive today. So you'd have Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love running around on the earth, as well as Venus, the Roman goddess of love as well as Freya, the Norse goddess of love. And as well as for example, ocean, who's the Europa goddess of love and what would happen if they got into a fight into an argument, you know, what kind of things would go wrong?
If goddesses, all of whom were all about love and beauty got angry with one another. So how would that be resolved? What would it take to settle those kinds of issues? And the book deals with that as well as the other gods, for example, mercury and Aries, Mars, they're all in the book. And there, they all have human flaws and frailties because you know, the gods are based on human flaws and frailties. So they have these human flaws and frailties, and yet they have to navigate life in 2020, what would it take? And you, and several people from different walks of the New York performer life have agreed to be on the scripted podcast as the episodes roll out, you all are going to be voicing all the different characters and I'm super excited to get that going.
Yeah. Cool. And then, yeah. And then are you going to all release that on all streaming services? Or what do you plan to do?
Absolutely. It's going to be up on iTunes. It's going to be Spotify. It's going to be, you know, Google podcasts everywhere and anywhere. And I'm very excited about it because again, there's a lot of stuff, you know, it's funny podcasters on the whole, it tends to be kind of a solitary thing that you do. There are some people who've got do it with. Bless you. There are some people. Yeah. You know, so yeah. You know, there's some of us who, who work with partners or who do primarily interview shows a lot of times, podcasts are sort of you and your home studio recording. This, this thing that you are an expert in is some people have podcasts about creativity.
Like I do. Some people do podcasts on coin collecting or about television shows or about astronomy, whatever they are often they're solitary pursuits. So having the opportunity to invite and get the participation of so many incredible talented people to be part of this show is going to be, it's such an honor. And it's going to be such a great time because we're all going to create something together. And you know,
Well, speaking of it's one of the things that excite me so much, because what I love to do and what you're doing is you're creating something as a business person, as a human being, as an artist, but giving other artists an opportunity to showcase their talents in the,
As much as possible. Yes. I think that's how we, you know, we're all in this together. I love saying that. And I think it's so true. And I think you're doing the exact same thing with The Sophisticated Psychos experience, variety show. This is something that you started and I'm still amazed that you went, you know what, I'm going to do it. And you did, this is, this goes back to that standup comedy class. We got an email, as I recall saying, you know, if you want to put on a show at the pit at the people's improv theater, you should sign up. And next thing I know you went, you know what? I'm going to sign up. And not only did you sign up, but you got all the acts and some amazing people into the show and you produce the show. We did, we've already done two of them.
And we're, there's going to be more and people are lining up to get into these seats and see what is essentially a modern day, Carol Burnett variety show. It's really incredible that you had that vision and you made it happen. Thank you. Thank you.
And literally like before I take it back, literally we had a line, we had line all line up. I was like, what? Like we thought maybe like, you know, five people would be there or something. And literally there was a line. It was, it was insane. And it was very exciting. I was like, who are half these people on the second show? So we're going to, we're going to keep it moving. We might do something digital where we do like a digital online show or something. We'll discuss that in the near future. But first I want to back it up a bit because I remember getting that email too. And I was already signed up when I got the email, I was already signed up because Chris, our instructor said the very first class, he said, go to the website. It says, submit a show because it takes them months to get back to you.
So by the time you're ending the class, you can already get the ball rolling and be on the wait list. So when he said that the very first class I signed up, I didn't know it was going to be called the Sophisticated show or The Sophisticated Psychos, a variety show experience. I didn't, I didn't know that at all. Like I just, I didn't know the title. So I put TDI keys. That's what I put as the title. Cause I'm like, oh, this can just be a working title. Just let me put in the information and have the meetings. And there's three locations. Look at the spaces and just get it going. So yeah, by the time the end of the class came and we did our first show, I was having an option for a time slot and I'm selecting. And like you said, the, and then the show went on from there.
But the moral of the story of that is really being inaction. When someone says something and you're it excites you, or if you want to do something like we all have good intentions as human beings. And I think there's like a Ted talk on it too, where it's something like, you know, like everyone has good intention and they get excited about something. But if you don't act like if you don't say the pur, when you meet someone, if you don't say their name within the first five seconds of them telling you you're onto the next, it's not going to like sink into the neuro-transmitters. And most people, you know, we probably forget, and we don't mean to, but if you want to do something, it's like, take the action right there. Even if it's not the exact that the 100% end all like, shoot that email, say hello.
It doesn't have to be like this whole entire thing, but just take the, the step of moving the energy forward. So, and by putting that into the ground, into the email, into the universe, like submitting for a show, boom, and then that's how it happens. And you build the constant momentum to keep it going.
Absolutely. And I'm so glad you did it. And it's funny because you're talking about energy and it's also one of the laws of physics. You know, it's the law of inertia body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to stay in motion and you didn't stay at rest. You went, okay, I'm going to put this in motion and motion begets motion. So yeah, we might mess it up. We might totally not do it. Right. Whatever bright is. But the point is until you take a step in a direction you're just sitting motionless and that has its place. But if you want to get things done, if you want to accomplish and achieve and make your dreams come true, you can't just sit still. You have to act. And that's what you did. Yeah.
Like right now I'm at home and it's like yesterday, I was like, oh, I was going for 10 hours. It is like, but I didn't get done what I needed to get done yesterday or what I wanted to get done. And like, some of those things haven't even been done today. It's like, even when you have the stillness and the space to do things, there's just so much to do. It's like, you know, that's why we just got to keep going and just know that it'll get done and just stay focused and keep inaction and keep busy, you know? And it's exciting to have those things to do, you know, cause some people during these times, they're at home and they're bored or they're out of their mind. And they're like, oh, like I, you know, I, you know, I haven't heard a lot of it, but I've heard some people say that. And it's like, it kinda makes you really sad for people to say that because like, you know, it just, it is.
I like, for me personally, I can't, I couldn't wait just to be able to, just to be like in my own space, just to like do my own thing so I can do what I want to get done. And I'm sure a lot of people feel that way, but there are some out there who, who are, who, who maybe they're too scared to face themselves, or I don't know it's going on. But a lot of people, you know, can't just sit with themselves in their home. They just, they want to be out or busy or they're bored.
It's funny that you say that. I, because I think, I think you're right. I think there are people who, who are in motion and there might be some people who are scared because they don't know where to start, you know, because all of a sudden you're faced with all this time and now you have to do something with it. And it's funny because I just did literally yesterday, a podcast episode, all about how to eat the mind, muscle nourish and exercise during this time of being still and being inside your own space. So I gave a bunch of ideas on exactly how to wake up that creative part of who you are to wake up that curiosity, to nourish it, to nurture it. Because I think a lot of it is we need to give ourselves permission to do, and then we need to take that first tiny step that will allow us to do.
And you're naturally someone who goes, you know what, I'm going to do it. And you do it. Some people need a little bit more of a nudge. They need to feel like it's okay. And so by talking about it by demystifying it, I think we're making it more okay for people to begin the thing that they most want to begin. And I also want to say the moon is really funny. You said the words that rich, my husband has said that he wants to put on my tombstone and those words are, there's just so much to do. I say that all the time, you know, people we are at living in incredible times because there is so much to do just about anything that you're curious about. You can find out about, just about anything you've ever wanted to try.
You can try. And so taking a step in that direction, moving yourself forward, even if it's a little scary, you know, don't take the huge step. Don't go skydiving. If you're scared of Heights, maybe instead you go into the water and you go scuba diving, or you just take a long walk and watch the sunset. Or if we're, you know, in our apartments, then maybe what we do is we start a yoga practice or a meditation practice, or we break out our kid's crayons and we start coloring something, you know, it doesn't have to be big to be really poignant and effective.
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. That's cool. And then your website is [email protected].
Yes. There. Well, I have several websites if you will. Well, it's true. You're so funny. So the writing one is writer dot Izolda dot com and there's a music dot Izolda dot com. And then there's the speaking one, which is speaker.is all the t.com. But my voice acting, the one that I'm sort of focusing on right now is just plain old is all the t.com. So, so I've sort of divided myself into a number of different categories because I, you know, it's funny, I'm never bored because there are so many things I'm curious about. So what I wanted to do, I try to do, if I want to learn a new musical instrument, I do that. If I want to start giving keynote speeches at companies and corporations and at conferences, then I'm striving to do that too.
It just depends on what's sort of sparking and peaking my curiosity and with the music, there's always something cool to learn about singing or playing musical instruments. And in fact, tomorrow, I don't know exactly when you're going to be airing this episode, but one of the things I'm doing tomorrow and it's going to be doing every week until those, the self isolation is over every week on Friday at 11:00 AM. I'm going to be teaching an online, all free singing class. I'm just going to be teaching it to anyone who drops by. And we're going to be talking about how to match, pitch, how to develop resonance, breathing, exercises, all of these different things that can get people started on the singer's life. Why? Because I think we're all singers in one form or another.
And if you're ever curious about how to do it, then by gum, I think you should have the opportunity to do it.
That's so sweet. And then how can people find you on this 11:00 AM Lebanon?
It's his older t.com/free hyphen sing, or maybe it's seeing hyphen free. Now I don't remember. It might be saying hi saying hyphen free. So try both. Is all the ti.com/sing hyphened free or is all the t.com/free hyphen sing? I just don't remember which it is. And it's just going to be like 20 minute, 30 minute classes. It's nothing big. I'm in the middle of working on and developing us learn to sing class. It's going to be sort of a more comprehensive thing. But for right now, just to get people thinking about discovering their singing voice, I want to give the opportunity. I've, I've taught at the college level for many years, teaching people how to sing and taught many, many workshops at conferences and at festivals and things like that.
And I'm taking that, all of that, that I've talked to people and bringing it into these mini little workshops so that people can find their singer inside. You know,
My sister's a singer, she's an operatic singer. She can sing in five different languages. She's yeah. She's classically trained on the piano. So I'll share with her. So maybe my, you know, niece and nephew, maybe they can join in on it as well. I'll share with them and I'll share with my sisters so she can share with the moms and stuff and, oh, that'd be great. The families in Michigan, for sure.
Cool. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be on zoom. I'm just going to, I've already created the meeting and anyone who has the link can just join on in and we're going to just be working it through. So it's just going to be something too, to get the, again, what we were just talking about about piquing people's curiosity and nourishing that creative mindset. It's a way of doing it. Singing is the universal language. You know, music is the universal language, because think about it this way. What is the first thing we do when we're born? The first thing we do is we take a breath. The second thing we do, we make sound, you know, the very first thing we do is breathe. The second thing we do is we, we sing, we make sound so it's our birthright to sing.
And so I want to make that available to as many people as possible because the more singing we do, the more commonality we find and the more compassion we find for other people.
Definitely. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I'm wondering poor, like your go-to apps or, you know, a meditation practices that you have found along the way that you, that are your go-to for meditation and peace of mind and body and spirit during these times.
Wow. Apps. I do a couple of different apps. I tried calm was one of the ones I tried and I thought that was good, but I found that for me, meditation happens often when I'm not even thinking about it. You know, I, I also tried transcendental meditation and I did not find that as you went through the program,
I will, you have to go four times. Yeah.
I went through some of it and then I kind of went, you know what? It's not, I believe in moving meditation. So I I'm, in addition to doing yoga every day, I'm a Tai Chi practitioner and teacher. So, so my meditation often has guided its emotion. So I do my own meditation where I, it's not an empty mind. It's more, I don't even know how to put it. It's, it's like the I'm trying to be a vessel and a channel for whatever needs to come through rather than leaving myself empty. So it's, I guess it's a different mindset of thinking about it because I usually, when I meditate, I do Tai Chi to meditate or Xi gong, to meditate rather than sort of just sitting still and different and different people, you know, different things, work for different people.
It's just, what happens to work for me is a, is a motion meditation. And I use yoga for the same thing. I meditate while I'm doing yoga. So what I do is I set a little timer that has like every 20 seconds, I get a little sort of a Tibetan bowl bell. And that tells me to change postures or are Austin to change positions. And I just flow through it and I hold everything for 20 seconds and it's like a, I dunno, half hour practice. And so it's every 20 seconds I change and I flow it from one post to the next guided by what my body feels like it needs, because my mind is sort of not focusing on anything except for hearing those bells. So that's the way I tend to do it.
I tried the balance app to meditate and again, it just, it was, it wasn't as useful to me as other people might find it. I prefer to do again, meditation in motion, either through yoga or Tai Chi and, and that's how I do my morning routine.
Cool. Thank you. Thank you for sharing with us. Sure. I want to circle back around to Comedy, to you, to the standup comedy. Cause it's, it's, it's a full art form. Like I didn't appreciate or understand the concept of standup comedy until I took this class and now I see, and it's so cool because it's an individual sport on a platform where, you know, we share our real life experiences and then make fun of them. So for me personally, I was so emotionally attached to certain experiences because years ago when I was in LA, I met Billy Ryback back and he's a writer for Tim Allen, Billy crystal, Robin Williams, God bless his soul.
He wrote for him. And he was a writer on home improvement. And like he was working on the Roseanne BARR, her TV show back in the day. And so I meet this legendary standup guy and it's like, you know, it's someone that I met and like, it was an amazing connection, but like, I didn't do stand up that, you know, like I kinda like open my, the bloom for it, but it just, it wasn't, I wasn't mature enough. I wasn't like ready for the standup. I didn't go through enough life crap. Just getting to be able to do stand up. Maybe I don't know. No, but seriously, I was like just too emotionally attached to it. So now that I've dismantled being attached to the things that I'm talking about on stage now or willing and wanting to talk about, because I'm emotionally detached from those experiences, I'm able to get on stage and talk about some of those things.
So, and it's just, you know, being more mature now and you know, we're at a different stage and, and time and life just, I want to talk more about the art of stand-up and like, who are your go-to or there's so many Comedy, one hour comedy specials on Netflix. I'm like bingeing, I'm like 1, 2, 3, 4 or five in a row. Where, who are some of your favorites and things about Comedy that you really respect and admire from the first initial class that started, you know, in October,
It's a loaded question. First of all, I appreciate you sharing about that idea of, of becoming a mature person to come into your own. As a comedian, my husband, who's a clown says that there are people who believe that you can't really be a clown until you're at least 30 years old. You, you have to have more life experience than, you know, being 20 or something. You have to have gone through the ups and the downs in order to really be able to be a clown. And I think you're right. I think the same thing holds true with being a comedian. You have to have a little bit of distance and a little bit of perspective in order to really be able to share about it in a way that is that pokes fun at you and your experience as much as it pokes fun at these universal themes that we all share as far as who are my go tos.
I, you know, I love Eddie Izzard. I love, I love Eddie Izzard so much. I love them when I first heard what. And at that point he was still talking about himself as, as he, that was his pronoun of choice. So I'm gonna say he, because when I first heard of him, he, he was doing these two, he, of these two specials that I saw, one was called dress to kill, and the other one was called glorious. And he, the thing that, that is amazing to me about what he was doing was that he was talking about, again, some dark times, he, you know, he talked about Nazis and he talked about, I don't know who
This is. Who is it?
Eddie Izzard oh, my stars wizard. I Z, Z a R D. He's amazing are actually they, they, they are amazing. The pronoun has changed and it's a little easier for me to talk about,
Okay, I'm Googling this. So Joe Eddy, call him, let's call this person. Is there because if that's what they prefer, I mean,
No, it's just Eddie Izzard, but I think pronoun. Yes. And when I first heard of him, he was a, he was a transvestite. That's what he was. He was a transvestite comedian. He's amazing though, he's done a ton of movies. He's been in a lot of different shows. He's had a whole bunch of, of standup shows like HBO specials and, and all of this and amazing, amazing stuff full of full of history and politics, and talking about gender relations and, and relationships and love and sex and, and how we navigate all that. And he does it in such a way that it's so funny and it's so poignant and it will change how you view everything. It's certainly changed how I view Comedy because, well, because here's the thing, you know, in our comedy class, Chris Griggs, our instructor was talking about, set up punchline, set up, Chris talked about set up punchline.
And it took me a long time in the class and a lot of work to figure out what, what did, what that meant and how to do it. And I got it. I was able to turn that, that switch and was able to sort of start writing in that way. But ultimately, if you can't tell about how much I'm talking, I love to talk. I'm a storyteller first and foremost and harder for me to, to make the switch, to set up punchline, which is you set up one-liners essentially. And having them
Be memorized.
Exactly. So I'm a storyteller first and foremost, and Eddie Izzard, his jokes are hilarious, but they're always part of stories. So he may tell you a 32nd story, but there will be like, you know, eight or nine jokes that you will laugh at in, in that 32nd story, because he, his laugh, his laughs per minute is the ratio is incredible because he's so funny, but he's always telling you a story and he characterizes beautifully. So he'll give you whole conversations that his characters have had in the story. And you know, like his, God always sounds like James Mason just always does. And he he'll say it, you know? Well, and God said, if God were James Mason and he does this adorable little James Mason impersonation, so he's hilarious, but he's so polished.
And if you see, they did a documentary on him called believe, if you watch what he was doing back when he was in doing nightclub work in London, and he also got into the Edinburgh fringe festival, he was unstoppable. He was doing busking. So he was street performing and he was then going to nightclubs every night. He did not stop. You know, like we look at ourselves and go, there's so much to do. He was unstopped. He did not stop ever.
Yeah. But we also in class though, we were told within those 30 seconds, even if you're telling a story, they're all, they're all, they're like written jokes. So it's like a story within story. So the topic is whatever it could be like, you know, seeing your mom there's, that's the whole story. But within those stories, there's jokes. So do you think those were written already? Like, do you know format?
Oh, I, you know, I mean, I don't think there's, he's, he's an amazing improv person, but I think that his, his stuff is, it seems effortless. And that's our job as comedians. His actors is whatever we're, our job is to make it seem effortless. Even though it's not, even though it takes a lot of work, you know, it's kind of like what Dolly Parton used to say. She used to say, it takes a lot of money to look this cheap. And it was, you know, that's the, that's the way it is. It's like, yeah, we have to make it look effortless, no matter how much work we've done, it's got to look effortless. So his stuff always seems like it's off the cuff, but of course it's not, you know, he's got the jokes planned, he's got everything planned to the nth degree.
That's just cause he's, you know, he's a professional, he knows what he's doing. And he is so funny.
Have you seen Tom Papa special on Netflix?
I don't think so. No.
Oh my God. I don't know how I found him, but I did. And he is a genius. He's so funny. Classy. Just it's so good. I definitely recommend his Netflix special Tom Papa. He's awesome.
I will, I will check him out. Yeah, I absolutely. I also, I don't know if you've ever seen her live Janeane Garofalo. Have you ever seen her live?
Well, I haven't. I saw when I was in New York city, I saw she was performing at some places working on new standup bit, but I didn't get the opportunity to see her, but I definitely want to when, when the moment arises again.
Yeah. She's, she's great. And I said, I had the good fortune to see her at the pit for new material night. And she's pretty upfront about the fact that what she talks about are her neuroses and her anxieties. That's what she talks about. And she's hilarious because she, these neuroses and anxieties are probably things. Most of us have felt even if we're not going to run into calling it an anxiety, but a lot of us have felt those very same things that she's talking about. So, so I find her really, really funny and just enjoy how she relates to the people in our audience. It's I, I love it. I think it's great.
Cool. Thanks for letting me know. That sounds awesome. Yeah. So yeah, it was so cool being in class because I found out about all these standup comedians that I had no idea, like no clue who they were. So now I have a list. Also, we were turned on to Steve Martin's book. He has an audio book on overdrive that I downloaded and listened to. And he talks about vaudeville and the, you know, back then, and yeah, it was stand up, was more of a variety. Like he did music, he did improv, you know, he did character work and it was really cool because I really felt like a sense of peace and being connected because for me, I don't think it's just going to be set up punchline delivery, set up punchline delivery, although that's the core of it.
So I definitely want to master the core and that's a progression and a challenge for me right now. I'm personally working on a solid five, you know, that's memorize like a solid five. So it's all this time being in. I think we should definitely do some online writers' rooms for our standup.
Yeah, that sounds great. It would be terrific to do because, and I, you know, what's interesting about that book. The Steve Martin book is that, is he chronicled how he turned into a standup comedian. He originally wanted to be a magician. You know, he, that was his goal was he was, he was going to be a magician and for years, that's what he did. And then when he talked about, you know, playing to empty rooms as a magician and then his banjo, and then moving into stand-up and somehow developing some of the sticky, did you know, I think I'm getting happy feet or he was, you know, a wild and crazy guy, all of that developed over time, but it was, it was not something that he originally was attempting to do. So I think that there's an evolutionary process that can happen when you are, when you're taken by something like you are right now, you know, you've said that you're obsessed with standup comedy and really developing yourself as a comedian and watching you in, you know, in class.
And then since then in the shows that we've done together, you have an amazing command of the audience. You know, people automatically want to listen to you. So that gives you a real platform and real opportunity to develop that solid vibe and to really learn how to deliver it in a way that's going to be the funniest and the best.
Definitely. Thank you. Thank you. The name of that book is called born, standing up for the listeners. It's called born, standing up. It's cool. He talks about his, his family, you know, he gets personal talks about his family, his dad growing up. It's really neat because like you said, he left or he left standup and then went to films. And then now he, he was doing a tour. He went back to standup. So it's like him and Ellen, I watch her special. She's flawless. And she's like, so controlled. I, what I noticed is how controlled she was with her voice and you know, how she took her time and, and, and she discusses how people say, oh, like, yeah, like their, their thoughts on stand up, or how are, how are you still going to be funny?
Or how can you relate to people or blah, blah, blah. And I think it's called relatable and her standup fit her one hour bit, but it's so awesome watching her like where she was and what she's become. And then, and then seeing her stand up now, and then same thing for Steve Martin, like knowing him from the movies, you know, that's how I knew about Steve Martin. When I was a kid from the movies, him being a comedic ILM actor, and then him going back on stage. So it's like, I feel like it's a home base for all actors and artists, just to go back to the stage. It's like, when you have a world, one of experience, it's like, you, you it's like how yoga people use their mat. It's like actors and musicians and artists can use the stage as their match, you know, to try new material or just to fall on, you know, and just be able to get back up.
And it's really cool.
It is. And, and it's funny because the stage, you know, being up there by yourself and doing standup is a completely different thing than being up there and doing someone else's words in a play or being up there and doing a song it's, you have to be open to what you say, and you have to be willing to share who you are on a really intimate level with an audience. And, you know, watching, I got to see Steve Martin live in that he came through back when I was living in DC, he came through the Martin and Martin show. It was him and Martin short. And that's the show. Yes. Yeah. And it's, it's great. I love it. And I got to see him live and, you know, he's, he's also really controlled.
And, and part of the control was that he knows himself, you know, that was such, there was so much in evidence. It was so clear that whoever he was when he was younger, during the darker times in his life, when he was talking about how he didn't get to do anything new, because everyone wanted to see, as, you know, the arrow through his head and the wild and crazy guy. Now he knows who he is. And he does who, what he wants. You know, what he wants to do is entertain in a certain way. And he knows himself well enough to know that this is how he's going to do it. And frankly, it was flawless. It was so good to watch this mature, capable, hilarious, man, be all those things, you know, it was, I loved it. I loved the opportunity to get to do that.
Whereas quite frankly, his stuff from the seventies when he was being a wild and crazy guy, I wasn't that, wasn't my thing. I didn't care for it. So, so watching him now was so much more of a pleasure than the stuff he was doing back in the seventies, in the seventies when he was coming up though, you know, I love Dan Akroyd. I did, I loved John. John Belushi was amazing. I thought he was just outstanding because he took everything to the nth degree. Some of the original cast of Saturday night live, you know, when you're thinking Gilda Radner, when you're thinking Jane Curtin, some of those people outstanding comedians, and they were able to bring things out that we had never seen before, just never seen.
And so watching how the modern day comedians stand on the shoulders of those giants and really move things forward, you know, you've got Eddie Murphy's genius from the eighties, and then of course, Chris rock, and then you move into, you know, this millennium and you see people like Sarah Silverman and, and Brian Regan. And so many people who are outstandingly funny, Jake Johannsen who unfortunately I don't think is doing much anymore, completely clean comedian, Polaris outstanding. And so watching some of these people, how they took what was done from the seventies and, and really made it their own. And these last few years is mind blowing and also really affirming for people who want to get into up comedy.
Now
It's a really welcoming community. Like it's so cool. And there's so many open mics, and most of them are pretty organized where you have to like sign up before you come. Or, you know, some of them are free and some of them are just like five bucks and there's like a really, there's like a cool community. And it's, there's free Mike's dot com. So you can see the Mike's in your area. They have them all over the United States and you can be anywhere like LA New York or Chicago, Detroit. And you can just go to the free mix and just check to see what's in your area and, and just go to an open mic, you know? And some of them, it's cool. It's like a variety where it's like summer just standup, only summer. Oh, you can do music.
You could do improv. So there's yeah. There's like a variety of what's what's out there. Absolutely. Yeah. Cool. So on that note, I'm so grateful for you to join me during this time. And one thing I would like to say is, you know, you were mentioning Steve Martin, like how he really got to know himself and he knew himself, or he knows himself. And he mentioned dark times. And I just think like, wow, so apropos to like, what's happening right now, where these are intimate times where we can get to really know thyself, you know, like Socrates says no dice self. So I'm definitely exploring that. And I think it's a wise words that, you know, we came to this conclusion.
Yeah.
I agree with you. And, and I thank you for sharing that. It's, it is interesting how you, you never know what you've got until you're tested. And I think this, these are unchartered territories, you know, we're in our unchartered waters, but that doesn't mean that it's altogether insurmountable. I think we can overcome, and we can really learn about how to take care of ourselves in each other, even through these dark times. And there's, there's nobody who doesn't screw up. You know, I actually created a little sort of, I don't even know what to call it, I guess, wallpaper for my phone, for my lock screen. And basically it says, you know, you're gonna screw up, don't beat yourself up. Just do better next time. You know, that's it. That's how I feel. It's like, yeah, we all try
Try better next time.
But you know what, and you know, to quote, to quote Yoda do or not do there is no try. No, I, I like that. You know, this is a, that's not mine. That's Yoda from star wars. But yeah, I mean, that's the thing it's to me, any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction. No matter how small it is. So even if you mess up, no matter what it is you've done. If you mess up big, you know, figure it out, make amends as best you can, but don't keep beating yourself up about it. Because if you're beating yourself up over a misstep or over a mistake or over something, you completely messed up, then you're spending energy doing that. When you could be spending that energy, doing something that is going to make things better.
So, so the guilt feelings don't help you. All they do is remind you of something you messed up. Whereas if you acknowledge that you messed it up, then give yourself permission to make amends and give yourself permission to move on. You can do better next time. And that's the whole point, you know, the tiny step in the right direction is still a step in the right direction.
Yeah. With that being said, it's being aware and knowing, okay, I'm guilt tripping myself, or I'm being hard on myself, too, being aware of that. And then no, after you're aware of it, knowing, and having tools to make a shift, because that's where it's difficult, where you don't know you're doing it or you're doing it and you don't know how to stop. And it's so self-destructive, so that's why, you know, what, what can we do in those moments?
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And I agree completely and that self-awareness some of that will come and flashes. And some of that we'll have to work on step by tiny step, but that doesn't mean we should stop working on it. You know, we just keep plugging away every day in every way. That's how we practice. It's all part of the practice. Yeah.
So on this note, I just want to conclude with, at the pit, there's a, in memory of Chris Farley and on the wall, it's a clown
Clowns. Prayer. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's by it's by an unknown artist from what I know of, but I would just like to read it here to, you know, to kind of share that you're ready. Okay. The clown's prayer Lord, as I stumbled through this life, help me to create more laughter than tears dispense more happiness than gloom spread more cheer than despair. Never let me become so indifferent that I will fail to see the wonder in the eyes of a child or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged. Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people, make them happy and forget, at least for a moment, all the unpleasant things in their life and Lord in my final moment, may I hear you whisper when you made my people smile, you made me smile.
That's
So beautiful. And so incredibly touching.
Yeah. Yeah. I definitely identify with that and really, really beautiful. Cool. Yeah. All right. Any last words of wisdom, anything you would like to share?
I want to thank you so much for having me again. This is it's so such a delight to get, to explore these topics with you. You're such a, a wonderful communication partner. I thank you for that. And oh no, it's my pleasure. And I'm excited to have you on my podcast soon, too. That's going to be wonderful too, because we've talked a lot about me, but I really want to delve into you and your process. You've had such a rich life already and it's only just beginning. So it's very exciting. As far as words of wisdom. I think, I think what I said, I'd want to stick with, you know, the tiniest step in the right direction is still a step in that right direction. We can work on our process on our creativity, on our goals, on our piece every single day, every single minute we can keep, keep working, keep striving and also take a breath sometimes and just accept and acknowledge where we are.
And when we do that, we realize that it's what looks like the biggest hugest mountain that we're trying to climb right now. One day it's going to be in our rear view mirror and we're going to look back and go, huh? I did that. It just happened one day at a time.
So aspirational, seriously. I love hearing your words of wisdom and you're so eloquent. And you're like, you're like a mommy bear too. You're like, you're like mother earth for like all mother earth. Like we just, we just see the, like the president or the government just to give you a microphone, like a Maya Angelo, seriously. Like it's so sweet. You're so impactful and intelligent. And I really, really admire you. And I'm so happy. We're friends. Me
Too. Me too.
All right. Well, enjoy the rest of your life. Just kidding. Yeah. Let's let's schedule a time and I would love to be on your podcast. Excellent. The creative mindset. We'll make it happen. Rock and roll. Fantastic. Hey, till next time, catch out. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time Kyriaki, over and out.