Women in Comedy: Why We Need to Listen (Not Just Speak Up) | Lynn Harris

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Lynn Harris, founder of Gold Comedy and an industry veteran who's spent her career at the intersection of entertainment and social change. After 5 years of eldercare and other demands, Lynn is saying yes to herself again by setting boundaries, scheduling creative projects, and pursuing her own work.

They explore:

• How comedy works as a delivery system for challenging conversations and cultural shift
• Why the specificity of storytelling creates unexpected connection across difference
• What it means to set boundaries and reclaim your creative life after burnout

Lynn talks about the social contract of comedy and when you attend a show, you're required to listen to someone, even if they don't look like you or share your background. That simple act normalizes different perspectives and creates the possibility for cultural change. She's built Gold Comedy to help women and underrepresented voices succeed in comedy and entertainment, because the industry hasn't evolved enough since the 90s. Her insight is clear: it's not that women need to speak up more. It's that people need to listen.

Connect with Lynn:

GoldComedy.com

Discount Code: GOLD20PERCENTOFF

Youtube.com/GoldComedy

Instagram: instagram.com/goldcomedy

Referenced in this Episode:

Boundary Boss by Terri Cole: amazon.com/dp/1683647688?tag=syty-20

A Course in Miracles Links:

amazon.com/Course-Miracles-Combined-Quality/dp/1883360242?tag=syty-20

marianne.com/acim/

apps.apple.com/us/app/acim-remind/id737568020

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Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi friends, this is Wendy Harrup, and welcome to the Say Yes to Yourself podcast. On the Say Yes to Yourself podcast, you'll hear stories from women just like us who are adding the practice of saying yes in their daily lives in big and small ways, and as a result are experiencing the truth that everybody wins when you say yes to yourself. Saying yes to yourself is a graceful unfolding, an intentional becoming of the very best version of you. It is my hope that in these conversations we are able to find our truth and be inspired and empowered to live our very best lives. I'm so excited to go on this journey with you, and I look forward to finding a bit of our own story in each other's. I am enjoying just the bounty and abundance of peonies and joy and smiles and delight that are associated with them. I've made so many amazing friends just by hosting a pop-up shop in the barn and having this CSA where people can bring these gorgeous blooms into their home every week for this highly anticipated but short-lived season. I love incorporating them into the Summer Solstice White Party. It's all just so, so fun. And I hope that you are also finding fun in easy places, that you're leaning into the areas that bring you joy and seeing how other beautiful things are the result of that. I had no idea when I decided to provide peonies for people that I would actually make so many friends in the process. So it's just a blessed byproduct of doing what brings me joy. And I'm so grateful that that's how this works. Um, speaking of joy and smiles, we have such a fun guest today. We have Lynn Harris. She is the founder and CEO of Gold Comedy, the comedy school, professional network, and content studio where women and non-binary folks grow their comedy careers and creative side hustles, join a powerful community, and make funny stuff. She has dedicated her career to fusing the power of comedy with creativity, inclusivity, and social change. She believes that comedy is power because when you make people laugh, you make people listen. I am thrilled to share this delightful conversation with Lynn Harris. Fun Lynn, I am so excited about this conversation. Meeting you through your email introduction just made me know that you were going to be a lot of fun right from the beginning. So thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

I would love to start because I want to hear all of the wonderful things that you are up to, but I would love to know first. How are you saying yes to yourself in this season?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

How am I saying yes to myself? There's like a kind of a big way and a small way. Ah, brilliant. Well, okay, there's a few things. I'm saying yes to myself by saying no to others or or also just not really saying no, but catching myself when I'm about to like do something for them that they can do themselves. So especially like even just silly stuff with my, you know, with my husband or my kids, whatever. If they're like, where's the something? And I'll be like, oh, it's right here. I'll grab it. It's right here. Or just being, you know, just my instinct is to be like to like do it, you know, and I'm done. I've done enough.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Because I think we I don't know if you're familiar with Terry Cole's work, but she wrote the book Boundary Boss, and she talks about um over functioning, like that we're what do you call over functioning codependents, and over functioners turn regular functioners into under functioners by just doing everything for them and not even like not necessarily like conscious obligation, but subconscious habit.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Totally. It's like the sort of I call it let me just, you know, let me just, you know, and uh like no, I'm no, uh, I won't. So I've been really conscious of like noticing when I when I that is my impulse and then not doing it. And honestly, yeah, sure, it's growth for them, but it's just really like better for me. Um totally. I got to the end of honestly five years of kind of elder care hell and other nightmares, and during which time I was pretty good about like little things that kept me going, but I neglected a lot of things. So one thing I've been doing that I've you know said yes to is creative projects because you know, I run a comedy company, I never get to make funny stuff. It's like everyone's like, I did a thing, and I'm like, I made a spreadsheet, you know. So um I've finally had a little bit of of more discretionary time. So I've actually like worked projects and goals into my schedule, not just like I'm gonna do the pilot this year, but I I I have like a writer's an online writer's room that I go to almost every day, which is just like, hi everybody, okay, now we're quiet, right? That I designate for that for the pilot and other stuff. And I also set an intention to do the Moth. The first one I went to, I got picked and had a story and came in second place by 0.4 points. Oh my gosh, that's so amazing. So, um, I mean, I wanted to be in first place, but okay, it's fine. But I did it now. I'm like, oh, that was fine. I could do it. So I've just been trying to like not just say I'm gonna do the things, but literally scheduling them.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

I love that. And of course, that is what makes it happen. I don't miss things that are on my calendar.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

But I'm constantly moving the things that were on my personal, I'm the only one who's going to reap the negative benefit or the negative consequence of this not happening. Right. I move those over and over and over to accommodate the needs and desires of other people. And sometimes that is the right thing to do, and sometimes it's just my habit.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Yep. Yep, totally, totally. So yeah, so those are my things that that leapt to mind.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

And congratulations. I know I've listened to a lot of things on the moth. Like, is it available?

SPEAKER_01 8:29

No, no, it was just a story slam. So I don't even think it was recorded, but um, but it was a it was one of the you know, the the entry point story slams. Right. And I was thrilled that I got picked because there were lot lots of people there for sure. So, but I I mean it's I've done storytelling forever. I love storytelling. It's stupid that I had literally never done the moth. So I'm I'm being intentional about looking at the schedule and seeing what the themes are, and I have so many stories in my back pocket that are either already written that I just have to tweak. So I'm just being intentional about going to the ones that I can go to, which have themes for which I possibly have a story, preparing for it, et cetera, et cetera. So my gosh, that's so cool. And tell me about the pilot. It's sort of like I have a friend who was divorced and married her high school sweetheart recently. Okay. It's a little bit like that. This very short version of the story is that my creative partner and I created in 90, the late 90s, a superhero character called Breakup Girl and who helps all people with romantic emergencies. And it was actually the first multi-platform internet success story. It it was internet and TV and uh books, every it was the first, really the first of its kind. It wound up being acquired by oxygen. It was a huge cult following before we had metrics, so I can't even tell you what the numbers were, but anyway, and then it all, long story short, all kind of all fell apart, and we lost the the IP in the dot com and um took a lot of uh lawsuits, sweat, sweat and tears, or legal maneuvers and sweat and tears to get it back. And Chris, my partner and I have been noodling on different new versions of it for literally 26 years. Wow. And so I finally took a class at my own company in developing a pitch. And now I'm also taking a class at my own company to move me along and writing the pilot for an updated. It's like the ninth time we've updated the character, but like for the for the most recent iteration of the character of this, of this superhero and what what would she be doing, what would she be like today? I think it's a relatable, it's very specific, but I think it's the the theme that it fits into is you know, women in their 40s, 50s who maybe we have a little more time for some reason, or an empty nest, or like we've achieved what we want to achieve in our jobs to some degree, so we're not scrambling and grinding. Uh, that's not me, by the way. But in any case, there's reasons why women in their 40s, 50s plus seek out and grab onto creative projects or goals that they'd set aside. And this is that. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

I can't wait. I can't wait for reboot. Well, first I gotta write it.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Um, but you know that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

It'll it's gonna come. And I love that you have tapped into the company that you created for other people that are using this beautiful thing. Can you say more about that? Like, how did this even start? Because it's brilliant. Oh, thank you. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

It just sounds so fun. It is fun. We have fun. Um, for context, yes, Gold Comedy is a combo, uh, comedy school and professional network and content studio, where women and non-binary folks and other others, and really anyone who just wants a place with no bro vibe. Got it, come to build their comedy careers and creative side hustles and join a powerful collaborative community and make funny stuff that actually gets seen on all kinds of stages and screens. And so this is what it's developed into, where it came from was the conviction that comedy matters. I'm not the only person with that conviction. Comedy matters, um, and who who makes comedy matters because comedy is a cultural force, because comedy is a job and because women are people and uh it has the industry has not evolved as much as one would like since the 90s when I did stand up. Many seismic, wonderful changes have happened, many have not. And my kind of theory of change is well, if we can help individuals succeed in their careers and showbiz dreams and creative side hustles and aspirations, that's a win. And then in the aggregate, if we we just put more women in comedy, that's good for women in comedy, it's good for comedy, and it's good for the world because of the impact that comedy has.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Right. Yes, you've mentioned this, and it's such a pillar in in your work that when you make people laugh, you're making people listen.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

And can you share how that happens and how you have seen the beautiful effects of that in societal change?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Sure. Comedy definitely works as a delivery system for challenging, thorny, unpleasant topics and conversations. If only you had more fodder for your work. If only, if only at the very like cellular level, when a joke is a setup and a punch, most, not all, but like let that's a t that's sort of the core structure, whether it's explicit or not. And when you take someone on the journey from the setup to a punch, there's a twist. That's what makes you laugh. The setup makes you think makes the audience think you're going one way and you go a different way. And again, this is this is like the nuclear, the nucleus of all comedy, not just stand-up at some level. And so when the audience goes with you, like when basically when everyone gets the joke, you have a feeling of connectedness. Like you're like, oh, I I I I went around that curve with them. I didn't fall out, you know? And that's what that's how it kind of can can pull people in, make you feel connected, even if it's not about a specific issue. And even like really specifically, what let's take stand-up as an example. If you go to see a stand-up show and the person on stage is someone who doesn't look like you, someone with a different background from you, someone with different opinions from you, whatever it is. And the social contract you have in that moment is that for the next eight minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes, you are going to listen to them talk. That doesn't happen anywhere else. Right. That you are required, that you could be a white dude required to listen to a trans black woman. Right. That does not happen anywhere else. And it doesn't matter if she is talking about trans stuff. She could just be talking about like her wacky family or her annoying job. Like it doesn't matter, but that that is transformative. Even if you don't feel it, even if you don't notice it, that normalizes her having the power. It gave me chills when you said that. It's so good. So that's like that's the only place that that happens. And if that that and like at the at the cultural level, that's huge.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Right. Right. Because it also for the white dude who then laughs, it it gives him a connection point to this entire segment of culture and society that he formally thought he had no connection to.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Right. Well, the best comedy, the best storytelling, whatever, is the most specific, which is a paradox, right? The most, I shouldn't say the best, but what I mean is in this case, the most relatable. The more specific you are, this is the paradox, the more specific you are, the more relatable you are. Weird, right? No, because the more specific you are, the more vividly you paint a picture. And so someone can like enter into that picture, and even if it's not a picture they've ever been in, they're in it now. Then they're like, okay, but what you're really talking about are these um primal themes. You're talking about not fitting in, you're talking about being lonely, you're talking about just those, you know, those primal fear of whatever, or you know, being bully, whatever it was. I don't know. So the more vivid the picture, the more you can enter into it and then attach yourself to the primal themes. So it turns out that someone completely different from you on the literally on their face is actually totally relatable to you. And then so, like somewhere in your brain, and it may not be explicit, it clicks for you that that person is human. My gosh, it's big, beautiful work. It's big, it's big. And that could just be some dumb tourist show in New York City with a you know, a two drink minimum, and you know, like you know, it's it doesn't have to be, it can just be like a fun night out. It doesn't have to be like important or significant or about politics or anything like that. It could just be like having fun. But those different gears start to turn even when you're not aware.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Before you started the school, did you already know this? Or is it something that's that you've like minded as you've done it? Like, oh my gosh, this is actually a movement.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

You know, when you like do that science thing when you put the the string in sugar water and it makes crystals. So like those crystals have been growing for a while, but I kind of did have the the the string and the sugar water, you know. Like I I've always cared about comedy, just like I just like it. Um, so that's just my this is my area. A lot of ways to make social change. I chose comedy because I that's what I like.

unknown 18:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

So I care about comedy, care about social change, care in particular about gender equity, but that's not the only thing, it also connects to everything else. And I I care about pop culture in general and the power of pop culture to to drive change. Um doesn't have to be comedy. And because that hip-hop culture is really sort of what creates the air cover for all the other kinds of change or what what helps normalize new ideas and new um new thoughts and new actions that are that hadn't happened before. I really have kind of made a career out of it, you know, at that intersection of entertainment and social change. I am not the first one, it's a whole field, you know. So it's not like I'm not a pioneer here necessarily in the in the big picture. I always felt how important it was, especially for women. And I do not subscribe to the idea that like if only women spoke up more, you know, we'd we'd be in a bitter better place. Cause I'm like, no, if only people listen to women, you know, like we're fine. Just they need to listen. So that's sort of where those ideas, there are lots of ideas that went into this whole solution, but they kind of came together in one place. And I've been developing the developing the idea of gold for a long time also, both before I actually launched what we see today, and then also in the process of um of creating it and understanding what people want and understanding what people will pay for and all the business stuff too, you know. So, like, I don't I don't invite people to join gold by saying like we can change the world because women should be listened to. It's more like what help do you need with your career, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Right, that'll make sell them what they want and give them what they need.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Right. But they also are like, of course, they like to joining gold as opposed to someplace else. They are they are signing on to that big mission, but that's not why they like write a check. And there's also nobody writes checks, it's credit cards. But in any case, it just evolved intentionally, not unintentionally, but it evolved it the it, the mission, and it, the company, and the it, the ideas that I'm that I'm talking about all evolved together over time.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

I oh my gosh. I love the connection of the networking with the school. I mean, it's just holistic. And once you find your people, this group of people where you feel expansive and you feel creative and you feel safe, yeah. All of those areas expand.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah, exactly. And to be clear, the school is um, we're all almost all online. We're 98% online. So this is a thing that you can access, anybody can access from anywhere. And yeah, it is holistic. Like um, it's designed that way philosophically, because typically the basic model is that you actually pay by the year. You don't pay per class or per experience. So when you subscribe, most of the classes and most of the experiences are included. And that's how we kind of show not tell that um the community come and the crew, the finding your people comes first. Because that's important in any fields, and it's certainly important in a field that um doesn't have the sort of traditional structure that others do, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:23

And I love that it's a year-long container.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yeah. And most people renew because you know they're like, what else can I do? And the the operationally, the holistic part really works well because all of the different classes and on-demand stuff and you know, meet and greets with celebrities and pros and all the open mics, they all fit together. For example, we have someone um, I could say she's Naomi Winders, who you can find on Studio C, the sketch, the sketch series. She's amazing. And she's she's a member. And she is has a pilot now that she's finishing and wants to take out and pitch. But where did that pilot come from? Well, she took our classes, I think she's taken all of our classes, and we always had new ones. But I think she's like caught up. She took sketch, she took it all of our sketch classes, then and honed, which she already sorry, wrote sketch, but then she honed, she developed that even more in our web series class, writing a web series. That web series, she was like, actually, this can be a whole TV show. So she took our idea development class, developed the idea for into a whole TV show and the pitch, an industry standard ready pitch. Then she wrote the pilot, and now she's thinking about producing the web series as a proof of concept for the pilot. But it's all because when I went to, I said Maggie, who who teaches our sketch class, who should take this pit this pitching class? And she was like, she basically everybody, but she said, well, you know, Naomi has an idea that I think could really fly. So like she just kind of went through this kind of zigzaggy but um but natural path and has developed a real serious project with all of us, you know, cheering her along on the way. And and um yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Oh my gosh, I love, I mean, I know that this happens, but I just love stories like this because that whole process can feel so isolating, and you've created community around something that is isolating. Yeah. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Here's a better example of that. I was thinking of Naomi because I was just talking to her last night, but we have a woman named Rocky who who lives in North Carolina near Durham, but not in a city. And uh she's retired. She takes care of her grandchildren, she takes care of one of her adult sons uh who has extra needs. And she came to us uh a couple years ago because she said, I know I'm funny, but I don't know how to do any of this. And I want to. And she took our stand-up class something like a record 10 times, which you can do because it's included for the accountability and the new, you know, the new crowd each time for different feedback, et cetera, et cetera. And then she took our solo show class and developed a solo show that then wound up in a festival in New York City in September, which is when I finally met her for the first time. And now we're figuring out how we can support her in continuing to do the show and tour it and you know, tour it or uh, you know, expand on it, create a digital version.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

It's so cool. I just I love stories of obviously women saying yes to themselves, but then how their yes, there are so many ripple effects to our yeses. And what I've heard in the hundreds of women that I've spoken to is that sometimes we think that our yes is selfish and that it's only for us, and that the people that we're responsible for are gonna have to, you know, fend for themselves if we do this one thing that feels decadent and special. But it's not how it works. There's this gorgeous divine math that happens when we are concentrated on our own personal alignment and we trust that we attract other people that are doing that too, and then our impact and these ripple effects grow so far and wide that what we thought we were taking care of so many people by denying ourselves is just the opposite of what happens.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Exactly. Exactly. Nothing to add. I mean, and and oh, just to say that like Rocky is a perfect example of that because she does, you know, she does take care of people, she has she has commitments that tie her to family, um, and she figures it out. And it probably makes her, you know, that's how she like recharges her batteries and doesn't feel trapped and and limited. And in North Carolina, she works for she writes for a sketch team, and and we did this Instagram live when she was like outside the building, and then we did this little tour of the backstage, and and I'm like, No, someone else is home with the kid, the grandkids, and I'm not asking, you know, like uh she's got it covered. Someone else is home with her son, it's handled, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

And it's so great because also what that yes does is it unlocks the how. Right. Sometimes we think you have to figure it out. Because who's gonna do all of these things? And that is again this divine math of their solution exists, and it comes through that open channel of us saying yes to ourselves. Yeah, oh my gosh. Okay, it's all just so good, and the fact that it can be delicious and expansive and entertaining, and cause people to think and create social change, which is so beautiful and delicious on its own, because it's coming from a place of alignment, it can be received as an invitation to a new perspective, a new way of thinking, rather than just yelling at someone and saying they're an idiot for buying into whatever they're up to. You know, I I just think that the the path that leads you to the microphone impacts how the delivery of what you're saying in the microphone wherever your microphone is.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Beautifully put. Speaking of microphones, I don't know if I'm I don't know if you can hear how New York that the level of New York I'm in right now because there is some there's a massive traffic jam, including sirens outside. And not like there's not an emergency, there's just I just don't know if you can hear all the horns honking. I can't. Okay. I can't.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

That's so funny that we're gonna.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

I had to mute for a second. I was like, okay, New York, take it easy. I'm on a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

I'm glad you're here. We're not forgetting about you. Yeah, I'm a a student of a course in miracles, and it's a spiritual teaching book, and it has 365 lessons. And uh Marianne Williamson is has been teaching, lecturing on these teachings for decades. And so during the pandemic, she recorded 365 videos going through every lesson, and I think her apartment is on top of a fire station because every morning, like she's you know, she's telling me this, you know, it is impossible to see two worlds, and there are sirens through every single one of those things.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Yeah, but you're just like, okay, it's the helpers, it's the helpers. Right. Yeah, right. And I love that it's not edited out because this is life, people. Yep. That's one thing that I think like we listen, we could have done without the pandemic, but given that it happened, I love the kind of new accessibility and casualness that has become a norm. I mean, I still think you still have to like pay attention to your, you know, but um but you should still wear pants. You should still wear pants, as far as anyone knows. No comment. I will still wear pants. I am wearing pants. Uh, not shoes, but pants. Oh, okay. But I do love that that kind of um accessibility and like it in a way, it's like as far apart as we are, and how distancing technology can seem, it's also actually, I think it also narrows the distance between people in a way as well.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

I should not agree more, and that we can have these conversations, and we didn't leave the building, I didn't find a parking space. I mean, I've had five conversations today for this podcast. I love that I haven't straightened my legs five hours, you know, like it's just it's beautiful, and I think it does connect us, and it's giving us the opportunity to reframe what connection is and what friendship is and what it means to be vulnerable, to be available. There during the pandemic, I took this online business class. The women said, Hey, you can get paid to do what you love. Like, I'm down, sign me up. And I met these amazing people, and it started at the end of January of 2020 and ended mid-April 2020. So then, of course, we all needed to pivot because the thing that we just spent 12 weeks toning in on was no longer an option, and so so many of us continued. We just took the course again, but on our own. And then those friendships have morphed, and one woman, she has a nonprofit in Kenya, and I'm on the board, we've gone to Kenya together. I've traveled with so many of these women, and there was this moment in time when I would be telling someone about, oh, my friend Cindy. Well, I haven't actually met her, but yeah, like she's inside my body, like she has experienced the depths of my soul. These three women that I was having Zoom calls with once a week, yeah, walked with me through the time that I was sitting in the question of my marriage.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

Like no other person that I had formerly met in person was doing that at that level of connection. So I think that you know, just like they say when the student is ready, the teacher appears. But when you are open and available to be known, connection appears.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

For sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Totally agree. It's okay, and it's 111. So yes, to all of that.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

I love a wink from the universe thing that we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

So what is, I mean, I know what's next is the pilot, but oh yeah, and that's like, I mean, I don't mean to downplay it because it's important to me, but like there's a lot of variables there. The one that's in my control is I have to write it, I have to finish it. Then I get to figure out what to do with it. So, but that one very important first step is to finish it. But that's also I have a structure for that. So that's good. It's not just like Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Right. And the yes unlocks the how. Right, exactly. Exactly. You're holding space. So, what do you want people to know? Why? Why tell these fabulous stories? Why, why share your goodness with the world?

SPEAKER_01 33:06

I just think that there is so much joy and power in discovering your own connection to comedy and humor. And there's so many forums that it comes in. It's not like the answer to everything, it's not the right way to do things. But I think sometimes people count themselves out because they don't fit a narrow description of what it means to be funny. Whether they, you know, and so like my thing is like you don't have to be less shy, you don't have to be more confident, you don't have to be anything. I mean, like, come on, the expression is a sense of humor, right? It's a sense, it's just a sense. Like, it's not a grasp, right? It's just a sense. I think we all have a sense of humor at that the bar is low, people. The bar is low. And whether it's finding ways to like change your own, uh change, but shift your or just like remove that like unnecessary limitation. Just be like, if you were funny, what would you do? Right, right. Instead of saying you're not funny. Right. And also like you're, you know, first of all, comparing yourselves to a professional comedian, maybe, who's been doing this for 20 years. So, like, yeah, no, you're not like that, but that's normal. Like, I can't make a pastry like a pastry chef. That's not bad. I'm not an imposter. Like, I'm just not, I haven't done it. Anyone, I think a lot of people are pretty good at consuming comedy. So that's great, that's handled. But there's something that there's really like even the low, the second lowest bar is kind of active noticing of things that are funny and just allowing yourself to laugh. And that can be trained, even just like writing it down. But also, if you write stuff down, you start noticing that you actually do have some material. And you don't have to write down things that are already funny. A lot, that's another misperception. Like the misperceptions include all comics are not shy, all comics are confident, all comics are loud, or that comedy means that like I've gotta have this wacky life where crazy stuff happens to me. Absolutely not, because also those aren't that's not comedy, those are funny anecdotes. Sure. The other thing is that people think that um funny being funny means always talking or always like trying to be funny. And a lot of it is actually when you don't say anything. And a lot of times it's not even making a joke, it's just acknowledging what's so. It's reading the room. So, like for you to be the one in the room in a meeting and to be like, to be just to be the one, and to be clear, this is not a joke, but to be the one who just says, Is it me or is it freezing in here? You know, not a complaint. It just and you're the one who makes everyone go like, Yes, it's freezing. I was waiting for someone to say, and like not a joke, but it opens something up because you read the room, but you were and you were the one to say it. And so even like developing the ear for that in a way that kind of like puts everyone at ease, is is the kind of thing that comics do, and the kind of skill that is transferable from comedy. And that wasn't hard. I didn't write a joke just then, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:14

Right, but it's that awareness and practicing exercising that muscle of awareness and voice.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Yes. I never want to like sound like I'm saying, well, if women could just be more, you know, but it's it's um then we'll then we'll fix patriarchy. Like it's awesome, you know. I that's not what I'm trying to say, but I'm just there's there's joy that you might be talking yourself out of based on incorrect assumptions. That's all I'm saying. And even power that you might be talking yourself out of based on incorrect assumptions. So it's not a criticism. It's not like again, I'm not solving patriarchy here. I'm just saying that there's um something that you might have just based on a myth or just an inaccurate perception, something you might be missing out that you might enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

And that might access connection and and maybe even a little power. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Well, please tell everyone how they can find and follow you, how they can get information about the school. I didn't realize that it was online. I think that's brilliant. So they can be inspired by this beautiful conversation and sign right up.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Thank you. Uh yeah, easy peasy. You can visit goldcomedy.com. We also have a lot of free resources there, um, articles, QA's with interesting comedians, just stuff to read and enjoy. We're also on YouTube, youtube.com slash goldcomedy. We have tons of sketches. We have teams that make digital sketches. So if you want to just go and laugh, um, we can we got you. I want to go and laugh. Yeah. And then you can also find that through Instagram at Gold Comedy, just G-O-L-D comedy. And I'll be happy to provide you and your listeners with a discount code to check us out. Because really, again, it's we're we're here for we have lots of people who are already professional comedians, and we have lots of people who are not yet professional comedians, uh, or people who didn't think they were coming to us to be professional comedians, um, but who get hooked. Um, or really, as I said, people who wind up developing creative side hustles, like the the pilot that um in Naomi's case, hers happens to be a funny pilot, but we have people developing ideas that are not funny, but just because we're also about access.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

And so, you know, I've got this great idea, but I don't know anything in ho about Hollywood. I don't know anyone in Hollywood, so I guess I won't do it. Hold up. Yeah, exactly. We can help you not just do the creative process, but do the but help you speak the language that you need to speak, and even in some cases, make the connections that you need to make in order to move that project into reality.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Thank you for all of that beautiful um your generous discount code and all of those ways to connect with you. We are all going to laugh, and the super uh called are going to um be brave and courageous and say yes to themselves. And I can't wait to have them on the podcast, which will be oh my gosh. Thank you so much, Lynn. This was such a delightful conversation. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

My pleasure. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. As always, any links or notes mentioned can be found at PhineasRighthouse.com in the podcast section of our site or in the show notes below. And if you haven't connected with me personally, come find me on Instagram at PhineasWrighthouse and let me know you listened to this episode. I'd love to get to know you. Thank you for sharing this time with me. I know your days are full, and I'm really grateful that you chose to spend some of your precious time right here. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any of these delightful conversations. I'll see you next week.