Camille Lieurance
By Emily Lauder
Q: How did your first time on stage go?
A: My whole body was shaking but the performance went well. After I performed I could not believe how good I felt. It was the craziest rush. Better than anything I could imagine. People were coming up to me afterwards and telling me that I was funny. That was my first indicator that this was something that I wanted to continue.
Q: What did your parents think of you becoming a stand-up comedian?
A: My parents were so freaked out when I first started comedy. They were horrified that I would embarrass myself or be upset if no one laughed at a joke. Well both things have happened but that’s part of the process. Before my parents were cautious and now they say things like, “Camille! You should write about this! Your mom just did this!”
Q: What is it like being a female stand up comedian? Any advice for female comics?
A: I do not think that I realized how strong of a feminist that I am until I started doing comedy. Being female, you’re exposed all the time to crass comments, or as my peers call them jokes. It is definitely different being female and being in this industry because there is a perception of what a female comic can be or should be. Look at all the male comics who are popular. There are a wide variety of comedy styles and an even wider variety of body types. Unfortunately, it is not the same for females in the industry and that makes me sad. A male comic once told me that there are two types of female comics who will be popular. “A fat girl comic who self-desecrates or the hot comic who makes jokes about sex life and still self-deprecates. He then asked me which category I was going to try to fall into. I was first furious and then down right disgusted when he told me that but he was right about one thing. That does sum up famous female comics and people are not doing anything to change that. I refuse to be either and I think I receive a little more respect for that. Hence, my advice for any female comic would be to do your own thing. Tell what jokes you want to tell. You’ll benefit yourself in the long run and feel better about yourself.
Nate Jones
Q: What did your parents think of you becoming a stand-up comedian?
A: My parents were very interested and happy for me starting to do stand up comedy because they always thought I was the joker of the family. However they were also interested in what type of things I talked about and weren’t as joyful to hear my topics. They still ask me how it is going and if I had shows though.
Q: Did you have a Plan B?
A: I’m just an amateur comedian still going to college, but I plan to be a fire fighter eventually and will probably spend some time in Africa after college. As of right now it is just a hobby and a way to meet people, but if something comes of it I won’t mind. If possible I would do a monthly show in the future while I am a fire fighter, but we’ll see.
Q: When was the first time you went on stage? How did it go?
A:I went on stage last October for the first time for an amateur comedy contest called quackin me up. I heard through a friend about it and he said I should try it so I said why not I need practice talking in front of people. It was nerve racking and I messed up a lot but I still went on to the next round and got laughs. It was super exciting and I felt famous in Eugene for a month.
Q: And what sort of topics do you talk about that your parents do not like?
A: Topics involving Christianity, college topics stuff like drinking, sex, and making sexist jokes.
Q: What do you think about women in comedy? Do you think that it’s good that their are more women becoming comedians or not.
A: I think this May be a personal problem but in my experience I haven’t seen very good women comedians who made me laugh. However the fact that there are more coming up is good because it gives a whole new perspective of comedy, and jokes that only girls can make. So basically I’m happy more are deciding to try it.
Leigh Anne Jasheway
By Emerson Malone
Q: How do you get away with telling people you’re a stand-up comedian in social situations?
A: A couple years ago, I was doing one of the comedy stages for Eugene Celebration. I come up to the gate to get behind the stage to get on the stage, and this guy says, ‘You can’t go in there.’ I say, ‘I’m the comedian.’ He goes, ‘No, really. You can’t go in there,’ because there still is this perception that if you’re the woman, you can’t be the comedian.
Q: Have you ever encountered sexist comments or rhetoric directly?
A: I’ve been told women can’t be funny, been hit on, even though I was married at the time and wearing a wedding band, been left out of conversations because I was the girl. Usually, that’s the way it is. If you’re the girl on the venue, you are the girl. In fact, recently, a woman got an email saying, ‘I’m sorry; we have to drop you from our bill because we already have a woman.’ This was like two months ago. There’s no one there who’s going to support you if they decide to ostracize you. And I’m kind of used to it because I was on the debate team and the math team in college. Not a lot of women there. The math team – none. I was the only girl in the state of Texas on the math team for two years. I was kind of used to that, trying to fit in with the boys. It gets tiring if you’re always trying to defend yourself.
Q: How would you suggest people respond to this type of conviction?
A: Just go out there and be funnier than they are. Realize that sure, there’s an audience for them, but there are many paths to anything. If you follow the path that’s wrong, people will consistently insist you’re not funny because you’re in the wrong target demographic. If you follow the path that is right and you’re approaching the proper demographic, you will be the funny one, and you will do well.
Randy Mendez
Q: What did your parents think of you becoming a stand-up comedian?
A: No idea. They sound proud when I get mentions in the paper and stuff, but I don’t think they quite grasp what the work actually means. I’ve seen my father try to explain it to some of my older Mexican relatives and they usually look confused as hell.
Q: A psychological study came out of Australia that found comedians have psychotic personality traits. (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/16/us-comedians-psychotic-idUSBREA0F00M20140116) What are your thoughts on that?
A: It makes sense, but only from a sense of humor standpoint. The first line, “Having an unusual personality structure could be the secret to making other people laugh,” is basically describing misdirection. If all we did were get up there and say predictable shit, then people would get bored. We tend to have a unique perspective that, when successful, catches people off-guard. That said, it seems a bit weird to say that people who know what makes other people laugh are detached. It’s a hard thing to know what will make other humans laugh.
Q: What’s the most difficult time you’ve had on stage?
A: My second ever paid set. It’s a long story that involves audience members shouting “Play Slayer!” and “Show us your ass!” the entire time. It was nice it was so horrible so early, actually. I’ve had bad shows since, but none have compared to that.
Q: What makes you nervous on stage?
A: Seeing people’s faces. I hate a well-lit room. I have some social anxieties, so I love a dark room, even if it’s going well.
Q: How do you recuperate after bombing on stage?
A: I can shake it off pretty decently now. I’ll joke about how horrible it went with the other comics. Now matter how good one gets, bombing will always be a common experience.
Q: What’s the highest compliment you’ve received after a set?
A: An elderly man once grabbed my arm after a set and said, “I had my hearing aide turned down for part of your set, but what I heard I liked!”
Q: Do you find being a comedian as a profession to be stigmatized in a social situation?
A: I almost never tell coworkers or classmates what I do precisely because I hate that “You?!” moment.
Cailin Wolff
By Eva Murtaugh
Q: What competitions have you done?
A; The first one I did was a competition called Quackin’ Me Up. Since then, I’ve done stuff through the Stand Up Society (which is a club here at University of Oregon). We will go to the Buzz or the Cooler, and we have a show at the Cooler every month.
Q: What do your parents think about you being a stand up comic?
A: My parents are very excited about it. I was nervous to tell them at first but they were good with it.
Q: Did they come to your show?
A: I’ve never invited them to a show, but I have sent them clips.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I’m from Walnut Creek, California.
Q: Have you ever had a difficult time on stage?
A: Yes we call that bombing, which is when no one laughs, and I’ve done that twice.
Q: How do you deal with bombing?
A: I just laughed it off after. It didn’t really stick with me too much. Everyone who has ever been a comedian talks about how bad they’ve done before, so it’s like joining the club.
Q: Do you plan out what you’re going to say on stage?
A: Yes, but a couple of weeks ago I decided to not really practice and see how it goes, and it went very poorly. That was at the Cooler, which is a bar in Eugene.
Q: What is the group that you are in? What is it and how often do you all meet?
A: The Stand Up Society. It’s a stand up comedy club that was started three years ago. We are a group of ten to fifteen and we meet every week at one of the founding members houses. We go around and work on jokes and do writing exercises.
Q: Who’s your favorite comedian?
A: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are of course way up there for me. And I grew up watching a lot of Saturday Night Live and The Office so those are big too.
Q: Has comedy affected your personal life?
A: Yeah I guess so, I am friends with a lot of people because of comedy. It has especially since I didn’t join a sorority or anything. Stand Up Society has kind of taken that place. I just like being friends with funny people.
Zar Oelke
Q: What types of comedy shows have you done?
A: I’ve done open mics and did training at Lane Community College (LCC). My first time was in 2008, and then again seriously my Junior Year of High School with the Actors Cabaret. My training at LCC was a workshop with Leigh Anne Jasheway. She helped me learn the fundamentals of comedy, the breakdown of how jokes go, like the rule of three. The rule of three is someone says something, then something else, then the third thing they say is their punch line.
Q: What types of open mics have you participated in?
A: I have done the Actors Cabaret, No Shame Eugene, and at The City Bar for Oregon’s Last Comic Standing. When you are underage and preforming at a bar, they make you stay in a separate room from the main bar before your time to go on stage.
Q: Do you plan out your sets?
A: Yes I plan and write out my sets. I like to make sure each joke connects and goes together. Every comedian has their thing they like to talk about and my thing is that I observe why things are the way they are. I make jokes about riding the public bus system and sex. I once said that loosing your virginity is the longest journey ever, and then it ends in seconds. I used my bad break up and made it funny. I’ve said that dating is like The Hunger Games and also that I feel like I need to be a bouncer and check girls IDs, because I really cannot tell girls who are sixteen apart from those who are twenty. I also like to talk about funny aspects of being a guy, and about dating.
Q: Have you ever had a difficult time on stage, or an unresponsive audience?
A: I like to prepare five minutes of good material, instead of ten minutes of fluffy, not so funny stuff. Sometimes I’ve been in bars where the jokes aren’t dirty enough for the crowd. I’ve had a crowd where they just chuckled and were pretty quiet. You just have to remember to go with it no matter what. You cannot stop even if the audience says something and tries to heckle you.
Brandt Hamilton
By Grace Borgman
Q: What did your parents think of you becoming a stand-up comedian?
A: They were cool with it, my dad was the one who initially introduced me to stand-up by letting me watch Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy when I was little.
Q: Did you have a Plan B? When was the first time you went on stage?
A: The first time I went on stage for stand-up specifically was when I was 17 years old, after winning a contest to open up for Natasha Leggero. I had done humorous speeches before, but stand up specifically didn’t happen until then. My Plan B is advertising.
Q: How did it go? What’s the most difficult time you’ve had on stage?
A: It went great! My jokes were way more disgusting than what my set is today, and up until that point my mom had never heard me cuss, but people were stoked on it, and Natasha was hyped as well. The most difficult time I had on stage was during the “Quackin’ Me Up” competition. Had a heckler that threw me off my game. But it was the most important show I ever had, and I haven’t had a bad one since.
Q: Have you ever been heckled?
A: Yes, all the time. The only time it went bad was the “Quackin’ Me Up” competition though. Other than that, I’ve generally benefited from them. That said, I still am not a fan of hecklers at all and wish they would stop.
Q: How much of your material do you get from day-to-day life in Eugene?
A: A lot of my material has more to do with topical things going on the news, but I certainly draw a little. Last week I did a joke about someone I saw with a face tattoo downtown, or drawing parallels between here and Orange County.
Q: Do you have a process for how you write jokes, or does it come organically?
A: I start reading articles a lot, get ideas and write them in my phone. Then I take a shower and things sort of just come together after a while.
Q: When did you know you wanted to make strangers laugh for a living?
A: In 7th grade I got selected to speak at Disneyland in front 700 people. I killed it and some girl gave me her number. As a thirteen year old, that’s all it really took to convince me that’s what I should do for the rest of my life.
Jacob Salzberg
Q: Have you always known you wanted to be a comedian?
A: I have naturally been interested in comedy since I was a small child, I was always really goofy.
Q: Why did you get into stand-up comedy?
A: I have naturally been interested in comedy since I was a small child, I was always really goofy. When I was in 5th grade my idol was Adam Sandler. I knew that many of my comedy heroes started as stand-up comedians or at least participated in stand-up during one point or another in their lives.
Q: How long did you know you wanted to be a comedian?
A: I had wanted to try stand-up comedy for six or seven years before actually doing it.
Q: How did you become part of the stand-up community?
A: I finally tried stand-up comedy because I made some good friends who had done it a few times. Those guys were Brandt Hamilton, Joe Glasgow, and Ben Schorr. They were all getting really serious about it right when I met them and started the UO Stand-Up Society together.
Q: What made you move forward with your dreams of being a comedian?
A: Making some friends who knew the ins and outs of Eugene Stand-Up, specifically where to perform, gave me the boost of confidence I needed to finally try it.
Q: Why did you decide to get out of the stand-up community?
A: I decided to quit because stand-up comedy is one of the most time consuming forms of comedy if you want to be successful at it. Louis C.K. has been doing Stand-Up since the ’80’s and didn’t get famous until a few years ago. As much as I enjoy performing jokes in front of people, I have a much bigger passion for cinema which requires almost all of my free time in college.
Q: Do you ever want to try comedy again?
A: After college I’d like to pursue stand-up again but right now I’m just trying to focus on the film aspect of comedy which I think I have a brighter future in.