Joke’s on Her — and All of Us, in a Way: a Q&A with Chree Powell
Chree Powell is making her way through life and comedy in subtle yet profound ways — whether it’s noticing how we can better help one another or make each other laugh a little harder.
Laughs Out Loudly: So, I lived in Santa Cruz for awhile, and I went to some comedy shows out there, but I guess I never got a chance to see you which is disappointing.
Chree Powell: How long ago were you around?
LOL: Oh, about two and a half years ago now.
CP: Yeah, I’m still under two years. So, that’s probably why. We were probably sitting in the audience together.
LOL: Oh yeah, that’s funny. Are you from Santa Cruz?
CP: I’m actually originally from Petaluma, and I moved here to go to UCSC. I’m a transplant and stayed after I graduated.
LOL: Cool, what’d you major in?
CP: Anthropology. Archeology, mainly. There’s a lot of cool, historical archeology in the area. It’s why I stay around. I was involved in some research and some excavations on campus mainly, and I stuck around for those.
LOL: And where does comedy fit in the mix with that?
CP: I’ve always just been a big fan of comedy. I think a lot of people [in generations like mine] grew up watching Comedy Central and were exposed to standup easily. I thought it was cool and started going to shows about four or five years ago. I’d heard about them for years before, but I just never showed up — to places like the Blue Lagoon. But, I started going and thought, “Wow, these people are crazy.”
LOL: (laughs) And now you’re one of them!
CP: Yep.
LOL: And growing up, who were your idols in comedy?
CP: I think the first, special and real comedy rockstar for me — as far as actual standup — was probably Eddie Izzard. We watched “Dress to Kill” in high school over at my boyfriend’s house and memorized that entire special. I’ve seen him live I think four times. And I’ve obviously had a lot of time to do that since it’s been about 18 years or something. Later on I got exposed to Bill Hicks and Sarah Silverman. Television and sketch comedy was always present, but I didn’t really know much about standup comedy other than what I’d see on Comedy Central, and that was always people performing in large clubs to huge audiences — people who were already big. I knew that that existed, but I didn’t know that all of these other levels existed. Open mics and everything else.
LOL: Yeah, that’s funny. It’s true for me, too. I think when I first saw comedy I thought, “Oh, it’s just standup” but there’s so many different sides to it — there’s emceeing, which is a piece, there’s improv — do you dabble in any of that? Or host shows?
CP: I enjoy hosting. I don’t run any shows currently, but I do like hosting. I hosted at the Blue Lagoon a couple times when DNA, [the regular host], has been out of town, and it’s really fun. It’s good exercise. Both because you are walking a lot, but also the awkwardness of engaging the crowd is really on the host, especially at the beginning of the show, and then keeping it rolling. And that’s the hardest part of the set is when I step on stage and say, “Okay, I’m here now, so listen to me please.” So, hosting is a pretty uncomfortable thing to do, but it makes everything else a lot easier.
LOL: Is it because you have to be on your feet and sharp — notice things in the audience and respond to them immediately?
CP: Yeah, and you don’t get to disappear if you open up the show. If you bomb for five minutes then you’re like, “Okay, and here’s the next comic” you still have to go up there. Even if you accidently say something really off-color, you’re still going to be showing your face ten more times.
LOL: That’s funny, I’ve never thought about that. And when you do go up and do your own set, what’s your style? Do you work the audience sometimes? Or do you have a storytelling type thing?
CP: I typically avoid storytelling just because you usually only get four minutes, or seven minutes and a story has to have a good pay-off for the audience otherwise you just made them listen to you talk. I think it’s more generous to do standup sort of jokes because it gives the audience a break and an opportunity to laugh. I like storytelling. I’d like to move in that direction when I get better, but if you’re going to tell a story, you have to have a lot of humor in the story and you have to put jokes in there. You need to be a little more skilled if you’re going to tell stories in the standup environment. If you’re going to tell stories in a storytelling environment the audience comes prepared to listen. There’s a theater called “The Pink Flamingo Theater” in Monterey and the owner there puts on comedy shows and she also puts on a Moth-type storytelling show.
LOL: Oh, like the podcast?
CP: Yeah. So, you can go and it’s hard to compete with the people who participate in that because a lot of them are people who are older so they have very interesting stories just because they’ve had a chance to be alive longer.
LOL: And more experience.
CP: Yeah.
LOL: So, do you have a certain topic that you talk about? Or is it just whatever comes to mind you discuss on stage?
CP: My material is mostly talking about myself and is really just an exercise in figuring out who I am through standup. There’s social commentary involved, but humor that’s maybe a little bit self-deprecating and a little bit about… well, it’s very self-involved. But, the audience tolerates it. It usually comes from a place of cognitive dissonance about something and then how I relate to that.
LOL: I mean, that makes sense. I think we all have our catharsis whether it’s writing or running or something like that. And it’s usually somewhat self involved, and comedy’s definitely not a bad outlet.
CP: For sure.
LOL: What’s your favorite part of comedy?
CP: Making people laugh is the best thing. It’s my favorite thing anyway, so being funny and winning people over by making them laugh is definitely my goal. I think you have to be interested in that. I mean, you’re ultimately providing a service when you’re doing comedy, so you should be mindful of that. If people are going to sit there and listen to you you should make them laugh. If I’m in a one-on-one situation I’m usually trying to make that other person laugh. If I’m talking to a room full of people, I’m usually trying to make that whole room laugh— without compromising who I am, but that’s usually not an issue.
LOL: That’s something I really liked about the Blue [Lagoon] when I went there a few times, is that there’s the show that’s on the stage with all these comedians talking, and then there’s the show that’s kind of going on in the back behind the audience. They’re all doing this banter in the back and it’s so funny. It’s cool to be around. In a way you’re practicing, but you’re also just talking to one another because you’re just funny people in general.
So, then, what’s your least favorite part of standup?
CP: Bombing. It can be really rough, especially if I go to a new environment and perform in front of a bunch of people I don’t know and bomb. You’re just sort of like…well…sorry?
LOL: I can understand that. You also mentioned using comedy as a way of reconciling your dissonance, and I guess I wonder where it comes from a little more? For example, what are somethings that are not exactly humorous that you try to make humorous?
CP: Let’s see. I don’t know how exactly to explain it. I guess a lot of where my humor comes from as a woman, and as a person who grew up a girl, there were a lot of implied rules and implied social contracts about how you’re supposed to behave and how to be valuable. And growing up and not really understanding, or not really being great at being a “girl” and not being great at forming relationships with other women naturally and feeling kind of isolated is part of that. And then as I’ve become older and learned I shouldn’t — or rather that I really need women, and that I need my peers, I’ve come to terms with trying to connect with other women through that and not make fun of the way other people move about the world.
It’s hard to explain, but I’m not great at doing things like putting on makeup, for example. It’s just not something I’ve ever been great at. Or styling hair. And some people are great at that, and I envy that, and I’m just never going to be where they are. But, that doesn’t mean that because they spend more time doing their hair and make up — it doesn’t change anything about who they are.
LOL: I understand, yeah. I grew up kinda tomboyish and would play sports at recess while most other girls would talk in a circle, and then when I got into middle and high school and all these other girls would want to talk to me I was all “I don’t know how to talk to you, I feel awkward. I want to play football.” Then growing up and thinking “I’m not like other girls,” but then I wasn’t a boy. And then later wanting to assimilate with other women and not really knowing how and feeling like “I want to put on makeup well, but I also don’t really care about makeup, but I feel like I’m supposed to because I want to bond with you.” And it carries into adulthood sometimes. Yeah, so I understand.
And I feel like anthropology would play a really good part in that — in being able to see that. Those sort of norms or societally induced frameworks, I guess.
CP: Yeah, I think that anthropology and comedy are similar in that it comes from a place of outsiderness or you’re interested in people, and understanding other people and what’s going on with them, but you’re also not participating — or at least you feel like you’re participating even though you are.
LOL: Yeah! It’s like Seinfeld. I feel like that’s where observational comedy comes from. He’s all, “Do people realize this is happening? We’re seeing this? What’s the deal with this?” It is kind of nuts when you sit down and take a step back and try to be objective about what’s going on.
CP: Yeah, like I have a bit I do about Planned Parenthood and I cap it with a silly joke, but in the middle gets mixed reactions, where I say, “Oh, yeah, and we have to keep Planned Parenthood around right?” And the audience will react. Typically I’ll hear a lot of women cheer “Yeah!” and maybe some men are like “Uh, yeah, sure” and then I’ll say “You know, men, you do realize planned parenthood is really servicing you. I mean women go to Planned Parenthood, but we go there for birth control so men can have sex with us.”
LOL: For real.
CP: “Like, we’re not the ones that should be marching and worrying about protecting Planned Parenthood. Men should be the ones doing that. Especially those who are young and in relationships. They’re like, ‘Oh, cool, well when you get on the pill….’ and then you pause and think ‘Wait, I gotta get on the pill?’”
LOL: Well, men can’t handle the side effects.
CP: So, it’s just those types of things we’re all sort of taking for granted, and that’s what social commentary is basically. It’s “Hey, we’re all taking this for granted, but does it actually make sense?” And, if you can say that and frame it in a way that’s funny, people are with you. Or at least you said it and they heard it, even if they don’t think it’s funny or don’t agree.
LOL: So, it sounds like your style is similar to Jon Stewart of John Oliver in that you talk about certain issues that are really important. Issues we experience on a daily basis and you make them digestible with humor.
CP: Well, I’m a lot less informed than they are. Where it’s coming from is me and my personal experience. I’ll get a little political here and there, but ultimately I don’t have all the answers. If it’s something — an idea I can play with, then okay, but I can’t just say “Hey, doesn’t this suck?” There’s not really anywhere to go with that. And there’s just no way for me to ever be fully informed about things that are happening. I can listen to NPR all the time, but there’s so much information out there and it’s all being filtered and targeted, so how do I ever really know what’s really happening?
LOL: Absolutely. And I also think it’s interesting because your sets and who you are is a microcosm of what’s happening all over the place. So, you’re honestly taking a perspective of what’s happening to a lot of people and your subjective experience, while it’s one, it’s also happening all over. And then also, with Jon Stewart and John Oliver, they have a team — a staff of 40 people who are doing research for them. So, of course, you can’t do that because you don’t have 40 people to work for you. But, yeah, to tackle it in a way that you honestly can is a good thing.
And, in terms of John-Oliver type success or status, where do you hope to go with your creative work in the future? Where do you see yourself in the next year or five years?
CP: I don’t know. It’s a conversation I’ve been having a lot lately as I’ve grown and been getting booked places and people are listening to me — not a lot of people. But, you know, as I’ve moved up even so microscopically in the world of comedy. I interact with people a lot who say, “This is what I’m going to do, this is it and that’s it.” And I operate out of a desire to be validated and I don’t really know what that means as far as — and honestly comedy has changed a lot. In how it’s produced, and how it reaches people and I have no idea what that’s going to mean. I mean, a Netflix special doesn’t mean today what it did six years ago. Now they do a lot more Netflix specials. Comedy’s become a commodifiable product right now that maybe wasn’t as commodifiable ten years ago. So, ultimately yeah. I just want everyone to — everyone in the world — to agree that I’m funny. Just every single fuckin’ person in the world. If that’s cool.
LOL: (Laughs) I think that’s not a bad dream.
CP: But, yeah I don’t think of it in terms of a particular milestone or even a financial one. I have other dreams and goals, too, that are slightly more rooted in participating in normal life.
LOL: And what are those?
CP: Well, I work in social services. And I don’t even have concrete goals in that respect. But working in social services, working with impoverished people and supporting them in various ways. Basically helping people to move away from lack of hope to hope and the possibilities of the future. I don’t know — that’s a weird thing to obsess over because there is only so much out there. We can’t all be Michael Jordan because, well, it’s just not possible. But, there is so much that can be done so easily. Right now my job in social services is connecting volunteers with organizations that need them in order to feed people or to help people find housing, things like that.
My role is very administrative, but there’s a second part of that role where I’m sort of helping to foster volunteers and help them realize their goals. I don’t know what role I want to play in future of social services and social work, but I know there are a lot of people like me that don’t want to chase a dollar. They want what they do to mean something, and they want to help people. So, for me, it’s getting those people to the people that need them is — there’s a need for that. To just say, “You, go here. They need you here.” And, “You need a job, and these people have a job that needs to get done, so let’s make it happen.”
LOL: Yeah, I think people look at the world today and its huge problems and think there’s one huge solution, but I really think the solution is work that you’re doing right now.
There’s a build up of these tiny little problems that people don’t know how to solve — something as simple as “I just need a ride to the grocery store every week” or “I just need to get a bus ticket so I can go to work in the morning.” And it’s not like they don’t have a job they just have a hard time getting there, and then it’s stressful and it’s just hard.
It also sounds like this is also in your comedy. A bringing of joy and hope to these tough things that are happening whether it’s to you or other people.
CP: Yeah, I think so. One of the things I really love about standup comedy is just hearing someone say something that I’ve never heard said before but, upon hearing it, I’m like “Oh, that’s 100 percent true. That’s 100 percent right.” And that’s why as a consumer of comedy, when I hear those moments I’m like, “Oh, see. There are other people. I’m not crazy. I’m not wrong. There are other people who feel the same way I do. There are other women who grew up in this weird thing and they don’t know how to be valuable and they don’t know how to value themselves without diamonds or some external validation.” Which, again, is all I’m asking for is external validation. And, at the same time, that’s messed up and let’s talk about that.
LOL: And also there’s just more than one way to be a woman and having more ways that’s shown is wonderful and important in itself.
So, I feel like we could keep chatting for awhile just about life and the world, but I have to go eat dinner.
CP: Yeah, and I gotta call my mom back. She called while we were talking so I gotta see what’s up.
When she’s not being a good samaritan, you can catch Chree at most comedy open mics throughout Santa Cruz. Check out where to find her and other comics at www.standupsantacruz.com
