Day 162: Marie Lake
“I really think a lot of it is your language, you know, the way you frame things, the way you script what’s going on. So once again, if there’s that group of people in the break room saying they’re not getting any sales or it’s tough out there, it’s the whole idea of shaking that off and let’s talk about another strategy, or let’s talk about what is working, or let’s get out of the minutia of what’s not working.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Marie, for agreeing to be part of the Project, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
Marie Lake: Yes, hi. My name is Marie Lake. I am an entertainer. I have a background in all kinds of things, but mostly standup comedy. I also do a little bit of funny music, and also had day jobs, everything from sales to trade shows to teaching ESL, who knows, and you can … I would love for people to visit me or get a little bit of my point of view at my blog, which is funnyblonde.com; that’s sort of a hub where you can find everything I do. I’ve got a couple new projects, but I’m sure we’ll talk about those as we’re being interviewed, so …
Toni: Well thank you so much. Let’s talk about inspiration, and when you when you think of that word, who do you inspire and how you do that?
Marie: Wow. I think … it’s so funny to think of myself as inspiring people, you know, because we’re all so in our heads trying to make stuff happen for ourselves, you know, and then … I think … I’ve always been an optimist, so I think I definitely, if you’re in something like my background with standup — and a lot of people go into standup because they’re dissatisfied or unhappy or something to complain about, you know, conflict makes a great comedy.
So I have nothing against that, but I do think, you know, people tend to cluster together and become very negative, and I am an optimist, so I really think I inspire other performers, especially people who have that sort of … that little subculture of the performing world of “Oh, it’s hard. Oh, there’s a lot of lack. There’s not a lot of opportunity.” Or “Oh, it’s, you know, this is a problem, this is a limitation.” Because I am, you know, unusually optimistic, and I’m hoping I’m inspiring my fellow performers for that very reason, you know?
Toni: Well I do like the phrase that you use, “There’s a lot of lack” and when you’re looking to inspire other performers — and I would imagine even you can be inspirational in your comedy when you’re doing your standup — but can you go a little bit more into what that means, “A lot of lack?”
Marie: Oh, yeah. Well, I think … I think if you were to go up to someone and, say you’re in show business, the first thing they do is go “Oh, that’s hard … oooh.” You know, I never, when someone tells me they’re an insurance agent or a banker, go “Oh, that’s hard … oooh … well, are you writing up those policies?” There’s a lot of saying that to entertainers.
So, when I say lack, this whole idea of competition, competition for jobs, you have to be a certain type, you have to be this, if you’re a woman you have to be sort of secondary. In my field, you have to play the wife of the funny guy on the sitcom – you never could be the he funny one. Things like that, and you really start looking at that and going well – this is probably the entrepreneur in me – I’m like “Well, maybe the best roles I’ll play are the ones I create.” Maybe when women are thinking “Oh, Hollywood wants me to be this, this, or this.” They’ll see me on stage and go “She’s breaking” — you know, not that I’m certainly that groundbreaking — but “She’s breaking out of a few boxes here and there, and she has an unexpected spin on things,” you know?
Toni: Well, that’s a great way to describe that, and it just fits beautifully with the second question, which is, how do you think you help explore other people’s potential? Or, how do you help them to explore their potential?
Marie: I’m trying to think of situations I’ve been in. I think that when … you know, other performers often, you know, bounce ideas off of each other. I also think, you know … I told you my background, and I’m really lucky for this question’s sake that my background is also in sales, and I’ve done some really interesting sales jobs.
And I really think a lot of it is your language, you know, the way you frame things, the way you script what’s going on. So once again, if there’s that group of people in the break room saying they’re not getting any sales or it’s tough out there, it’s the whole idea of shaking that off and let’s talk about another strategy, or let’s talk about what is working, or let’s get out of the minutia of what’s not working.
Comedy is the same thing. We help … you know, I was just sitting down with another female standup and she’s toured for two-and-a-half years and decided she hated it. You know, decided that it was lonely. And here she got really excellent at something and now she doesn’t like it, so we started exploring well, what else do you do with this talent, or how do you say “Hey, I have this talent, but I don’t want to do it anymore?” We’re talking about the possibility of writing a stage play together or, you know, something different. But sometimes you need that outside, just that outside voice to tell you it’s okay to have worked really hard for something and then maybe do it in a different way.
Toni: So really what you do is … it mirrors, I would believe, with your own life as well, that you provide options, that it doesn’t need to be negative. It doesn’t need to be a lot of lack, that there are options that you can do what you’d like because, as you stated at the beginning of the interview, you do a lot. You have a lot of diverse talents, and so I would imagine you’ve created many options and choices for yourself, and that’s what you try to do for others as well.
Marie: Yeah, I think that’s a good way to put it, absolutely. Especially because I think I went from being very passive, you know, when I first hit Hollywood with just pictures and resumes and just being passive and hoping somebody saw me a certain way, or hoping this went this way or hoping I drove across town and I beat out everybody else for this one part, you know. And then I started going “You know, that part is not as interesting as what I could say onstage myself about my life – that’s way more entertaining. Here’s an option where I feel more in control and less powerless.” I’m at the mercy of other people’s vision of me.
Toni: And that’s fantastic, and what a way to provide that as an example for others so that they can follow their own potential.
Marie: I think so.
Toni: So what inspires you?
Marie: What inspires me? You know, it’s interesting. Great performances. I try to go out and be an audience to things a few nights a week. I’m a little hyper at night anyway. So really good, connected performances where people show their humanity, where people are smart, you know? I just think there’s no substitute for live performing, and there’s less and less of that because people are so, you know, into technology and looking at that as their only way of performing.
I’m also thinking of another thing, and this is … I’m learning this more, is that a lot of us, you know, I’ve gone back. My first thing ever that I did was to study dance, so I’ve gone back to getting more physical. So I suggest people who live in their heads too much and are, you know, trying to figure out an answer to a problem or they feel stuck, things like yoga, dance. Take an improv comedy class, even if you’re in any other field. Get out of your head. That’s very inspirational. You can tell from talking I’m very verbal, so I totally need to do that. Go for a walk and talk to yourself. It’s something. Well, there’s a lot of that where I live in Santa Monica, but that’s another story.
Toni: So have you always shown up in this very bright way, in this very, “You know what? I’m going to create this for myself,” and you know, knowing that you have these options and choices, have you always been aware of that or has that been an evolution for you?
Marie: I guess I think it’s an evolution. I think I’ve always been kind of an optimist and always sort of a doer, you know, and my parents would like look at me and go “What is going on? We’re not pushing you, why are you doing so much?” But the thing of feeling a little more powerful or a little more like people can’t tell me something’s not going to work, that sort of thing, “I’m going to create this,” that came out of necessity.
I think I told you earlier before we got on the air that comedy is, you know … some people define it as tragedy plus time, which is so funny, but you can go through a really challenging time and then see what’s funny about it, or see why your spin on things is different from everybody else’s and you want to share that. So that’s new for me, you know, that going from just trying to do everything by the rules to saying “Hey, I can create this.” That’s definitely been an evolution.
Toni: So it’s basically taking maybe some challenging times you might have gone through yourself and trying to find the comedy in them?
Marie: Absolutely, or thinking … you know, I had a roommate once and she had gone through a divorce and so had I, and I had a really like positive experience with this in many ways, which if, you know, if you watch a lot of television and stuff, women are never supposed to feel that way about divorce. You’re not going to see that on Lifetime. You know, I had written a script about it, and they kept trying to get me to change it to where I’d be more of a victim, because then they thought audiences would like me better.
My roommate said, “Please, for my sake and the sake of other women out there, do it with your own point of view. Do it with this lighthearted point of view; do something different.” So I just thought that was interesting, that I felt like I was doing something for my target audience out there, to try to make everybody like me, which seems to be so key.
Toni: You know, it’s really interesting when you talk about creating your own way and carving your own path and not, you know, not conforming to the norm, but you also said a couple of times now your point of view – that’s really what you’re doing is you’re carving out a space from your point of view and not letting other people’s point of views get in the way.
Marie: Well, yeah. And of course everything’s a collaboration and, of course, when you want to make money or have people invest money or people put it on a network or something, I’m sure there are concessions you have to make, but that should be more of a collaboration from people who kind of get you in the first place as opposed to you twisting yourself up trying to please everybody.
Toni: So how will you continuously explore your own potential?
Marie: Wow. I really think … you know, I really think in a way here I kind of knock technology, but I really think things like what you’re doing, sort of getting my message out there on the web, getting the characters I’ve written out on the web where I do have a little more control over how they end up appearing and I can market them myself is really a great thing. I think it’s leveled the playing field for a lot of entertainers.
Toni: Again, it’s carving it from your point of view.
Marie: Right; and I’m also going to try to make money. I think that helps explore potential, finance it a little, but that’s okay. I mean, you know, it all meshes together.
Toni: So when you are looking for a little inspiration yourself and you … you know, you talked about how you go through live performances and so forth and you just want to make sure that I can capture this from you, are there things that you do on a consistent basis that you continuously reach for that inspire you and then also will help you to continue to explore your own potential? Are there consistent things you reach for?
Marie: When you say reach for, are you talking about activities, or tools, or …
Toni: Yeah, anything; it could be tools, it could be activities, it could be resources. What do you tend to go to?
Marie: You know, it’s so funny – some days it’s like red velvet cake; other days it’s like … but no, I consistently, like I said, try to get out of my head with either something physical. I can’t say enough about that, because I’ve just been reading a lot about warriorship and how a lot of us think we can change our world just by changing our mind, but sometimes you access your mind through your body, if that makes any sense.
Toni: Absolutely.
Marie: Does it? Oh, good! I’ve just been reading that. It’s kind of heavy and I’m sort of trying to figure it all out. So seriously, something physical, either a dance class or a yoga class every week. I try to, even like I said, drop in on an improv, where I’m just getting out of my head. And then also I’ve been concerned about the quality of the things I do lately, so I have the idea now of just showing up to practice the things I do, practice my live act, work on my voice, think of a new way to do the character, write.
You know, an acquaintance of mine was a finalist on Last Comic Standing, and he gave a workshop on people can like monetize their comedy careers and do better and get more work, and he’s just a great, giving, wonderful guy, and he said “Write every day. Are you writing?” We’d have that point of view; every day something happens that you could write about. So I think the idea of, you know, like I said, getting out of your head and finding a way to do that weekly. I go to something called Agape Spiritual Center, I’m sure you’ve heard of that or you will hear of that on your interviews.
Toni: And what is the name of it again?
Marie: It’s called Agape Spiritual Center here in … it’s in Culver City. Yeah, it’s religious without so much doctrine and just a lot of ideas about you dropping your worries and just being your best self, and it’s very, very cool. So that’s … definitely weekly I have to do something like that, and then daily practicing because I think quality is really important, and I think people drop that piece of it sometimes. I think it’s enough just to be inspired or just to feel good about things, but I still think you need to sort of drill the thing you do best and make it good and make it better.
Toni: Always raise the standard.
Marie: Yeah.
Toni: Well, you have been just a delight in this interview.
Marie: Good!
Toni: And with the information that you have shared, there’s going to be some great takeaways for people that are listening and reading your interview. Thank you so very much, and good luck to you with everything that you are accomplishing and what you will accomplish in the future. We look forward to seeing new things from you as well.
Marie: Sure.
Toni: Thank you so much for agreeing to be part of the Project.
Marie: Thank you, Toni. It’s awesome.
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For more information about Marie Lake : www.funnyblonde.tv, www.myspace.com/armcandyla
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