Hollywood, CA. At our most recent Groundlings Sunday Company show, I debuted three new characters: an angsty teenage twin, a sexually confused Snow Bunny, and an eighth-grade PE teacher who gives unsolicited advice to kids heading to high school. The PE teacher sketch was a solo, which was a challenge, but it’s awesome to hear a room full of people laugh at something that used to just live in my head. Here are videos of the sketches.
Coming up with characters takes time. Sometimes I take a walk and just let my brain wander. I’ll come home with a bunch of ideas. A lot of the work happens with other Sunday Company performers. We set up writing sessions, bring in whatever we have, and start collaborating. Someone says, “What if she did this?” Then somebody else makes it weirder. Then you try it, laugh, and suddenly you have the beginning of something. I love working that way. Funny people make other funny people funnier.
Wednesday is pitch day, which is one of my favorite parts of the week. We bring in our ideas and pitch them to the room and our director, Lyric Lewis. I’ve pitched things I was sure would kill, and they were met with silence. Other times, something I almost didn’t bring in gets a laugh and makes it into the show.
And getting into the show doesn’t mean you’re safe. Sometimes a character resonates with an audience; sometimes it doesn’t. If a sketch doesn’t come back the following week, we call it getting “clapped out.” Which is a pretty funny term when you think about it. Everyone claps for you, and then your character is never heard from again.
Come see our Sunday Company shows! Every Sunday, it’s something new.
Current cast members include: Vivian Gil, Jenna Ebersberger, Turen Robinson, Amy Haeussler, Maddie Ballard, Emma Stack, Tory Ridge, Sarafina Ludlow, Sweeny, Trymaine Alfred, Govind Kumar, and Reinaldo Garcia.
