September 30, 2025 • 36 mins
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.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
Welcome to the Cheese Suite Society, a
community where women from allbackgrounds come together to
share their stories, support oneanother, and reveal the
unfiltered reality of our lives.
I'm your host in EmpowermentSherpa Dahlia, and this podcast
exists to give voice and spaceto women whose experiences might
otherwise go unheard.
Today I'm joined by Lynn Harris,founder of Gold Comedy and
(00:38):
co-creator of the internetsensation Breakup Girl.
Lynn's journey from accomplishedjournalist to stand-up comedian
to comedy educator spans 25years of using humor as a
mechanism for driving socialchange.
What makes her story socompelling is how she's
consistently found ways toaddress difficult topics through
the power of appropriatelyhumorous voices.
(00:59):
Lynn's understanding that comedyis revolutionary when performed
by anyone who isn't a straightwhite dude speaks to something
deeper about who gets heard inour society.
As she puts it, when you makepeople laugh, you make people
listen.
And that 10 minutes on stagewhere everyone has to be quiet
and listen to you can betransformative, regardless of
(01:19):
what you're talking about.
Through Gold Comedy, she'screated something remarkable, an
online platform that teaches notjust the craft of comedy, but
how to run your comedy life likea business.
From stand-up and sketchwritingto her premium build-a-pitch any
idea class, Lynn is helpingwomen of all backgrounds, and
not just women, but anybody ininvested in comedy bring their
(01:42):
passionate projects to life,proving that it's never too late
to pursue what you can't get outof 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.
(02:02):
I when I saw that you are umhave a comedy club and you do
skits, I looked at all yourskits.
Holy cannolis, I just adorethem.
I have so many questions.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
So one thing I'll say is it's we don't have a club
club like with bricks andmortar.
But yeah, we do have, we callit, we do call it the club,
which you have rightly, um,rightly noted.
So yes.
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Tell me how did you get started in comedy?
SPEAKER_00 (02:34):
How did I get started in comedy?
Very sort of unintentionally.
Uh, I did not have a five-yearplan, a 10-year plan.
Um when I started to dostand-up, which I'll and I'll
back up in a second.
My goal with doing stand-up wasto do stand-up.
That was it.
I just really wanted to dostand-up.
Um, I thought it looked like funand I thought I might be good at
(02:55):
it.
And I liked hanging out withother funny people.
That was pretty I was notambitious.
But still, that that is ambitionin itself.
Well, fair enough.
Um, it did come from, I think itcame out of simply being exposed
to a lot of hilarity when I wasgrowing up, in contrast to
(03:20):
having sort of like a quiethouse with an only child in it,
who is me.
Uh if there was something on, itwas either you know, opera or my
dad playing the piano, or CarolBurnett, I love Lucy, The
Muppets, Monty Python, Laughing.
And that's just what my both myparents were funny.
(03:43):
My dad was more of a ham, butthey were both funny.
And it's just what I was exposedto, and I loved it.
And so I was just always drawnto, you know, I was a theater
nerd, but I played the you know,the funny sidekick.
Um, I was, you know, I did acappella in college, but I was
(04:04):
never a great singer, but I wasgood at the, you know, at the at
the funny stuff we did inbetween, you know.
Um so that was just what I wasalways drawn to.
And then yeah, um, aftercollege, I was like, I'll just
stand up.
And then I did it for about 10years.
But to, but even though I waskind of lackadaisical about my
(04:24):
intentions uh or like my goal,you know, my my goal planning,
you know, um, I was veryintentional and committed,
intentional about and committedto the idea of comedy as a
mechanism for driving socialchange.
SPEAKER_01 (04:49):
Oh, oh, that's a good twist.
SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
I love this.
Yeah.
So whether or not it's aboutwhether or not you're taking a
difficult topic and making itmore inviting, or whether it's
just the people who are doingthe comedy.
In other words, if you are, youknow, it's pretty revolutionary
(05:13):
if you think about it.
If you're not a straight whitedude and you do stand-up, let's
say, I I'm can I'm involved inand can talk about all kinds of
comedy that are that are notstand-up, but just to take a
simple example, if you're not astraight white dude and you're
doing stand-up in a club wheremost of the other people are
(05:35):
straight white dudes, and you'retalking about whatever it is
you're talking about, could beyour 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 justthe fact that you are with your
(05:55):
face and your life and yourexperiences standing on stage
for eight to ten minutes whereall the other people have to be
quiet or laugh, of course, andlisten to you, and you're not
someone they're used tolistening to, that's
revolutionary in and of itself.
It really is.
And I include women in that.
Yeah.
So stand-up also, if you thinkabout it, when when women do
(06:17):
stand up, you have to listen tous for 10 minutes.
So I like to say when you makepeople laugh, you make people
listen.
And uh that is very true, andcan again can be revolutionary
when depending on who it isthat's uh both uh inviting the
laughter and who then has tolisten.
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Exactly.
That's exactly right.
You know what's funny is formost people that I I know, that
would be so intimidating.
They're like they're so scaredof being heard or seen and
definitely not on stage, is onstage with a spotlight, and like
that's like way worse.
And you you turn it into beingan empowering moment, which is
(07:01):
exactly right.
They have to listen to the wordsthat you say.
Do you do you ever get heckledas a result?
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
You know, I haven't done, I mean, I don't do
stand-up now, it's just I can'tstay up that late.
Um, heckling is a I don't wantto diminish it, but it's a bit
of a red herring.
Um, I I again I really don'twant to diminish it because it
does happen and it's a pain inthe ass.
But it's uh you you're makingyourself vulnerable no matter
(07:29):
what, even with a wrappedaudience.
And hecklers typically are likeno one's really on their side.
Yes, it's still it's still kindof your game, you know, and it's
a pain in the ass, and you haveto do something about it, and
you have to practice and youhave to learn how to respond.
And yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,it's totally a thing.
But I think comics are more, andI'm gonna put a spin on this
(07:51):
after I say it, comics are moreconcerned with, and again, hear
me out because I'm gonna put aspin on this.
Comics are more concerned,typically, typically there are
exceptions, with bombing thanthey are with being heckled.
It's just an outlier, and it'syou and again, it makes the
other person look bad, less you,right?
And but even then, comics know,even though nobody likes to
(08:12):
bomb, um, comics know that ifthey're not bombing, they're not
doing comedy.
And it's, you know, it just itsucks, but it happens.
And you just, and the the theespecially with stand-up, the
thing about stand-up is thatyou're also if you're not in the
if you're not working severalnights a week, or at least at
mics or whatever on stageseveral nights a week, you're
(08:34):
also not really doing you're notyou're not growing as a
stand-up.
So like it's gonna happen.
Like it's gonna happen.
Um, so they just know thatnumerically, you know, not all
nights will be like tonight, andyou just dust yourself off and
move on.
So that's like a more likelikely scenario where especially
because in a in a with aheckler, you kind of have
something to like deal with andplay off of and and sort of
(08:56):
neutralize.
Whereas if they're just not withyou, that's almost you all like
the enemy is invisible, youknow, and it's a little harder
to deal with.
But even then, it's just part ofthe job.
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
You just yeah, you just I I didn't even think about
that.
Numerically, it's going tohappen.
SPEAKER_00 (09:12):
It's it's impossible not to.
It doesn't mean any it doesn'tmean anything.
SPEAKER_01 (09:16):
Yeah, it doesn't mean anything, but it probably
still can't feel great.
Yeah, I mean, we're not made ofwood, right?
But it but but it doesn't um itdoesn't mean anything.
So you did that for 10 yearsafter college.
And then what did you do?
SPEAKER_00 (09:30):
Well, I did a lot of overlapping and kind of in
intertwine intertwined things.
Um I was a a journalist forabout 25 years.
I was very accomplished as ajournalist.
Um, and I still do relatedthings um and still use the
skills.
I just kind of pivoted away fromit when sort sort of in the
(09:54):
early 2000s.
No, the well, the mid-2000s, um,when there was a great reckoning
um among magazines andnewspapers and um a great
shedding of those of us who hadum very uh you know contracts
that made the job doable.
Um and but so but during thattime I was doing both um
(10:20):
journalism and stand up, and Iand the same thing was really
driving me at the core, whichwas this wasn't what I did with
every single thing I wrote,wrote or performed, but the idea
um what what drove whatinterested me the most was how
can I use a an appropriatelyhumorous voice to address or
(10:44):
when addressing difficultissues?
Um abortion, you know, uh racialjustice, you know, things that
are just not funny.
Uh but how can one's voicecontribute, you know, how can a
how can an again appropriatelyhumorous voice, whether it's
sarcastic, whether it'sinnocent, whatever it is, um,
(11:05):
bring more people into theconversation or um skewer
something even harder.
So uh I also at the time, duringthat chunk of time, during that
era, um co-created a comic bookcomic book style character with
my writing partner, my creativepartner uh named Breakup Girl,
(11:27):
whose job it was and is to helpall kinds of people, every kind
of person with romanticemergencies.
And even that was, and thatbecame actually one of the
earliest uh multi-platforminternet success stories.
That was in '99.
And it turned into two books, anongoing, a lot or long-running
(11:50):
variety show live, um, ananimated show on an animated
interstitial show on part ofanother show on oxygen.
Um, all from this, you know,this originally an old good
old-fashioned book that wecollaborated on to help you
survive about helping survivinga breakup.
Yeah.
And even then, like we didn'ttake we we took it very
(12:11):
seriously, but we and and and itdid have a mission that was
again the kind of theintertwining of you know, humor
in some form with serious goals.
And that was, you know, wedidn't initially conceive her
this way, but it really grewinto, and I think one of the
reasons people loved it, what itreally grew into was a way to
(12:35):
talk about relationships thatwasn't the same old dumb gender
stuff, gendered stuff wherewomen talked about relationships
and complained about men, whichhelps no one.
Um, but that was the and it'snot even that's not to shame the
women doing that.
I'm saying that's a that'sthat's the way these things were
viewed, right?
Advice columns were for women.
Um, conversations aboutrelationships are for women
(12:57):
where they talk about how to fixmen.
Like that's that was the idea.
I'm not saying that was thereality, but that was the idea.
That was the idea.
Yeah, that helps nobody, right?
Um, especially if you're not ina straight relationship.
So we like you know, reallyearly, really early.
I mean, this was the 90s, youknow, people would we had an
advice column and people wouldwrite to us, you know, young,
old, gay, straight, trans, youknow, everything, um, and ask
(13:19):
for advice because a super comicsuperhero was she she was funny,
but she wasn't silly, um, andwas accessible.
Um, and so we really, and youknow, we didn't wake up every
day thinking this, but we knewthat what we were doing was
trying to change the way peopletalked 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 wasall like intertwined with the
journalism and comedy.
Um, and there were, you know, acouple other things after that,
but those are I'll pause.
SPEAKER_01 (13:47):
Um that's magical.
That actually is where the Ithink the magic happens, is when
you can talk about things thatare so difficult with humor.
I think it you're right, it doessit with people a lot longer,
and it I think it breaksbarriers, truly.
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
Um another.
Yeah, it's really true.
There's a whole bunch of reasonsthat 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 waslike sort of a sort of a
non-annoying practical joker andum was silly.
You know, I mean, he was intoMonty Python, you know, and
that's it was just damn.
Um we would do goofy slapsticktogether, like when he was
raking the leaves, I would hidein the pile and then like jump
(14:41):
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 mylanguage, 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 naturalaffinity, you could, you know,
you could not be, you know, youcould be comfortable on stage,
whatever it is, but it that isall very nice.
But it it you can't kind ofsteal 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 ComedyClub.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
Did you do that by yourself?
Uh I have a co-founder um namedAmi Vora.
And initially I started Istarted out by myself with just
kind of experimenting andfiguring out what I wanted to
do.
Um, and then Ami came on as itwas really turning into a
business that needed um uh, youknow, marketing officer, digital
officer.
She does the, she's, you know,that's her area.
(15:44):
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 ofthings.
I knew how to build a brand, Iknew 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
(16:04):
help with okay, but how do Ilegit grow a business or create
at least launch even a business?
So uh definitely uh anything Idid 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 supportand 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 along almost 10 years ago, just
kind of thinking about it.
Like, what would what would itbe?
Like how what would it be likeif I don't know, something with
women and comedy and justcontent, but there's also
classes and and we get themyoung or we just or I I uh I
(16:48):
didn't know.
Um, and then uh I started doinga few things just to experiment
and build the brand um beforethe pandemic.
And then I always I always knewthough that I wanted the
headquarters, if you will, to beonline.
Um, because you know, for reachand scale.
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
Yeah.
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 helpedpeople understand that yeah, you
can do pretty much anything.
You can learn online, you canform communities online, you
can, yes, you can do comedyonline.
Like it's it's not a substitutefor something else, but it can,
(17:30):
it's but it's legit.
Even improv, we have an im wehave an improv teacher who who
does a great job, not workingagainst the Zoom square, but
with the fact that you're in theZoom.
And the same with our stand up.
Like we, you know, we reallywork with it.
Like you can do a whole lot ofthings with like props are not
funny in a club.
Props can be hilarious on Zoom,you know, because you don't know
(17:51):
what sitting outside that, youknow, and then suddenly
someone's like, ah, you know,like having a function, right?
You know, it's just it's justdifferent.
And so you learn to work withthat, 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 dothis, whatever this was, um, on
your computer.
Nice.
(18:11):
Yeah, so we've been growing itsort of slowly, um, but surely,
uh, since since the middle ofthe pandemic.
Where did the name come from?
Well, I like the idea.
I mean, you know, comedy gold islike the best comedy, right?
And I like the idea of turningit on its head.
Um, and you know, comedy is hardfor everybody.
Comedy is hard for thestraightest, whitest, dudest,
(18:33):
dude.
Uh, I wanted to make it easierfor and prioritize the people
for whom it's the hardest.
So uh there's something aboutthat made me want to switch it
around and not call it comedygoal, but gold comedy.
Um, and just to just to sort ofturn it, turn things upside down
a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Play on words.
Yeah.
Of course, you not you're nod tojournalism.
You'll you'll never not be ajournalist.
Is that a fair statement thing?
You'll never not be that.
What were some of the moredifficult um hurdles you had to
do when balancing the two whenyou were doing comedy and
journalism?
SPEAKER_00 (19:09):
Honestly, it wasn't that hard.
It wasn't that hard because umsometimes what I was writing
about during the day gave meideas for gave me ideas for
stand-up.
Um, especially in my lateryears, I when I was fortunate
enough to be able to write a lotof personal essays, I wrote them
for books, also for anthologies.
(19:30):
I found that they it certainlywasn't you couldn't do the exact
same thing on stage, but Igravitated a little bit more
toward I did I did storytellingalso.
That's a little bit different,but I gravitated to more toward
like let's say I had a 10 10 or12 minute set, I gravitated more
toward like talking about onething for those 12 minutes.
(19:51):
Um, so it's it's not uh it's notfull-on storytelling, but doing
um stand-up style storytellingor storytelling stand-up style.
So, you know, telling a onestory of a you know crazy
camping trip to Idaho would bejust like jokes, jokes, jokes,
jokes, jokes, but it was stillone story with a beginning,
(20:13):
middle, and an end.
And that would often be derivedfrom something that I had just
written for a magazine or ananthology or something.
So there was a lot of um, therewas a lot of translation or even
like you know, current issuesthat I was writing about.
I would turn, I would take thesame jokes, the same like, you
know, dark, skewering jokes orwhatever that I had written in,
(20:33):
you know, for salon or whateverit was, and often find ways to
translate them um into thingsthat 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 borderwas pretty porous.
SPEAKER_01 (20:49):
You're a very creative individual.
I would I would assume thatyou've like a lot of people, um,
well, not a lot of people, butyou've just sort of followed
your own life path and done whatfelt right to you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:07):
That I have.
Um how did you not succumb tothese pressures?
That's a great question.
I mean, I did have a job job fora while, which I also liked.
Um which is also great fun, andand I learned a lot, um, but
(21:29):
only for about five years.
Um, so it doesn't mean that whatI have been doing is not a
business.
I mean, any journalist slashcreative is running their own
business.
Um say that not to be not tosound defensive, but like uh,
but we do one of the thingswe've we've taught and teach at
(21:50):
Gold is, you know, yeah, you'renot, you're yeah, sure you're a
creative, but you're running abusiness, and here's how to run
that.
You know, here's how to do yourinvoicing, and here's how to ask
for as much money as youdeserve, and here's how to, you
know, just because you're acreative doesn't mean you should
get paid less because you'refollowing your dream, you know.
Um I love that.
That's a whole lot of yes rightthere.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
But um so uh so wait, what what are all the
avenues that you teach at gold?
SPEAKER_00 (22:18):
Oh, sure.
Well, we teach all the kind ofobvious forms of comedy.
So uh stand-up sketch, mostprimarily stand-up and sketch,
but we do do storytelling, we dodo improv, um, we do do what am
I forgetting?
Stand-up story.
Um those are the big sort of ohum TV writing, late night
(22:40):
writing, pilot writing.
We also find that we fill gaps,other gaps that need to be
filled, um, whether it's how torun your life like a how to run
your comedy life like abusiness, but also um we teach
how to not just how to write asketch, but how to shoot it so
(23:00):
that if you're doing a digitalsketch, how to shoot it so it
looks great.
The whole, all of the productionpiece, um, production, uh, you
know, how to shoot it, how toedit it, um, and how to market
it online.
Um, because you don't want tojust like write a great sketch
and then have nothing not beable to do it, you know, you
want to get it out there.
Um, how to direct a sketch, howto write dialogue, um, all those
(23:24):
things.
And again, light sound, allthose things that have to be
impeccable, which you can do ona budget, how to do that on a
budget.
Um and we teach, we also teachone of our one of our premium
classes that I think also is isone that might be especially
interesting to your listeners,is uh it's a premium class
called Build and Pitch Any Idea.
(23:45):
And there are a lot of greatpitching classes out there, and
this does help you create agreat pitch, but you don't get
to do your pitch until you'vefully developed your idea.
Typically, in um typically inthis class, it's typically
typically but not always, um,it's people who are working on
ideas for TV shows, um, usuallyhalf hour or hour you know,
(24:06):
comedies or dramedies.
Uh, but also people work onfeature films, podcasts, um,
unscripted, um, and uh even someeven some other outliers.
And what and what's amazing, twotwo amazing things.
Well, there's many amazingthings, but I'll I'll select two
for now.
Um, one is that people can comein and do come in to this class
(24:30):
with just the seed of an idea.
Just the seed.
Might be uh everyone in myfamily is a dentist.
There's gotta be a show in theresomewhere.
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, Iknow the arc of season two, I
know I know everything, but Idon't know what to do.
Like it's sitting here, I don'tknow what to do with it.
Um, and from any starting point,um, Ryan Cunningham, who is the
who is the teacher, who is uh nobig deal, executive producer of
(25:03):
Broad City, search party, insideAD Schumer.
And she helps you take fromwherever you are and build all
and rigorously go through aframework where you build that
idea until you can live it anduntil you're living and
breathing it.
And then you can start workingon your industry standard pitch
that by the end of the class youhave polished and practiced and
(25:24):
delivered to uh developmentexecutives who are um who are
not in that in that momentexpected or at all expected to
like green light you they can't.
That's what the but in manycases they do say, like, do you
mind if I make some calls?
You know, um, so it's not anofficial, um it's not official
like that, but they do give realfeedback from the exact kind of
(25:47):
people that you would bepitching to.
The other amazing thing is that,or just it's not amazing, it's
wonderful, um, is that a lot inthis class, especially, the
people who take it are uh notuniquely this, but like this is
where they show up.
Um, and that is women in theirlike 40s, 50s plus who uh are
(26:10):
you know already successful in acareer that may be entertainment
related, may not.
Um, one of them taking it rightnow is a veterinary oncology
surgeon or surgeon, for example.
Um and they have an idea thatthey cannot get out of their
head, off their mind, out oftheir heart, out of their
(26:32):
drawer.
And they're like, I'm doingthis.
And I just scared my cat.
Um, and uh, and they arepassionate and driven and
they're serious.
Like they may not be quittingtheir 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.
(26:53):
Um, but they're very seriousabout this project.
It's not like a random, I'llgive it a whirl, like they are
serious.
And so uh they do come out ofthis 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 onto get their shows in develop
(27:14):
into development um with actorsattached, and you know, the
whole thing takes forever, butum, or they've produced it,
they've turned it into an entireexisting mini-series, uh sorry,
uh web series that's out rightnow, um, like Ratsar, which I
can direct you to right now.
Um, so they and and Ryan, thethe teacher, the instructor,
(27:34):
used developed the class as acollege class, and and you know,
no shade.
She's uh you know, I she says, Ilove the college students,
they're great, they're so fullof energy, blah blah blah blah,
they're so creative, they're sointeresting, they're so
original.
She's like, but I really lovedthe women, you know, these the
quote unquote older women whojust bring so much life to their
ideas, even if they're notautobiographical.
(27:57):
And so we really like have sentsome really interesting projects
into the world um that have comeout of women from this kind of
you know psychographic, if youwill.
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 gonnaend up running out of time, it
always happens, but I I have twotwo more questions.
One of which is what does yourday-to-day look like?
(28:27):
Like you have the day, what doesthe 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'snot what happens.
Um, if only you can see what'slike right around.
Uh bit listeners, I'm referringto my completely fictional
Google Meet background.
(28:54):
Um, that uh is yeah, it'sperfectly white with perfectly
happy plants.
Um day to day, honestly, um Dayto day I'm mostly focused on I'm
you're talking to my team andmostly focused on, you know,
which class do we have to build?
What you know, uh what um whatuh what projects are our members
(29:16):
doing that we need to support?
What what events are going onthis week, who, you know, which
comedy pro or celebrity do wehave booked for our weekly Q
⁇ A?
Like it's very, it's veryday-to-day, day-to-dayness,
right?
Um and I will say, like, as it'sit's the c it's also the classic
thing that like founders findout when they like, you know,
(29:38):
build a business based on theirpassion, that they're like, oh
wait, when do I get to do mypassion?
You know, so partly it's metrying to also find time to
still make funny stuff becauseyou know, I I I'm here all day
making helping other people makefunny stuff, um, which is fun.
And they succeed.
I'd even say we have like wehave a web series now on Fox
(29:59):
Souls.
Like our we're making funnystuff and it's getting out into
the world.
But um but and you saw our allour digital sketches that are
amazing.
Um, but then there's still thatitch, you know, which is why I'm
here in the first place.
So it's a combination of likejust like do, do, do, execute,
execute, execute, execute, andthen a little yearning.
SPEAKER_01 (30:20):
Oh, that's too good.
Oh, I love that.
Well, as every episode typicallygoes here, uh the entire episode
ends up being advice.
But I like to end it with whatadvice can you give to the
listeners on the She SweetSociety?
Whether you live by it or justsomething you think they need to
(30:42):
hear right now.
SPEAKER_00 (30:43):
If you're drawn to or curious about comedy in all
its forms, you know, humor, andthen you then the minute you
feel drawn to it, and then thenext thought you think is, but
I'm not funny, or I'm not funnyenough, or I'm too shy, or I'm
not confident enough, orwhatever it is to do whatever.
(31:04):
I'm not saying you all have torun off and join the circus.
But I will say that you actuallydon't have to change who you are
in order to welcome comedy andhumor even more into your life.
You don't have to be less shy,you don't have to be more
(31:25):
confident.
Uh, you just have to kind ofkeep an ear out.
And if something's funny to youor something isn't funny yet,
but could be, write it down.
Like there's all this talk abouta gratitude journal.
I like to, you know, I like tokeep my joke is I call it an
attitude journal.
Um like just write down anythingthat like either is funny or
(31:48):
could be funny or you don't evenknow.
Like it's just a thing,something that occurs to you.
Just, you know, whether it'slike peanut butter.
Like, I don't, I who knows.
And whether or not you decidethat you're gonna like give it a
whirl and try a stand-up classor pitch your you know, learn to
pitch your idea that you've beenworking on, um it still is a way
to help you notice that you'renoticing that there's some stuff
(32:11):
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 theCOVID vaccine, which I guess we
can't get anymore, but okay.
Um and but at this, it'sactually not as passive.
It is that, it is that it's adistraction.
We all need it, yes, yes, yes.
But it's also really an activeit's not just a distraction from
(32:35):
what's going on, it's a way ofengaging with what's going on.
Yeah, it's a way of connecting.
It actually builds trust, youknow, all these things that you
wouldn't expect.
So I just invite your listenersto it doesn't matter who you
are, what you're like, whateveryou are already is what makes
you funny.
So to just invite that, youknow, just sort of put that lens
(32:57):
on and invite that kind of justvision into your life.
And you won't, whether or notyou actually try writing or
performing comedy, you will notregret 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'tknow this about me because uh
unless you're very close, thenyou know I have a deal with
myself that no matter what, bythe time I hit 50, I'm doing
stand-up.
It's just no matter what, by thetime I hit 50, and it's just
(33:29):
it's a promise I've made tomyself like 10 years ago.
And uh I am definitely signingup for your school.
SPEAKER_00 (33:38):
I'm not gonna listen, if you and your
listeners, and this includesyou, because you listen, I'm
sure, um if you are I um if yousign up for a gold membership
NPS, when you when you you joinas a member for a year, and that
means all your classes that arein the club are included, which
is huge.
So you can try everything.
(34:00):
Um, and it's all for the priceof like one and a half classes
somewhere else.
Um, or if you um are interestedin 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 onDahlia's podcast and um or our
Dahlia, um, and I will um and Ican hook you up with a 10%
(34:22):
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'sstory is her commitment to
making comedy accessible toeveryone, regardless of
confidence level or naturalability.
Her reminder that you don't haveto change who you are in order
to welcome comedy and humor intoyour life challenges the myth
(34:43):
that you need to be a certaintype of person to be funny.
I'm particularly inspired by herstudents, women who come to her
build-a-pitch any idea classwith projects they can't get out
of their hearts or drawers.
The fact that several have goneon to get their shows in
development or produce their ownweb series proves that passion
combined with the rightframework can lead to
(35:04):
extraordinary outcomes.
Lynn's concept of keeping anattitude journal instead of just
a gratitude journal resonatesdeeply.
Writing down things that arefunny or could be funny trains
us to notice humor in our dailylives.
And as she points out, laughterisn't just a distraction from
what's happening, it's a way ofengaging with what's happening.
(35:24):
For those of you drawn to comedybut held back by thoughts of not
being funny enough or confidentenough, Lynn's wisdom offers
permission to start exactlywhere you are.
Your unique perspective andexperiences are what make you
funny, not some predeterminedset of traits.
If today's conversation inspiredyou to consider welcoming more
(35:45):
humor into your life, share itwith someone who needs to hear
it.
Remember, the G-Suite Societyexists to amplify women's voices
from all walks of life, provingthat every story, even the funny
ones, has the power to createchange.
Until next time, this is yourhost Dahlia, reminding you that
your life is your message to theworld.
Why not make it extraordinary?
Welcome to the Cheese Suite Society, a
community where women from allbackgrounds come together to
share their stories, support oneanother, and reveal the
unfiltered reality of our lives.
I'm your host in EmpowermentSherpa Dahlia, and this podcast
exists to give voice and spaceto women whose experiences might
otherwise go unheard.
Today I'm joined by Lynn Harris,founder of Gold Comedy and
(00:38):
co-creator of the internetsensation Breakup Girl.
Lynn's journey from accomplishedjournalist to stand-up comedian
to comedy educator spans 25years of using humor as a
mechanism for driving socialchange.
What makes her story socompelling is how she's
consistently found ways toaddress difficult topics through
the power of appropriatelyhumorous voices.
(00:59):
Lynn's understanding that comedyis revolutionary when performed
by anyone who isn't a straightwhite dude speaks to something
deeper about who gets heard inour society.
As she puts it, when you makepeople laugh, you make people
listen.
And that 10 minutes on stagewhere everyone has to be quiet
and listen to you can betransformative, regardless of
(01:19):
what you're talking about.
Through Gold Comedy, she'screated something remarkable, an
online platform that teaches notjust the craft of comedy, but
how to run your comedy life likea business.
From stand-up and sketchwritingto her premium build-a-pitch any
idea class, Lynn is helpingwomen of all backgrounds, and
not just women, but anybody ininvested in comedy bring their
(01:42):
passionate projects to life,proving that it's never too late
to pursue what you can't get outof 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.
(02:02):
I when I saw that you are umhave a comedy club and you do
skits, I looked at all yourskits.
Holy cannolis, I just adorethem.
I have so many questions.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
So one thing I'll say is it's we don't have a club
club like with bricks andmortar.
But yeah, we do have, we callit, we do call it the club,
which you have rightly, um,rightly noted.
So yes.
SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Tell me how did you get started in comedy?
SPEAKER_00 (02:34):
How did I get started in comedy?
Very sort of unintentionally.
Uh, I did not have a five-yearplan, a 10-year plan.
Um when I started to dostand-up, which I'll and I'll
back up in a second.
My goal with doing stand-up wasto do stand-up.
That was it.
I just really wanted to dostand-up.
Um, I thought it looked like funand I thought I might be good at
(02:55):
it.
And I liked hanging out withother funny people.
That was pretty I was notambitious.
But still, that that is ambitionin itself.
Well, fair enough.
Um, it did come from, I think itcame out of simply being exposed
to a lot of hilarity when I wasgrowing up, in contrast to
(03:20):
having sort of like a quiethouse with an only child in it,
who is me.
Uh if there was something on, itwas either you know, opera or my
dad playing the piano, or CarolBurnett, I love Lucy, The
Muppets, Monty Python, Laughing.
And that's just what my both myparents were funny.
(03:43):
My dad was more of a ham, butthey were both funny.
And it's just what I was exposedto, and I loved it.
And so I was just always drawnto, you know, I was a theater
nerd, but I played the you know,the funny sidekick.
Um, I was, you know, I did acappella in college, but I was
(04:04):
never a great singer, but I wasgood at the, you know, at the at
the funny stuff we did inbetween, you know.
Um so that was just what I wasalways drawn to.
And then yeah, um, aftercollege, I was like, I'll just
stand up.
And then I did it for about 10years.
But to, but even though I waskind of lackadaisical about my
(04:24):
intentions uh or like my goal,you know, my my goal planning,
you know, um, I was veryintentional and committed,
intentional about and committedto the idea of comedy as a
mechanism for driving socialchange.
SPEAKER_01 (04:49):
Oh, oh, that's a good twist.
SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
I love this.
Yeah.
So whether or not it's aboutwhether or not you're taking a
difficult topic and making itmore inviting, or whether it's
just the people who are doingthe comedy.
In other words, if you are, youknow, it's pretty revolutionary
(05:13):
if you think about it.
If you're not a straight whitedude and you do stand-up, let's
say, I I'm can I'm involved inand can talk about all kinds of
comedy that are that are notstand-up, but just to take a
simple example, if you're not astraight white dude and you're
doing stand-up in a club wheremost of the other people are
(05:35):
straight white dudes, and you'retalking about whatever it is
you're talking about, could beyour 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 justthe fact that you are with your
(05:55):
face and your life and yourexperiences standing on stage
for eight to ten minutes whereall the other people have to be
quiet or laugh, of course, andlisten to you, and you're not
someone they're used tolistening to, that's
revolutionary in and of itself.
It really is.
And I include women in that.
Yeah.
So stand-up also, if you thinkabout it, when when women do
(06:17):
stand up, you have to listen tous for 10 minutes.
So I like to say when you makepeople laugh, you make people
listen.
And uh that is very true, andcan again can be revolutionary
when depending on who it isthat's uh both uh inviting the
laughter and who then has tolisten.
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Exactly.
That's exactly right.
You know what's funny is formost people that I I know, that
would be so intimidating.
They're like they're so scaredof being heard or seen and
definitely not on stage, is onstage with a spotlight, and like
that's like way worse.
And you you turn it into beingan empowering moment, which is
(07:01):
exactly right.
They have to listen to the wordsthat you say.
Do you do you ever get heckledas a result?
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
You know, I haven't done, I mean, I don't do
stand-up now, it's just I can'tstay up that late.
Um, heckling is a I don't wantto diminish it, but it's a bit
of a red herring.
Um, I I again I really don'twant to diminish it because it
does happen and it's a pain inthe ass.
But it's uh you you're makingyourself vulnerable no matter
(07:29):
what, even with a wrappedaudience.
And hecklers typically are likeno one's really on their side.
Yes, it's still it's still kindof your game, you know, and it's
a pain in the ass, and you haveto do something about it, and
you have to practice and youhave to learn how to respond.
And yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,it's totally a thing.
But I think comics are more, andI'm gonna put a spin on this
(07:51):
after I say it, comics are moreconcerned with, and again, hear
me out because I'm gonna put aspin on this.
Comics are more concerned,typically, typically there are
exceptions, with bombing thanthey are with being heckled.
It's just an outlier, and it'syou and again, it makes the
other person look bad, less you,right?
And but even then, comics know,even though nobody likes to
(08:12):
bomb, um, comics know that ifthey're not bombing, they're not
doing comedy.
And it's, you know, it just itsucks, but it happens.
And you just, and the the theespecially with stand-up, the
thing about stand-up is thatyou're also if you're not in the
if you're not working severalnights a week, or at least at
mics or whatever on stageseveral nights a week, you're
(08:34):
also not really doing you're notyou're not growing as a
stand-up.
So like it's gonna happen.
Like it's gonna happen.
Um, so they just know thatnumerically, you know, not all
nights will be like tonight, andyou just dust yourself off and
move on.
So that's like a more likelikely scenario where especially
because in a in a with aheckler, you kind of have
something to like deal with andplay off of and and sort of
(08:56):
neutralize.
Whereas if they're just not withyou, that's almost you all like
the enemy is invisible, youknow, and it's a little harder
to deal with.
But even then, it's just part ofthe job.
SPEAKER_01 (09:07):
You just yeah, you just I I didn't even think about
that.
Numerically, it's going tohappen.
SPEAKER_00 (09:12):
It's it's impossible not to.
It doesn't mean any it doesn'tmean anything.
SPEAKER_01 (09:16):
Yeah, it doesn't mean anything, but it probably
still can't feel great.
Yeah, I mean, we're not made ofwood, right?
But it but but it doesn't um itdoesn't mean anything.
So you did that for 10 yearsafter college.
And then what did you do?
SPEAKER_00 (09:30):
Well, I did a lot of overlapping and kind of in
intertwine intertwined things.
Um I was a a journalist forabout 25 years.
I was very accomplished as ajournalist.
Um, and I still do relatedthings um and still use the
skills.
I just kind of pivoted away fromit when sort sort of in the
(09:54):
early 2000s.
No, the well, the mid-2000s, um,when there was a great reckoning
um among magazines andnewspapers and um a great
shedding of those of us who hadum very uh you know contracts
that made the job doable.
Um and but so but during thattime I was doing both um
(10:20):
journalism and stand up, and Iand the same thing was really
driving me at the core, whichwas this wasn't what I did with
every single thing I wrote,wrote or performed, but the idea
um what what drove whatinterested me the most was how
can I use a an appropriatelyhumorous voice to address or
(10:44):
when addressing difficultissues?
Um abortion, you know, uh racialjustice, you know, things that
are just not funny.
Uh but how can one's voicecontribute, you know, how can a
how can an again appropriatelyhumorous voice, whether it's
sarcastic, whether it'sinnocent, whatever it is, um,
(11:05):
bring more people into theconversation or um skewer
something even harder.
So uh I also at the time, duringthat chunk of time, during that
era, um co-created a comic bookcomic book style character with
my writing partner, my creativepartner uh named Breakup Girl,
(11:27):
whose job it was and is to helpall kinds of people, every kind
of person with romanticemergencies.
And even that was, and thatbecame actually one of the
earliest uh multi-platforminternet success stories.
That was in '99.
And it turned into two books, anongoing, a lot or long-running
(11:50):
variety show live, um, ananimated show on an animated
interstitial show on part ofanother show on oxygen.
Um, all from this, you know,this originally an old good
old-fashioned book that wecollaborated on to help you
survive about helping survivinga breakup.
Yeah.
And even then, like we didn'ttake we we took it very
(12:11):
seriously, but we and and and itdid have a mission that was
again the kind of theintertwining of you know, humor
in some form with serious goals.
And that was, you know, wedidn't initially conceive her
this way, but it really grewinto, and I think one of the
reasons people loved it, what itreally grew into was a way to
(12:35):
talk about relationships thatwasn't the same old dumb gender
stuff, gendered stuff wherewomen talked about relationships
and complained about men, whichhelps no one.
Um, but that was the and it'snot even that's not to shame the
women doing that.
I'm saying that's a that'sthat's the way these things were
viewed, right?
Advice columns were for women.
Um, conversations aboutrelationships are for women
(12:57):
where they talk about how to fixmen.
Like that's that was the idea.
I'm not saying that was thereality, but that was the idea.
That was the idea.
Yeah, that helps nobody, right?
Um, especially if you're not ina straight relationship.
So we like you know, reallyearly, really early.
I mean, this was the 90s, youknow, people would we had an
advice column and people wouldwrite to us, you know, young,
old, gay, straight, trans, youknow, everything, um, and ask
(13:19):
for advice because a super comicsuperhero was she she was funny,
but she wasn't silly, um, andwas accessible.
Um, and so we really, and youknow, we didn't wake up every
day thinking this, but we knewthat what we were doing was
trying to change the way peopletalked 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 wasall like intertwined with the
journalism and comedy.
Um, and there were, you know, acouple other things after that,
but those are I'll pause.
SPEAKER_01 (13:47):
Um that's magical.
That actually is where the Ithink the magic happens, is when
you can talk about things thatare so difficult with humor.
I think it you're right, it doessit with people a lot longer,
and it I think it breaksbarriers, truly.
SPEAKER_00 (14:02):
Um another.
Yeah, it's really true.
There's a whole bunch of reasonsthat 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 waslike sort of a sort of a
non-annoying practical joker andum was silly.
You know, I mean, he was intoMonty Python, you know, and
that's it was just damn.
Um we would do goofy slapsticktogether, like when he was
raking the leaves, I would hidein the pile and then like jump
(14:41):
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 mylanguage, 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 naturalaffinity, you could, you know,
you could not be, you know, youcould be comfortable on stage,
whatever it is, but it that isall very nice.
But it it you can't kind ofsteal 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 ComedyClub.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
Did you do that by yourself?
Uh I have a co-founder um namedAmi Vora.
And initially I started Istarted out by myself with just
kind of experimenting andfiguring out what I wanted to
do.
Um, and then Ami came on as itwas really turning into a
business that needed um uh, youknow, marketing officer, digital
officer.
She does the, she's, you know,that's her area.
(15:44):
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 ofthings.
I knew how to build a brand, Iknew 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
(16:04):
help with okay, but how do Ilegit grow a business or create
at least launch even a business?
So uh definitely uh anything Idid 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 supportand 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 along almost 10 years ago, just
kind of thinking about it.
Like, what would what would itbe?
Like how what would it be likeif I don't know, something with
women and comedy and justcontent, but there's also
classes and and we get themyoung or we just or I I uh I
(16:48):
didn't know.
Um, and then uh I started doinga few things just to experiment
and build the brand um beforethe pandemic.
And then I always I always knewthough that I wanted the
headquarters, if you will, to beonline.
Um, because you know, for reachand scale.
SPEAKER_01 (17:08):
Yeah.
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 helpedpeople understand that yeah, you
can do pretty much anything.
You can learn online, you canform communities online, you
can, yes, you can do comedyonline.
Like it's it's not a substitutefor something else, but it can,
(17:30):
it's but it's legit.
Even improv, we have an im wehave an improv teacher who who
does a great job, not workingagainst the Zoom square, but
with the fact that you're in theZoom.
And the same with our stand up.
Like we, you know, we reallywork with it.
Like you can do a whole lot ofthings with like props are not
funny in a club.
Props can be hilarious on Zoom,you know, because you don't know
(17:51):
what sitting outside that, youknow, and then suddenly
someone's like, ah, you know,like having a function, right?
You know, it's just it's justdifferent.
And so you learn to work withthat, 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 dothis, whatever this was, um, on
your computer.
Nice.
(18:11):
Yeah, so we've been growing itsort of slowly, um, but surely,
uh, since since the middle ofthe pandemic.
Where did the name come from?
Well, I like the idea.
I mean, you know, comedy gold islike the best comedy, right?
And I like the idea of turningit on its head.
Um, and you know, comedy is hardfor everybody.
Comedy is hard for thestraightest, whitest, dudest,
(18:33):
dude.
Uh, I wanted to make it easierfor and prioritize the people
for whom it's the hardest.
So uh there's something aboutthat made me want to switch it
around and not call it comedygoal, but gold comedy.
Um, and just to just to sort ofturn it, turn things upside down
a little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Play on words.
Yeah.
Of course, you not you're nod tojournalism.
You'll you'll never not be ajournalist.
Is that a fair statement thing?
You'll never not be that.
What were some of the moredifficult um hurdles you had to
do when balancing the two whenyou were doing comedy and
journalism?
SPEAKER_00 (19:09):
Honestly, it wasn't that hard.
It wasn't that hard because umsometimes what I was writing
about during the day gave meideas for gave me ideas for
stand-up.
Um, especially in my lateryears, I when I was fortunate
enough to be able to write a lotof personal essays, I wrote them
for books, also for anthologies.
(19:30):
I found that they it certainlywasn't you couldn't do the exact
same thing on stage, but Igravitated a little bit more
toward I did I did storytellingalso.
That's a little bit different,but I gravitated to more toward
like let's say I had a 10 10 or12 minute set, I gravitated more
toward like talking about onething for those 12 minutes.
(19:51):
Um, so it's it's not uh it's notfull-on storytelling, but doing
um stand-up style storytellingor storytelling stand-up style.
So, you know, telling a onestory of a you know crazy
camping trip to Idaho would bejust like jokes, jokes, jokes,
jokes, jokes, but it was stillone story with a beginning,
(20:13):
middle, and an end.
And that would often be derivedfrom something that I had just
written for a magazine or ananthology or something.
So there was a lot of um, therewas a lot of translation or even
like you know, current issuesthat I was writing about.
I would turn, I would take thesame jokes, the same like, you
know, dark, skewering jokes orwhatever that I had written in,
(20:33):
you know, for salon or whateverit was, and often find ways to
translate them um into thingsthat 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 borderwas pretty porous.
SPEAKER_01 (20:49):
You're a very creative individual.
I would I would assume thatyou've like a lot of people, um,
well, not a lot of people, butyou've just sort of followed
your own life path and done whatfelt right to you.
SPEAKER_00 (21:07):
That I have.
Um how did you not succumb tothese pressures?
That's a great question.
I mean, I did have a job job fora while, which I also liked.
Um which is also great fun, andand I learned a lot, um, but
(21:29):
only for about five years.
Um, so it doesn't mean that whatI have been doing is not a
business.
I mean, any journalist slashcreative is running their own
business.
Um say that not to be not tosound defensive, but like uh,
but we do one of the thingswe've we've taught and teach at
(21:50):
Gold is, you know, yeah, you'renot, you're yeah, sure you're a
creative, but you're running abusiness, and here's how to run
that.
You know, here's how to do yourinvoicing, and here's how to ask
for as much money as youdeserve, and here's how to, you
know, just because you're acreative doesn't mean you should
get paid less because you'refollowing your dream, you know.
Um I love that.
That's a whole lot of yes rightthere.
SPEAKER_01 (22:10):
But um so uh so wait, what what are all the
avenues that you teach at gold?
SPEAKER_00 (22:18):
Oh, sure.
Well, we teach all the kind ofobvious forms of comedy.
So uh stand-up sketch, mostprimarily stand-up and sketch,
but we do do storytelling, we dodo improv, um, we do do what am
I forgetting?
Stand-up story.
Um those are the big sort of ohum TV writing, late night
(22:40):
writing, pilot writing.
We also find that we fill gaps,other gaps that need to be
filled, um, whether it's how torun your life like a how to run
your comedy life like abusiness, but also um we teach
how to not just how to write asketch, but how to shoot it so
(23:00):
that if you're doing a digitalsketch, how to shoot it so it
looks great.
The whole, all of the productionpiece, um, production, uh, you
know, how to shoot it, how toedit it, um, and how to market
it online.
Um, because you don't want tojust like write a great sketch
and then have nothing not beable to do it, you know, you
want to get it out there.
Um, how to direct a sketch, howto write dialogue, um, all those
(23:24):
things.
And again, light sound, allthose things that have to be
impeccable, which you can do ona budget, how to do that on a
budget.
Um and we teach, we also teachone of our one of our premium
classes that I think also is isone that might be especially
interesting to your listeners,is uh it's a premium class
called Build and Pitch Any Idea.
(23:45):
And there are a lot of greatpitching classes out there, and
this does help you create agreat pitch, but you don't get
to do your pitch until you'vefully developed your idea.
Typically, in um typically inthis class, it's typically
typically but not always, um,it's people who are working on
ideas for TV shows, um, usuallyhalf hour or hour you know,
(24:06):
comedies or dramedies.
Uh, but also people work onfeature films, podcasts, um,
unscripted, um, and uh even someeven some other outliers.
And what and what's amazing, twotwo amazing things.
Well, there's many amazingthings, but I'll I'll select two
for now.
Um, one is that people can comein and do come in to this class
(24:30):
with just the seed of an idea.
Just the seed.
Might be uh everyone in myfamily is a dentist.
There's gotta be a show in theresomewhere.
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, Iknow the arc of season two, I
know I know everything, but Idon't know what to do.
Like it's sitting here, I don'tknow what to do with it.
Um, and from any starting point,um, Ryan Cunningham, who is the
who is the teacher, who is uh nobig deal, executive producer of
(25:03):
Broad City, search party, insideAD Schumer.
And she helps you take fromwherever you are and build all
and rigorously go through aframework where you build that
idea until you can live it anduntil you're living and
breathing it.
And then you can start workingon your industry standard pitch
that by the end of the class youhave polished and practiced and
(25:24):
delivered to uh developmentexecutives who are um who are
not in that in that momentexpected or at all expected to
like green light you they can't.
That's what the but in manycases they do say, like, do you
mind if I make some calls?
You know, um, so it's not anofficial, um it's not official
like that, but they do give realfeedback from the exact kind of
(25:47):
people that you would bepitching to.
The other amazing thing is that,or just it's not amazing, it's
wonderful, um, is that a lot inthis class, especially, the
people who take it are uh notuniquely this, but like this is
where they show up.
Um, and that is women in theirlike 40s, 50s plus who uh are
(26:10):
you know already successful in acareer that may be entertainment
related, may not.
Um, one of them taking it rightnow is a veterinary oncology
surgeon or surgeon, for example.
Um and they have an idea thatthey cannot get out of their
head, off their mind, out oftheir heart, out of their
(26:32):
drawer.
And they're like, I'm doingthis.
And I just scared my cat.
Um, and uh, and they arepassionate and driven and
they're serious.
Like they may not be quittingtheir 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.
(26:53):
Um, but they're very seriousabout this project.
It's not like a random, I'llgive it a whirl, like they are
serious.
And so uh they do come out ofthis 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 onto get their shows in develop
(27:14):
into development um with actorsattached, and you know, the
whole thing takes forever, butum, or they've produced it,
they've turned it into an entireexisting mini-series, uh sorry,
uh web series that's out rightnow, um, like Ratsar, which I
can direct you to right now.
Um, so they and and Ryan, thethe teacher, the instructor,
(27:34):
used developed the class as acollege class, and and you know,
no shade.
She's uh you know, I she says, Ilove the college students,
they're great, they're so fullof energy, blah blah blah blah,
they're so creative, they're sointeresting, they're so
original.
She's like, but I really lovedthe women, you know, these the
quote unquote older women whojust bring so much life to their
ideas, even if they're notautobiographical.
(27:57):
And so we really like have sentsome really interesting projects
into the world um that have comeout of women from this kind of
you know psychographic, if youwill.
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 gonnaend up running out of time, it
always happens, but I I have twotwo more questions.
One of which is what does yourday-to-day look like?
(28:27):
Like you have the day, what doesthe 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'snot what happens.
Um, if only you can see what'slike right around.
Uh bit listeners, I'm referringto my completely fictional
Google Meet background.
(28:54):
Um, that uh is yeah, it'sperfectly white with perfectly
happy plants.
Um day to day, honestly, um Dayto day I'm mostly focused on I'm
you're talking to my team andmostly focused on, you know,
which class do we have to build?
What you know, uh what um whatuh what projects are our members
(29:16):
doing that we need to support?
What what events are going onthis week, who, you know, which
comedy pro or celebrity do wehave booked for our weekly Q
⁇ A?
Like it's very, it's veryday-to-day, day-to-dayness,
right?
Um and I will say, like, as it'sit's the c it's also the classic
thing that like founders findout when they like, you know,
(29:38):
build a business based on theirpassion, that they're like, oh
wait, when do I get to do mypassion?
You know, so partly it's metrying to also find time to
still make funny stuff becauseyou know, I I I'm here all day
making helping other people makefunny stuff, um, which is fun.
And they succeed.
I'd even say we have like wehave a web series now on Fox
(29:59):
Souls.
Like our we're making funnystuff and it's getting out into
the world.
But um but and you saw our allour digital sketches that are
amazing.
Um, but then there's still thatitch, you know, which is why I'm
here in the first place.
So it's a combination of likejust like do, do, do, execute,
execute, execute, execute, andthen a little yearning.
SPEAKER_01 (30:20):
Oh, that's too good.
Oh, I love that.
Well, as every episode typicallygoes here, uh the entire episode
ends up being advice.
But I like to end it with whatadvice can you give to the
listeners on the She SweetSociety?
Whether you live by it or justsomething you think they need to
(30:42):
hear right now.
SPEAKER_00 (30:43):
If you're drawn to or curious about comedy in all
its forms, you know, humor, andthen you then the minute you
feel drawn to it, and then thenext thought you think is, but
I'm not funny, or I'm not funnyenough, or I'm too shy, or I'm
not confident enough, orwhatever it is to do whatever.
(31:04):
I'm not saying you all have torun off and join the circus.
But I will say that you actuallydon't have to change who you are
in order to welcome comedy andhumor even more into your life.
You don't have to be less shy,you don't have to be more
(31:25):
confident.
Uh, you just have to kind ofkeep an ear out.
And if something's funny to youor something isn't funny yet,
but could be, write it down.
Like there's all this talk abouta gratitude journal.
I like to, you know, I like tokeep my joke is I call it an
attitude journal.
Um like just write down anythingthat like either is funny or
(31:48):
could be funny or you don't evenknow.
Like it's just a thing,something that occurs to you.
Just, you know, whether it'slike peanut butter.
Like, I don't, I who knows.
And whether or not you decidethat you're gonna like give it a
whirl and try a stand-up classor pitch your you know, learn to
pitch your idea that you've beenworking on, um it still is a way
to help you notice that you'renoticing that there's some stuff
(32:11):
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 theCOVID vaccine, which I guess we
can't get anymore, but okay.
Um and but at this, it'sactually not as passive.
It is that, it is that it's adistraction.
We all need it, yes, yes, yes.
But it's also really an activeit's not just a distraction from
(32:35):
what's going on, it's a way ofengaging with what's going on.
Yeah, it's a way of connecting.
It actually builds trust, youknow, all these things that you
wouldn't expect.
So I just invite your listenersto it doesn't matter who you
are, what you're like, whateveryou are already is what makes
you funny.
So to just invite that, youknow, just sort of put that lens
(32:57):
on and invite that kind of justvision into your life.
And you won't, whether or notyou actually try writing or
performing comedy, you will notregret 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'tknow this about me because uh
unless you're very close, thenyou know I have a deal with
myself that no matter what, bythe time I hit 50, I'm doing
stand-up.
It's just no matter what, by thetime I hit 50, and it's just
(33:29):
it's a promise I've made tomyself like 10 years ago.
And uh I am definitely signingup for your school.
SPEAKER_00 (33:38):
I'm not gonna listen, if you and your
listeners, and this includesyou, because you listen, I'm
sure, um if you are I um if yousign up for a gold membership
NPS, when you when you you joinas a member for a year, and that
means all your classes that arein the club are included, which
is huge.
So you can try everything.
(34:00):
Um, and it's all for the priceof like one and a half classes
somewhere else.
Um, or if you um are interestedin 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 onDahlia's podcast and um or our
Dahlia, um, and I will um and Ican hook you up with a 10%
(34:22):
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'sstory is her commitment to
making comedy accessible toeveryone, regardless of
confidence level or naturalability.
Her reminder that you don't haveto change who you are in order
to welcome comedy and humor intoyour life challenges the myth
(34:43):
that you need to be a certaintype of person to be funny.
I'm particularly inspired by herstudents, women who come to her
build-a-pitch any idea classwith projects they can't get out
of their hearts or drawers.
The fact that several have goneon to get their shows in
development or produce their ownweb series proves that passion
combined with the rightframework can lead to
(35:04):
extraordinary outcomes.
Lynn's concept of keeping anattitude journal instead of just
a gratitude journal resonatesdeeply.
Writing down things that arefunny or could be funny trains
us to notice humor in our dailylives.
And as she points out, laughterisn't just a distraction from
what's happening, it's a way ofengaging with what's happening.
(35:24):
For those of you drawn to comedybut held back by thoughts of not
being funny enough or confidentenough, Lynn's wisdom offers
permission to start exactlywhere you are.
Your unique perspective andexperiences are what make you
funny, not some predeterminedset of traits.
If today's conversation inspiredyou to consider welcoming more
(35:45):
humor into your life, share itwith someone who needs to hear
it.
Remember, the G-Suite Societyexists to amplify women's voices
from all walks of life, provingthat every story, even the funny
ones, has the power to createchange.
Until next time, this is yourhost Dahlia, reminding you that
your life is your message to theworld.
Why not make it extraordinary?
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