stand-up

Name: Johnny Azari

Socials: Twitter/Facebook/Instagram

Why We’re Laughing: Combining a bad boy persona with a social commentary spin that cats like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin made iconic to their comedic brand, Azari is saying things that he hopes will resonate beyond punchlines.

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
Azari: As a kid all my teachers called me a “good kid with bad behavior.” Still not entirely sure what that means. I think I was always a comedian. It was just that nobody pulled me aside and told me that that was what I was doing – they just called me an asshole.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
Azari: I fell into comedy from touring the country singing sad, sad blues music. I would be in dive bars in towns like Evolution Is Illegal, Idaho, just bumming everyone out. So in between songs I try and chipper things up. Didn’t take long ‘til the banter became the show. So in July of 2015 I made the conscious choice to just do stand-up without the music. That’s when I stopped my tour and did a month of mics in Chicago. I haven’t looked back since.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Azari: I don’t think you ever stop looking for it. Your voice changes as you grow as a human being. But I knew from the get I wanted to be a rebel comic, outlaw and going after the truth and society’s hypocrisy. Observational day to day, “this is why I’m a loser” comedy never appealed to me. I feel like we are manufacturing our own extinction as a species currently and there just isn’t time for any art to address anything but that. But that’s me – a self righteous prick who’ll whore out the revolution to get his fireman smackled.

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Azari: I think my narrative hasn’t changed much. The growth has been in learning to cut the fat and keep every sentence funny, or at least try to. Also as I progress I’m leaning more toward cleaner comedy. It’s harder and when done right way funnier, and, you can reach a larger audience. Dirty is always there if you want it. She follows you around like a three-legged dog. Clean takes a lot of thought and skill.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Azari: It has been until recently. I did 36 shows in 27 days over 8,000 miles and four states. I was grinding the first draft of the new hour together in that time. When I got back home from that I turned everything off. Xanax, Netflix, and forcing my wife to fuck me while I lay on my back and sob for two weeks. But normally I don’t stop writing. I can’t stop if I want to. My brain just grinds constantly. Thank God I found comedy, a perfect outlet for the neurotic.

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
Azari: Depends on how I feel about it. Most of them I finish pretty fast.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Azari: Three to five.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Azari: That happens for sure. Though when you do it all the time it doesn’t feel like bombing anymore because you aren’t filled with the fear and terror that normally comes with bombing. After you do a bit enough times to know it works, when it doesn’t land or certain parts don’t hit, you know it’s the room and then you have to start playing the game to twist their minds into your narrative so similar jokes later in the set won’t die.

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Azari: Of course. A performer can only give the room what the room gives them. If the room feels like a roofied fat chick you have to carry to bed, then that’s how your set feels. But if they are lively and know they are at a comedy show and that their feelings don’t matter in that room, then you can have a lot of fun.

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Azari: I played a nudist colony once as a musical act. I closed by getting naked and singing “Blowin’ in The Wind” by Bob Dylan. They did not think it was funny. Fucking hippies.

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Azari: I can very easily get to evil very fast so I have to check myself. Usually I can ignore it and pretend I didn’t hear. If that doesn’t work then I ask nicely. Then I talk to them like a child. If they continue, I go Adolf Hitler on their ass and make the room seriously tense. I have a bunch of handles, none of them are funny because fuck you for interrupting a staged performance.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Azari: Comedy is booming. It’s more popular than it’s ever been. I love seeing the range and explosion in the art. It makes me happy that there is so much to laugh at.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Azari: My dad. He’s a funny fuck. Besides him, all the people that every other comic says inspires them. (Laughter)

Name: Ellory Smith

Socials: Twitter/Instagram

Why We’re Laughing: Smith’s brand of personal comedy serves as a tour guide through her emotional pain and shows us all that even in darkness there are slivers of light to be found.

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
Smith: I wasn’t funny as a kid, but I was definitely odd. I didn’t have a lot of friends and spent a lot of time in my own head. I always knew I wanted to write, and thought for a long time I’d go into poetry or creative writing or something. My senior year of high school, I started doing stand-up and realized there was a way to utilize my love for writing and need for attention that didn’t have the sort of… pretentious review process that creative writing sometimes involves.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
Smith: I was studying Writing for Television and Film at Emerson College, and doing stand up two to three times a week. I was paying attention in class, but really only my writing classes. I knew I wanted to be a comic and write for television, that I wanted both of those things. I couldn’t see another option. I had read enough about people in the field to know that if this was something I wanted, I had to go after it as though I was training for a marathon. Writing a lot, performing a lot, putting aside anything that wasn’t comedy – at least at first. When I moved to LA to finish college, I immediately upped how often I did stand-up. I began going up four to five times a week, and seeing shows on weekends. It became my entire life, to the detriment of some things (friendships, relationships) but it was all I wanted, and it felt like I could never have enough of it.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Smith: I’ll let you know once I find it. I’m six years in now, so give me another six and hopefully I’ll have gotten it down.

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Smith: I think when I started, I was so young I was just trying to imitate comedians I loved. I was doing just observational material, nothing raw or honest or interesting. Now I try to be more open with the audience, I am still worried that they don’t love me or think I’m funny, but first and foremost I want them to know that I am here and in pain and ready to talk with them about the things that make me most human. It’s a fine line to walk, when people see comedy they are looking for an escape, they don’t want to hear about my trauma necessarily. But I’m up there looking for connection and love and validation, and maybe that’s too much to ask for, but I’m going to keep asking for it anyway.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Smith: I write everything down all day long. When my father was dying, I wrote down every detail. Not necessarily for stand-up, just to remember it. I guess it’s a way to not cope with the things going on around me. But, then I have the notes for later and I can mine them for something funny. I do this at gas stations, grocery stores, funerals. Ultimately, it’s rude. But my note pad and I are one in the same and where I go it will be.

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
Smith: Stand-up is like an experimental science. There are a lot of variables to getting something right. A joke is ready when you’ve written it, and you will only find out if it works through performing it. That’s what open mics are for!

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Smith: If I am in love with a joke, but after five or six tries in front of different audiences it doesn’t work, I table it until I can find a better take. Or I bring it to someone I know is funnier than I am who will help me find what is going wrong. That being said, a good artist knows when they have shitty work and is able to move on from it.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Smith: Absolutely! It’s easy to blame the audience for this, but again, there are a lot of different variables. Maybe you weren’t as confident, maybe they weren’t paying attention, maybe your tone was off and when they weren’t laughing you got hostile. It could be anything. I think it’s important to pay attention to WHAT went wrong so you can fix it for next time, and not take any of it too personally. (Easier said than done!)

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Smith: A good audience is both like having the most intimate conversation and playing a very good game of tennis. You can ping something to them and have the audience send it right back. It is wonderful, it will only raise your confidence, making you more daring, more willing to try risky material. It is nice to feel trusted.

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Smith: One time a man threw some of those Mardi Gras beads at me while I was on stage which is a few different layers of rude.

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Smith: I cry very hard until they apologize to me.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Smith: I personally am excited for it! People seem to be enjoying stand-up a lot, it’s getting very popular. I think it’s a good thing that homophobic, transphobic material is getting less acceptable. Hopefully we’ll be moving towards a more accepting space, and away from “I hate my wife and mother-in-law” tropes.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Smith: Pain, loss, love, fart noises.

Name: Maxi Witrak

Website: www.maxiwitrak.com

Socials: Twitter/Instagram

Why We’re Laughing: Witrak’s subtle and subdued delivery allows for the punchlines to sneak up on you, often tickling your funny bone well after she has already moved on in her set, making for a surprising game of comedic catch up!

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
Witrak: I was never the class clown or cool enough to be “the funny one.” Usually I was the one making a weird joke that all the cool kids kind of made a side eye at me for. One day after a joke one of these girls sort of goes quiet, squints at me, and goes, “…OHHHHH, you’re being FUNNY!” And it was like this whole time she/they hadn’t realized they were jokes and after that I made sense to them.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
Witrak: At first I liked sketch and improv, but those all demanded too much extra time of trying to organize people before even getting to get down to the work. As someone also pursuing acting and trying to have a life I thought of trying stand-up so that I could just rely on myself.

When I started, I thought I could bypass the slog of open mics by trying to out-write the process. The thought of staying up late night after night sounded miserable to me. So I was doing real shows every few weeks as my only stage time and was awful, of course. Somewhere in there I decided to stop being casual about it and let myself care enough to go for it. Every day I’m doing something towards it – writing, doing an open mic, doing a show, seeing a show, even if it’s just watching stand–up online. I literally check off each day that I’ve done something.

I think when I realized stand-up was my passion though was when going to the shows I would get insanely jealous of the comics. Just aching to get to be up there whether I was good or bad. I think if you find anything where you’re looking at the big sharks doing their thing and all you want to do is swim with them, even if you get torn to shreds, that’s how you know you want it.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Witrak: I’m still discovering it, every set. Sometimes I’ll watch a comic’s special and find that my entire set that night has picked up their accent, if you will. What I always try to steer back to is, who do I most want to get to be? What kind of person am I most jealous of because it seems like they’re having the most fun?

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Witrak: When I first started out, I’d describe myself as the poor man’s Amy Schumer. A lot of crude dick jokes and dad incest one-liners just because I was trying out the misdirect and play on words for the first time. I was also completely cut off from the audience, like I was reciting a presentation.

A lot of times I really want to fall back on the comfortable feeling of knowing each line by rote, but I’m starting to move into the space where I can just talk to the audience and be comfortable relying on myself to be my own parachute. Either method could kill or flop, but only one of them is exciting and worthwhile to me.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Witrak: Always. I’m known for making myself a quick note on my phone anytime something funny or strange happens (or, since the damn iPhone Notes slowdown, scribbling on my hand). It’s got to be annoying as hell for my poor friends – because as much as I want to enjoy the laugh in the moment my wheels are already turning for how to spin it into a bit.

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
Witrak: I’ll take something to an open mic as soon as I think of it. Sometimes it’s a half thought that occurred to me as I’m getting ready to go on stage, sometimes I’ve dumped three pages of word vomit on one theme into my laptop and have to start sifting through all that rubble for the tiny viable chunks that emerge by talking through it out loud. If I can talk through my thought process and get some response from the other comics, I know there’s something there and just have to keep tightening and tightening it ‘til I get it clean. Usually it crystallizes within a few mics; sometimes I have to go back to the writing table and squint at it ‘til I dig the final version out. But I don’t like to invest the time in getting it 100 percent lean before taking it to a mic and sizing up whether it’s viable in the first place.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Witrak: I don’t put much store in the volume of reactions at an open mic, but if I’ve done something in front of a live audience two to three times and already taken a closer look to see whether I’ve set it up in a way that just isn’t making sense from the audience’s perspective, I’ll scrap it. I keep everything in case some bit of it is salvageable as an observation but sometimes by abandoning it for a few months I inadvertently end up writing a bit with a different premise that absorbs it.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Witrak: Totally possible. I try to avoid blaming the audience but they have probably the most to do with it. I used to be a very competitive horseback rider and when I would get frustrated for a bad ride my trainer would always say “don’t blame the horse.” AKA, take responsibility for it, and use it to make you better. If you’re always blaming the audience or the writing of the scene or the horse, you’re never going to turn that awareness inward and make the needed changes to improve.

But yes, it is totally possible to have just a crap audience. Often it’s the environment – something in the circumstances have psychologically set them up to be poor audience members during your set. Time of night, demographics of the audience, quality of the venue’s food, whether there’s a door that keeps opening and closing and grabbing attention, seating arrangement, etc. Sometimes the setup makes the audience feel like they’re at a play and afraid to make noise rather than being active participants. I’ve done some painful sets in makeshift venues.

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Witrak: Absolutely. The more confident you are, the more fun you’re having up there, the more you start reaching for those bold choices or improvised moments that take it to the next level.

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Witrak: I finished a set one time and one of the male comics on the show came up to pay me all sorts of compliments about my writing. He offered to help get me on his friend’s show because he thought I was really funny, then immediately undercut it with “and you’re pretty cute, so sure.” I think any female reading this knows the precise and insidious difference I mean between a compliment on your appearance and a compliment on your appearance at the expense of the rest of you. Someone hitting on me doesn’t send me into a rage. Someone bullshitting me about the thing I’m working my ass off for does.

It reminded me that even though the comedy circles are small and it might feel like I constantly have to put up with that type, I can still choose who I invest my time and respect in, and I’m really lucky to have met quite a few bonafide good human beings so far. I do my best to surround myself with the genuine good guys who treat me like just another comic and not just a “female comic.”

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Witrak: I’ve had people disrupt a show but never outright heckle. Hating on an audience member is off-brand for me; I want everyone to have a good time. And if I shame someone outright, the whole audience is going to shrink inside themselves. I try to bring everyone in on the joke including the person who’s causing the problem, like they’re the drunk friend we’re humoring by giving a final beer while taking their keys from them.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Witrak: Living in LA spoils me, because no matter what type of comic you are, you have a place to work on your craft. For the individual comic, it’s difficult to find a niche, especially given how being clean or not can funnel you different places. But for comedy as a whole, both branches further the craft in their own way; the clean ones have to come up with smarter stuff in order to work within those constraints, while the blue comics can explore and blow up existing boundaries.

I’m hoping that people will continue to come see standup live; it still seems like such a mystery to most people who aren’t in it. I’ve overheard audience members say they’ve heard a comic “do that bit before” and complain about jokes being repeated. I don’t think they realize that as easy and improvised as a skilled comic may make a bit seem, each of those five minutes were painstakingly crafted over time. Or for people who like to listen to comedy albums, it’s like owning a CD versus going to a concert. You’re getting the shiny studio-perfect version while only the people who show up at the live show get that unique, shared, imperfect experience with the magic of in-the-moment discoveries.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Witrak: Tig Notaro, any day of the week. She is so unbelievably present – she does not let a single bit of roadkill go under her tire without getting out of the car to inspect it. There are comics I love who write hilarious bits and make me laugh out loud from behind my laptop when I’m home needing some inspiration. But she is truly for me the embodiment of Steve Martin’s opinion that people come to know a comic’s “taste” and that’s what they come to see. Or what Garry Shandling scribbled in his journals – people don’t care what song Elvis is singing, they came to hear him be the one singing. Tig has brilliant bits, obviously, but she could be reading from a Chinese takeout menu and have everyone dying on the floor because her style and point of view are so razor-sharp you just want to hear what she thinks on everything.

Witrak is performing at the 22nd LA Comedy Festival this week. For more information and the schedule, visit here.

Name: Erin Maguire

Website: www.erinmaguire.com

Socials: Twitter/Facebook

Why We’re Laughing: Likable in a “she should spearhead her own sitcom” kind of way, Magure’s (sometimes) self-deprecating brand of humor brings the audience into the jokes as opposed to leaving them on the outside looking in.

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a funny kid, even at an early age?
Maguire: Always. Ever since I played Van Itch in Dr. Seuss’s “The Bread and Butter Battles” and people laughed because my goggles were too big and kept sliding off my face, I realized that I was destined for a life of people laughing at me. Or just my face. I was always a ham.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how long you would attack things?
Maguire: Well, here’s a funny thing I remembered recently… a recovered memory. Thank you, therapy! When I was in second grade, I told a group of my friends I was gonna be a stand-up when I was older. And my best friend at the time said, “There’s no money in that!” Boy was she… right. (Laughter) I showed her! So I guess I was ahead of my time in using “The Secret.” I called it in second grade. But for the majority of my life, I was a sketch/improv comic. I grew up in Boston doing sketch. I went to school for theatre and walked down that path while I also had a foot in sketch and improv in NYC. But I went full tilt into stand-up about five years ago. As far as giving myself some sort of “deadline,” the answer is no. At a certain point, I think you need to decide if you’re all-in but I never said, “I’m giving this a year and if I don’t have my own Netflix series by such-and-such a date, I’m out!” That’s not why you do it. Then you’re missing the thread. Or I’m just an emotional cutter. 😉

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Maguire: I’m still figuring it out.

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Maguire: It is different – when I look back at tapes from when I first started to now, it’s wild. You don’t realize you’re growing when you’re in it. But I’m sure I’ll look back at videos of my sets now in about two years and say, “Well crap, that sucked.” It’s evolving. It’s not a totally different act. I like to think of it as Homer Simpson when he was on “The Tracy Ullman Show” to Homer Simpson now. You can tell the character is in there but it hasn’t reached maturation yet. That’s me. The Homer Simpson of comedy.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Maguire: Much to my husband’s dismay, yes. It is always on. It’s always on the lookout. But really, stupid stuff just keeps happening to me. It’s hard to tell if it’s random or if my brain is creating scenarios at this point. It’s like the “Inception” of comedy.

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a new audience?
Maguire: It varies from joke to joke. Some things seem to come easier than others. I’ll try jokes that I’ve written hours before a show and they work. Some, I could spend days on and they still don’t feel like they’re there.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Maguire: It used to be if it didn’t work right out of the gate, I would cut and run. Now, I’m a lot more fearless and sometimes my jokes stay too long at the party. It’s almost like the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction and I’m digging my heels in a bit too long. It’s coming back down now. I’ll try something maybe five times now.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Maguire: ABSOLUTELY. Audiences like different things and react differently. Also, my energy may vary from show to show. A lot of times, I find the second shows of the night to be the better ones, because I’m too tired to get in my own way. Over “efforting” and working too hard can be my Achilles’ heel sometimes. But energy and what a crowd chooses to connect with can vary wildly from night to night and show to show.

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Maguire: ANOTHER ABSOLUTELY. Comedy is a group participation sport. The more they react, the more I open up. There’s something to that whole collective consciousness thing.

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Maguire: The flops always teach you more than the wins. My first flop will stay with me forever. I was put on an All Stars show at Gotham when I was about two months into stand-up. I had five minutes. My first joke out of the gate landed with a thud and the remaining four minutes and 45 seconds lasted about 12 years. That’s what it felt like. These people looked like they wanted to skewer me. And I didn’t have enough in my arsenal at that point to pivot away. I had to step away from stand-up for about three months after that. But I came back stronger. I think the lesson is don’t let those moments stall you in your tracks. Now I have alligator skin and I don’t take the flops personally. I also never wore that same outfit on stage again because I am crazy superstitious. (Laughter)

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Maguire: Hecklers usually want to be part of the show. I acknowledge them (because ignoring them WILL NOT make them go away). I don’t say anything too harsh because that’s not my style. I talk to them just long enough to find a segue back into a bit and I never go back to them again. A lot of the times, clubs shut down the hecklers for you. So that’s a good thing. But if you’re not in a club, you need to be prepared to go to bat.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Maguire: I think the future looks bright for women! Thanks to the #metoo movement, I know a lot in the industry are turning their attention to female-driven comedies and voices. So that’s awesome. But by the same turn, I also feel like there’s a big comedy boom happening where everyone and their mom is getting a Netflix special. No really. I’m pretty sure my mother has one coming out this fall. So the landscape is getting oversaturated. I think it will level out. It’s like when someone lives in a town that the NY Times says is the “new Brooklyn,” then everyone moves out there and they build a crap ton of condos. The place gets overrun and people find a new place to hang. Everything ebbs and flows. And we’re kind of in a flood. But it will level out.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Maguire: I LOVE Patton Oswalt, Eddie Izzard, John Mulaney, Ryan Hamilton, and of course Carol Burnett. They’re all super smart comedians, totally left of center, and totally cool in their own skin.

Name: Brendan Krick

Website: www.brendankrick.com

Socials: Twitter

Why We’re Laughing: An everyman with a set that is as relatable as it is funny, Krick’s bits place the audience in the driver’s seat of the impending punchline to be, albeit with a slightly harder R rating than how most of us are probably used to living our lives.

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
Krick: My parents would describe me less as a “funny” kid and more as having a “learning disability.” I made funny videos for the morning news as a teenager and wrote comedy sketches for the school talent show. Stand-up grew out of that.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
Krick: I realized stand-up was something anybody could attempt when I saw the movie “Funny People.” I found an open mic in Harrisburg, PA, then wasted four years performing about once a week with no plan. Once I moved to Philadelphia, I got more motivated and two years later I moved to LA.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Krick: I’m definitely still finding it. I’m constantly throwing out old material and re-evaluating what kind of comic I am. (A good one, please book me.)

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Krick: When I started I would just kind of say a weird non sequitur to shock people. Now, I don’t want to shock people. I want people on board for whatever weird or dark thing is about to happen.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Krick: I tweet a lot, so that helps stimulate my brain into a joke-writing space. Writing for The Hard Times has helped me feel comfortable forcing out rough material to polish later. I can produce on-demand reliably but there’s a lot of editing involved.

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
Krick: Almost none. I won’t do new jokes for a paying crowd, but if I’m at an open mic I like to write on stage. If I spend too much time working out an idea in a notebook, I tend to spoil it.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Krick: Two or three times. If I can’t make the bit work after adding more context or framing it in a different way, I’ll drop it and pick it up again in a couple months. I have some bits I do all the time now that I had previously given up on.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Krick: Definitely. This happened to me at a contest in Philadelphia. I advanced at the quarter finals with a dirty set. At the semi-finals, the crowd was not responding to dirty material and I failed to adapt to their response. To quote Bill Hicks, “There aren’t any bad crowds, just wrong choices.”

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Krick: If an audience is really feeling me, I’ll get excited and lean harder into my delivery. I can’t decide if that’s good or bad. Probably goes back to finding my voice.

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Krick: Last summer, I was going through a weird time in my life and I walked from one venue to another listening to “The Marshall Mathers LP” and I somehow wound up crying a little bit (very cool). I had the set of my life, and for that I will always thank Eminem, my spiritual king.

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Krick: Hecklers want to be a part of the show, and I don’t like letting them. An epic heckler takedown will still give them that moment and possibly encourage them to keep interrupting.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Krick: I don’t like thinking about the stand-up landscape. I’m funnier than I was a year ago. That’s the only part of this I can control. Everyone who’s getting opportunities deserves them, and all the comedy coming out right now is great. I’m very agreeable. Please book me.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Krick: Shane Gillis. Look up Matt & Shane’s Secret Podcast.

Name: Kristen Lundberg

Website: www.kristensfunnyhair.com

Socials: Twitter/Instagram

Why We’re Laughing: If the acts of Judy Tenuta and Steven Wright got funky off stage, Lundberg’s classic approach with a contemporary delivery would arrive nine months later. It doesn’t require a two drink minimum to laugh yourself silly at one of her performances.

TrunkSpace: Was comedy always in the cards? Were you a “funny” kid, even at an early age?
Lundberg: My dad made an evil hissing noise when he laughed and it scared me, so I didn’t try and make him laugh, but yeah, I was a funny kid.

TrunkSpace: When did you decide to pursue stand-up comedy as a career and did you make a plan for how you would attack things?
Lundberg: I decided in late high school that I would be a comedian. I had a binder labeled “Plan A.” It was filled with all my sketch ideas that I would pursue as long as I didn’t get pregnant.

TrunkSpace: How long did it take for you to discover your voice as a comic?
Lundberg: It took me about two years of high school plus two years of Sinclair Community College and three more years at The Art Academy of Cincinnati to find and refine my voice.

TrunkSpace: Is the approach you take now on stage different from the approach you took when you first started out? Is it one act that grew into itself or would you consider them two completely different acts?
Lundberg: The act I was first doing got me kicked out of comedy clubs (and strip clubs). Now, sometimes they pay me! So yeah, they different.

TrunkSpace: Is the neon “Open” sign in your brain always turned on, and by that we mean, are you always writing and on alert for new material?
Lundberg: Yes, but I turn it off at bed time. At night my brain is cleaned like a host in “Westworld.”

TrunkSpace: How much work goes into a joke before it’s ready to be tested out in front of a live audience?
Lundberg: I write it about two or three times before doing an open mic.

TrunkSpace: If a joke doesn’t seem to be working, how many chances do you give it in a live setting before you decide to rework it or move on from it altogether?
Lundberg: It’s not really a matter of how many chances. It just depends if I feel there’s substance to the joke.

TrunkSpace: Is it possible to kill one night and bomb the next with essentially the same set, and if so, what do you chalk that up as?
Lundberg: I don’t worry unless the bombs begin to outnumber the kills. When that happens, I’ll usually cut my hair and buy a new vape or something.

TrunkSpace: Does a receptive and willing audience fuel your fire of funny and help to put you on your game for the rest of your set?
Lundberg: I hope the audience is willing….

TrunkSpace: What is your most memorable performance experience (good or bad!) that will stick with you for the rest of your career and why?
Lundberg: I had a fun set in Cincinnati where a crack head wandered on stage and took the microphone from me. They kicked him out. I had a good set.

TrunkSpace: How do you handle hecklers? What approach do you take?
Lundberg: It depends. If it’s an audition situation, I let the audience or house staff take care of it. If I’m just working a club somewhere, I’ll get to know them better by telling them to shut up.

TrunkSpace: What are your thoughts on the stand-up landscape in 2018? Are you optimistic for the future of live comedy?
Lundberg: Its a gold mine out here, bruh.

TrunkSpace: Finally, who do YOU find funny?
Lundberg: I think Eminem is funny.

Actor and comedian Nik Dodani is about to embark on a career-defining journey that will force the pop culture community to open its eyes wide to the Arizona native’s talents. With a string of high profile projects set for release in the near future, including the new Netflix series “Atypical” on August 11, the creative multi-hyphenate is well on his way to becoming a household name.

We recently sat down with Dodani to discuss sinking or sailing in stand-up, why he transitioned to the spotlight of the stage, and how much he enjoyed being an openly gay actor playing a very straight character.

TrunkSpace: The chicken or the egg question. What came first, acting or comedy?
Dodani: Acting. Acting definitely came first. I started acting when I was a kid back in Arizona. So, I’ve been acting on and off for about 10 years. I only started doing stand-up about two years ago.

TrunkSpace: So if acting came first, do you think that working with the words of other writers helped you when you started working on your own material?
Dodani: I think so, yeah. I think watching comedic actors over the years has really helped understand timing and energy and presence in a way that I think has really helped me in stand-up.

I definitely think that they kind of feed each other. And I think it works the other way too. My stand-up has also helped me in my acting. Being on stage by myself in front of a large crowd, either bombing or doing well, really taught me more about timing and about how to connect with an audience and how collaboration in performance can really change the tone or the way a joke lands.

TrunkSpace: Stand-up really feels like the purest form of content creation in that, what you created is what you’re performing, with no outside influence or participation. You either do well on your own or bomb on your own.
Dodani: Yeah, absolutely. You’re up there by yourself and you have your own story to tell. While you’re on stage it’s a very solitary experience. But I will say, my stand-up community has been a big part in helping me become the comic writer that I’ve been. It’s definitely been a village of people who have helped me get to where I am. It’s a solo performance and you sink or sail on your own, but getting there has definitely been a group effort.

TrunkSpace: Is the most difficult thing with starting a stand-up career finding your own unique voice and presence on stage?
Dodani: For me I think the most difficult part was finding ways to take what I’ve experienced in my life and making that relatable to folks. A lot of my stand-up is about being gay and being Indian and about growing up in Arizona, which I think most people can’t directly relate to. But, you know, I think there are parts of those experiences that are so relatable, in about feeling like an outcast, about feeling like a fish out of water, about struggling to figure out who you are. I think those are all things we can all relate to. When I’m writing, that process of figuring out where I can make that connection, that’s one of the hardest parts for me. But also, the most exciting part and the most fun part. It sounds really cheesy, but it has taught me how similar we all are.

TrunkSpace: You’re about to be recognized for your acting in high profile projects like “Atypical” and “Alex Strangelove.” Do you hope that working in projects like those will open your stand-up to new audiences?
Dodani: It’s always hard to tell how a specific project is going to effect your career. For me, I’m just really excited to be part of these projects and it’s been so much fun being able to work on them. Especially with “Atypical” and “Alex Strangelove,” the specific ones you mentioned, the story that both of those are telling are so powerful. The theme of “Atypcal” is what it means to be normal and that is directly related to the themes that I talk about in my stand-up and things that we all struggle with. And the same with “Alex Strangelove,” it’s about this teenager struggling with his sexuality. And being able to be a part of those stories in a small way has been a really special experience for me.

TrunkSpace: Just before we talked we had a look at how many people had viewed the “Atypical” trailer on YouTube. It was over 257,000 within a 24 hour period. That’s pretty great.
Dodani: Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. I just saw the one on Facebook has like 2.4 million views, which kind of blew my mind.

I think “Atypical” speaks to that thread that kind of runs through all of us. I think we all kind of are made to feel, at some point in our life, that we don’t fit in or that we’re different or weird or not normal. And so I think Sam’s story kind of resonates.

TrunkSpace: Where does your character tie into Sam’s story?
Dodani: I play Zahid, Sam’s ridiculous coworker and best friend who takes it upon himself to teach Sam how to date and how to talk to women and the ways of women. He really treats Sam like he’s anybody else, more than anyone else does in Sam’s life. He just wants Sam to get laid. (Laughter)

At the end of the day he treats him like his equal and his peer. And Zahid is also absolutely a weirdo and I think is someone who’s quirky and odd and relates with Sam’s honesty and his struggles with autism in a way that helps them connect. Zahid is really just there to have Sam’s back and he’s helping him through his journey of trying to figure himself out.

TrunkSpace: While his intentions are pure, is Zahid leading Sam blindly at times?
Dodani: (Laughter) Yeah, I think Zahid thinks he has the best advice, but from an outsider’s perceptive, I don’t think it is great advice all the time. (Laughter) Zahid’s the kind of guy who tries really hard to be cool, really hard to be funny, and doesn’t quite hit the mark always. And so definitely, I think some of his advice is a little off base.

TrunkSpace: From a performance standpoint, what drew you to Zahid?
Dodani: Zahid is so different from who I am. Zahid is just very self-confident, goes out there and puts himself out there. He’s very assertive in his attitude and behaviors in a way that I’m just not, especially when it comes to dating. I’m the awkward, shy, really get-in-my-head kind of guy, so being able to play a character that is just so out there was really fun for me. And also, Zahid is very straight and I’m an openly gay actor and comic and that was really exciting for me. You often see examples of straight actors playing gay parts and it’s really fun to be a gay actor playing a straight character.

TrunkSpace: “Atypical” seems like such a great combination of comedy and heartfelt storytelling. It feels a lot like an indie, character-driven film.
Dodani: Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a spot-on description. It very much has that indie vibe to it and I think folks are going to be feeling a lot of emotions while watching it. It’s definitely funny, but it also is very heartwarming. It can get sad at moments, you cringe in other moments, but it definitely touches on the whole range of emotions and it has that very indie vibe to it.

TrunkSpace: Acting was your first love, but stand-up seems to be taking up a lot of your career energies these days. If a role of a lifetime came along where it kept you busy for multiple seasons, could you step away from stand-up for a period of time?
Dodani: That’s a great question. I love stand-up so much. I kind of started doing stand-up because it was a way to express myself creatively and to have fun, but it’s become this thing that has become such a big part of my life and I absolutely want to continue working on my material and finding my voice in a way that will take time. And so ideally they kind of go hand in hand, but sometimes you never really know the forces that play into this career, and within this industry in particular, and where that takes you.

“Atypical” premieres August 11 on Netflix.