I’ve not been doing much during lockdown so I’ve been reaching out to fellow Brits in LA members who have.
This week I want to share the impressive story of Christine Peake – many of you may know of her through her work as a publicist and guest contributor to our column here – but when lockdown 2020 began she got given an unexpected break – the PR work may have been put temporarily on hold but this allowed her funny side to finally take a front seat.
Over the years I’ve met many people who have either dabbled in stand up comedy or have turned it into a career. One thing they all say (whether they made it or not) is that it’s one of the most challenging things they have ever done. So hats off to Christine for not only giving it a go, but for also being invited back to do it again and saying Yes!
Before I hand over to Christine I would like to put a call out to all of you to share your stories with us all.
Have you too discovered a passion during lockdown or turned a hobby into a business? It doesn’t necessarily have to be something fancy or glamorous… email me at eileen@britsin.la and I will try and help you tell your story too.
Make sure to follow us on social media for all of the latest news and updates.
Cheers! Eileen
From Manchester to Maisel….by Christine Peake
As we all carefully prepare to emerge out of the pandemic, like mask wearing, vaccinated, stealth ninjas, we are all changed. Not because of Covid-19 or the Covid -15 weight gain people shared with their photos of the gluten free pancakes. Are half the population now chefs?
We are changed because the world is changed.
There are no instagram pancakes to make my stomach grow, just butterflies in my stomach, not the touchy feely kind. No, I grew up in Bury- Manchester, touchy-feely is a smack on the head. I had the good old-fashioned anxiety kind of butterflies.
I decided to do stand up comedy during Covid. To be honest I had decided to do stand up comedy in 1988, 33 years ago, after a comedian picked on me in London and asked, “Are you a virgin?”
“No!” I snapped back “ but I bet you are!”
My wine induced confidence was awoken. The audience laughed and I privately thought, maybe I would do that some day? I was funnier than this wanker, that’s for sure.
I would do it. Just not that century apparently.
Most people know me as a Type A publicist, a job I love and have had for 15 years, after being a single mother, to my son, Oliver – yes, he is an actual chef.
Irony.
So, how did I get here?
Death and loss have played a part in my life. The loss of Oliver’s father many years ago, the recent loss of my best friend Andre Cohen, a red carpet photographer who was the daily voice at the end of the phone.
Andre told me to love myself, don’t be afraid and make myself “my first client.” Cancer came for him and ripped his hand from the clutches of mine. I decided to stop privately drinking the sadness away and would be the best version of myself, after all, I had my other best friend of 30 years, a reliable loyal angel, Lisa Lent. Cancer came suddenly again, it took her.
F*#K cancer.
Someone said comics are depressed, well that last paragraph confirms it! So…
As the world came to a grinding halt, and Covid gained speed, we all LOST. We lost family, friends, jobs, our homes and the freedom that we had taken for granted. But I FOUND something else. An attitude that screamed from within, “What else is there to lose?” As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.”
My friend and client, actress and stand up comedian Eugenia Kuzmina, invited me to her comedy set which was part of The Shindig Show, produced by the hilarious Jimmy Shin from Amazon’s ‘Wok Of Fame’. As I watched the comics bravely perform in a covid-restricted environment – the amphitheater of a church, I thought about the show in 1988 and how big my hair and earrings had been then.
After the show, Eugenia introduced to me Jimmy as her publicist and she told him I was funny.
I stood there trying to think of something funny.
Jimmy invited me to participate in one of his online classes and as a result we ended up producing a fundraiser comedy event to raise awareness for prostate cancer at Tiato Restaurant, in Santa Monica. He rightly predicted that one day I might want to be IN an actual show; I then dropped the bomb, I wanted to be in THIS show, not just PR the event.
“Do the work,” he said. “Rehearse, write your set, commit. Then rehearse again, learn it and we shall see.”
I did what he asked.
That first show included comedy greats such as Entourage star Jeremy Piven and one of my favorite stand-up comedians, Kirk Fox.
An hour before the show I had a total breakdown, stage fright is real. I suffer from it. Badly.
But I got up and I did it.
The Shindig show was a success and all my friends came to support. They had to, I had bullied and begged them to do so.
“You were funny”, they said. They had laughed throughout, they said.
My second show was a virtual show hosted by seasoned comic Jessica Winther and produced by Mark Klaber. Virtual comedy, is tough.
Jessica remembered me from that virtual show and called me for her next big sold out show at The Comedy Chateau, along with the awesome Willie Macc. Being the newbie I opened the show. 18 minutes! I ran way over – apparently a big no-no in comedy.
The audience laughed, I had been funny. Again. I now had the bug!
Then, the original gangsta of my comedy life, Jimmy Shin put me in another show, I was back with Jeremy Piven again (!) and SNL legend, Darrell Hammond. “Wow. It doesn’t get any better than this!” I thought.
But it did get better.
A week later, Jimmy called me and told me to “Sit down.” He had news…l
He had chosen me to perform along with one of the greats. America’s number one comic, Bill Burr – who was on my bucket list, along with Max Amini, SNL legend Darrell Hammond (again) and Dean Delray! The night prior I had my now familiar nervous breakdown.
I woke up at 4am and wrote jokes. I do this often, then I fall back asleep. It’s my process.
Last Friday I walked on stage wearing one of my signature Title Of Work ties, I wear a tie on stage every show, I think it makes me feel strong or maybe, I am just stuck in the 90’s? During my set, I talked cancel culture, joked about British parenting, tried to understand pronouns and made fun of being single and looking like a “Nazi Lesbian”. Apparently, I offended a lesbian, but she didn’t seem to mind the Nazi part?
I walked off stage proudly and then sneaked in to the bathroom and shed a tear in relief and thanked God, I had after all seen rappers do this at the Grammys – a lot. I thanked Jerry for my son, Andre for the support and I thanked Lisa for her loyalty. Maybe they were laughing in heaven together?
Then I went back out and watched the master Bill Burr and all the other comedians share their humor and selfless energy to make others laugh.
So I thank them all- I am also thankful I watched ‘The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’ instead of posting food photos.
I currently have shows booked in Las Vegas, Chicago and Los Angeles. My next show is on May 15th at The Comedy Chateau. Get your tickets as: tinyurl.com/ChristineComedy.
If anyone has any stage fright tips please let me know by 7.45pm on May 15th!
Let’s keep laughing.
