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Comedy Blogs

In the beginning...

What's a girl to do? Yes, believe it or not, my comedy career began about 15 years ago on a "dare" - my friends found an ad for the Twin Cities' Funniest Person Contest. I told them, "Hey! What a hoot! Let's go!" They looked at me and said, "No, we think you should enter!" I looked at them and said, "Uh, no, I don't think so...I can crack jokes with you guys, but on stage? Hmmmm...I have always wanted to make people laugh, but..." They wouldn't take "NO" for an answer, so, I put 5 minutes worth of material together - went out to Wild Bill's Safari Club at the old Comedy Gallery down at the old Riverplace Minneapolis - Scary...back then I was doing jokes about my cat having a hairball, battery operated devices and what not...plus, my parents were in the audience, and I didn't want to embarrass them, so I began with a "planned" stage fright - which turned out to be REAL stage fright! The first words out of my mouth were, "Ohhhhhh....the f-word!" I didn't actually say the WORD, I said, "the f-word" and people laughed - I was hooked! My parents looked at me - I then said, "My parents are in the audience tonight - I promised them I would not use the f-word!" Mom just looked at me, a little embarrassed, her hand over her head, as if to say, "Oh, Hope!" Dad, on the other hand, just looked at me and smiled, and as if to say, "That's my girl!"

Later that night, I found out my best friend's now ex-husband told her when I hit the stage, "Oh, I hope she doesn't bomb out there! I really like her!" Wow - what a vote of confidence, eh?

I remember Fancy Ray McCloney was there and told me he liked what I did and said, "Please, come back again!" I have worked with Fancy Ray a number of times over the years and I will never forget his encouraging words that night.

Who knew that this somewhat "shy" girl from EJ Cooper High School would still be performing 15 years later - and loving it!

Oh, I almost forgot - the contest? I ended up winning the first night, making it to the Semi-Finals, but then was beaten by Brenda Elsagher, a Hair Stylist who talked about her Egyptian husband "Baggie" and being a Cancer survivor - well, she went on to win the contest that year - plus, I got a bonus out of it! I am very happy to share that she is now a very successful Motivational Speaker, Author and Comedienne - plus, she's a good friend of mine! We have worked together a number of times over the years, along with the very talented Comedienne and Producer, Rox Tarrant - the Twin Cities' Diva of Comedy - also a good friend of mine! Rox has produced dozens of "Women Out All Night" Shows over the years - she also works with many biggies - Maxine Jeffries, Diane Ford, just to name a few, and is always willing to give a newcomer a chance by mixing things up in her shows. I feel truly blessed to have these women in my life and a part of my success throughout these past years! Be sure to check out my Photo Gallery page for some pix of shows with Brenda, Rox and more!

For all of you Snow-Bunnies and Snow-Bums...

Some friends asked me to go skiing with them...but...I told them, "Thanks, but this “snow-chicken” is afraid of skiing…the one and only time I went skiing was my senior year in high school – you may get a chuckle out of this one, you little ski-bunnies and ski-bums…

Senior Year...it was 1982...(yeah, I am old, okay?!) :) Here's the story:

We weren’t told that a lesson wasn’t included, so I had only brought money for dinner…so the ski instructor (Thor, the hot Ski-Stud) took pity on me and gave me a “quickie” lesson, which consisted of “how to stop and start – snowplowing…” So, I “practiced” on the “baby bunny hill” by the lodge for about an hour and then saw what looked like a “short” hill – wow, I can handle that! Woo hoo! Here we go!

So, I got on the lift, all confident, but when I got to the top, instead of jumping off like you are supposed to, I pretty much “fell” off and fell over, twisting my skis…alas, now there are more skiers (including classmates who now could see the idiot at the top) coming toward me at the top of the lift, wanting to jump off and be on there way, but NO – there was an amateur at the top blocking the way…so, as I attempted to untwist my legs and ski’s, people are jumping over top of me…I was able to scoot out of the way and finally got untangled (thanks to a helpful classmate) and started to make my way, attempting to use my “new skills” I had just learned from Thor, the hot Ski Instructor…

I began to ski down a slight hill with a bend ahead. I was thinking, “Cool, this should be easy – the hill is around the corner and it didn’t look too tough.” WRONG!! I skied around the curve, only to find another small hill with yet another curve…so I thought, “Cool, the hill is coming up…” WRONG AGAIN!! Another bend…so, after one more, I finally see the hill…it looks a lot BIGGER from the top!! As people are shushing by me at professional speed, I think, “Okay, you can do this!” Then I see the chair lift at the bottom on the left and a tow rope on the right, with about a “2-car garage” sized opening in between. I took my first step. Oops! The stupid ski fell off. After about 10 minutes of trying to get the darn thing back on, a classmate helped and I was ready – or, so I thought!

I began to slide…then started to pick up a little speed…oh, no! I tried to snowplow and stop like Thor had told me…but it didn’t work! I tried to turn to move away from the chair lift – but that wasn’t working…my life was flashing before my eyes! I was a dead duck! So, prayed, closed my eyes and turned my feet to the right…nearly missing the people waiting to get on the chair lift! Phew!!! I was safe!

Never left the bunny hill after that…never went back…heh...

Enjoy your winter!

2009 is almost half over!!!

Hey everyone! So, how is your 2009 going? I can hardly believe it's almost MAY!!! I hope that everyone is still laughing - with this economy, we all need to remember that LAUGHTER should not be a lost commodity and go down with the Dow!! Wall Street cannot take away your ability or need to laugh. Heck, I think laughter is what everyone needs these days - everyone is taking life too seriously! I think back to when I was a kid - we could laugh at the simplest of things...from being caught during a game of "Kick the Can" (remember that game?), or when we would play "Annie, Annie, OVER!" (you know, the game where you throw a ball over the roof of your garage or house?) and we would wait and wait and wait on the other side to see the ball come over and yell at the players on the other side to "Throw it!" and they would yell, "we did!" only to find that if you were stupid and used something as small as a tennis ball, there was usually a pretty good chance the ball would end up in the rain gutter...then, who would tell your parents WHO backed up the rain spout?? Okay, maybe it was just me...silly kids!

Then, everyone is obsessed now with staying YOUNG...I remember in high school and after graduation, we all thought that 30 was old...then, once we turned 30, 40 was old...now that I am 40-something...Iam the one who's old...well, at least to my 3 nephews! The turning point for me was when I was 24 and went roller skating on a date (okay, that alone ages me, doesn't it!?) and I was rounding the curve and a small child - around 8 - bumped into me and said, "Oh, excuse me m'aam!" M'aam?? M'aam?? I am NOT a "M'aam!" My MOM is m'aam! I was only 24! Then, I get off the rink and find two pre-teens UNDER the bench making out! JEEPERS! Where were their parents? I almost grabbed a whistle, pried them apart and called their parents! I would never have dreamed doing that (making out - not blowing the whistle!) when I was their age...okay, truth be told, I didn't know what that WAS when I was their age!! Boys had "GERMS" and we all had big "X" marks on our hands to avoid the Boy Germs!

To be continued...