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Comedian Rachel Williams Joins The Erica Show · The Erica Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Do you want O five? It is the Ericas Show.
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We've got comedian Rachel Williams on the phone, which she
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: is gonna make her way to Raleigh this weekend good
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Night's Comedy Club. Two shows Friday, two shows Saturday. I
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: got a show on Sunday. You're funny as hell. I
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: just told you when you were picking up the phone, like,
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  Speaker 1: I think you're pretty chill, like somebody i'd want to
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  Speaker 1: be friends with. You know, the more stuff I always
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: see of you. Of course you're on social all the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: time doing comedy shows and podcast and radio. But I
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  Speaker 1: was like, she's super cool.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I'm telling you. I if you
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: ask my husband if I was chill, he would say no.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm glad I come across that way. That's that's
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  Speaker 2: for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, are you complete opposite with your husband? Because
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  Speaker 1: I am. They say opposites attract, and he's like this nerdy, timid,
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  Speaker 1: very responsible individual and then there's my ass.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, one percent opposite from me, Like he's calm, chill.
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  Speaker 2: He also, uh is definitely the better half. I'm more fun,
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  Speaker 2: don't get me wrong, but he's definitely the better half.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he's a doctor. He's saving lives and I
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  Speaker 2: make people laugh for a living. So you know, when
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: we talk about our workdays, I go first, let's just
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  Speaker 2: say that because it's hard to outshine him.
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  Speaker 1: You married young, though, right, didn't you guys meet like
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  Speaker 1: you've been together a super long time.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we met when I was twenty.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're a baby, so you've had him longer
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  Speaker 1: than you didn't have him almost.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. Yeah, wow when you put it that way, yikes.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, my brain wasn't even developed yet, and I
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  Speaker 2: met this guy and just fell in love and then
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  Speaker 2: here we are, still right and strong.
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  Speaker 1: You started out and in a completely different path a career,
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  Speaker 1: and then you swapped it after like a decade to comedy.
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  Speaker 1: What inspired that switch?
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  Speaker 2: So? I worked for kenn of Cole, I worked in fashion,
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  Speaker 2: and then we I just you know, I was taking
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  Speaker 2: acting classes on the side and then basically my coach
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  Speaker 2: was like, if you don't go into comedy, you're doing
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  Speaker 2: a disservice. And you know, I was doing one of
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  Speaker 2: those things where I was like, I'm not funny, I'm
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  Speaker 2: a serious person. I'm dramatic, and she was like, nice,
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  Speaker 2: try and then I took him prov for a little bit,
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  Speaker 2: was really bad at it, and then I tried stand
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  Speaker 2: up and just never look back.
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  Speaker 1: But do you still get stage fright though? Like when
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  Speaker 1: you try a new joke, does that ever get for
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  Speaker 1: your nervous before?
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  Speaker 2: Every time before I go on stage, I'm like, this
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  Speaker 2: is a terrible idea. Every time it's like it and
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  Speaker 2: then you get up there and you're fine. But right before,
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  Speaker 2: oh yeah, I'm like, maybe I'll just turn around, maybe
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  Speaker 2: I'll just won't go on stage, and they'll just have
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  Speaker 2: to deal with that.
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  Speaker 1: Say, you've got this really big project that you're about
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  Speaker 1: to do, and you're just you know, there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people, like other comedians out there. How do you
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  Speaker 1: talk yourself off the ledge to be like I got this,
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  Speaker 1: I'm amazing. Do all the affirmations, all the things.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I actually that's funny you bring up affirmations.
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  Speaker 2: I talk about affirmations don't work for me because it's
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  Speaker 2: me neither. I got that little bully, Yeah, I got
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  Speaker 2: that bully in my head that's like you need to
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  Speaker 2: you need stuff lying to yourself, and I'm like, rightio, okay, yep.
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  Speaker 2: So usually what I do is just stay real. Speaking.
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  Speaker 2: My husband, he taught me that it's like, you've done
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  Speaker 2: these jokes several times, they've worked several times, so the
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  Speaker 2: odds of them working again are pretty high, and you
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  Speaker 2: just stick to what you got to do. It's like,
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  Speaker 2: as long as you start with a joke that's tried
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  Speaker 2: and true, right strong, once you get that first laugh,
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  Speaker 2: you're good. But like, yeah, so right before I go
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  Speaker 2: on stage, if I start to panic, I kind of
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  Speaker 2: just talk to myself. I'm like, you're not under attack, Rachel,
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  Speaker 2: Like you're not, you know, unsafe, because that's all anxiety is.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, oh my god, you're going to die, and
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  Speaker 2: it's like you're not. You're not gonna you're You're okay.
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  Speaker 2: You're not like in war right now, you're just going
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  Speaker 2: on stage. If you don't do well, that sucks, but
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  Speaker 2: it's not the end of the world. So it's more
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  Speaker 2: like just trying to be as practical as possible so
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  Speaker 2: that I don't spiral out of control.
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  Speaker 1: And you use your family a lot, like you know,
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  Speaker 1: you talk about your sister and her wife, your parents.
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  Speaker 1: Is there anything that's off limits? Like when they're like okay,
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  Speaker 1: you can talk about everything. Let's leave that.
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  Speaker 2: Out to be honest, No, because I you know, someone
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  Speaker 2: else asked me this to my family, they're like, that's
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  Speaker 2: that's very normal. I don't know why people think this
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  Speaker 2: is funny. And I'm like, okay, you know, like to them,
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  Speaker 2: they're like, I don't know why people are laughing. This
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  Speaker 2: is I think we're pretty normal, and I'm like, we're not.
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  Speaker 2: But that's okay, you know, living that way, It's like
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  Speaker 2: they think it's funny, but they're also like, why why
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  Speaker 2: are people laughing? Doesn't everyone live this way? And it's like, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: they don't. That's why. But that's family in general, right, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: everyone has like everyone's family is nuts. That's why it's
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  Speaker 2: funny because it's like, yeah, my mom does that too. Well.
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  Speaker 1: That's what makes you so relatable is you're not scared
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  Speaker 1: to talk about it. Like you talking about how you
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  Speaker 1: and your husband almost got divorced. You're like, yeah, that
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  Speaker 1: was a tough one, but it's very therapeutic probably for
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  Speaker 1: you too, to get on stage to talk about whatever's
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  Speaker 1: going on, and maybe it don't have to be after
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  Speaker 1: the event that's going on.
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  Speaker 2: One hundred percent. It's like like you said, you know,
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  Speaker 2: before we hopped on this call, You're like, I feel
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  Speaker 2: like I could I really relate to we could be friends.
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  Speaker 2: Like to me, that's like, because that's why I start
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  Speaker 2: talking about it. You kind of go up there and
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: you go, am I crazy? You know how like if
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  Speaker 2: you hang out with your family a lot during the
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  Speaker 2: holidays and then you call your best friend and you're like,
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  Speaker 2: am I crazy? Or is this insane? And your friend's like,
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  Speaker 2: oh no, that's crazy, and you're like, thank god because
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  Speaker 2: I thought I was being uptight and they're like, no, no,
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  Speaker 2: that's crazy. And that's how kind of how my fans feel,
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  Speaker 2: like a post about it online or I'll say it
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  Speaker 2: in person and they come up to me after the
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  Speaker 2: words like thank god you said that, because I've been
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  Speaker 2: feeling this way for a long time. And it's as
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  Speaker 2: much as a gift to me, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 1: And then you also do a lot of crowd interactions,
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  Speaker 1: which I also saw, like where it said you were
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  Speaker 1: told to scale back. But that's one of my favorite
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  Speaker 1: parts is when a comedian includes the audience.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they it's people go back and forth. I mean, listen.
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  Speaker 2: Crowd work has gotten to the point of it's like
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  Speaker 2: the I find it an amazing art form. Like I
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't even say I'm that good at it. I just
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  Speaker 2: love talking to people. But I think people sometimes they
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  Speaker 2: scale back because that sometimes becomes like a bully situation,
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  Speaker 2: and that's fun for no one, Like, no one came
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  Speaker 2: to a comedy show to get bullied unless they're acting crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Then you're like, okay, you're acting to Yeah, yeah, now
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  Speaker 2: you're in the shark tank. You're gonna you're gonna learn
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  Speaker 2: what's gonna happen. But yeah, it's I find I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I I love talking to people and I love learning
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  Speaker 2: about people. I find people fascinating. As much as I,
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  Speaker 2: you know, have social anxiety, I still find people fascinating.
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  Speaker 2: Like I love to talk about your life, right, you know,
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  Speaker 2: like I want to learn more about you. That to
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  Speaker 2: me is fascinating, and uh yeah, I just I probably
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  Speaker 2: you know who tells me scale back sometimes a manager
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  Speaker 2: because she's like, you have such bad add that you'll
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  Speaker 2: start a joke and then you don't finish it because
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  Speaker 2: you got distracted. And I'm like, yeah, well, someone's last
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  Speaker 2: sounded funny, so I need to talk to them.
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  Speaker 1: But you usually bring it back in They're like, you'll
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  Speaker 1: come right back around, and they were like, oh, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's funny.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, thank you, thank you. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: How do you keep up with your content? I have
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  Speaker 1: several friends that are comedians or they're struggling comedians. They're
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  Speaker 1: trying so hard to get to where you are, and
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  Speaker 1: they're constantly keeping a list of jokes, Like how what
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  Speaker 1: is your routine to keep jokes coming? Like when you're
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  Speaker 1: coming up with a new content, like you just have
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  Speaker 1: a rolling list of jokes where you're looking at life
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  Speaker 1: and writing things down.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. One thing for sure I've noticed is that there
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  Speaker 2: is a big difference between what works online and what
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  Speaker 2: works on stage, which to me is actually a gift
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  Speaker 2: because now when they come to see me live, you
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  Speaker 2: know a lot of stuff they haven't seen before, which
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  Speaker 2: is great. I've noticed like it's actually for me personally,
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  Speaker 2: the funniest stuff is not like it's happened to me
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  Speaker 2: that day or recently, and it's actually not that deep
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  Speaker 2: And that's where the funny is because and that's why
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  Speaker 2: it's relatable, because I'm like, is anyone else spiraling out
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  Speaker 2: after they say goodbye to someone? Like I don't know
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  Speaker 2: how this happened, but I'm sitting here in my car
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  Speaker 2: reviewing how I said goodbye, and then yeah, you get
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  Speaker 2: people that are like, yeah, every time I say goodbye,
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  Speaker 2: I'm in fight of flight? What's going on? And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so I just kind of I've noticed that if I
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  Speaker 2: just stay consistent, just post every day and sometimes it hits,
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  Speaker 2: sometimes it doesn't, But I would say think less, post more. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: the more you it's like the creativity truly dies when
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  Speaker 2: you start to dissect it well.
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes people get scared to put it out there
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  Speaker 1: because they're thinking people won't like it, but you're attracting
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  Speaker 1: the people that are supposed to be on your page
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  Speaker 1: and liking your stuff. So just put it out there
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  Speaker 1: because it's touching people that needs to see it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean, of course, it all depends on
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  Speaker 2: what it is, but most likely in my experience, especially
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: if it's really disliked, it's because there's a wave of
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  Speaker 2: love for it. So like, the more a video gets traction,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: the more hate I get. Actually, if that makes sense,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That's giving my algorithm a boost, so I appreciate it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So like you know, you're gonna piss off
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people. But it's because so many people
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  Speaker 2: love it. Like I often think about, like, I mean,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: this is you know, Taylor Swift. Like for every person
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  Speaker 2: that's like that's my God, there's a person that's like
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  Speaker 2: I don't get her. I don't get it, Da da da,
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  Speaker 2: And I'm like, that's how I look at it. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's tough. I mean sometimes, you know, sometimes I get
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  Speaker 2: discouraged or I feel insecure and I'm like, oh, everyone's
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  Speaker 2: gonna hate this. But pushing through that kind of dims
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  Speaker 2: that voice because you just go, well, I'm gonna do
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  Speaker 2: it anyway.
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  Speaker 1: What's on your wish list your bucket list of things
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  Speaker 1: to do next?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm a big picture girl. I mean I
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  Speaker 2: want to continue touring. I want to get more people
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  Speaker 2: out there. It's been interesting, like you know, I didn't
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  Speaker 2: post stand up for so long that when I started,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: people were like, oh, I didn't even know you did
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  Speaker 2: stand up. So right now it's building that connection with
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  Speaker 2: the fans. I already have to get them out into seats,
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  Speaker 2: right That's been so exciting to meet them in person.
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  Speaker 2: And then bigger picture, yeah, just more meeting more people.
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  Speaker 2: I'd love to get into TV, film one day and
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: then like I'm from Long Island, New York, so like
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  Speaker 2: one day I want to sell out the Paramount. That's
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: a local theater. I love. That's like the Yeah, that's
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  Speaker 2: the If I get on that stage and I look
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: out there and it's sold out, I could die happy
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  Speaker 2: for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, we got to get your manager to call them immediately.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: You're funny as hell. You should be there, for sure.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: It's a big venue. We'll get there, We'll get there.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: What can we expect this weekend? And of course you
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: can get tickets now. Goodnightscomedy dot com. Two shows Friday, Saturday,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: one on Sunday.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, please come out. I mean, what do you expect.
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  Speaker 2: I talk a lot about life being in my thirties,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: how I miss my twenties for you know, just the
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  Speaker 2: hope and joy that I used to have and then
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  Speaker 2: marriage and uh just social etiquette, my family having a DHD,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I having a sibling who's gay. I mean, it's just
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: how my family reacted to it. It's a good time.
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  Speaker 2: I really, it's a lot of fun to share my story.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of people, you know, can,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: at some point during my set feel like they're being
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: seen and that's my like yeahess Joy for real.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: And I asked you what was off limits for your family?
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: What's off limits for you that You're like Noah, And
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  Speaker 1: I'll ever dive into that.
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  Speaker 2: Oh you know, like if for example, like the whole
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  Speaker 2: divorce thing that was two years later, right, so like
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  Speaker 2: during it, I'm not going to go on stage because
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: it's too raw, it's not going to be funny. Everyone's like,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I think you need to go to therapy. This is
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: not the place. It's like that's the type of thing.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: So it depends where it is in my life, yes,
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  Speaker 2: And then off limits for me is like I don't
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  Speaker 2: want to I don't like punching down, So I don't
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  Speaker 2: want to any like anyone that I don't want to,
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  Speaker 2: Like I make fun of my husband, but it's like
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  Speaker 2: there's always love at the end of it, right, Like
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: it's like it's not militias and I go out there
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: right because like for example, like I talk about like
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: how he ate yogurt in front of me one day
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and I got angry because the way he ate it,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and then you know, I look, but then I'm up
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  Speaker 2: there and I'm like that's on me, Like that's me
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: being crazy. I know that. And yeah, so like I'm
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  Speaker 2: not gonna I'm also not gonna talk about anything I
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: don't fully know. Yeah, Like, if I don't really know
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  Speaker 2: something start front to back, I'm not going to talk
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  Speaker 2: about it because I feel like you really got to
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  Speaker 2: live it or know it fully to make a good
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: joke out of it.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Right, So you know your stuff. And I'm with you
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: on the husband and the yogurt thing. My husband he's
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, damn, could you smack anymore? Like how
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: like it drives me crazy? But yes, it's on us.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: I know, I know. But I said he was chewing it.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I'm like, there's no cronola, there's no group. What are
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: you chewing? And he's like, you know, having the time
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: of his life over there, like, oh, do you want
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: some yogurt? I'm like, no, I need you to need
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: to put headphones on. Oh my god.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, So go see Rachel this weekend. Where can everybody
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: follow you if they're not already following you on social?
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, please please come out to Raleigh. I'd love
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: to meet people. It's my first time there. They can
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: find me at at Rachel Williams at the R and
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: the W switch though it's Rachel Williams. I made it
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: a long time ago and I love it. No turning back.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being on today. We appreciate you.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for having me. This is awesome.