When women tell jokes, the world has to listen.

Comedy isn't just about making people laugh—it's about making people listen. This profound insight lies at the heart of Lynn Harris's remarkable journey from accomplished journalist to stand-up comedian to founder of Gold Comedy.

For 25 years, Lynn has used humor as a powerful mechanism for driving social change, understanding that comedy becomes revolutionary when performed by those whose voices are traditionally marginalized. "When you make people laugh, you make people listen," she explains. Those precious minutes on stage where everyone must be quiet and attentive can be transformative, especially for women and others who historically haven't had the spotlight.

Lynn's path has been anything but conventional. She balanced journalism and comedy for decades, co-created the internet sensation Breakup Girl (one of the earliest multi-platform digital success stories), and now leads Gold Comedy—an online platform teaching not just comedy craft but how to run your comedy life like a business. Her premium "Build-a-Pitch Any Idea" class has helped countless women, particularly those in their 40s, 50s, and beyond, develop creative projects they "cannot get out of their heart or drawer." Several graduates have gone on to get their shows into development or produce their own web series.

What makes Lynn's approach so refreshing is her insistence that comedy belongs to everyone. You don't need to change who you are to welcome humor into your life. You don't need to be less shy or more confident—whatever you already are is what makes you funny. Her suggestion? Keep an "attitude journal" where you note things that are funny or could be funny, training yourself to see humor in everyday moments.

Ready to find your funny? Visit Gold Comedy to learn stand-up, sketch writing, or how to pitch your dream project. Because as Lynn reminds us, laughter isn't just a distraction from what's happening—it's a powerful way to engage with it.

Transcript

Introduction to Lynn Harris

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to the Cheese Suite Society, a community where women from all backgrounds come together to share their stories, support one another, and reveal the unfiltered reality of our lives. I'm your host in Empowerment Sherpa Dahlia, and this podcast exists to give voice and space to women whose experiences might otherwise go unheard. Today I'm joined by Lynn Harris, founder of Gold Comedy and co-creator of the internet sensation Breakup Girl. Lynn's journey from accomplished journalist to stand-up comedian to comedy educator spans 25 years of using humor as a mechanism for driving social change. What makes her story so compelling is how she's consistently found ways to address difficult topics through the power of appropriately humorous voices. Lynn's understanding that comedy is revolutionary when performed by anyone who isn't a straight white dude speaks to something deeper about who gets heard in our society. As she puts it, when you make people laugh, you make people listen. And that 10 minutes on stage where everyone has to be quiet and listen to you can be transformative, regardless of what you're talking about. Through Gold Comedy, she's created something remarkable, an online platform that teaches not just the craft of comedy, but how to run your comedy life like a business. From stand-up and sketchwriting to her premium build-a-pitch any idea class, Lynn is helping women of all backgrounds, and not just women, but anybody in invested in comedy bring their passionate projects to life, proving that it's never too late to pursue what you can't get out of your heart. I have always been a huge fan, and I don't I don't think I can express this enough. Huge fan of comedy. Huge, huge fan of comedy. Yes, you have. I when I saw that you are um have a comedy club and you do skits, I looked at all your skits. Holy cannolis, I just adore them. I have so many questions.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

So one thing I'll say is it's we don't have a club club like with bricks and mortar. But yeah, we do have, we call it, we do call it the club, which you have rightly, um, rightly noted. So yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Tell me how did you get started in comedy?

Comedy as a Mechanism for Change

SPEAKER_00 2:34

How did I get started in comedy? Very sort of unintentionally. Uh, I did not have a five-year plan, a 10-year plan. Um when I started to do stand-up, which I'll and I'll back up in a second. My goal with doing stand-up was to do stand-up. That was it. I just really wanted to do stand-up. Um, I thought it looked like fun and I thought I might be good at it. And I liked hanging out with other funny people. That was pretty I was not ambitious. But still, that that is ambition in itself. Well, fair enough. Um, it did come from, I think it came out of simply being exposed to a lot of hilarity when I was growing up, in contrast to having sort of like a quiet house with an only child in it, who is me. Uh if there was something on, it was either you know, opera or my dad playing the piano, or Carol Burnett, I love Lucy, The Muppets, Monty Python, Laughing. And that's just what my both my parents were funny. My dad was more of a ham, but they were both funny. And it's just what I was exposed to, and I loved it. And so I was just always drawn to, you know, I was a theater nerd, but I played the you know, the funny sidekick. Um, I was, you know, I did a cappella in college, but I was never a great singer, but I was good at the, you know, at the at the funny stuff we did in between, you know. Um so that was just what I was always drawn to. And then yeah, um, after college, I was like, I'll just stand up. And then I did it for about 10 years. But to, but even though I was kind of lackadaisical about my intentions uh or like my goal, you know, my my goal planning, you know, um, I was very intentional and committed, intentional about and committed to the idea of comedy as a mechanism for driving social change.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Oh, oh, that's a good twist.

The Reality of Stand-up Bombing

SPEAKER_00 4:51

I love this. Yeah. So whether or not it's about whether or not you're taking a difficult topic and making it more inviting, or whether it's just the people who are doing the comedy. In other words, if you are, you know, it's pretty revolutionary if you think about it. If you're not a straight white dude and you do stand-up, let's say, I I'm can I'm involved in and can talk about all kinds of comedy that are that are not stand-up, but just to take a simple example, if you're not a straight white dude and you're doing stand-up in a club where most of the other people are straight white dudes, and you're talking about whatever it is you're talking about, could be your life, might not be, might be nothing either you know, controversial, political, or or in in any way um, you know, quote unquote important, right? It might be silliness, but just the fact that you are with your face and your life and your experiences standing on stage for eight to ten minutes where all the other people have to be quiet or laugh, of course, and listen to you, and you're not someone they're used to listening to, that's revolutionary in and of itself. It really is. And I include women in that. Yeah. So stand-up also, if you think about it, when when women do stand up, you have to listen to us for 10 minutes. So I like to say when you make people laugh, you make people listen. And uh that is very true, and can again can be revolutionary when depending on who it is that's uh both uh inviting the laughter and who then has to listen.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Exactly. That's exactly right. You know what's funny is for most people that I I know, that would be so intimidating. They're like they're so scared of being heard or seen and definitely not on stage, is on stage with a spotlight, and like that's like way worse. And you you turn it into being an empowering moment, which is exactly right. They have to listen to the words that you say. Do you do you ever get heckled as a result?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

You know, I haven't done, I mean, I don't do stand-up now, it's just I can't stay up that late. Um, heckling is a I don't want to diminish it, but it's a bit of a red herring. Um, I I again I really don't want to diminish it because it does happen and it's a pain in the ass. But it's uh you you're making yourself vulnerable no matter what, even with a wrapped audience. And hecklers typically are like no one's really on their side. Yes, it's still it's still kind of your game, you know, and it's a pain in the ass, and you have to do something about it, and you have to practice and you have to learn how to respond. And yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, it's totally a thing. But I think comics are more, and I'm gonna put a spin on this after I say it, comics are more concerned with, and again, hear me out because I'm gonna put a spin on this. Comics are more concerned, typically, typically there are exceptions, with bombing than they are with being heckled. It's just an outlier, and it's you and again, it makes the other person look bad, less you, right? And but even then, comics know, even though nobody likes to bomb, um, comics know that if they're not bombing, they're not doing comedy. And it's, you know, it just it sucks, but it happens. And you just, and the the the especially with stand-up, the thing about stand-up is that you're also if you're not in the if you're not working several nights a week, or at least at mics or whatever on stage several nights a week, you're also not really doing you're not you're not growing as a stand-up. So like it's gonna happen. Like it's gonna happen. Um, so they just know that numerically, you know, not all nights will be like tonight, and you just dust yourself off and move on. So that's like a more like likely scenario where especially because in a in a with a heckler, you kind of have something to like deal with and play off of and and sort of neutralize. Whereas if they're just not with you, that's almost you all like the enemy is invisible, you know, and it's a little harder to deal with. But even then, it's just part of the job.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

You just yeah, you just I I didn't even think about that. Numerically, it's going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

It's it's impossible not to. It doesn't mean any it doesn't mean anything.

Journalism and Comedy Intertwined

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yeah, it doesn't mean anything, but it probably still can't feel great. Yeah, I mean, we're not made of wood, right? But it but but it doesn't um it doesn't mean anything. So you did that for 10 years after college. And then what did you do?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Well, I did a lot of overlapping and kind of in intertwine intertwined things. Um I was a a journalist for about 25 years. I was very accomplished as a journalist. Um, and I still do related things um and still use the skills. I just kind of pivoted away from it when sort sort of in the early 2000s. No, the well, the mid-2000s, um, when there was a great reckoning um among magazines and newspapers and um a great shedding of those of us who had um very uh you know contracts that made the job doable. Um and but so but during that time I was doing both um journalism and stand up, and I and the same thing was really driving me at the core, which was this wasn't what I did with every single thing I wrote, wrote or performed, but the idea um what what drove what interested me the most was how can I use a an appropriately humorous voice to address or when addressing difficult issues? Um abortion, you know, uh racial justice, you know, things that are just not funny. Uh but how can one's voice contribute, you know, how can a how can an again appropriately humorous voice, whether it's sarcastic, whether it's innocent, whatever it is, um, bring more people into the conversation or um skewer something even harder. So uh I also at the time, during that chunk of time, during that era, um co-created a comic book comic book style character with my writing partner, my creative partner uh named Breakup Girl, whose job it was and is to help all kinds of people, every kind of person with romantic emergencies. And even that was, and that became actually one of the earliest uh multi-platform internet success stories. That was in '99. And it turned into two books, an ongoing, a lot or long-running variety show live, um, an animated show on an animated interstitial show on part of another show on oxygen. Um, all from this, you know, this originally an old good old-fashioned book that we collaborated on to help you survive about helping surviving a breakup. Yeah. And even then, like we didn't take we we took it very seriously, but we and and and it did have a mission that was again the kind of the intertwining of you know, humor in some form with serious goals. And that was, you know, we didn't initially conceive her this way, but it really grew into, and I think one of the reasons people loved it, what it really grew into was a way to talk about relationships that wasn't the same old dumb gender stuff, gendered stuff where women talked about relationships and complained about men, which helps no one. Um, but that was the and it's not even that's not to shame the women doing that. I'm saying that's a that's that's the way these things were viewed, right? Advice columns were for women. Um, conversations about relationships are for women where they talk about how to fix men. Like that's that was the idea. I'm not saying that was the reality, but that was the idea. That was the idea. Yeah, that helps nobody, right? Um, especially if you're not in a straight relationship. So we like you know, really early, really early. I mean, this was the 90s, you know, people would we had an advice column and people would write to us, you know, young, old, gay, straight, trans, you know, everything, um, and ask for advice because a super comic superhero was she she was funny, but she wasn't silly, um, and was accessible. Um, and so we really, and you know, we didn't wake up every day thinking this, but we knew that what we were doing was trying to change the way people talked and thought about relationships.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

And so that's another example. So we did that for so that was all like intertwined with the journalism and comedy. Um, and there were, you know, a couple other things after that, but those are I'll pause.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Um that's magical. That actually is where the I think the magic happens, is when you can talk about things that are so difficult with humor. I think it you're right, it does sit with people a lot longer, and it I think it breaks barriers, truly.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Um another. Yeah, it's really true. There's a whole bunch of reasons that it does that. Um, that are like, you know, it's science basically, but it's true.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Uh were you always into comedy or comedic things, even as a child?

SPEAKER_00 14:19

Yeah, I was kind of a goofball. Um, I definitely was a goofball. I took after my dad, who was like sort of a sort of a non-annoying practical joker and um was silly. You know, I mean, he was into Monty Python, you know, and that's it was just damn. Um we would do goofy slapstick together, like when he was raking the leaves, I would hide in the pile and then like jump out and scare my mom, you know, like that kind of thing. Um yeah, I just always dug it. You know, it was just always my language, uh, and just what I what I gravitated toward. Um, but then you know, it does, it's it's true that even beyond that, it takes practice.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Practice, practice, practice. You could have a natural affinity, you could, you know, you could not be, you know, you could be comfortable on stage, whatever it is, but it that is all very nice. But it it you can't kind of steal the deal without a lot of work and practice.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yeah, it's like any muscle. Yes. Um so you started Gold Comedy Club.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Did you do that by yourself? Uh I have a co-founder um named Ami Vora. And initially I started I started out by myself with just kind of experimenting and figuring out what I wanted to do. Um, and then Ami came on as it was really turning into a business that needed um uh, you know, marketing officer, digital officer. She does the, she's, you know, that's her area. Um and uh and we have a I had a, you know, still do have a huge team of advisors. Um, I knew how to do a lot of things. I knew how to build a brand, I knew how to teach comedy, I knew how to be a producer. Um, I had done all those things, and I needed um and sought out help with okay, but how do I legit grow a business or create at least launch even a business? So uh definitely uh anything I did alone, I didn't really do alone.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

I mean, that can be said for anybody, right? We never really do things alone. I just wondered how much support and help you had with that. So that's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

A ton. And what when did you start it? I started thinking about it um a long almost 10 years ago, just kind of thinking about it. Like, what would what would it be? Like how what would it be like if I don't know, something with women and comedy and just content, but there's also classes and and we get them young or we just or I I uh I didn't know. Um, and then uh I started doing a few things just to experiment and build the brand um before the pandemic. And then I always I always knew though that I wanted the headquarters, if you will, to be online. Um, because you know, for reach and scale.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah.

Gold Comedy and Its Mission

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Um and then the pandemic happened, and you know, we could have done without it. But given that it did, it helped people understand that yeah, you can do pretty much anything. You can learn online, you can form communities online, you can, yes, you can do comedy online. Like it's it's not a substitute for something else, but it can, it's but it's legit. Even improv, we have an im we have an improv teacher who who does a great job, not working against the Zoom square, but with the fact that you're in the Zoom. And the same with our stand up. Like we, you know, we really work with it. Like you can do a whole lot of things with like props are not funny in a club. Props can be hilarious on Zoom, you know, because you don't know what sitting outside that, you know, and then suddenly someone's like, ah, you know, like having a function, right? You know, it's just it's just different. And so you learn to work with that, you can learn to work with that medium. So in other words, it was much, it was we no longer had to educate people that you could do this, whatever this was, um, on your computer. Nice. Yeah, so we've been growing it sort of slowly, um, but surely, uh, since since the middle of the pandemic. Where did the name come from? Well, I like the idea. I mean, you know, comedy gold is like the best comedy, right? And I like the idea of turning it on its head. Um, and you know, comedy is hard for everybody. Comedy is hard for the straightest, whitest, dudest, dude. Uh, I wanted to make it easier for and prioritize the people for whom it's the hardest. So uh there's something about that made me want to switch it around and not call it comedy goal, but gold comedy. Um, and just to just to sort of turn it, turn things upside down a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Play on words. Yeah. Of course, you not you're nod to journalism. You'll you'll never not be a journalist. Is that a fair statement thing? You'll never not be that. What were some of the more difficult um hurdles you had to do when balancing the two when you were doing comedy and journalism?

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Honestly, it wasn't that hard. It wasn't that hard because um sometimes what I was writing about during the day gave me ideas for gave me ideas for stand-up. Um, especially in my later years, I when I was fortunate enough to be able to write a lot of personal essays, I wrote them for books, also for anthologies. I found that they it certainly wasn't you couldn't do the exact same thing on stage, but I gravitated a little bit more toward I did I did storytelling also. That's a little bit different, but I gravitated to more toward like let's say I had a 10 10 or 12 minute set, I gravitated more toward like talking about one thing for those 12 minutes. Um, so it's it's not uh it's not full-on storytelling, but doing um stand-up style storytelling or storytelling stand-up style. So, you know, telling a one story of a you know crazy camping trip to Idaho would be just like jokes, jokes, jokes, jokes, jokes, but it was still one story with a beginning, middle, and an end. And that would often be derived from something that I had just written for a magazine or an anthology or something. So there was a lot of um, there was a lot of translation or even like you know, current issues that I was writing about. I would turn, I would take the same jokes, the same like, you know, dark, skewering jokes or whatever that I had written in, you know, for salon or whatever it was, and often find ways to translate them um into things that would mostly be the same, but you'd have to, you know, you'd have to change them around a little bit to work um live. So there was a lot, the border was pretty porous.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

You're a very creative individual. I would I would assume that you've like a lot of people, um, well, not a lot of people, but you've just sort of followed your own life path and done what felt right to you.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

That I have. Um how did you not succumb to these pressures? That's a great question. I mean, I did have a job job for a while, which I also liked. Um which is also great fun, and and I learned a lot, um, but only for about five years. Um, so it doesn't mean that what I have been doing is not a business. I mean, any journalist slash creative is running their own business. Um say that not to be not to sound defensive, but like uh, but we do one of the things we've we've taught and teach at Gold is, you know, yeah, you're not, you're yeah, sure you're a creative, but you're running a business, and here's how to run that. You know, here's how to do your invoicing, and here's how to ask for as much money as you deserve, and here's how to, you know, just because you're a creative doesn't mean you should get paid less because you're following your dream, you know. Um I love that. That's a whole lot of yes right there.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

But um so uh so wait, what what are all the avenues that you teach at gold?

Build-a-Pitch Class for Passionate Creators

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Oh, sure. Well, we teach all the kind of obvious forms of comedy. So uh stand-up sketch, most primarily stand-up and sketch, but we do do storytelling, we do do improv, um, we do do what am I forgetting? Stand-up story. Um those are the big sort of oh um TV writing, late night writing, pilot writing. We also find that we fill gaps, other gaps that need to be filled, um, whether it's how to run your life like a how to run your comedy life like a business, but also um we teach how to not just how to write a sketch, but how to shoot it so that if you're doing a digital sketch, how to shoot it so it looks great. The whole, all of the production piece, um, production, uh, you know, how to shoot it, how to edit it, um, and how to market it online. Um, because you don't want to just like write a great sketch and then have nothing not be able to do it, you know, you want to get it out there. Um, how to direct a sketch, how to write dialogue, um, all those things. And again, light sound, all those things that have to be impeccable, which you can do on a budget, how to do that on a budget. Um and we teach, we also teach one of our one of our premium classes that I think also is is one that might be especially interesting to your listeners, is uh it's a premium class called Build and Pitch Any Idea. And there are a lot of great pitching classes out there, and this does help you create a great pitch, but you don't get to do your pitch until you've fully developed your idea. Typically, in um typically in this class, it's typically typically but not always, um, it's people who are working on ideas for TV shows, um, usually half hour or hour you know, comedies or dramedies. Uh, but also people work on feature films, podcasts, um, unscripted, um, and uh even some even some other outliers. And what and what's amazing, two two amazing things. Well, there's many amazing things, but I'll I'll select two for now. Um, one is that people can come in and do come in to this class with just the seed of an idea. Just the seed. Might be uh everyone in my family is a dentist. There's gotta be a show in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Right? Yeah. Uh or they come in with like, I've written the pilot, I've written, I've outlined it, I know the arc of season two, I know I know everything, but I don't know what to do. Like it's sitting here, I don't know what to do with it. Um, and from any starting point, um, Ryan Cunningham, who is the who is the teacher, who is uh no big deal, executive producer of Broad City, search party, inside AD Schumer. And she helps you take from wherever you are and build all and rigorously go through a framework where you build that idea until you can live it and until you're living and breathing it. And then you can start working on your industry standard pitch that by the end of the class you have polished and practiced and delivered to uh development executives who are um who are not in that in that moment expected or at all expected to like green light you they can't. That's what the but in many cases they do say, like, do you mind if I make some calls? You know, um, so it's not an official, um it's not official like that, but they do give real feedback from the exact kind of people that you would be pitching to. The other amazing thing is that, or just it's not amazing, it's wonderful, um, is that a lot in this class, especially, the people who take it are uh not uniquely this, but like this is where they show up. Um, and that is women in their like 40s, 50s plus who uh are you know already successful in a career that may be entertainment related, may not. Um, one of them taking it right now is a veterinary oncology surgeon or surgeon, for example. Um and they have an idea that they cannot get out of their head, off their mind, out of their heart, out of their drawer. And they're like, I'm doing this. And I just scared my cat. Um, and uh, and they are passionate and driven and they're serious. Like they may not be quitting their day job on Wall Street or in Hollywood or whatever it is, um, or just you know, um, or elementary school teacher, whatever it is. Um, but they're very serious about this project. It's not like a random, I'll give it a whirl, like they are serious. And so uh they do come out of this class with um a ready-to-go pitch, and they often go on to, I can think of several off the top of my head, who have gone on to get their shows in develop into development um with actors attached, and you know, the whole thing takes forever, but um, or they've produced it, they've turned it into an entire existing mini-series, uh sorry, uh web series that's out right now, um, like Ratsar, which I can direct you to right now. Um, so they and and Ryan, the the teacher, the instructor, used developed the class as a college class, and and you know, no shade. She's uh you know, I she says, I love the college students, they're great, they're so full of energy, blah blah blah blah, they're so creative, they're so interesting, they're so original. She's like, but I really loved the women, you know, these the quote unquote older women who just bring so much life to their ideas, even if they're not autobiographical. And so we really like have sent some really interesting projects into the world um that have come out of women from this kind of you know psychographic, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

What a power movement. That's almost a movement. Yeah, that's anything. Look at you just killing it. Helping the world get better. Um, I know I know we're gonna end up running out of time, it always happens, but I I have two two more questions. One of which is what does your day-to-day look like? Like you have the day, what does the normal average day look like? I I I imagine it's not normal.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

I normally sit in this perfect white office where there are no there's no dust, there's no dust or clutter. And I have ideas, and no, that's not what happens. Um, if only you can see what's like right around. Uh bit listeners, I'm referring to my completely fictional Google Meet background. Um, that uh is yeah, it's perfectly white with perfectly happy plants. Um day to day, honestly, um Day to day I'm mostly focused on I'm you're talking to my team and mostly focused on, you know, which class do we have to build? What you know, uh what um what uh what projects are our members doing that we need to support? What what events are going on this week, who, you know, which comedy pro or celebrity do we have booked for our weekly Q ⁇ A? Like it's very, it's very day-to-day, day-to-dayness, right? Um and I will say, like, as it's it's the c it's also the classic thing that like founders find out when they like, you know, build a business based on their passion, that they're like, oh wait, when do I get to do my passion? You know, so partly it's me trying to also find time to still make funny stuff because you know, I I I'm here all day making helping other people make funny stuff, um, which is fun. And they succeed. I'd even say we have like we have a web series now on Fox Souls. Like our we're making funny stuff and it's getting out into the world. But um but and you saw our all our digital sketches that are amazing. Um, but then there's still that itch, you know, which is why I'm here in the first place. So it's a combination of like just like do, do, do, execute, execute, execute, execute, and then a little yearning.

Final Advice: Welcoming Comedy Into Life

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Oh, that's too good. Oh, I love that. Well, as every episode typically goes here, uh the entire episode ends up being advice. But I like to end it with what advice can you give to the listeners on the She Sweet Society? Whether you live by it or just something you think they need to hear right now.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

If you're drawn to or curious about comedy in all its forms, you know, humor, and then you then the minute you feel drawn to it, and then the next thought you think is, but I'm not funny, or I'm not funny enough, or I'm too shy, or I'm not confident enough, or whatever it is to do whatever. I'm not saying you all have to run off and join the circus. But I will say that you actually don't have to change who you are in order to welcome comedy and humor even more into your life. You don't have to be less shy, you don't have to be more confident. Uh, you just have to kind of keep an ear out. And if something's funny to you or something isn't funny yet, but could be, write it down. Like there's all this talk about a gratitude journal. I like to, you know, I like to keep my joke is I call it an attitude journal. Um like just write down anything that like either is funny or could be funny or you don't even know. Like it's just a thing, something that occurs to you. Just, you know, whether it's like peanut butter. Like, I don't, I who knows. And whether or not you decide that you're gonna like give it a whirl and try a stand-up class or pitch your you know, learn to pitch your idea that you've been working on, um it still is a way to help you notice that you're noticing that there's some stuff that's kind of funny around you. And and and you know, laughter, they say it's the best medicine, which sure. Uh it's you know tied with the COVID vaccine, which I guess we can't get anymore, but okay. Um and but at this, it's actually not as passive. It is that, it is that it's a distraction. We all need it, yes, yes, yes. But it's also really an active it's not just a distraction from what's going on, it's a way of engaging with what's going on. Yeah, it's a way of connecting. It actually builds trust, you know, all these things that you wouldn't expect. So I just invite your listeners to it doesn't matter who you are, what you're like, whatever you are already is what makes you funny. So to just invite that, you know, just sort of put that lens on and invite that kind of just vision into your life. And you won't, whether or not you actually try writing or performing comedy, you will not regret it.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Oh, that's so great. And I am thrilled. I I am very thrilled. I don't know, most people don't know this about me because uh unless you're very close, then you know I have a deal with myself that no matter what, by the time I hit 50, I'm doing stand-up. It's just no matter what, by the time I hit 50, and it's just it's a promise I've made to myself like 10 years ago. And uh I am definitely signing up for your school.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

I'm not gonna listen, if you and your listeners, and this includes you, because you listen, I'm sure, um if you are I um if you sign up for a gold membership NPS, when you when you you join as a member for a year, and that means all your classes that are in the club are included, which is huge. So you can try everything. Um, and it's all for the price of like one and a half classes somewhere else. Um, or if you um are interested in our premium pitch class, um, either way, tell me, you know, DM me on Instagram at Lynn Harris or Gold Comedy. Tell me you heard about me um on Dahlia's podcast and um or our Dahlia, um, and I will um and I can hook you up with a 10% discount.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

That is amazing. There you go. Oh, so amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What moves me most about Lynn's story is her commitment to making comedy accessible to everyone, regardless of confidence level or natural ability. Her reminder that you don't have to change who you are in order to welcome comedy and humor into your life challenges the myth that you need to be a certain type of person to be funny. I'm particularly inspired by her students, women who come to her build-a-pitch any idea class with projects they can't get out of their hearts or drawers. The fact that several have gone on to get their shows in development or produce their own web series proves that passion combined with the right framework can lead to extraordinary outcomes. Lynn's concept of keeping an attitude journal instead of just a gratitude journal resonates deeply. Writing down things that are funny or could be funny trains us to notice humor in our daily lives. And as she points out, laughter isn't just a distraction from what's happening, it's a way of engaging with what's happening. For those of you drawn to comedy but held back by thoughts of not being funny enough or confident enough, Lynn's wisdom offers permission to start exactly where you are. Your unique perspective and experiences are what make you funny, not some predetermined set of traits. If today's conversation inspired you to consider welcoming more humor into your life, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Remember, the G-Suite Society exists to amplify women's voices from all walks of life, proving that every story, even the funny ones, has the power to create change. Until next time, this is your host Dahlia, reminding you that your life is your message to the world. Why not make it extraordinary?