Poor Yorick

How My Standup Has Changed From When I Started Until Now

Photo of the author at the theater where she started doing standup comedy.

When I first started I imagine it was pretty easy to guess who my biggest influences were: Ellen Degeneres, Andy Kaufman, and Steve Martin.

One of my favorite jokes to tell early on was about the children’s show Dinosaur Train. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about dinosaurs who ride a train. I jokingly wished that the real world could be like Dinosaur Train, where all conversations are just stating random facts about yourself. And you don’t need to be scared of anything because if a T-Rex tries to eat you, you can just tell them that isn’t nice and they’ll stop. It was one of my first jokes that consistently got a laugh.

I experimented with edgier material, but it usually ended up just being cringey or otherwise not funny, so never made it past the open mic stage. Now with more experience I can almost always avoid the cringey material before it would even be on the open mic stage. I’ve learned that if you draw from your own personal experience it’s easier to avoid being offensive or cringey. The few times I’ve mildly crossed the line were when I was trying to make a joke involving things I hadn’t personally experienced.

I do still love absurd jokes and I’ve always been envious of Ellen’s career in particular. Standup → barrier breaking sitcom → voice of a…