Episode 83: Laugh Anyway

This week’s episode was so much fun! And how could it not be? Lisa sits down with local comedian, author, and podcaster Tracy DeGraaf to talk about all the things – what it looks like to build a comedy career in your 40s, why laughter matters, and how Jesus and mammograms can literally save your life. Whether cracking jokes about her 5 sons or sharing her deep love for the Lord, Tracy is a walking testimony of joy, faith, and courage. Tune in to be encouraged and inspired!

Links:

Spring Ladies Retreat

https://cedarlakeministries.org/spring-ladies-retreat/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQfgqVleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFIbUhBRmZoamNsOTVvSTVtc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHob3sab1CG9cw1sJbcGDTGiGIRLlqTrPCOlK1mYR0lGd4ypZUuT8WRDrTlV8_aem_vawJUqezMbzEcLRXtBCfGA

Laugh Anyway Mom by Tracy DeGraaf

https://www.amazon.com/Laugh-Anyway-Mom-Hilarious-Motherhood/dp/1450500099

Life Happens Laugh Anyway Podcast

https://www.podbean.com/pw/pbblog-f3hsv-97ae38

https://tracydegraaf.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Hello, and welcome to the Herb Salad Crown Podcast. I'm Lisa Banama, your host, and I can't wait to dig into God's truth with you today. Let's get grounded.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Okay, listeners, today's conversation is going to be so much fun. It might even be funny. Um, we have a literal comedian with us today, and no pressure at all, Tracy, but I'm looking at you, Tracy deGraff. Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Well, thank you so much, Lisa. Thanks for having me. Oh, I ended up. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

Yeah, I'm so excited to talk to you today. I've already had an enjoyable time chatting with you offline. I know this is going to be an amazing conversation.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Yeah, can't wait.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

So if you don't know Tracy already, um, she is a local Christian speaker and actually more specifically, a comedian. Yes. Yeah, and I think that's so interesting to me. And I have heard you speak, um, and I know you have a lot of local um events that you do. So I do feel like a lot of people have probably heard your name before. Um, I also know that you're a wife, a mom, and a very recent grandma.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

But what else do we need to know about you? Tell us a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, as you said, I'm a comedian, which uh I stumbled upon. That wasn't something that I went looking for.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

It came and found me, so we can talk about that later. But um, yeah, I've been a Christian for almost 40 years. That's a big deal. Celebrating my 40th anniversary as a Christian, March 17th.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

Oh my goodness, next week.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

I know. I I'm just blown away at how fast the decades have gone. Yeah. And here we are. And the math isn't math when you're only like 35. That's right. I know. That's fine. I know. So so I'm super excited to be here at this position in life, you know, having decades of life with Christ uh under my belt, so to speak, in terms of growth, but looking forward to so much more, whatever God has for me in the future. Uh so that's probably the main thing about me is just obviously our relationship with Christ is foremost and you know, number one. And then I'm married for almost 40 years. Wow. So that's amazing as well. Congratulations. My husband, Ron, who I affectionately call Muffin. A lot of times people come up to him and say, Muffin, you know, if they've seen my show, things like that. And he he sort of likes that. It's just fun. He's a fun guy. And then uh Ron and I have our five sons who are all grown now. Five sons. Five sons. I think I knew that part. All boys, Lisa. Oh yeah. I I don't, I'm all girls over here. How many girls do you? Three girls. Yeah. I I I don't know what to say about all boys, other than I wrote a whole book about it. And that's that's the content of my book, Laugh Anyway Mom, is all these funny stories of my boys doing really dumb things. Oh, I can only imagine the content there. Yeah. It a lot of it made me cry real tears in real time. Sure. But once, you know, things heal and the carpet gets replaced and the car gets fixed, you know, once you get past it, you can laugh about it. So that's the beauty of laughter, is that it's uh tragedy plus time is comedy.

SPEAKER_04 3:10

Oh, that's good. Say that again.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Tragedy plus time is comedy. So I I didn't make that up. Somebody else did. Okay, well, I don't know. I'm giving you credit. Right, right. But it's, you know, it's kind of like you can't laugh at it in the moment, but once you survive it, you can look back and go, oh yeah, that was funny. Yeah, I do think there's always any good comedy has truth in it. Um, all good comedy has truth in it, in my opinion. I was trained at the Second City in Chicago, which I mistakenly thought was going to be squeaky clean. I don't know why I thought that. I don't know why you thought that either. I know. But um, it was the only place that I could think of to go to get training for comedy because where else do you go for that? You know, you look it up and you're like, I don't know what to do. Yeah. So I went and took their stand-up class, and I used to go there after church on Sunday. They had a class like at three in the afternoon. So I looked like a middle-aged woman who had just come from church, right? In this class. Because I was. Yeah. And everybody else in the class looked like they hadn't been to church. They looked like they hadn't been to bed yet. Like they just all these boys one continuous day on the weekend, yeah. Yeah. So that was kind of how I got my start. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Oh my goodness. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think I want to hear a little bit more about that. Your kind of journey into becoming a clean comedian. Like, is that something you said you fell into it, but did you always know that you wanted to do some form of public speaking, or was comedy like the light bulb moment the Lord placed on your heart? Like, tell me about that. Like, when did you know it's time to take a class at Second City?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Well, comedy was was not even on the orbit.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

I didn't go to comedy shows, I didn't follow comedians, I didn't have time. You know, at the time that I made this decision to go to Second City, I was 43 years old. So my kids were still home.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

I was still in the throes of motherhood. I had five children that were looking to me for rides to youth group and rides to activities at school and helping them with homework and lunches. And the laundry alone, Lisa, with a family of seven, hard. Okay. Like it just never really there's no end. There really is no end. And the bane of my existence was folding it and putting it away. So anyway, um, I was still an active motherhood, right? At that period of time, but I wanted to write a book. I always had it in me to write a book. I wanted to write since I was a young girl, like in junior high.

unknown 5:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I was like, I'm gonna grow up and I'm gonna write a book. And then I went to college, I got a degree in journalism from Illinois State University, and I graduated in 1988 with my diploma, and I was like, I'm gonna write a book, or I'm gonna write something, right? But that's when I met Muffin, we fell in love, we had these, we got married, we had these five kids. I wasn't writing anything, I wasn't putting two sentences together. Yeah, there was no way, I couldn't do it. Yeah, I was too overwhelmed to write. And back then, stay-at-home motherhood was um a little bit more maybe celebrated. I don't know. Yeah. Um, and it was maybe a little bit more possible than it is now. I'm not certain on that, but I just chose to be a stay-at-home mom. And so my husband And you've looked at it as a gift to be able to do that. Well, yeah. I mean most days. Uh yeah. I don't know how how did I look at it? Because I got pregnant on maternity leave.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

So I my first two boys are only 14 months apart. Whoa. I would not recommend that if I were like, if I could go back to 23-year-old Tracy, I would say, Tracy, that's not a good idea. You might want to space that out a little bit if you can.

SPEAKER_04 6:46

Yeah, that feels overwhelming, just thinking about that. Talk about the math.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

It was. And our our brand new grandson who was just born, um, my son and daughter-in-law are talking about having more children. And we did kind of talk about the spacing of that. And her doctor told her, give your body at least 18 months to recover. Sure. She had to have a C-section. So, anyway, yes, all that to say words. Right. That she has you. Right. She is. Well, of course, I'm good that I have her because without her, I wouldn't have my little Link and my little baby.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Anyway, so is he like mini muffin or what's his name?

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Well, the mini muffins are the boys. Okay, that's fair. I don't know what the grandchildren will be. I think they'll just be boss. I have a new boss and he's tiny, but he's demanding. Yeah. Um, yeah, we just wait till the grandparenting thing hits you. It I used to make fun of my friends who would become grandmothers and then they like disappear. All of a sudden they're gone. I'm like, where are you? I'm babysitting. What? You know, constantly gone. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

My one friend, yeah, she says she's obsessed. Like, she's like I don't use that word lightly, but I'm like obsessed with my grandson right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yeah, seriously. That's I get it now. I used to make fun of them, but now I'm like, I get it. You have one supreme leader who can do no wrong. They will take your money and your time. We're in the cult, we're in the grandma cult. Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah. So anyway, long story longer, about how I got started on this journey. Yeah. I I thought I was gonna be a writer, but turns out I was gonna be a mother. So I I had all these boys, and in the in the throes of raising them, a lot of funny things happened. And I would write them down because I was a journalist, right? So I kept journals. Well, when I turned 40, I my husband gave me a laptop and I said, Well, I'm gonna write a book. So I started writing what I had been living. And um actually I I started out trying to write fiction, which is harder than you think. Sure. And I couldn't keep track of the characters, and I was like, who's doing what? I don't know. And it was a friend of mine who said, Your real life is funny. You should write that down and put that into a book.

SPEAKER_04 8:51

Yeah. Write what you know is what they always tell you. Right. Write what you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah, exactly. Because then all you're doing is you're literally journaling it, you are writing it down. Like we've been to the emergency room 24 times. Okay. We've been questioned, not investigated.

unknown 9:09

There's a big difference.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

And some of those stories out of those 24 times that we've been to the emergency room are pretty funny.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

You know, like one of my kids shoved rocks up his nose until he couldn't shove anymore. So there was that. There was a swallowed nickel, you know, things like that. Yes. So I wrote a whole chapter in my book about how we survived some of these um terrifying trips to the emergency room. Not funny at the time, but funny now.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Yes, true, true. Yeah. Good example of that for sure. Yeah. I think every mother can relate to that. We've all got an arsenal of ER visits in our back pocket.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Yes, we do. And when they look at you and go, you know, how did this happen? And whatever.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

I remember my daughter Emma put a black bean up her nose until I didn't think it was in her nose anymore. And I didn't know how to what to do. What do you do when it's a one-year-old and you're like, bull your nose? Like it was terrifying. Did you take her to the ER? No, I didn't. I literally just got her to sneeze, and then that was like how and it came out it came. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

I was tempted to go in with tweezers. Yeah, I always that was a thought. I could see the rock, but here's the thing uh there were more behind it I didn't know. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

Cause at least a bean is a food item. Yeah, it's not yeah, it's gonna eventually maybe go where it needs to go and feed to even dealt with.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

But yeah, a rock is a whole nother Yeah, and true story, when um they got him to the ER and they got the rock the final, I think there were three or four rocks back there. When they got the final one, we were all holding him down, like myself and a couple of their staff people in the ER were holding him down, arms and legs and stuff. He's screaming bloody murder because there's a doctor with a sharp thing up his nose. The rock flips up in the air and he has a wide open mouth, he starts to choke on it. So now they had to put him up and heim lick him. I'm like, this never ends, this nightmare. Then we got it all the stones out of his orifices, and then I had to go home with him, and it was my youngest, my fifth son. I pull into the driveway after this traumatic experience. Here comes son number four and son number three. One has glass in his hand and the other one has a splinter on his foot. And I'm just like, stop, go talk to your dad. I'm done.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Now, was your husband with you or no? He was home with the boy. He was home with the other boy. He was in charge of this part, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Yeah, but I get it. They they got into a lot. So, but there's no such thing as a no-big deal trip to the ER. Let's just put it that way. So, all these stories I wrote down. So I have, I don't know, 60 little vignette stories in my book. My book is called Laugh Anyway, Mom, by the way, and it is available on Amazon.

SPEAKER_04 11:45

Okay, I'm definitely putting a link in this in our show notes.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

It's a funny book and a fun book because when the when a mom reads it, you either see yourself in there and you go, okay, well, at least I'm not alone, or you say, At least I'm not that bad, right? It's not I'm not that bad. So I wrote the book, and then um it was a publisher who said you should do stand-up comedy. Oh, the publisher.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

It was written in a funny way.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Right. The publisher said, This is funny, and if you could put it on stage, that would give you a really beautiful combination. You know, you know how they say in in um women's uh speaker world or whatever, they say if you're a speaker, you should be a writer, as well as if you're a writer, you should be a speaker. Because they kind of go in tandem.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

So that it was that advice that I got from this publisher to become a stand-up comedian. I was like, what? Me? I mean, I know the stories are funny, but I didn't think I was funny. Yeah, I just thought that I had a funny life. All I did was write this stuff down, you know. But you're a gifted communicator, and that combination together created I suppose. I mean, my dad, he's passed away now, but my dad was Irish and he could tell a story like nobody else. So I think I did learn some storytelling skills from him.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

And then come combining that with it really does it is a craft stand-up.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

So I took it very seriously when I took my class at the at um the second city.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

And I had to go out and do open mics. I went around the city of Chicago and did open mics for four years.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Yeah. Like you didn't start in churches. No. Churches don't have open mics, Lisa. This is true. Okay. They barely let you in if you're paying them.

SPEAKER_04 13:29

I think that's the part that's making me that makes me so intrigued. It's like being a comedian is, you know, unique in and of itself, but then taking that into the church, I think. Now, how did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Well, yeah. Well, like I say, like churches don't have opportunities for you to kind of get your act together. And comedy requires that.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Comedy is unlike speaking because with comedy, you're expected to make the audience laugh every 20 seconds. Okay. That's the model, if you will.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

Goodness, no pressure.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Well, you don't know if they're gonna laugh unless you try it out, right? That's why you have open mics and they call it working out your material, getting your act together, uh, whatever. Sure. And it can take a long time just to work out five min a five minute set, right? Sure, yeah. So here was the Christian middle-aged Tracy and and Ron. We both went right in, I'm sure. Oh, can I tell you what? Do you know who was not at the open mic on Wednesday night at nine o'clock? The moms. They weren't there. You know where they were? They were in bed. Oh, fair. They were in bed. Like your audience. My audience was not there. Like, can I knock on some doors? Can we can I Do you know who was there though? The um the the the middle-aged alcoholics, they were there. Yeah, and the younger, like 21-year-old set who were there for like the the discounts.

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

So that was my audience for my mom jokes. But I how'd that go? Actually, it went great. Wow. Because comedy should be funny no matter who you are. Funny is funny.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

And it really and if it's relatable, yes. So what I found was if I can make this audience laugh, I know 100% that I'll be able to make moms laugh or the church audience laugh. And it was clean. So that was a challenge mostly for me because I think that people really appreciate clean comedy.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

I think it takes more work to get to clean comedy to get to the funny, right? Oh, 100%. Because shock humor is just shock humor. Yes. When I finished my course at the Second City, I I actually had built relationship with these guys because my class was, I think there was one other woman in the class, and then it was all like guys that could be my son, right? So this one young man, I reminded him of his mom or grandma or somebody, and he knew I was a Christian, and he came up to me on our graduation performance ceremony. We had to actually do stand-up in the the theater at the second city. He comes up to me and he goes, I just want to say I'm sorry. And I go, For what? And he said, I'm sorry, my my comedy is gonna be extra raunchy tonight, and I just want to say I'm sorry to you because you like my you're like my mom. And I'm like, Oh, oh my. But you know, it's just the difference between the world and the church. There's a huge difference there.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

So and what an example of the way that God works. It's like you were going there to be equipped to do this thing that felt like an act of faith in and of itself. Yeah. And yet you also were um you were a light in this environment. Yeah. So while you felt you were going there to gain something yourself, you were actually offering something just by being yourself. Yeah. Like I just think that's how God works. He places us in certain spaces, and we think we know why we're there. And then he's like, Yeah, but I'm a god of multiplication, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do some more good stuff here, too. Yeah, I think wow I'm sure you made more of an impact on those, Ben, than you realize. I mean, the fact that he felt that, like, ooh, something's different about her, something's inviting about her. I actually feel like a familial like connection from her. You felt the Lord. Yeah, you felt the Lord through you. Like, what an what a testament to a little seed that maybe you planted in his life, you know. Yeah, God doesn't waste things, he uses everything. Definitely not. Now, okay, so we're gonna dip real for a second. Now that you have gone into churches and and done comedy, I mean, do you think that us church folk can take life a little too seriously sometimes?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Well, just by the way that you phrased the question and by you having a little giggle at the end there, I think I can I'm vibing with what you think. Lisa I I do think that we as Christians can take life a little too seriously sometimes. However, I will say uh speaking for myself, I believe that I do that because I want to be um I want to be responsible for the truth that that I have in my heart. You know what I mean? So I I have actually experienced that where different people in the Christian faith have not appreciated different portions of my act and have given me their unsolicited advice about that. And we can just agree to disagree. Um, you know, and sometimes the uh decades or the stage in life that you're in sure can in your perspective, right? Can really build because comedy is not objective, it is subjective. Yeah. So we can't we can't say that it we're we're being, you know, like an apple and an apple. It's something that's hilarious to one person can be offensive to another. Yep. Because with comedy, you are kind of skirting on the edge. Definitely. You and you try not to go over that edge.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

That's just part of the shtick, I guess, is right. Like it's just part of what you the tension that you have to uniquely navigate in this. You know, I think that's the part it's like, oh, clean comedy is super fun, and I'm so encouraged by it. I know that a lot of people do. I think um John Crist is someone that Trey Kennedy, there's some other ones that are a little, you know, that are more of like a national platform, although you have also traveled traveled nationally as well, I think. Sure. But um, I think that people want that for sure, but there's a unique um responsibility that you are trying to live up to in that that people don't necessarily know or see or realize that you're like, oh, is that too much? Is it not enough? I think you're probably trying to constantly decide that.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

And that takes a lot of discernment. It does. And it it's also a thing where I have to have grace with other people. Yeah. So when this one particular woman that I'm thinking of that came up to me, her issue was she felt like my husband was being embarrassed by the jokes that I made about him. Oh, okay. You know what I mean? And he helped me write the jokes, he helped me nuance the jokes, he loved the jokes, he has an amazing sense of humor, but she felt like I was not being honoring to him in that regard. But she didn't know that he and I, you know, are really partners in this and that he is fully on board. So anyway, I had to have a conversation with her about that and just bring some clarity. Sure. But it took a lot of grace, Lisa, yeah, for me to say thank you for sharing. Yeah. So appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 20:08

Those things they stick. I mean, you clearly can picture the person. You remember the count like that has stuck with you. As much as you offered grace, it was hurtful. It was it it probably made you examine yourself a little bit more, you know. Which is just, you know, that's the that's the grace part, right? The Lord always like when we're convicted, it's like, okay, or even held accountable, invited or not, it makes it go through another filter. Sure. Where am I at in this? Where's my heart in this? And either it's like correcting or affirming, depending on where God, you know, takes you. And so the exercise was probably good, but it still hurts and that still sticks with you, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Oh, for sure. Yeah. And with comedy, it's tough because you really are putting yourself out there.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Because if you if you are trying to get someone to laugh and you land the punchline and they don't laugh, everybody in that room knows it didn't work out. You can't fake it, right? So it takes a certain sense of um courage.

SPEAKER_04 21:01

Yeah. Oh, for sure. More than courage, it also takes security and resilience to keep getting back up and doing it again. And yeah, absolutely. I feel no, just in speaking in general, I feel vulnerable, but I'm not looking for a laugh necessarily. If I get one, woohoo, bonus. But that's not what I'm really what my effort is when I'm trying to speak. It's more encouragement, which is more received. It's not usually always an interactive thing, whereas yours is definitely you're having a conversation with and expecting feedback.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Not only is it interactive and you're expecting feedback, you absolutely have to have it. Yeah. It's like having a conversation. So comedy is like this it's like one person stands up on the stage, right? But you are having a one-on-one conversation with the audience. So the comedian tells a joke, the audience laughs. The comedian tells a joke, the audience laughs. If you weren't here and it was just me talking and no response, that would be odd. It would be awkward, it would be uncomfortable, there'd be uh odd silences and things like that. That so the audience is essential to a comedian's success because we're in it together.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

You know, one without the other, and it just doesn't work. So my encouragement, because your initial question was, do you think that the church could like relax a little bit and let their hair down and be a little bit more like re receptive of comedy? I would say yes. Let's all do it. Let's all bring our shoulders down. Let's all just kind of relax. Let's just let let it happen, you know, and see um if we can find the humor in life because there's a lot more things that we could be laughing about rather than criticizing or assuming or judging.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Yeah. I mean, what would it look like if we lived in a world that laughed more than it got angry?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Yeah. I mean, right.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

Absolutely. Well, you even on your website, I was kind of looking through your some of your material um and it talks about you put in one of your taglines is like comedy that saves. So right there, I feel like obviously, like we all could use a good laugh, like you said, but I feel like maybe it goes a little deeper for you in terms of what comedy can do. So why would you say, you know, we can even like labeled as like the ministry of laughter? Like, why is that good for our souls?

SPEAKER_01 23:08

I feel like with comedy, at least this is the way that I use comedy, Lisa, I use it as conduit to a deeper message. Because think about it, if someone is in an audience and they're having a good time, they're laughing, they're relating to the comedian, they're um feeling all the physical effects of of laughter. So their heart rate is uh doing positive things, their blood pressure is feeling better, their brain is feeling better, the chemicals, the endorphins are being naturally released on their brain and coding their brain, and it's like a break from life, right? Yeah. And it's impossible for us as human beings to think about our problems at the same time that we're laughing. That that is not something that exists. When you're laughing, it's like the spontaneous combustion of your brain, and all of a sudden you don't have any problems. You are just laughing. That is where I think in the scriptures where it says that laughter is healing, it's medicine for the soul. I think that's what it's talking about. And so I can't think of a better time to introduce a message than after someone has laughed for 45 minutes. They're relaxed, they know you, they like you, they trust you, and now they'll listen to the gospel.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

That's my that's why I say comedy that saves, because I do a lot of outreach events for churches where we'll just laugh and have a a you know a great time. And then I follow with my testimony and the gospel message and encourage everybody in the audience to just take another step toward Christ.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

And do you do that in most of your um speaking events? Like that's definitely part of your rhythm. Are there certain ones that you don't necessarily go into that much as much? It's just more the the content is funny. I know you do some things for like breast cancer awareness and things like that. So do you always have the gospel message, or do you is it only applicable or um invited in certain spaces?

SPEAKER_01 25:03

It would be the latter. So I don't always share the gospel because it's not always um the right environment. Sure. But I all so when I go into a hospital setting or a medical setting and I'm there because it's a cancer survivor event or an awareness event, most of the time I'm not also sharing the gospel because the message for that event is get your mammogram or you know, um, be grateful for your life or whatever. So I just I do the same kind of format, like the jokes are the same, but then at the end the message is different.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

That's why it's called comedy that saves, because Jesus will save your soul, but a mammogram will save your life. Oh, good. See?

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

So, you know, you you definitely want to have like those are both important messages.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

But they're the stage or the platform for those messages might be different.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Yeah. Oh, that's so good. Well, we've kind of naturally leaned into that part of your story too. So the mammogram saving. Let's talk about why that's an important message for you and how you even are now invited into those spaces to encourage women who are struggling or um facing breast cancer.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Yeah, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. Okay. And that's right after I had gotten my act together. I had done all the open mics, and now I've got a show. Comedy act, my not Life Act. Well, yeah, right. Just the comedy. Yeah. But now I have a show, and now I was starting to gain momentum, and I was starting to do events at churches where I was doing these outreach events, sharing the gospel, getting some traction, and then I got breast cancer. And obviously I had to take a break and cancel things because I had to deal with treatment. Well, once I came back from treatment and I was totally fine, you know, it was whatever they call it, remission. I had to have a lumpectomy followed by um not chemotherapy but radiation therapy. So that was my my course of action. And the reason that my course of action was like that is because my my cancer was caught at stage one on a routine mammogram. And I was so grateful for that that the cancer wasn't caught uh by it already being at stage two or stage three. Right. And so I was passionate about reminding women get your mammogram because my cancer felt like the treatment was pretty easy. You know, I mean it was scary because it's scary to have somebody tell you that you have cancer, right? That's scary. Absolutely. But the treatment, if you catch it early, is so much better than if you wait. And so I I went to Silver Cross Hospital where I was treated for cancer, and I did an event for them. They invited me to be their keynote speaker for a cancer awareness event to encourage mammograms. And that was the first time that I had done that. So basically, same show, same jokes, ha ha ha, funny, funny, funny. But instead of take a step with Jesus, it's like get your mammogram.

SPEAKER_04 27:49

Yeah. So now you do both.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah, I do both. Oh, I love that. Yeah, and I'm almost 10 years cancer free. So that's amazing. And and it it really is a great event when I do the awareness events. I do awareness and survivor events both. It's amazing because there's nothing more powerful than a room full of cancer survivors. There, like that's a whole different vibe that is so exciting to be a part of. And then in my heart, when I do awareness events, I feel like I am I am trying to transfer knowledge from my head to their heart to get them to have a call to action of get your mammogram. I don't know how many women have done it for sure, right? But my hope is that there has been cancer that's been caught early as a result of that. That's a pretty purposeful calling.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

Absolutely. What a ministry in and of itself, and how what we're called to is to take our own, you know, compassion and experience and then pour that out into others, right? Like that is what God calls us to comfort those after, you know, once you've been comforted and like you're literally doing that, and what a connection you immediately have with those women in the room. Like, I've been there. Yeah. And you're literally meeting them where they're at because you were there too. Yeah. And so I just think that's such a beautiful extension of what God had called you to do through comedy that He now said, Okay, I also have a very specific ministry just for you, Tracy. We're gonna take this thing that you've gone through that was really hard, and we're gonna we're gonna find a way to bless and encourage and maybe save a few lives.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Well, and I feel like women, especially moms, I feel like we are really good nurturers, except when it comes to ourselves. Yes. So, you know, there might be even somebody listening to this podcast right now who is behind on some cancer screening. Just take care of yourself because if you don't take care of yourself, you're not gonna be there to take care of your children and grandchildren and whatever.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

So, women, we just we we're really on it when it comes to making sure that Johnny has this and Susie has that, but you gotta take care of mom. Yeah, and sometimes you just need to do it like right away before you forget.

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Because sometimes you intend to, but then a million other things, you know, you are met with two more emergencies from and then you forget, oh yeah, that right, I was gonna make that appointment for myself. So you just need to do it. Just do it. Use that little phone to put a reminder in there, yeah. You know, to set that alarm. That's so good. Yeah. So let's talk about you had a Bible verse you wanted to share. Let's get into that. We always like to have some scripture within our episode. So, what is the one that really you wanted to share with us today?

SPEAKER_01 30:23

Well, one of my favorite verses, and I do um when I do shows at churches, I try to share this verse because I think that it's so all-encompassing. It's Matthew 6, 33, and it says, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. And what I talk about at uh after that verse, when I share that verse, is seeking God is our only thing that we're really called to do, you know. All we have to do is seek him. Just look for God, seek him, get to know him. And maybe somebody's listening to this podcast and they haven't been in church for a while because the pandemic kind of sat them at home and they're watching from you know social media instead of coming in or whatever. Come back to church. Maybe that's where God is telling you that this is where I want you to seek you, right? Because we need each other. I need you and you need me. Yes. Or maybe it's prayer. Somebody is just like put prayer on the shelf, or they they haven't read their Bible for personal devotions in years. Seek God where He can be found. He can be found in His Word, He can be found in prayer through the Holy Spirit. Seek Him, and He's gonna take care of everything else. That's one of the my favorite verses in the Bible. That's so beautiful. Yeah, and ever anywhere we seek him, we will find him. Oh, he it's a promise. He can't not provide it.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

And when he's with you, all things are possible. Yes, they are, and you can get through it all, the the funny days and the not so funny days, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:52

There's a lot of them.

SPEAKER_04 31:53

I mean, that is the gift of having of faith. It's like not only do you get to get through things that you didn't think you could get through, but you knew that God was with you all along in the process and caring for you and loving you and guiding you and equipping you and all the things. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

He he wastes nothing. So, so please just um I say it to myself, I say it to you, I say it to anybody listening to this podcast, seek God first. Yeah, and everything else will work out.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Yeah, and first, and sometimes we make him our last resort, don't we? Yeah, for sure. But this is a great reminder to seek him first. I love that. Okay, so we're nearing the end of our time here. And um, I wanted to just ask you like, I know you're still doing lots of stuff. I know you have some things coming up. She does have a podcast as well. I didn't mention that, I don't think, at the beginning of this. No, I don't think you did. So I will I will also what's the name of the podcast?

SPEAKER_01 32:46

It's called Life Happens Laugh Anyway. Okay, tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

It's you and your girlfriend, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Right. It's myself and my best friend Catherine, and we started it during the pandemic when all of my shows slid off my calendar because no one was h hosting a comedy show during the pandemic. Like nothing funny. Although we probably needed it more than anything. Yeah. So anyway, my manager at the time he said, Why don't you do a podcast? Because you can do that from home. So I grabbed my best friend, she lives down the street, and I said, Let's start this podcast. I don't know how to do it. I had never even listened to a podcast prior to that. But here we are four years later. We have 250 some episodes on a podcast.

SPEAKER_04 33:23

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Yeah, and we're actually ranked within the we're in the top 10% podcasts of on the globe, which you know, there's a lot of podcasts.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

Yes, that's awesome. Well, hopefully you'll gain a few more listeners today. So I will definitely link that.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

And uh, Catherine and I, what we do each week with our podcast is we select a topic that we think that women will care about. And we just talk about it as best friends. We research and we talk about it. Usually um I throw her under the bus once during the podcast, and then she'll throw me under the bus because we have 20 years of best friending, you know. So we have we have a lot of fun. And then we do what you do, like we have a scripture, so we point people to the Lord, and then we also have a call to action at the end.

SPEAKER_04 34:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Well, that's where we're heading right now.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

But before we get to that, um you do I want you to tell the people where they can find you. So I'll link the podcast, I'll link your book. Okay. But where else can they find you if they want to go to one of your shows or even just connect with you?

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Well, local gals, if you're interested, I am going to be the keynote speaker for Cedar Lake Ministry's Spring Ladies Conferences. Oh. Yeah. So they're coming up uh April 17th through the 19th, as well as April 24th through the 26th. And um the the uh topic is gonna be contentment.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

Oh, that's a good one. We could have done a whole episode on that.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Uh yeah. Uh I think it's super important that we look into why are we not content and what's the pathway to contentment? Like, give me the steps. So that's uh I'm actually calling the content um enough, all caps, period. Because we know that Jesus is enough, but we just need to be reminded of that. And what is it that's pulling away from our life to make us discontent? Because discontentment is the thief of joy.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

So I would just encourage anybody um that you know or anybody that's listening, you can go to Cedarlake Ministries.org and you can register for that conference there. Okay. Is there a cutoff for that, or can they do it like up until that weekend? I think the only cutoff might be um you may not be able to get a t-shirt, which is no big deal, but then um they do have like a certain capacity. So if they're full, okay, that would be the cutoff. But just go there. I think you have to be registered the week before. Okay, check it out. And if the Lord is nudging you to go to this conference, just go. I'll be delivering four talks that weekend on contentment, and that's gonna be our trajectory is why are we not content and what's the pathway to get there, and how do we get there? Yeah, so it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

Uh so Cedar Lake Ministries.org. You're on Instagram, on Facebook, right? I am, and I have a website, tracydegraff.com. And that takes you to all the other places everything.

SPEAKER_04 36:00

Yeah. Okay, great. Okay, so now we get to our live it out. It's I guess what your podcast would call the call to action. Yeah. So mine is really simple. I'm just gonna make my mammogram appointment.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

I love that live it out. Yes. That is such a good idea. Because we before we started recording, Lisa was like, I don't know what the live it out is gonna be because we really hadn't had this conversation yet. Right. But I love that as a takeaway. Make your mammogram appointment.

SPEAKER_04 36:26

Yeah, and I'm gonna do it because I do, I'm pretty good about doing it every year, if not every other year. There might been, but I will say it's always like later than it should be, because by the time I think of it, it's already been a year, and then you have to get into the appointment. You know, you have to make sure you get in there. So I'm gonna do it today ahead of time. Okay. It's set, scheduled, and I can make it handy.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

I'm gonna hold you accountable. I hope you do. Uh I am. I'm gonna text you tomorrow and say, Did you do it? Oh, I love it. So you can do it. Yes, yes, this is good. Okay. Uh, for me, for my live it out, oh wow, what am I gonna do? Live it out. I wanted to talk a little bit more about disciplines, right? Like I am working myself. I've been a Christian for 40 years, like I said, but I still struggle with daily quiet time. Okay. And I'll get into a good rhythm and then I'll rhythm out and then I'll rhythm in and then I'll rhythm out. So I am going to live it out by opening my Bible. Okay. And when you leave, okay because we're at my house right now, so I'm going to open my Bible to where I am going to meet with the Lord tomorrow morning.

SPEAKER_04 37:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

I'm going to live it out. So you can hold me accountable. I'm going to be texting you as well. I respond to your text with your accountability.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

All right. See, that's what we need, everybody. We need each other. This is why. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Well, would you mind? Thank you for coming out. Of course. And I feel like we could have talked for 25, 35, 45 more minutes.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

No, no, we're good. But I would love it. Could you pray us out? Of course. Okay. Our Heavenly Father, Jesus, our Savior, Holy Spirit, our power. Lisa and I come together and just give you thanks and praise for the opportunity to share our lives, to share about Jesus, to share about you in this podcast. And we pray over everything that we've talked about today. Would you move all of us to a live it out? Would you move all of us to action? Move us to the point where we could seek you, seek you first, to live rightly in Christ. You know, and then everything else seems to work out. There's so many blessings to this life. Help us to enjoy the life that you have given us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 38:25

Amen. Okay, listeners. God is good and he has given us laughter. Let's use it this week.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

He alone is our solid crown.