For years I had secretly imagined myself writing bits for mostly male comics and gravitated to Robin William, Seinfeld, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Steven Colbert, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle
and Dinnis Miller. I'm almost embarassed to say my worst inner critic distinctly sounds like Jim Carrey.
My earlier comical female influences included Goldie Hawn, Woopie Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Bette Midler and just in general my all time favorite lady, Meryl Streep. I loved the way these people boldly framed the world through their distinct perspective.
Recently, I had a wake up call to the new generation of comics who had slipped my radar since dare I say, my husband and I unplugged our TV over a year ago. Hey that's what You Tube is for, right? While writing the opening scene for my screenplay "Five Rites" (where the leading lady gives a light hearted speech to her family the day she introduces her
fiancé) I began researching female comics. A whole new world of humor and style opened up for me.
Over the last three years my own comic voice has come through as I've actively taken the funny , insightful moments in my life and jotted them down in a sketch comedy format. Lately my husband has been encouraging me to "put it in the joke file"
Then it dawned on me, I am writing for my favorite comics as I went back and wrote in their voice I heard in my head. Now that's comedy. So I'm starting a movement to maintain or restore sanity. It's called write your story down and then assign a comedian who would be great at telling your story as if it were their own.
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