LAURA SANDERS: THE COMEDY THAT MADE ME
(Photo @meganleighbarnard)
Laura Sanders: The Comedy That Made Me
Talking to Paul Oswell
Comedian Laura Sanders here! I’ve been doing stand-up since I was a 20-year-old virgin with adult braces. In the many years since then, I’ve told jokes all over the country, recorded some albums, had sex multiple times and, not long ago, one of my front teeth was ripped right out of my face. (I got a new one.) From a virgin with braces to a slut with a missing tooth… Comedy changes people! On Friday August 1, I’m taping a special at Sports Drink (shows at 7 and 9pm, tickets available at LauraSanders.fun/times, thanks for asking). I’m hoping that, if you get to know me a little, I can convince you to come to my show so I can capture your laughter like a Hocus Pocus witch inhaling children. So, in no particular order, here are a few things that inspire me to be the best comedian I can:
Speech & Debate Team
I was a speech kid, and my mom was a wildly talented and funny speech coach. While I’d like to tell you I was an instant champion in everything I did, and that I am great on stage now because I was great on stage then, it’s more likely the times I was bad at it that really help me with being a comedian. As a fifteen year old, I was in an out-of-my-range dramatic duet. After the performance, I felt the few moments of laughter in it were popping much more than was called for. After the performance, I found out I had somehow managed to tuck the back of my shirt into my high-riding underwear, so as I tried to give the appropriate gravity to my elderly character’s familial drama as only a 15-year-old can, several inches of pale pink Hanes were exposed the entire performance. Living through embarrassment is for amateurs...I’ve learned to weaponize it.
“Laura Hangs Out with Such Sad Men”
The only time my grandmother saw me do comedy, that was her review. Although there is a veritable sea of sadboys at every open mic, really talented and brilliant friends are what have always kept me lit up about performing. There’s a special feeling when someone you love is crushing on stage right before you’re about to go up, and as you watch them with the audience in the palm of their hand you become SO HAPPY for them, and think “ooooh..fuck yeah, and fuck you!” Geneva Joy and Kamari Stevens are great at this; I love having performance envy for those two.
Death on Stilts
At a comedy festival in Denver, the shows were in this arts district and all weekend, this guy on super tall stilts, dressed as Death, was just fucking about. He had the skull mask, long flowing robes, all of it. After my final set of the fest I ate a big ol’ Denver edible and sat in the back corner of a show, close to the door. Then, ducking dramatically through the door, Death entered the auditorium! I was mildly overwhelmed until a tiny blonde comedian walked right up to Death, looked straight up at the grim spectre, and said, “You can’t come in here, there’s a comedy show!”
And so, Death left.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slapstick
When my Grandma died, a friend sent me the Charlie Chaplin quote, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” Slapstick is my favorite book, as it’s a perfect illustration of how dadaist, bonkers, and slapstick all the deeply joyful and profoundly sad parts of life can be. Good comedy doesn’t ignore the sad parts: it plays with them.
That Person I Saw Fall on a Segway Tour
No matter how hard I write or how high-minded I get about comedy, nothing will be funnier than people falling down. Once, I got to see a tourist on a segway tour take a corner too hard, bonk the curb, and flop right over on her ass.* Perfect comedy. No notes (*No tourists were injured in the telling of that story).
Laura Sanders tapes her new special On Friday August 1 at Sports Drink (shows are at 7 and 9pm, and tickets are available at LauraSanders.fun/times).
Talking to Paul Oswell
Comedian Laura Sanders here! I’ve been doing stand-up since I was a 20-year-old virgin with adult braces. In the many years since then, I’ve told jokes all over the country, recorded some albums, had sex multiple times and, not long ago, one of my front teeth was ripped right out of my face. (I got a new one.) From a virgin with braces to a slut with a missing tooth… Comedy changes people! On Friday August 1, I’m taping a special at Sports Drink (shows at 7 and 9pm, tickets available at LauraSanders.fun/times, thanks for asking). I’m hoping that, if you get to know me a little, I can convince you to come to my show so I can capture your laughter like a Hocus Pocus witch inhaling children. So, in no particular order, here are a few things that inspire me to be the best comedian I can:
Speech & Debate Team
I was a speech kid, and my mom was a wildly talented and funny speech coach. While I’d like to tell you I was an instant champion in everything I did, and that I am great on stage now because I was great on stage then, it’s more likely the times I was bad at it that really help me with being a comedian. As a fifteen year old, I was in an out-of-my-range dramatic duet. After the performance, I felt the few moments of laughter in it were popping much more than was called for. After the performance, I found out I had somehow managed to tuck the back of my shirt into my high-riding underwear, so as I tried to give the appropriate gravity to my elderly character’s familial drama as only a 15-year-old can, several inches of pale pink Hanes were exposed the entire performance. Living through embarrassment is for amateurs...I’ve learned to weaponize it.
“Laura Hangs Out with Such Sad Men”
The only time my grandmother saw me do comedy, that was her review. Although there is a veritable sea of sadboys at every open mic, really talented and brilliant friends are what have always kept me lit up about performing. There’s a special feeling when someone you love is crushing on stage right before you’re about to go up, and as you watch them with the audience in the palm of their hand you become SO HAPPY for them, and think “ooooh..fuck yeah, and fuck you!” Geneva Joy and Kamari Stevens are great at this; I love having performance envy for those two.
Death on Stilts
At a comedy festival in Denver, the shows were in this arts district and all weekend, this guy on super tall stilts, dressed as Death, was just fucking about. He had the skull mask, long flowing robes, all of it. After my final set of the fest I ate a big ol’ Denver edible and sat in the back corner of a show, close to the door. Then, ducking dramatically through the door, Death entered the auditorium! I was mildly overwhelmed until a tiny blonde comedian walked right up to Death, looked straight up at the grim spectre, and said, “You can’t come in here, there’s a comedy show!”
And so, Death left.
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slapstick
When my Grandma died, a friend sent me the Charlie Chaplin quote, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.” Slapstick is my favorite book, as it’s a perfect illustration of how dadaist, bonkers, and slapstick all the deeply joyful and profoundly sad parts of life can be. Good comedy doesn’t ignore the sad parts: it plays with them.
That Person I Saw Fall on a Segway Tour
No matter how hard I write or how high-minded I get about comedy, nothing will be funnier than people falling down. Once, I got to see a tourist on a segway tour take a corner too hard, bonk the curb, and flop right over on her ass.* Perfect comedy. No notes (*No tourists were injured in the telling of that story).
Laura Sanders tapes her new special On Friday August 1 at Sports Drink (shows are at 7 and 9pm, and tickets are available at LauraSanders.fun/times).