COMEDY with Lynn Harris: Reassembling reality, finding your funny, and comedy as power
Julie and Casey sit down with Lynn Harris (founder of Gold Comedy, cohost of A Bintel Brief, and prolific writer) about how comedy can change the world. Along the way, they discuss why (and HOW) we should get rid of the term “women’s comedy”, and we discover our own personal connection to Lynn’s creation, “Breakup Girl”.
TOP TAKEAWAYS:
Comedy is power: when you make people laugh you make people listen.
One significant theory/framework for comedy is “disturbing a norm” . . . so doesn’t it make sense for people OUTSIDE of “the mythic norm” to be naturals at doing this?
“Comedy isn’t rearranging the stars, it’s just seeing your own pattern.” When it comes to comedy as a coping mechanism, comedy doesn’t change what happened (or is happening) to you, but it can allow us to see the stars in a new way — our OWN way. But it’s not just the processing . . . the sharing is powerful too.
Mini Lesson: In comedy, in speaking, and in life, you gotta put a stake in the ground. Here's how.
About Lynn Harris: I’m an award-winning journalist-comedian-creative strategist-multihyphenate driven by the power of comedy to change culture. I am founder and CEO of GOLD Comedy, the comedy academy, creative network, and content platform for women/non-binary folks who want to be their funniest selves. I’m also co-host, with Ginna Green, of A Bintel Brief: The Podcast, which brings the Forward’s iconic advice column into the audio age. With supergenius Chris Kalb, I co-created (in 1997!) one of the earliest internet success stories: Breakup Girl, the only superhero who can both bend steel bars and mend broken hearts. I’m an award-winning journalist, author and novelist, communications executive, and comedy producer / performer / instructor. Plus a co-founder of the comedy/event series Persisticon, which raises money to elect women. I am also a former Tonya Harding lookalike, which is a long story.