Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Classics: Comedy and Activism with Chanel Ali

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SMNTY Classics: Comedy and Activism with Chanel Ali · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie an Samantha. I don't kind to Stephane.
0:07
Speaker 1: Never told your protection of iHeart radio. And I have
0:18
Speaker 1: a fun question for you because you don't know the answer.
0:22
Speaker 1: So that's home for me. Okay, what is the date
0:26
Speaker 1: that this is coming out? Oh? I don't know this
0:30
Speaker 1: is it's something significant to you. So it's something nerd related.
0:34
Speaker 1: What No, something I don't like it is April Fools,
0:40
Speaker 1: April first. I have had a bad experience on more
0:46
Speaker 1: than once with April Fool. It's how about you, you
0:49
Speaker 1: know what. I think it's time that we put that aside,
0:52
Speaker 1: especially when you're making life altering life decisions. That doesn't
0:57
Speaker 1: exist as a joke. Let's just say, let's just stop that. Deaths, births, weddings, pregnancies.
1:04
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and push all that out the window. Okay,
1:06
Speaker 1: we can we just push all of that out the window.
1:08
Speaker 1: If your April Fools is literally like, huh, I got you.
1:11
Speaker 1: I didn't get you a donut. I got you a
1:12
Speaker 1: donut because it's nice, then that's fine. Give me a donut. Yeah.
1:17
Speaker 1: I feel like with the internet getting involved, though, like
1:20
Speaker 1: that day on the internet is a minefield. You don't
1:23
Speaker 1: know what anything means anymore, right, But the more ridiculous
1:27
Speaker 1: is the one I'm like, wait, this doesn't make oh
1:29
Speaker 1: what day is today? Because I always forget what day
1:32
Speaker 1: it is? Too, Yes, me too, but our world is
1:34
Speaker 1: so ridiculous now. Some of the things that I would
1:36
Speaker 1: have said was in April Fool's headline like a couple
1:39
Speaker 1: of years ago, not so much anymore. One of my
1:43
Speaker 1: saddest April Fools prank I tried to pull once I
1:48
Speaker 1: was in fourth grade. I had a huge crush on
1:51
Speaker 1: Ryan Gosling and everyone knew I had a huge crush
1:54
Speaker 1: on Ryan Gosling. So my joke was he had contacted me.
2:00
Speaker 1: And then everyone was like, oh really, and I was
2:02
Speaker 1: like no, And that was your stoasm. Your sarcasm in
2:12
Speaker 1: today is that way you're like, you'll say something sarcastic
2:14
Speaker 1: would be really You're like, no, I'm sorry. I said
2:16
Speaker 1: it immediately. It was immediately sad. I didn't try to
2:21
Speaker 1: write oh, I didn't try to do it. I was
2:23
Speaker 1: just like, no, you didn't really, sorry, that's not right. Yes, well, uh,
2:30
Speaker 1: my critiques aside, our critiques aside. I thought it'd be
2:34
Speaker 1: good to bring back the episode we did with a
2:36
Speaker 1: Chanelle Alie, comedian about activism and advocacy within comedy, and
2:42
Speaker 1: she's doing all kinds of things. Look her up. She's
2:45
Speaker 1: she's really done a lot since we had this conversation.
2:48
Speaker 1: So for comedy specials, so many things, food Network stuff like,
2:53
Speaker 1: definitely go check it out. And in the meantime, please
2:55
Speaker 1: enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is Samantha and this
3:03
Speaker 1: is Annie. Welcome to STEPH. Mom never told you a
3:05
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works, And today we've got
3:18
Speaker 1: an amazing episode. I'm so excited. Just a bit of
3:21
Speaker 1: a trigger warning, not really big detail, but we do
3:23
Speaker 1: talk about the Me Too movement, specifically talking about comedians
3:27
Speaker 1: in the me too time frame Harvey Weinstein, So just
3:30
Speaker 1: to throw that out there. Again, we don't get into
3:32
Speaker 1: anything deep, but we just still like to give you
3:34
Speaker 1: a warning. And today we had the most amazing Chanel
3:39
Speaker 1: Alie come in and speak with us about comedy, women
3:44
Speaker 1: in comedy, black women in comedy, and fighting against injustice
3:50
Speaker 1: with humor. Yes, and she was an absolute delight. I'm
3:53
Speaker 1: really bummed that I missed the show that you went
3:56
Speaker 1: to talk about that. Yeah, So she was a part
3:59
Speaker 1: of the feminist buz Kills a comedy which used to
4:01
Speaker 1: be Lady Parts Justice and is now called Abortion Access Front,
4:06
Speaker 1: and they tour around the country working with different abortion
4:09
Speaker 1: clinics throughout the country, getting their name now talk about fundraising,
4:12
Speaker 1: talk about reproductive justice, and it's beautiful and hilarious. This
4:17
Speaker 1: is the second one that I've attended. The first one
4:19
Speaker 1: was at a different location. Caroline of Unladylike as the
4:23
Speaker 1: one that invited me, and I love them so much.
4:26
Speaker 1: They are so hilarious. Liz Winstead, who was an icon
4:30
Speaker 1: and herself, she was a co creator of The Daily Show.
4:32
Speaker 1: She's the one that began this organization and make sure
4:35
Speaker 1: to go around and brings into conversation these big issues
4:40
Speaker 1: and I love it. And I met Chanelle at this
4:42
Speaker 1: show from this weekend. I guess that probably was a
4:44
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago when we aired this her actual episode. Yes, yes,
4:49
Speaker 1: and I kind of was like, hey, can we be friends?
4:53
Speaker 1: And it worked? What look at that, Samantha, I make friends.
4:58
Speaker 1: But she had an amazing show. She had an amazing set.
5:01
Speaker 1: So if you are around anywhere, because she tours a
5:05
Speaker 1: lot essentially, I know she is based out of New York,
5:09
Speaker 1: but if you get a chance, go check her side
5:11
Speaker 1: out Chanelle Ali and we'll give you some more information
5:14
Speaker 1: and check out her touring because she does some amazing things.
5:18
Speaker 1: She absolutely does. I'm so bummed I missed the show.
5:22
Speaker 1: Samantha has two excellent shirts she got from it. But
5:26
Speaker 1: I am very glad that she came to the studio,
5:28
Speaker 1: that you succeeded in getting her to come in because
5:31
Speaker 1: she was a delight she is. And so we go
5:34
Speaker 1: ahead and start with the interview. So today we are
5:37
Speaker 1: meeting with someone who I may have stealthily I'm gonna
5:41
Speaker 1: say it stealthily, but it really wasn't hunted down during
5:44
Speaker 1: an abortion access front comedy event. Probably frightened her quite
5:48
Speaker 1: a bit. Alie, Hi, thank you guys so much for
5:52
Speaker 1: having me. Thanks for coming on. I did so. I
5:55
Speaker 1: was telling Annie, I'm like, I'm pretty sure she thinks
5:57
Speaker 1: I'm yeah, I'm not gonna say it now, so like
6:00
Speaker 1: it's okay, because I was like, hey, can we be friends?
6:03
Speaker 1: And he was like, I'm trying to watch and support
6:06
Speaker 1: my people. But that happens at comedy shows a lot
6:09
Speaker 1: of times, Like I'll get off stage and someone's very
6:11
Speaker 1: excited to talk to me, and I'm excited too, but
6:14
Speaker 1: also like sometimes the show's still happening, so I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
6:17
Speaker 1: let's yeah, yeah, let's see how excited tomorrow. I may
6:23
Speaker 1: have had an adult beverage yeah or two, and I'm like,
6:26
Speaker 1: we were on the same level of a few drinks
6:28
Speaker 1: and I can tell. So she's here. Thank you. We
6:32
Speaker 1: did it, Yes we did it, and yes you were
6:35
Speaker 1: a part of the Atlanta set forth feminist buzz kill
6:38
Speaker 1: of comedy Yeah Right, which was created by Abortion Access Front,
6:42
Speaker 1: which was used to be Lady Part Justice. They used
6:44
Speaker 1: to be called Lady Press Justice and then they decided
6:46
Speaker 1: that they wanted to like really be straightforward about what
6:49
Speaker 1: their goals are and who they are. So they were like,
6:51
Speaker 1: we are the Abortion Access Front and we're here to
6:53
Speaker 1: help women and we're going to fight the fight. I
6:56
Speaker 1: love it. And luckily the you know, the founder is
6:59
Speaker 1: Liz Instead, who I'm sure you're very familiar with. She
7:01
Speaker 1: also was the co creator of the Daily Show. Also,
7:03
Speaker 1: it's just like a very woke ass, like adorable lady.
7:07
Speaker 1: I just like her bun makes me happy when I
7:10
Speaker 1: see it. It makes me happy. So she reached out
7:12
Speaker 1: to me a few months ago and said that they
7:14
Speaker 1: were looking to take on a comedy writer. And I
7:17
Speaker 1: came on and I worked for them part time in
7:18
Speaker 1: New York a few days a week, and then they said,
7:21
Speaker 1: we're going on tour. You want to come on tour.
7:23
Speaker 1: You can tell jokes and then you know, help us
7:25
Speaker 1: during the day. And I was like, of course, you know,
7:26
Speaker 1: so here we are. I think this is the last
7:28
Speaker 1: stop on the tour. Is it the last stop? Yeah?
7:30
Speaker 1: Oh man. I was like, but this is the second
7:33
Speaker 1: show I've been too, because I can't I've went to
7:36
Speaker 1: the show with Joel and Helen Hong and I'm like, oh,
7:38
Speaker 1: I want to be all of you. All's front, right
7:40
Speaker 1: and where are you? Yeah. They do a good job
7:41
Speaker 1: of making sure that the comedians they pick can like
7:44
Speaker 1: handle the spotlight of the social issue but also can
7:47
Speaker 1: be like super insightful and funny and personal. And it's
7:50
Speaker 1: so funny and it's so fantastic. And again, yes, this
7:54
Speaker 1: is the second time I've been. But I did want
7:56
Speaker 1: you to talk a little more and you have. Can
7:58
Speaker 1: you introduce yourself for our list? Nurse? Hi, guys, I'm Shnali.
8:01
Speaker 1: I'm a stand up comedian and a writer. I live
8:03
Speaker 1: in New York City. I'm originally from Philadelphia. Shout out
8:06
Speaker 1: to anybody they want to Tumble University and it is
8:08
Speaker 1: still trying to pay it off. I've been doing comedy
8:11
Speaker 1: for about seven years. You might know me from MTV's
8:14
Speaker 1: Girl Code. I was in the last season of that show,
8:16
Speaker 1: which was also the last season of that show. I
8:20
Speaker 1: have a Comedy Central set coming out in a few
8:22
Speaker 1: weeks and that will be my debut on Comedy Central
8:25
Speaker 1: and an album will be out in May. WHOA, what
8:27
Speaker 1: is the title of the Comedy Central special. I don't
8:29
Speaker 1: know if they've titled it yet, but it's a partnership
8:31
Speaker 1: with Refinery twenty nine, so they just highlighted female comedians
8:35
Speaker 1: and they let us do kind of shorter sets like
8:37
Speaker 1: ten to twelve minutes. But it was great, really great production.
8:40
Speaker 1: We shot some incredible stuff backstage, like lady comics just
8:44
Speaker 1: talking to each other about like what type of weed
8:46
Speaker 1: we smoke and stuff like like really hard hitting journalism.
8:49
Speaker 1: And it's gonna be a dope series. I love it.
8:51
Speaker 1: And then you said you have an album coming out. Yes,
8:53
Speaker 1: I have an album coming out. I think it's going
8:55
Speaker 1: to be called Chanel number one. You like it? Claiming it?
9:01
Speaker 1: I'll like you feel it, right, I do. I was
9:03
Speaker 1: like fifty fifty for a while and I was like,
9:04
Speaker 1: I think that's it though, I think that is good.
9:07
Speaker 1: You know, I like it. Yeah, maybe I'll just be
9:09
Speaker 1: like naked on a perfume bottle, like I don't know,
9:11
Speaker 1: we're gonna plan it out. Oh, I have an envision
9:15
Speaker 1: of like a giant perfume bottle you'd wrap yourself around somehow. Yeah.
9:19
Speaker 1: I mean the ad parodies you could do so many,
9:23
Speaker 1: there are so many. I really hope it later in
9:25
Speaker 1: my career, I do, like get some type of sponsorship
9:28
Speaker 1: from Chanel and then I'll be in a Chanelle ad.
9:31
Speaker 1: It It'll be like Chanel for Chanelle because uh, and
9:37
Speaker 1: that's what I want for my future. I want to
9:39
Speaker 1: be in advertising like that. As far as goals go,
9:43
Speaker 1: that is a solid one. Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Yeah,
9:45
Speaker 1: it's in sync. If you're listening, get hello, you guys,
9:50
Speaker 1: got a lot of stuff you need to cover up.
9:52
Speaker 1: You need to get me on the front lines out
9:55
Speaker 1: here to help you and we'll fix it. Yeah, let
9:59
Speaker 1: her help you. You know. Yes, I love the perfume.
10:02
Speaker 1: This is the ads that world needs, right, Yeah, yeah,
10:05
Speaker 1: so you just talk about MTV Girl Code, Can you
10:07
Speaker 1: kind of tell us what that is? And oh yeah,
10:10
Speaker 1: what that incubas? And how did you get involved? Oh? Man,
10:12
Speaker 1: So that used to be this show that was on
10:13
Speaker 1: MTV and it was like sometimes guys, but mostly lady comics,
10:18
Speaker 1: straight to camera, like in front of a green screen,
10:20
Speaker 1: just giving really practical advice, like if you have a
10:23
Speaker 1: friend in me and you're still friends with them on Instagram,
10:26
Speaker 1: I'm like, you don't want to like every picture, but
10:27
Speaker 1: if they post something like, oh I'm having a really
10:29
Speaker 1: hard day, then you want to like it because you
10:31
Speaker 1: want to let them know, like your life is in shambles.
10:35
Speaker 1: I want to be truthful in my social interactions, you know.
10:37
Speaker 1: So it was just a really dope series where comedians
10:40
Speaker 1: were just being really honest and straightforward and giving advice
10:44
Speaker 1: that we wish we would have had ourselves when we
10:46
Speaker 1: were younger. And when I first started comedy, and even
10:48
Speaker 1: prior to comedy, I used to love this show. Like
10:51
Speaker 1: I used to watch it and I would walk up
10:53
Speaker 1: to the TV and get really close to it, and
10:55
Speaker 1: I would say, I gotta get on this show, Like
10:58
Speaker 1: I don't know how people get in here. What is
11:00
Speaker 1: the email? You know, like, how do you do it?
11:03
Speaker 1: And so I started comedy in Philly and I did
11:06
Speaker 1: comedy there for like two and a half years, started
11:08
Speaker 1: to make some money and get booked, and I was like,
11:09
Speaker 1: all right, I'm gonna go to New York and really
11:11
Speaker 1: try this because I don't want to be like six
11:12
Speaker 1: years old trying to be a comedian, so let's do
11:14
Speaker 1: it now. And so then I went to New York
11:16
Speaker 1: and I really, like, I mean an impact on the scene,
11:18
Speaker 1: just hit every single club, every single show, every single
11:21
Speaker 1: open mic, till everyone in the town was saying, have
11:24
Speaker 1: you seen Shinali? Have you seen Shinnali? And then one
11:26
Speaker 1: day I did a stupid show at a Brooklyn coffee shop,
11:29
Speaker 1: like a smokey coffee shop, and this guy was in
11:32
Speaker 1: the back reading a newspaper who just so happened to
11:34
Speaker 1: be a producer for a girl code okay, And the
11:37
Speaker 1: next day after I performed and I killed it. The
11:39
Speaker 1: next day he DM me on Instagram and he was like, Hey,
11:42
Speaker 1: I know this is random, but I produced for Girl Code.
11:44
Speaker 1: I think you'd be so good on this show. I
11:46
Speaker 1: can't get you an audition because we already cast it.
11:48
Speaker 1: But if you go home and do a self tape,
11:50
Speaker 1: maybe I can show it to the director and we'll
11:51
Speaker 1: do maybe. You know. He was like, I don't know,
11:53
Speaker 1: let's see what happens. So I went home, I did
11:55
Speaker 1: my makeup, set up lighting, put some TLC music in
11:59
Speaker 1: the background, took it to the nineties. I was like,
12:01
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go, let's go. And I got on
12:03
Speaker 1: that show. That is amazing. I remember the day they
12:06
Speaker 1: sent me the email like welcome to the Castle grolcode.
12:09
Speaker 1: I was on the train and I had like six
12:10
Speaker 1: dollars to my name, just so poor, so poor, And
12:13
Speaker 1: I got the email and I just like burst into tears,
12:16
Speaker 1: like uncontrollable for like ten stops on this train, and
12:19
Speaker 1: everybody in New York is like half looking at me,
12:21
Speaker 1: like is this happy tears or like we don't even
12:25
Speaker 1: know because people cry on the train all the time,
12:26
Speaker 1: you know, but it felt good to be like crying
12:28
Speaker 1: on the train for a good reason, you know. I
12:30
Speaker 1: was like, Wow, this is a great day, that is awesome. Yeah.
12:33
Speaker 1: So that was like my first big thing, I felt like,
12:37
Speaker 1: and since then, I've done a ton of things, but yeah,
12:40
Speaker 1: that really helped me establish a lot of my fan base.
12:43
Speaker 1: It got me verified on Snapchat. I have so many
12:45
Speaker 1: followers on Snapchat. I don't know if they're real people,
12:48
Speaker 1: but they watched my stuff. So yeah, it was a
12:51
Speaker 1: great It was a great experience all around. It really
12:53
Speaker 1: taught me a lot about, you know, communicating with women
12:57
Speaker 1: and being really vulnerable and how there's great comedy in
13:00
Speaker 1: that there's such great comedy and being able to pull
13:03
Speaker 1: from our really personal experiences and say, hey girl, I
13:05
Speaker 1: wish somebody would have told me this. And then I
13:08
Speaker 1: think it also kind of it helps men understand us
13:10
Speaker 1: a little better, right, to be able to see our
13:12
Speaker 1: perspectives in not such a heavy handed way, right, so
13:15
Speaker 1: we can break down the barrier and have them giggle
13:17
Speaker 1: a little and understand like, oh, you guys are human, right,
13:20
Speaker 1: you know people too, look at what your feeling. Funny
13:26
Speaker 1: at the giggles in me. So there were a couple
13:28
Speaker 1: of things because you were talking about the DM first, Annie,
13:31
Speaker 1: that's how a professional DM looks like. I had to
13:35
Speaker 1: teach her a couple of years ago what sliding into
13:37
Speaker 1: DMS meant. Yeah, because she is genuinely sweet and kind
13:40
Speaker 1: and she gets a random hits on I'm like, oh, girl.
13:45
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, he's sending me pictures of him
13:48
Speaker 1: reading this thing. I'm like no, no, no, no, no, no,
13:51
Speaker 1: die hard fan. I just love supporting U. She's like,
13:55
Speaker 1: what do I respond? I was like, no, no, she started,
14:00
Speaker 1: it started. But you did bring to the point about
14:03
Speaker 1: how putting humor to heavy handed things. And again I
14:07
Speaker 1: met you through such an amazing organization, Abortion Access Front,
14:11
Speaker 1: and how big of an issue it is today. And
14:13
Speaker 1: Annie and I have talked a lot since I've been
14:16
Speaker 1: on because of the political climate, of course, we'll go
14:19
Speaker 1: it as that, and why it is so important when
14:22
Speaker 1: we talk about reproductive justice and what it is what
14:24
Speaker 1: we're talking about about female autonomy and having rights for
14:28
Speaker 1: women and what that actually looks like as opposed to
14:31
Speaker 1: this morality. Yeah, idea, But why do you think it
14:35
Speaker 1: is so important that we combat injustice like this with humor?
14:40
Speaker 1: You know? I think when I think back about like
14:42
Speaker 1: the journey that I've had and finding my voice and
14:45
Speaker 1: really standing up for specifically reproductive rights, I think all
14:48
Speaker 1: the time about when I was naive and I was
14:52
Speaker 1: for I would say most of my life I didn't
14:54
Speaker 1: understand Obviously we've been hearing forever that women get paid less,
14:58
Speaker 1: But I didn't understand the scope of that until I
15:01
Speaker 1: really started to get a real job and like, climb
15:03
Speaker 1: that ladder and watch male counterparts climb the ladder with me,
15:07
Speaker 1: and got to recognize the difference, like, oh, you're titles
15:10
Speaker 1: different than mine, Where are you getting paid more than me?
15:12
Speaker 1: Like what's happening here? And we're doing the exact same
15:14
Speaker 1: I sit next to you, We're doing the exact same job,
15:16
Speaker 1: you know, And so I think that there's this I
15:19
Speaker 1: don't want to keep referring to trying to make men
15:23
Speaker 1: see us as humans, but I do think that sometimes
15:25
Speaker 1: when you dumb it down to that, you have to
15:27
Speaker 1: recognize that that is an issue, And especially with legislators.
15:31
Speaker 1: You know, we have these men in suits, sitting in
15:34
Speaker 1: positions of lots of power, and it's like they're playing legos.
15:38
Speaker 1: To them, it's a game, and the reality is that
15:41
Speaker 1: they're orchestrating what humans can do, what rights we have,
15:45
Speaker 1: what freedoms we have. So I think in humor, especially
15:48
Speaker 1: if you talk about like the transition of not knowing
15:51
Speaker 1: and knowing, when you can guide someone through that with
15:54
Speaker 1: some humor, you can help them not be so heavy
15:57
Speaker 1: handed about whether or not they understand. Because it's fine
16:00
Speaker 1: for a person to sit across from me and say
16:02
Speaker 1: I don't agree with you about this, but it's better
16:05
Speaker 1: if they can say I understand your perspective versus I
16:10
Speaker 1: don't agree or I do agree. But if I can
16:12
Speaker 1: get you to understand my perspective, especially through humor, I
16:15
Speaker 1: can get you to kind of take down your stance
16:17
Speaker 1: of judgment and we can really talk about being human,
16:20
Speaker 1: right and what it feels like to not be able
16:23
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself, you know. So that's it's
16:27
Speaker 1: something that's really beautiful and I watch it at comedy
16:29
Speaker 1: shows all the time when we talk. When I talk
16:30
Speaker 1: about something very heavy handed, and I can feel the
16:34
Speaker 1: energy shift. I can feel crowds tighten up, like, oh,
16:37
Speaker 1: she's she's talking about gay people. Now, okay, now she's
16:41
Speaker 1: she said it's something that she didn't say Trump, but
16:43
Speaker 1: we know she's reverencing him. You can feel that energy
16:46
Speaker 1: shift when people are like, we're scared about what you're
16:48
Speaker 1: gonna do. And when you release that tension and you
16:51
Speaker 1: take it to a silly place, you allow them to
16:54
Speaker 1: also relax about it and recognize that we should be
16:56
Speaker 1: able to talk about it and it doesn't have to
16:58
Speaker 1: be so heavy handed one or the other. So comedy
17:02
Speaker 1: is just such a useful tool to getting people to
17:05
Speaker 1: see a perspective and recognize other people in a way.
17:07
Speaker 1: And just when you're sitting in a crowd full of
17:09
Speaker 1: people that don't look like you and you share a
17:12
Speaker 1: common laugh and you look over at a stranger and
17:14
Speaker 1: kind of glance like, ha ha, that's funny. You connect.
17:18
Speaker 1: You connect on a level that it's very deep, you know,
17:21
Speaker 1: and you carry it with you for a while. So
17:23
Speaker 1: I think comedy is just so powerful. Can you teach
17:25
Speaker 1: me to be funny like that instead of just being
17:27
Speaker 1: heavy handed? I can, but I charge a lot for
17:30
Speaker 1: her hour, to be fair, I probably can't afford it.
17:34
Speaker 1: You'd be surprised how many businesswomen in New York City
17:37
Speaker 1: are like, I'll pay you. I'll pay you if you
17:40
Speaker 1: teach me some funny things. Is that a thing that
17:42
Speaker 1: could be an industry? You know, I've really recently started
17:45
Speaker 1: doing it, and I'm about I'm about to expand. Yeah,
17:51
Speaker 1: Because if you can imagine, like in every like rom com,
17:54
Speaker 1: there's this like forty year old woman that's been like
17:56
Speaker 1: just she's been climbing the corporate ladder forever and then
17:59
Speaker 1: I'll of a sudden, she says, that marvelous Miss Maisel
18:02
Speaker 1: moment in her life where she's like, I wanted to
18:05
Speaker 1: be an artist the whole time. And so they have
18:07
Speaker 1: all types of disposable income that they can throw at
18:09
Speaker 1: someone so they can bypass the hard, hard steps of
18:12
Speaker 1: just going open mics and just like not knowing what
18:14
Speaker 1: you're doing. So it's it's twofold. You know. It helps me,
18:18
Speaker 1: it helps them, right, So can it be taught or
18:22
Speaker 1: is it just natural nature versus I think you can
18:25
Speaker 1: teach it. I think I think you can teach it.
18:27
Speaker 1: But I do think that persona is very important, right,
18:31
Speaker 1: And like my joke, I know I'm a very good
18:33
Speaker 1: joke writer. I could write a joke for you and
18:36
Speaker 1: you know, try to write it in your voice and
18:37
Speaker 1: then send you on stage and you could say it.
18:39
Speaker 1: And I know that I could say the same joke
18:41
Speaker 1: and I could really kill people, you know, because I
18:44
Speaker 1: know that my persona is very strong, and I'm very
18:47
Speaker 1: confident and comfortable and how I speak to people. So
18:50
Speaker 1: I watch the difference sometimes and how my comedy can
18:53
Speaker 1: come across. So I do think you can teach it.
18:55
Speaker 1: I think anybody could do it at right. But I
18:58
Speaker 1: also think there's the real comedy happens in the moments
19:01
Speaker 1: that you didn't write, the moments where you're just comfortable
19:04
Speaker 1: on stage and you're just saying a thing that you
19:06
Speaker 1: thought or that you felt. Yeah, and that's the difference
19:09
Speaker 1: between people who just do comedy and people who are artists. Right,
19:13
Speaker 1: so you were talking about being on stage. Have you
19:15
Speaker 1: always been comfortable on stage? I can't say that. I
19:18
Speaker 1: think I used to have pretty severe stage right and then.
19:22
Speaker 1: But I was always doing public speaking, like I would
19:24
Speaker 1: always force myself to face it. So I was in
19:26
Speaker 1: student council in high school, and I, you know, I
19:29
Speaker 1: just did anytime they needed somebody to get up and speak.
19:31
Speaker 1: I would always like volunteer because I knew that it
19:33
Speaker 1: was healthy. But when I started comedy, it really ramped
19:36
Speaker 1: it up. I was super super afraid, Like my voice
19:39
Speaker 1: would shake, and I remember my hands would shake, you know,
19:42
Speaker 1: Like I would get so nervous so to desensitize myself.
19:45
Speaker 1: When I first started comedy, I started telling jokes on
19:47
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia subway so I would just get up on
19:50
Speaker 1: the street car and say, hey, you guys like comedy
19:52
Speaker 1: too bad, You're about to get some and I would
19:55
Speaker 1: just go off into a thing, and like, you know,
19:57
Speaker 1: it would be insane. Sometimes people would get up at
19:59
Speaker 1: lea sometimes they'd be like, you know, but every once
20:02
Speaker 1: in a while I get some laughs. It helped me
20:04
Speaker 1: learn about timing and how quickly you have to cut
20:06
Speaker 1: the fat and get to the joke, because they're not
20:08
Speaker 1: going to just sit here and listen attently for however
20:11
Speaker 1: long they're on the train. And that just like was
20:14
Speaker 1: so scary that when I started getting on stage, I
20:17
Speaker 1: was much less afraid. So now I don't really get
20:20
Speaker 1: nervous very often, but sometimes I do if it's a
20:22
Speaker 1: big opportunity. And like right before my Comedy Central taping,
20:25
Speaker 1: I was very concerned. I'd forget my name, you know,
20:28
Speaker 1: just go out there and be like, hey, yeah, I
20:29
Speaker 1: don't know who I am, but thank you guys so much.
20:33
Speaker 1: There's a joke, you know. So yeah, I do think
20:36
Speaker 1: I used to have a pretty severe fear of it.
20:38
Speaker 1: But I also think that even in those moments where
20:41
Speaker 1: I was able to push through and get those laughs,
20:43
Speaker 1: it was so strong. It was such a strong feeling
20:45
Speaker 1: that I was like, this is worth it. I'll fix
20:47
Speaker 1: this fear. This is worth it. Right, you know, we
20:51
Speaker 1: have some more of our interview with Chanelle, but first
20:53
Speaker 1: we have quick break for work from our sponsor and
21:09
Speaker 1: we're back. Thank you sponsor. Let's get back into the interview.
21:12
Speaker 1: So with all of that, because I think you and
21:15
Speaker 1: I talked a little bit about what I want to
21:17
Speaker 1: focus on in just in general when it comes to
21:20
Speaker 1: a being a woman who talks about abortion and talks
21:24
Speaker 1: about reproductive justice, and then being a woman on the
21:28
Speaker 1: comedy stage, which is already usually a strike, and then
21:31
Speaker 1: being a woman of color, a black woman, so many stage,
21:35
Speaker 1: how do you combat all of those social I guess
21:39
Speaker 1: what is its issues injustices? Racism all about how do
21:44
Speaker 1: you deal with that and today especially when even though
21:48
Speaker 1: it's not accepted, it kind of is and it seems
21:51
Speaker 1: to be back and forth. Yeah, I mean there's a
21:55
Speaker 1: lot of levels to that. But I think just being
21:57
Speaker 1: a woman in comedy, I had to learn that I
22:02
Speaker 1: had to find peace with people not always agreeing with me,
22:05
Speaker 1: and I think that can be hard when you're speaking
22:07
Speaker 1: into a microphone because you want them to just not
22:09
Speaker 1: and say, Yep, you're right girl, We're here with you.
22:12
Speaker 1: And so I had to learn peace with that, and
22:15
Speaker 1: that really came from educating male comedians in like personal spaces,
22:19
Speaker 1: Like I remember when Bill Cosby went on trial, a
22:22
Speaker 1: lot of male comedians that I love in respect were
22:24
Speaker 1: just not in the right mindset in my opinion, and
22:28
Speaker 1: they were very steeped in their beliefs and weren't going
22:32
Speaker 1: to be moved. But then they got to hear a
22:34
Speaker 1: perspective from someone like me that they know and they
22:36
Speaker 1: love and they trust, and they know has been doing
22:38
Speaker 1: comedy forever and has been even in rooms with people
22:42
Speaker 1: like Bill Cosby, and so I could speak from an
22:44
Speaker 1: experience that they had never had firsthand knowledge of. And
22:47
Speaker 1: so I was able to convince them through my experiences
22:50
Speaker 1: and also referencing things that they had seen among their
22:53
Speaker 1: counterparts about the reality. You know, like you have been
22:57
Speaker 1: on tour with a famous comedian and he grew up
23:00
Speaker 1: in an era where things couldn't get recorded on your
23:03
Speaker 1: cell phone? Did you see firsthand that he was inappropriate?
23:06
Speaker 1: Did you see firsthand that he seemed power crazy and
23:10
Speaker 1: not really aware of how he's affecting other people, and
23:13
Speaker 1: a lot of times they couldn't deny that, And so
23:15
Speaker 1: I was able to kind of bridge that gap between them,
23:18
Speaker 1: not feeling so indignant as we often do, but at
23:21
Speaker 1: least feeling sympathetic and recognizing the reality of the climate
23:26
Speaker 1: of what fame and money can do and the types
23:28
Speaker 1: of power dynamics that exists in entertainment because a lot
23:32
Speaker 1: of our meetings are in hotel rooms, and they are
23:35
Speaker 1: they're at bars and we have been drinking and you
23:38
Speaker 1: have to go or the opportunity isn't there. And if
23:41
Speaker 1: I was a young woman years ago and Bill Cosby
23:44
Speaker 1: had invited me to a thing, I would have went.
23:47
Speaker 1: I would have absolutely went, and I would have trusted
23:49
Speaker 1: that anything he wanted me to do was within the
23:52
Speaker 1: scope of what's appropriate, right, you know. So I think
23:55
Speaker 1: by really just kind of breaking down those barriers of
23:58
Speaker 1: communication and taking out the anger, because it's so easy
24:02
Speaker 1: to like scream at a man, you're stupid, you're not listening,
24:05
Speaker 1: you don't trust women, blah blah blah blah blah. But
24:09
Speaker 1: you know, you can't just scream feminism at men. And
24:12
Speaker 1: I think I have learned that from firsthand just watching
24:15
Speaker 1: people try right getting on stage and being like, so
24:18
Speaker 1: I'm a feminist, and the whole crowd is like, great,
24:21
Speaker 1: this is gonna be light. Sure, you're not gonna have
24:24
Speaker 1: any heavy opinions that make me feel bad about what
24:26
Speaker 1: I'm doing every day with my life. So I watched
24:29
Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes and I was able to kind
24:31
Speaker 1: of learn like, okay, so you can't. You can't really
24:33
Speaker 1: break down a barrier that way. So I think just
24:36
Speaker 1: like really being confident and taking out the anger as
24:39
Speaker 1: much as I can has helped me convert a lot
24:43
Speaker 1: of men into at least thinking for themselves, and women
24:47
Speaker 1: have been calling out a lot of the inequalities in comedy.
24:51
Speaker 1: Like a comedy show flyer will come out and it'll
24:53
Speaker 1: be eight white guys in the same flannel. Two to
24:56
Speaker 1: three of them have beards and glasses, and that's fine,
24:59
Speaker 1: but the perspectives that they're going to bring are gonna
25:02
Speaker 1: be very similar, right, and then the comedy becomes this
25:05
Speaker 1: one industry where you only give an opportunity to somebody
25:08
Speaker 1: that makes you feel comfortable, and you always give an
25:11
Speaker 1: opportunity to someone that's like you. I feel the same
25:13
Speaker 1: way when I go on the road and I pick
25:15
Speaker 1: someone open for me, I'm more often I'm going to
25:17
Speaker 1: give it to a black woman than anyone else because
25:19
Speaker 1: I wanted to succeed and I feel like I'm giving
25:21
Speaker 1: back to my community. So I feel like other people
25:23
Speaker 1: do that, but they don't recognize that they do if
25:25
Speaker 1: they don't recognize that comedy is run by white men
25:29
Speaker 1: and they own most of the clubs, and so when
25:31
Speaker 1: they consistently make that decision, it does become a system.
25:36
Speaker 1: And so when you can break it down into terms
25:38
Speaker 1: like that and really talk about the human qualities, it
25:42
Speaker 1: helps you really just get over the barrier of I'm
25:45
Speaker 1: not just spouting because I'm a black woman and I'm angry,
25:47
Speaker 1: because even though I am, I'm really trying to educate
25:50
Speaker 1: you and enlighten you so you can see that this
25:52
Speaker 1: is a world that I exist in and you exist
25:55
Speaker 1: in differently, right, you know? So, because one of the
25:58
Speaker 1: things that we've been talking about a lot in the
26:00
Speaker 1: last year was about anger and how it can be
26:03
Speaker 1: used to fight because a lot of times we know
26:06
Speaker 1: that anger is a sign that something is wrong, and
26:08
Speaker 1: so there needs to be whether you take action or
26:11
Speaker 1: you just sit and stew in it. And we've been
26:15
Speaker 1: talking about what does that look like when we actually
26:18
Speaker 1: take action. So as you're talking about in this industry
26:21
Speaker 1: which has been exposed somewhat but obviously kind of fallen
26:26
Speaker 1: back because if you look at the Louis c. K thing,
26:28
Speaker 1: and he's fairly forgiven and now kind of still dictates
26:32
Speaker 1: what it is to have stand up and being paid
26:34
Speaker 1: to do comedy, as well as dictating, oh, you can't
26:37
Speaker 1: have your phone in here because I want to say
26:39
Speaker 1: the inappropriate things that's going to get me in shouble,
26:41
Speaker 1: I don't want to read an article about it, so right,
26:43
Speaker 1: and all of these things when we have that, and
26:46
Speaker 1: then just even the Harvey Weinstein when he came to
26:48
Speaker 1: the club with all the young actresses and the comedian
26:51
Speaker 1: came out and called him out. Yeah, that everybody was pissed.
26:53
Speaker 1: I'd like to shout them out. That was Kelly Bachman
26:55
Speaker 1: and Ambarrallo. Ambarrallo and I have a podcast together. She's
26:59
Speaker 1: dope there, They're both really dope, and they're so courageous
27:01
Speaker 1: in that moment. But yeah, that's really so empowering to
27:04
Speaker 1: watch women stand up for our spaces. And that's something
27:07
Speaker 1: about like the space is thing that I sometimes feel
27:10
Speaker 1: like I have to always bridge the gap with men
27:12
Speaker 1: and explain. And I'm like, if we have evidence that
27:16
Speaker 1: a person is inappropriate in a certain space, every woman
27:19
Speaker 1: in that space is now uncomfortable. So when Louis c.
27:23
Speaker 1: K walks into a comedy club and they throw him
27:25
Speaker 1: on a lineup, if a woman is on that lineup
27:27
Speaker 1: and she's uncomfortable in that space, now she used to
27:30
Speaker 1: leave because the club is not going to say, oh, okay, sorry.
27:34
Speaker 1: So now his privilege is that he continues to dictate
27:39
Speaker 1: what a space is and what he can do in it,
27:41
Speaker 1: and women just have to deal, especially comedians. And when
27:45
Speaker 1: we work in an industry that is literal minutes. Somebody
27:48
Speaker 1: gives me a mic for ten minutes and you can
27:50
Speaker 1: work on your craft, and then you have to go home.
27:52
Speaker 1: You can't come back and I'll give you more minutes.
27:54
Speaker 1: You have to go home and wait for another day.
27:57
Speaker 1: It sets women back in a huge way. I always
28:00
Speaker 1: compare comedy to basketball, and that if someone was like,
28:03
Speaker 1: I want to be Lebron tomorrow, they'd have to practice
28:06
Speaker 1: every single day as much as they could. But if
28:08
Speaker 1: they're only going to give you a basketball for ten minutes,
28:10
Speaker 1: it's going to take you a lot longer, right, And
28:12
Speaker 1: men get the basketball a lot, so they get that
28:15
Speaker 1: basketball so much exactly. And that's the question is how
28:18
Speaker 1: do you tate that anger or take that understanding that
28:22
Speaker 1: you have just been denied? Yeah, I mean, I don't
28:26
Speaker 1: know if I handle it the same way as everyone else.
28:28
Speaker 1: But I always try to really look at the pros
28:30
Speaker 1: and the cons and try to decide what I want
28:33
Speaker 1: to be a part of, what I want to put
28:34
Speaker 1: my name on. And I always think about the younger
28:37
Speaker 1: me and if she were to watch a comedy show
28:40
Speaker 1: and see a display that's not very favoring of women,
28:45
Speaker 1: and then watch me also on the lineup not address it,
28:48
Speaker 1: what type of implications would I push out on her?
28:51
Speaker 1: I would be indirectly teaching her that this is okay
28:55
Speaker 1: and that you should just take it and just smile.
28:58
Speaker 1: And I think that's terrible. I hate that so much.
29:02
Speaker 1: So to me, I really try to evaluate projects very thoroughly.
29:07
Speaker 1: I really stand up for myself in corporate rooms and
29:10
Speaker 1: talk about what I'm not comfortable with. I even remember
29:13
Speaker 1: one time I auditioned for a film and I really
29:15
Speaker 1: wanted to be in it, but there was line in
29:16
Speaker 1: the character they wanted me to play, where I basically
29:19
Speaker 1: had to say, like, who would want to be black?
29:20
Speaker 1: Because it's terrible. So I tried to make it funny,
29:24
Speaker 1: like let's make it lighthearted, and the director was like, no,
29:27
Speaker 1: you're sad and you're mad that you're black, And I
29:32
Speaker 1: was like, I don't think I can do this, you know,
29:35
Speaker 1: And so I had to acknowledge, like, I'm not going
29:36
Speaker 1: to get this part because I'm not capable of even
29:40
Speaker 1: saying that sentence and sounding like I'm not forcing it
29:43
Speaker 1: out of my mouth. I'm not capable of even portraying
29:45
Speaker 1: that sentiment. And if my younger self watched myself say that,
29:50
Speaker 1: it would impact me, you know. So I always think
29:53
Speaker 1: about the younger generation. I think about how many incredibly
29:56
Speaker 1: talented and funny women I think there are around the
29:59
Speaker 1: world old who never feel compelled to try it because
30:04
Speaker 1: there's all these voices telling them, no, you're not funny,
30:07
Speaker 1: this is for this, and this is that. So you
30:10
Speaker 1: know too, I always think that there's like an orthodontist
30:12
Speaker 1: in Missouri who could have been a comedy great, but
30:16
Speaker 1: everybody in her life told her nor told her, yeah,
30:18
Speaker 1: you're silly. Yeah, you know, so I always think about
30:22
Speaker 1: like really elevating our voices and calling things out, and
30:26
Speaker 1: I picked my battles. I definitely picked my battles. But
30:28
Speaker 1: I also have a lot of integrity, and so there
30:32
Speaker 1: have been entire clubs, entire venues that I've decided I'm
30:34
Speaker 1: not going to work with you guys anymore, because you
30:37
Speaker 1: continually perpetuate something that's unhealthy and I don't want to.
30:39
Speaker 1: I don't want to. I don't want to add to
30:40
Speaker 1: it because I know what I bring to the table.
30:42
Speaker 1: You know, So you have to have a lot of pride,
30:44
Speaker 1: You have to really hold yourself to a high standard,
30:47
Speaker 1: but also protect your rise because I need to be
30:52
Speaker 1: on a high platform to make any change, you know.
30:55
Speaker 1: So myself as your new best friend, yes, as a
30:58
Speaker 1: supporter who is not a comedian, what can I do
31:02
Speaker 1: to help elevate that cause as well? Obviously I don't
31:05
Speaker 1: have that giant voice, I don't have the comedic timing.
31:08
Speaker 1: It's okay, but I want to support this and I
31:11
Speaker 1: want to make sure that the women and those who
31:14
Speaker 1: identify who their non binary, who are being silenced because
31:19
Speaker 1: these platforms don't want to be uncomfortable or and or
31:22
Speaker 1: don't want to root for the underdogs, and essentially, yeah,
31:27
Speaker 1: we are underdogs totally. What can I do? I mean,
31:31
Speaker 1: obviously I exist in an artist realm, So it really
31:34
Speaker 1: comes down to supporting the artists. And that can really
31:37
Speaker 1: come down to even just like doing your due diligence
31:40
Speaker 1: and looking up on lineup and asking questions, why is
31:43
Speaker 1: there no woman on this show? You have eight comedians here,
31:47
Speaker 1: you couldn't find one lady? Right? You know? Also, I
31:50
Speaker 1: think that like when we think about our favorite television shows,
31:54
Speaker 1: a lot of those shows are staffed by rooms of
31:57
Speaker 1: comedians that get together in a room like this and
31:59
Speaker 1: they say down, they write an episode. So look up
32:02
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Look up those writers. If they are
32:05
Speaker 1: trans women, if they are non binary, follow them on Twitter,
32:08
Speaker 1: follow them on Instagram, support their other projects, and recognize
32:13
Speaker 1: the parts that they play, Like some of them will
32:15
Speaker 1: direct an entire episode. You know. Mindy calling started out
32:18
Speaker 1: that way a lot, so that individual support means so
32:22
Speaker 1: much more. I think it also really comes down to
32:25
Speaker 1: like standing firm on things you're not going to support,
32:28
Speaker 1: Like I'm not going to spend a lot of money
32:30
Speaker 1: on a ticket to see Lewis y k I'm not
32:33
Speaker 1: going to do it, and you should. If you are
32:36
Speaker 1: really considering that, you should actually put that money elsewhere.
32:39
Speaker 1: Donate it to the amazing organizations that help comedians every day.
32:43
Speaker 1: And there are even a lot of like mentorship programs
32:46
Speaker 1: that help young women find their voice. So it really
32:49
Speaker 1: comes down to deciding what type of artists you want
32:52
Speaker 1: to support and recognizing that their message requires your help
32:57
Speaker 1: because it's important. Right, we have a little bit more
33:01
Speaker 1: for you listeners, but first we have one more quick
33:03
Speaker 1: breaker for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
33:19
Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor. Yeah, So a lot of these questions
33:23
Speaker 1: I've already I've been thinking about a lot of one
33:26
Speaker 1: of the biggest questions for me as a woman of color,
33:29
Speaker 1: but as a woman of color with privilege, and I
33:30
Speaker 1: acknowledge that I'm asi woman, I get all of that.
33:33
Speaker 1: I have a good job, I've had good support, and
33:37
Speaker 1: I acknowledge all that's how do I support those who
33:40
Speaker 1: may not have that same advantage as well as if
33:45
Speaker 1: my heart is an advocacy, which it always has been,
33:47
Speaker 1: which is why I am a social worker, and you
33:49
Speaker 1: and I were talking about, you know, kind of pouring
33:51
Speaker 1: back out because it's something significant for us. What doesn't
33:55
Speaker 1: look like to be a true ally There's there's a
34:00
Speaker 1: lot of levels to that. Yeah, you know, but I
34:02
Speaker 1: think really, especially myself, I've learned the last year that
34:06
Speaker 1: we should be volunteering more. And it sounds especially I'm
34:09
Speaker 1: a comedian, I drink a lot, I work at night,
34:15
Speaker 1: I don't sleep. If someone was like, yeah, you know,
34:18
Speaker 1: a couple times a month, I need to go volunteer somewhere,
34:21
Speaker 1: I'd be like, yeah, I don't know, man, I don't know.
34:23
Speaker 1: But I will say that in everything that we do,
34:27
Speaker 1: like my medium is comedy, and everything that we do,
34:30
Speaker 1: we have these skills that we could lend to organizations
34:33
Speaker 1: that are great and that we should donate our time
34:35
Speaker 1: to them. So if that's making us some dope stickers
34:40
Speaker 1: for a great cause in terms of like causes that
34:44
Speaker 1: are very important to me, I'm very consistently worried about
34:47
Speaker 1: gun violence, and so I'll volunteer. I'll donate to every town.
34:51
Speaker 1: I think they're incredible organization. I'll advocate for them, I'll
34:54
Speaker 1: write tweets about them and praise anything to do in
34:57
Speaker 1: the media, you know. But I think also it's about
35:01
Speaker 1: recognizing how a lot of the things that we frequent
35:04
Speaker 1: our microcosms for some of these bigger problems. So even
35:08
Speaker 1: in the realm of an office, just recognizing that you
35:11
Speaker 1: know a person of color is alone in certain instances,
35:15
Speaker 1: or that you know they're left out in certain instances.
35:19
Speaker 1: Just being comfortable enough to walk up to someone and
35:22
Speaker 1: say I'm here to help is really being an ally
35:25
Speaker 1: or just hey, I recognize what just happened, because sometimes
35:29
Speaker 1: that silence is so deafening when you feel like you're
35:33
Speaker 1: being targeted or treated unfairly, and then everyone is averting
35:37
Speaker 1: their eyes. I think that's a great way to do it.
35:40
Speaker 1: I also think that we have to vote. We have
35:43
Speaker 1: to vote, and we have to do it in a
35:45
Speaker 1: way that we're not just thinking about ourselves. And that's
35:47
Speaker 1: really hard because that's not really the way that a
35:51
Speaker 1: lot of candidates speak nowadays. Anyway. They can be very
35:54
Speaker 1: brash and very bold and like people are coming for
35:57
Speaker 1: your guns and people are coming for you, and so
35:59
Speaker 1: you have to vote for you, But that's not really
36:02
Speaker 1: the foundation of the country or really trying to form
36:05
Speaker 1: this more perfect union. If you're really being that patriotic,
36:09
Speaker 1: then you should recognize that there are things that are
36:11
Speaker 1: not directly affecting you, but are affecting other people all
36:14
Speaker 1: the time, and it is your duty, because you have
36:17
Speaker 1: the privilege to not be affected by it, to research
36:20
Speaker 1: it more, and to recognize when it happens, and to
36:23
Speaker 1: listen to other people when they tell you about it happening.
36:26
Speaker 1: So I just think that's the first step. And I
36:29
Speaker 1: think you have to really break all of these bigger
36:31
Speaker 1: tasks down into a smaller schedule so you can say that, hey,
36:34
Speaker 1: however many days a month I was able to give
36:37
Speaker 1: to a local clinic, And if it's as simple as
36:40
Speaker 1: just bringing them some donuts, that's support. That's help, and
36:46
Speaker 1: that's what's gonna that's what's gonna fuel people to keep
36:49
Speaker 1: doing the work that you may not yourself be able
36:51
Speaker 1: to do. Right. I love it. That's been one of
36:55
Speaker 1: the big messages I think we've been recording in the
36:57
Speaker 1: last month. That's vote and I'm going to recognize your
37:00
Speaker 1: voice matters, and this right matters. And I always think
37:04
Speaker 1: about like the really stupid guy that you knew in
37:07
Speaker 1: high school, like the idiot of idiots, and how he's
37:10
Speaker 1: going to vote every time he's got nothing else. He's
37:14
Speaker 1: so invested in exercising his right that you have to
37:18
Speaker 1: exercise yours to at least combat it. Right, So if
37:21
Speaker 1: you're ever feeling like I don't know if I want
37:23
Speaker 1: to vote, I don't feel like going out today, think
37:25
Speaker 1: about that idiot. I know that his mom is going
37:28
Speaker 1: to take him to vote. She's going to drive him there,
37:31
Speaker 1: and he'll pick He'll pick the radio station, and that's
37:35
Speaker 1: his life, right, So don't let him because he doesn't
37:38
Speaker 1: have to look for the services that you might need
37:40
Speaker 1: one day. He doesn't have to worry about the things
37:43
Speaker 1: that impact your life. So you know, you gotta vote.
37:47
Speaker 1: I love it. I love I'm someone who's very spite motivated.
37:52
Speaker 1: It's the idea of like, oh that high school kid,
37:55
Speaker 1: think about him. That's why, yes, as you vote, you're like, yes,
38:04
Speaker 1: name him Stephen, Yeah, Mason, Yeah, yeah, I totally did
38:14
Speaker 1: it works at a costco Yeah. You know, we don't
38:18
Speaker 1: forget these things. I stay whatever, they stay with them.
38:22
Speaker 1: So thank you. Uh yeah, I guess we can just
38:25
Speaker 1: try to wrap it up and just want to know
38:26
Speaker 1: what projects you already talked about the Comedy Central show,
38:29
Speaker 1: he talked about the album. What other projects we're talked
38:32
Speaker 1: more about these projects. Oh man. So at the end
38:35
Speaker 1: of the month, I'm recording a series for Audible. It's
38:39
Speaker 1: going to be called Apocalypse Untreated, and it's about these
38:43
Speaker 1: teenagers in this apocalyptic world who were medicated like for
38:48
Speaker 1: their depression, but now because of an apocalypse has happened,
38:51
Speaker 1: they don't have medication and so it's like this comedy drama. Um,
38:55
Speaker 1: so that'll be out an Audible. I don't know within
38:57
Speaker 1: a few months, Okay. Um. You can always check my
38:59
Speaker 1: web site for dates about where I'm going to be
39:02
Speaker 1: touring because I'm always telling jokes outside of New York City,
39:05
Speaker 1: even though that's where I live. I would go on
39:07
Speaker 1: tour about fourteen days a month. Usually you can go
39:09
Speaker 1: to Chenali dot com for that. That's channel like the
39:12
Speaker 1: Perfume Ali, like Mohammed you get it? Yeah, there it is.
39:18
Speaker 1: And can you give advice? Again, I'm not this person
39:23
Speaker 1: who is trying to come into the comedy world. Yeah,
39:28
Speaker 1: will you give some sound advice to them? Totally, I'm
39:31
Speaker 1: gonna try to not speak forever on this, but the
39:35
Speaker 1: first advice I want to say is that if you
39:36
Speaker 1: want to pursue comedy and you feel like anybody in
39:39
Speaker 1: your life is trying to persuade you not to find
39:43
Speaker 1: peace in the idea that you're not trying to hurt
39:45
Speaker 1: anyone and that if your goal is to bring people
39:49
Speaker 1: together through laughter, that is very noble, and so find
39:53
Speaker 1: peace with how it might not seem like you're a
39:56
Speaker 1: surgeon and your life is very important as a comedian,
39:59
Speaker 1: But if it's something that you really feel interested in,
40:02
Speaker 1: then you have to not listen to anyone and you
40:05
Speaker 1: have to just do it for yourself every single day.
40:09
Speaker 1: In terms of like very practical comedy advice, I think
40:12
Speaker 1: minutes on stage trump everything. Like I don't care how
40:16
Speaker 1: much you can sit at home and write funny things
40:18
Speaker 1: in your notebook. You have to be on stage every
40:20
Speaker 1: single day as much as you can, no matter what,
40:24
Speaker 1: because those logging those minutes, that's all that's gonna bring
40:28
Speaker 1: you growth, that's gonna help you develop as an artist.
40:31
Speaker 1: I also think it's important to study from artists before us.
40:35
Speaker 1: Steve Martin has a great book on comedy called Born
40:37
Speaker 1: Standing Up Changed my life. I read it after the
40:39
Speaker 1: first time I bombed and I wanted to quit comedy.
40:41
Speaker 1: I was like, what's funny? I don't even know? Read
40:44
Speaker 1: That book really changed my life. Also, that guy Daryl
40:48
Speaker 1: Hammond has a book. He used to be the announcer.
40:51
Speaker 1: I think he's actually the announcer for SNL, but he
40:53
Speaker 1: used to be a player on SNL. I think it's
40:55
Speaker 1: called God if you're up there. If you're not up there,
40:59
Speaker 1: I think it's I think I think it's God if
41:03
Speaker 1: you're not out there. But it's an incredible story. He
41:06
Speaker 1: lives an incredible life and overcame just just really some
41:11
Speaker 1: some hard, hard things. What's it called? Yeah, I got
41:14
Speaker 1: it right, right, Yang. I read that book forever ago,
41:17
Speaker 1: and that book helped me a lot. Helped me reconcile
41:20
Speaker 1: with the idea that we don't have to be perfect
41:21
Speaker 1: people to pursue art. We can have suffered trauma and
41:26
Speaker 1: be currently living in it and still be okay enough
41:29
Speaker 1: to do our art. And that's a very peaceful sentiment
41:32
Speaker 1: once you can have it. I also think it's very
41:34
Speaker 1: important to take deep breaths, breathe in through your nose
41:38
Speaker 1: and out through your mouth very often, and try to
41:41
Speaker 1: just keep moving forward no matter what. I love it,
41:44
Speaker 1: and I did want to kind of ask, because this
41:46
Speaker 1: is again my own self interest. You were talking about
41:49
Speaker 1: the fact that you work with a group. Yeah, I
41:53
Speaker 1: work with an organization in New York. It's called Stand
41:55
Speaker 1: Up for Girls and um So, they basically go around
41:58
Speaker 1: to some of the local high schools in New York
42:00
Speaker 1: and they get basically the more vocal or very not
42:03
Speaker 1: vocal girls to practice stand up comedy, to practice a
42:07
Speaker 1: five minute set. For a few months, they work on it,
42:09
Speaker 1: and they throw a big show at a comedy club
42:11
Speaker 1: and they invite their parents and the administrator's whole faculty
42:14
Speaker 1: to come out, and then they'll have someone like me
42:16
Speaker 1: headline it. And it's so incredible to watch young women
42:21
Speaker 1: find their voice in that way. I mean, I have
42:24
Speaker 1: heard these girls say jokes that were better than anything
42:27
Speaker 1: I could ever write, like so poignant. A lot of them,
42:31
Speaker 1: especially if they come from families that have like immigrant parents,
42:36
Speaker 1: a lot of cultural background, a lot of cultural history,
42:39
Speaker 1: they will read our country for filth in a way
42:43
Speaker 1: that we could never really communicate as well. So Stand
42:46
Speaker 1: Up for Girls is a great organization. If you want
42:48
Speaker 1: to donate, they're doing great work. I have been on
42:51
Speaker 1: the verge of tears at every single comedy show that
42:54
Speaker 1: I have done with them, and it's just beautiful. It's
42:56
Speaker 1: beautiful comedy. It's just a beautiful thing. And if you're
42:59
Speaker 1: not seeing comedy shows in your daily life, do it.
43:02
Speaker 1: You need to go sit with strangers and giggle on
43:04
Speaker 1: the dark. I promise you you do. Yes, I appreciated it.
43:08
Speaker 1: It was a good night. I'm so sad I missed Yeah,
43:11
Speaker 1: you missed out real hard. I got the T shirts.
43:14
Speaker 1: I know, two T shirts. Excited about my shirts literally
43:18
Speaker 1: no one. I love that shirt so much. Anyway, thank you,
43:23
Speaker 1: thank you very much. And one last thing, tell our
43:26
Speaker 1: listeners where they can find you. You can follow me
43:28
Speaker 1: on Twitter and Instagram at Chanel Underscore Underscore Ali. That's
43:32
Speaker 1: two underscores. So it's Chanell two Underscores Ali. There's a
43:36
Speaker 1: girl who has my actual name, Chanel Ali, and I'm
43:40
Speaker 1: trying to track her down for years. Yeah the clone.
43:44
Speaker 1: Oh she has pictures out. I know. I actually know
43:47
Speaker 1: a lot about her life because I really track down
43:50
Speaker 1: because she hasn't been on Instagram in like four years.
43:52
Speaker 1: I've come so close to getting her like on the phone.
43:54
Speaker 1: But so yeah, Chanelle Underscore Underscore Ali. I'm on Twitter, Instagram.
43:59
Speaker 1: I post on Twitter pretty often. Um, you can also
44:01
Speaker 1: follow me on Snapchat at Chanel ali Baba. That's c
44:05
Speaker 1: h A and Eo ali Baba. Awesome, Yay, thank you
44:10
Speaker 1: so much for coming in by anybody else you want
44:13
Speaker 1: to add to it. Oh. I love you guys so much,
44:15
Speaker 1: and just keep moving forward all right, and I hope
44:18
Speaker 1: you enjoyed that as much as we did. It was
44:20
Speaker 1: such an amazing time. Um. I'm hoping to catch up
44:23
Speaker 1: with her again. I'm out and determined to be friends
44:25
Speaker 1: with everything really all m and she apparently is coming
44:28
Speaker 1: back to Atlanta, so when she does, I will be there.
44:30
Speaker 1: You guys should definitely check out her Comedy Central special
44:34
Speaker 1: coming out, her Audible coming Out, as well as her
44:36
Speaker 1: album coming Out because she is amazing and just a
44:40
Speaker 1: great individual overall. Yeah, and always remember, as she said,
44:47
Speaker 1: fun to giggle in the dark with someone, yes, but
44:49
Speaker 1: really support people that you want to see succeed. And
44:52
Speaker 1: she was awesome, So go do it. Go do it.
44:55
Speaker 1: And in the meantime, if you would like to email
44:58
Speaker 1: as you can. Our email is Steph Media Mom Stuff
45:00
Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. You can also find us on
45:02
Speaker 1: Twitter app Mom Stuff Podcast or on Instagram at stuff
45:05
Speaker 1: Mom Never Told You. Thanks as always to our super
45:08
Speaker 1: producer Andrew Howard, and thanks to you for listening Stuff.
45:12
Speaker 1: I'm never told you this production of iHeartRadio's House Stuff works.
45:14
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, vis the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
45:18
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.