Latest / Six-Figure Chicks / Lynn Harris: Humor, Community and Owning Your Space
Transcript
- Mel C: Welcome back to another fantastic episode of Six Figure Chicks. I am joined by none other than Lynn. Like she's the funniest lady I have spoken to in a long time. And I don't mean that in any disrespect because she's delightful and I can't wait for you to share a little bit more about yourself. So share your awesomeness with the community. What's what's so funny about you? Lynn: well, first of all, my name is Lynn Harris, and thank you for having me. And well, what's so funny about me is that you, it turns out you can actually build your life around comedy in a way that can, if you play your cards right, pay the bills, but also A way that makes a difference. And that's what I've been trying to do for many, many years. That, you know, comedy is certainly you know, they say laughter is the best medicine, sure, probably tied with, you know, the COVID vaccine. but it it also it's not just like a feel-good thing, which it is again, it's also something active, something that connects us, something that actually can not just bring us together, but also drive change. So I just made comedy not funny pretty much, but but but that's what that's sort of what I've what I've focused that's the through line of my of my whole career. Mel C: I love that. And being able to, you know, use your story in such positive, funny ways. I'm sure you work a lot with that. what's one fun fact that not a lot of people know about you? Lynn: A fun fact that a lot of people don't know about me is that I am a former Tanya Harding lookalike. Mel C: What? Give us some more details on that. Lynn: Well, a lot of people knew about it in 1992 when it started. the sh the very short version of the story was that, first of all, for context, I am a skater and have always been a huge fan of Tanya Harding, and back then I was too. And I had blonde hair. my hair does change, and with the seasons, and It turned out that at the time it when you know, I'd known about her for a long time because I was a fan and she was a superb skater. But at the time when the whole Nancy Kerrigan situation happened, I was living in Boston. I was walking around town carrying skates because I was taking skating lessons. I I with a coach, and people started driving past me and saying, Hey, go home, Tanya, you know, and I was like, What? and It turned and because Boston also is Nancy Cundra. I was in Boston. So cut cut to, I was kind of discovered as actually looking exactly like Tanya. Like it was wild. I had never thought about it, but once someone noticed it, like strangers noticed it, and it was wild. And it started, and if you were if the another piece of context, and I will keep this short, is that in 1992, you know, we had three television channels. There was no internet. There was no, like we just didn't have anything else. We had that in like talk radio, right? And so it was very easy. So it was very easy for one story to become huge. And that's what happened for everyone's attention to be focused on one thing. And that's what happened with the Tanya and Nancy thing. And then when they needed more content, that's what happened with me. So I wound up on. Every single talk show you can think of, even radios radio shows for look like and Comedy Central, like so much Ricky Lake, Geraldo, it was bananas. And it felt like a year, but it was really like a month. it was absolutely bananas. And the the the the twist was, you know, I told you I care about using comedy for good. The twist was I love Tanya Harding. I thought this whole kerfuffle and all of the anti-Tanya stuff was sexist, classist, and disgusting. And so, but I was also like twenty two and kind of psyched to be and like looking at a career in comedy performance, whatever. And so I'm like, when Geraldo calls you say yes. So I awkwardly, awkwardly, not always successfully, tried to kind of toe the line between like saying yes to this work and being like, but also I love Tanya. And I'm not saying it worked out. because I was also like literally wrestling. With a Nancy Kerrigan lookalike, who I knew from the circuit on Ricky Lake. So I was not credible in my feminist defense of Tanya. But there you go. It was ninety-two. It was a different time. I was young. And that's what happened. Mel C: So my gosh. so did you ever do stand-up comedy around that? Lynn: I did, you know, I've done a ton of stand-up and also a lot of storytelling, like fun, you know, moth style storytelling. and I've definitely I don't know if I did it in stand up because it's kind of too long a story, but it's a story. And so I've definitely I was also a journalist for many, many years. And so I've definitely written about that. about the you know, the experience, which is funny on its face because it's just so weird. but then also the tension that I felt but handled poorly. about not wanting to make fun of Tanya, but also not wanting to say no. Mel C: Yeah, most definitely. I mean, at that age you kind of just roll with whatever you think is is going on, you know. Fast Lynn: Yeah. Yeah. Mel C: forward though to now kind of like facing those challenges. Like what do you do to face challenges that you have now in business? Lynn: Yes. Well, I had a huge defining moment in forming the business that I now run, which is called Gold Comedy. And it's the online comedy school professional network and content studio where women and other others build their comedy careers, their comedy-related passion projects, their comedy-related side hustles, and make funny stuff. And I have been noodling on this idea for now about 10 years. And noodling on just some, I just wanted to make it easier for women to succeed in comedy. Why? Because women are people and comedy is a job, but also because comedy is a cultural force. So who makes it matters. And I'd been noodling on, like, well, what does this look like as a business? Like, what is this business? And I'm a creator, I'm a producer, I know a lot of stuff, but I wasn't then a founder in the way that we define founders now. in 2020, and I'd been like, do we have to build an app? Do we like what's the minimum viable product? Like I was learning to be a founder at the same time that I was trying to figure out what literally what is the business model? What does this look like? And I had been circling for so long, I was stuck. And then this is gonna sound dark, it's not. then my mom died in early COVID. I mean, that was dark, yes, but the but that was my and I kind of just when I was finally When I finally kind of emerged from that, I was so restless. And like, I was like, this is I can't spin my wheels any longer. Like I got I got, I had all this like fresh energy and not like life is short, but like really like, what am I doing? and I but I did I was still just as stuck as I was before my mom died. And what did I do? I asked for help. I just and I And I this sounds like duh, but also like I think women are, especially like in business, you know, trained to like of course they, you know, of course we all we're all known as like collaborative and all those things, which we are. But I think that often we have to like pretend we don't need help, which duh everybody needs help, including men. and I finally just like called up one of my advisors and I was like, I am lost. I do have energy, but I'm also depleted. I'm everything's a blur, but I know I'm ready. and I'm like, I literally don't know what to do. Literally just tell me what to do. And I had the I had to be really vulnerable to say that, you know, just to be like, and but I was. That was it was the most vulnerable time of my life. I was just like, literally tell me what to do. And that advisor did. They said, I know exactly what you should do. You should, you you're you wanna do this, this, and this. Well, this is gonna be very brass tax now, but I wanted to sort of bring all these elements together, community teach a community classes, learning, creating together, and it wanted it to make money. You know, it's a wasn't a charity and loved no shade to charities, but it wasn't that. Mel C: Right. Lynn: And so this advisor told me about that there are companies, and in this case Mighty Networks, that actually build the structure. This was they were new at the time, newish, that actually build the structure that you need for exactly that kind of business. So that you as a founder don't have to build your own app for something that you don't even know is gonna fly, right? And I was like, that's what I'm going to do. And the advisor said, Okay, you're gonna join Mighty Networks. I know the founder. It turned out I did too, random. and they said, I'm gonna I have an advisor, I have a consultant who can work with you because I know you're like still, you know, in a tizzy. And I hung up with the phone, I was like, that's what I'm doing. And that's what I did, and that's the business that I have now. Mel C: Awesome. And you know, speaking about like we don't ask for help when we need it most, I find it every day. It's just human nature. We think we can do it, we have been brought up that way, and we continue to operate that way until it's that defining moment of going, Wow, I need some help. Lynn: and I didn't even like w I didn't even like, you know how sometimes when you ask for help you like you spend a while framing your question so that you don't look stupid, you know, quote unquote, and like and you play it down sort of. I I that was this was not that. This was just like I got nothing. Mel C: most definitely. And so, like, Lynn: I got nothing. Literally tell me. Mel C: yeah, talking about like now strategizing and being visible in front of, all of your community and potential communities, like, I think you did something really smart and it's recent. but it's very strategic in that you have to keep doing something new. always be launching. Like use whatever Lynn: Uh-huh. Mel C: knowledge, expertise, assets you have, and show it like it's the first time you've ever shown it before. So tell me about your podcast, which I love. Bunny, you should ask. Lynn: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Ha ha. Great segue. Great segue. Yes, it's called Funny You Should Ask. And I love that segue because you're you're you're right. the the podcast is it's called Funny You Should Ask. And it really is, it's stuff that we already had and were sitting on that was amazing content that we were not using enough. it was, it is the recordings of Very chill, informal, which is what makes them great. One-on-one, or not one-on-ones, but meet and greet Zooms that we do weekly with our members at Gold with comedy celebrities, and including like Margaret Show, Rachel Dratch. I you can't even imagine the celebrities who are willing to do this because it's like half an hour on Zoom, sure. And we repackaged them as a podcast. And it was so crazy because we were like for years, we were like, we gotta do a podcast. Yeah, we should do a podcast. What would the we gotta what should we I mean, it I mean, we know it's about comedy, but like what's the podcast? You know, like and it was overwhelming because we're a tiny team with not a lot of extra resources and then some one of us, I don't even remember who it was because it was just so obvious, was like, Why don't we just use all this the literally hundreds of hours of Conversations we have with Judy Gold and Patty Harrison and Sean Cassidy that are sitting right there. All we need to do is ask their permission. And they all said yes. So it really, it's, you know, they it it really is just like a duh moment, but it's it's a it's the and and actually, but it turned into more than that. It's, I mean, you're right, always be launching, but it really it's not just like, we always need to be turning out content. It really is like something something that is. necessary and obvious for our brand that really it will enable us to do so many more things and be seen in so many more places with really very little extra work on our part, which is the magic. Mel C: it's great though that you're able to recognize those moments, talk about them freely, of like, you know, we're all in the same boat. Like I have aha moments every day, and or I add to my to-do list of things that I'd like to implement. Doesn't mean I'm gonna get them all done today. But if you continue talking about them enough, like you had about the podcast, it wasn't meant to happen years ago, but it was meant to happen right now. Lynn: Yeah. You know, that's probably true. That's probably true. Sorry to interrupt you, but it's probably Mel C: Yeah. Lynn: true because we we we this is in the weeds, but we wound up launching the podcast on Substack for a bunch of reasons. And we probably wouldn't have done that years ago for because Substack wasn't like that. And then we would have had to then we would have created a whole bunch more work for ourselves because launching a podcast on Substack. has the kind of visibility and discoverability built in. Whereas and no I mean of course it's great to have podcasts all over the place, but again, we are tiny. And then we would have had to be like, okay, now go over to that place and and find our podcast as opposed to ha living in this place where people can just find it. Mel C: Yeah, it's all over the place. Like there's so many platforms. But like thinking back to years ago, what is something that you would tell your younger self? Like it could be mini me at you know in your teens or it could be a little older mini me in the thirties, forties. Like what would you say to her? Lynn: All I'm gonna go in a completely different direction here, but I would say your job is not to make white dudes comfortable. Mel C: Tell me a little bit about that. Like, I Lynn: I tell myself that every day. we women find ourselves in so many types of spaces that were not built for us, that were not built with us in mind. We like offices. You know, they still are built on the eye the whole like workplace is in large part still built for people who have wives at home. And the way people talk in meetings, the way people I just all of that is still not we we can like make inroads and we can make differences and we can, but it was never built for us. It's all it's all us coming in to tr try to like push the needle, right? Mel C: Yeah. Lynn: and so I think that we can't do that if we come into spaces that weren't built for us and just let them be the same way. Mel C: Right. You know, they say, you know, you should be asking for your seat at the table or be getting your seat at the table. I'm like, I wanna own that table. Like I you know, and it's nothing against men for sure. Like I love some men, but it's like we do need to take ownership for what we want and what we're creating. my mission is to close that gap. Twenty six percent of people visible in media are women. Close that gap. And we are and we're actively doing on a many different levels. But you know, Lynn: Sure. Mel C: that's that's the kind of great fun, like catchy attitude that we need more of. Lynn: and making you know, saying yes when we don't mean it to it in in the in a workplace setting or like not saying anything when someone else takes your idea or things like that. Again, I don't wanna blame women for not speaking up because they're a whole it's not our we didn't make this problem. Like we did not create the problem that women are still second secondary in so many like that's we did not create that. And so it's not really our job alone to solve it. but the more we like allow men to be comfortable in those spaces, the the less they are going to take part in changing them. And we Mel C: Yeah. Lynn: cannot do it ourselves. So we cannot keep them comfortable. We have to challenge their modes and modalities and ways ways of speaking and ways of acting. So that they will also change and that actually they will drive the change. It's not just like blaming and shaming. It's that like they need to be like, hey, Bruce, you just took our idea. They're the ones who need to say it. Hey, Carl, you just talked over Mel, you know. they need to be the ones to do it. And so they need to also take a take the cue from us. and and that's the it's not our as again, it's not our job as individuals, but it is a culture that we need to change. Mel C: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. As we wrap it up, like say you have a bad day, what is one good song for you to kind of get you out of that funk? Lynn: my gosh. I have so many. I have so many. One of them I love is the Supremes Up the Ladder to the Roof. And I it's such a bop. And also my my happy place, I have kind of a very scrappy, kind of splintered roof deck on my up on my house in Brooklyn. And it is my happy place. I can't start my day even in the dead of winter without being up there for a minute and the fresh air and whatever. And so that song is such a bop and it just reminds me of like it says we go up the ladder to the roof to be closer to heaven. I don't have an image of heaven being in the sky, but to me, being up there is heavenly. You know, so it's just and it's just it and it's it gives me the energy for the rest of my day. Mel C: Love it. Yes. And we are gonna share that with others. I'm gonna listen to it today and get jazzed up for an amazing day. Last thing, where can people find you Lynn: Thank you. you can find goldcomedy at goldcomedy.com and also goldcomedy, same thing, on Instagram. And you can also find me and Gold on Substack. And my handle on Substack is this Lynn Harris. And I also have a column there called Interrupting Cow. So I hope you'll come find me. Mel C: Yes, I love that. Lynn, it was a pleasure. Thank you so very much. And a lot of what we said and discussed is definitely about coming together as a community, supporting each other. and as I say, together we rise, together we change lives because we couldn't do it alone. Lynn: Hell yeah. Mel C: Thanks.