Today we’d like to introduce you to Alaina Hirschi.
Hi Alaina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Alaina Hirschi and I’m a stand-up comedian. I was introduced to stand-up comedy in 2018, at age 26. I didn’t watch it growing up because my parents said it was “mostly inappropriate”. They weren’t wrong.
My first job out of college was at Angel Studios on the marketing team. I was tasked with selling season tickets for their original project, Dry Bar Comedy. The business was a start-up and only had about 30 employees at the time, so when the live tapings began, my manager informed me that they needed help at the shows getting customers seated.
I started working at the shows on the weekends and, inevitably, began watching live stand-up comedy. One night, I thought, “That looks fun. I think I could do that.”
A little while later at work, I voiced my interest in trying stand-up. The “club manager”, (who was also acting as head of HR…like I said…it was a start-up) said, “You’d be great! You can host a show.” About two months later, I went to a Wiseguys open mic and tried out three minutes of material. Two days later, I hosted Dry Bar Comedy and did a 15-minute set.
Performing 15 minutes of largely untested material in front of a real audience when you’ve done three minutes of stand-up in your life is not a good idea. When you’re starting, it takes about 1-2 years to write a GOOD 15 minutes of material. I was unqualified to host that show.
Miraculously, against all odds, it went well. I hosted one more show in March 2020. Then Covid hit and shut down everything. I dropped stand-up to focus on other things.
Two years later, in 2021, live comedy was back in full swing and one Friday night I asked Keith Stubbs if I could bring some friends to a sold-out Wiseguys show. Keith is the owner of Wiseguys Comedy and has been heavily involved in running and directing Dry Bar Comedy.
He said to me “Do you know who the headliner tonight is?” I hadn’t heard of him. It was Sam Morril. Sam Morril is a VERY good comic, and to this day, one of my all-time favorites. Keith got me into the show and from that night, I was hooked. Sam’s writing and performance blew me away and made me want to give stand-up a real shot.
I dove in head first that summer and haven’t looked back. Now, after two years of writing nearly every day, going to mics every week, opening for a host of incredible comics on weekends, and with a lot of support from friends and the good people at Wiseguys, I’ve just headlined for the first time and am preparing to shoot my very own Dry Bar Special!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hands down, the biggest challenge of stand-up comedy is riding the highs and lows and believing that it’s all part of the job. Especially the lows.
Most days, the stuff I write sucks. Most things I write aren’t funny and it makes me feel like I’m not good enough. Generally speaking, it takes a ton of work and time for me to write a really good joke. And I’m very critical of myself through that process. I’m always stressed that I’m not writing enough good material fast enough.
But I’m coming to realize that while I will get better at this, that’s how it’s supposed to be. Most days a perfectly formed, hilarious joke is not going to fall out of your mouth. You might get something decent, then you take it on stage, then you know what worked and what didn’t, then you edit and deconstruct and rethink, and eventually, you arrive at a great joke.
Sticking with it, believing you’ll get there, and being patient with yourself is in my mind, the most difficult aspect of stand-up comedy.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an *aspiring* comic, so unfortunately I can’t sustain myself and my online shopping habits through stand-up alone.
By day, I still work in marketing and greatly enjoy it. I’m currently employed at BambooHR on their customer marketing team. It’s a fantastic job and a great place to work. My team is awesome and has been so supportive of my dream to be a comedian.
Although I hope to one day make comedy my full-time career, for now, working in marketing is kind of a leg-up. Not only do I genuinely enjoy it, but most comics have to market themselves for much of their career. Having a professional background in marketing is super helpful as I start to think about how I’ll market myself.
So I can’t complain. I’ve got experience in how to grow an online following, how to sell tickets, how to sell merch, paid and organic social media, and e-commerce (this sounds like a cover letter haha). Hopefully, it will serve me well.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think most people can appreciate that getting on stage in front of strangers and saying things you’ve written that you *think* are funny is risky.
It’s a very vulnerable thing to do. When you get up there, especially with new material, there’s a chance you’ll eat it. So for me, stand-up is a bit synonymous with risk-taking. I hope it always feels that way because I think comics need to take risks to get better and to keep having fun.
Ironically, I’m typically a risk-averse individual. I’m very type-A and I like control. But in stand-up, I’m learning to let it go…a little.
I think I’ve learned to change my approach to risk though. Now, I’m more interested in trying things I think are funny, and if no one laughs – oh well. Back to the drawing board. I’m shifting my perspective to one of curiosity. Why didn’t that work? How can I fix it? How can I better express what I think is so funny about this?
Still sucks to bomb though.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alaina_n_hirschi/
Image Credits
Ryan Provostgard and Jeranie Haslem
