Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Rosa Escandon (@humancomedian) is a stand-up comic and writer living in Brooklyn, New York.
What motivated you to pursue comedy?I first started doing comedy in college.
I auditioned with a friend and we did this joke about a lesbian ghost who liked booooo-bs.
In their rejection email they said, We especially liked the joke about the lesbian goat.
Truly some people just dont get good comedy.
Maybe this means I won in the end.
I missed being funny.
I never thought I was a good onstage personality; I was a writer.
Now I have papers and a sketch group (that I perform with).
And I still do stand-up.
I guess I fell in love with being onstage too.
I thought it was over, but then she pulled out a bag full of hotdogs.
I actually saw these turtles on my anniversary after taking a rowboat out on Central Park.
Has social media changed the way you write jokes?
I kind of have online jokes and onstage jokes.
There is some overlap, but I keep them pretty separate.
Every once in a while I will shorten a joke from onstage to Twitter, but not often.
However, I do think social media has gotten me to write more.
I think I also put less pressure on them being good just because there are so many.
There was this great comedian who died earlier this week namedSteve Whalen.
He would often say (both onstage and off), What have you written today?
He was always right.
As a comedian, you have to write every day.
I think social media helps me do that.
I think in general, social media has made it easier to get into comedy.
There are so many ways to put out comedy now.
I think traditional stand-ups can actually learn a lot from them.
Its really different being onstage.
Plus, a lot of my tweets are topical, and my stand-up truly is not.
I think right now more and more voices are being allowed into the room.
Its still not a lot, but its more.
Because it is different.
I hope that is what we work on changing next.
A couple of comics asked me about it.
For me, it was about support, about helping to make something dope.
I wasnt thinking about me.
I think as comics, we think about me a lot.
That is how the industry is going to change.
Its still men versus women.
Feminism, to me, is not about women first; its about equality.
Tell us about your podcastPsychic Friendz.Its a fun little podcast.
I co-host with my good friend Dash Kwiatkowski.
Some of these groups have thousands of people who just want internet psychics to give them advice and help.
Truly its everything from My house is haunted to I lost my keys can someone divine where they are?
to Can you talk to my dead pet?
These groups are wild.
So every week we take a stab at give psychic advice to people in these groups.
We might not be psychics, but we suspect a lot of these free Facebook users are also not.
Its honestly the most fun I have had with a project in a while.
Its great to be able to collaborate with a longtime friend as well.
As a white woman you have two choices, astrology or true crime.
As a white woman, I love true crime and crime TV, etc.
If you cant make fun of yourself, who can you make fun of?
(Well, actually, white women is always an acceptable answer, too.)
There really arent any other options for white women?
Seems like yall got choices.Oh, for business and love and power?
But things to talk about at parties?
I am sorry, there are only two options.
