Samantha Ruddy on a very gay debacle

Samantha Ruddy tells jokes, writes funny stuff, and weasels her way into your heart with her girl-next-door charm. At the age of 25, she’s headlined Caroline’s on Broadway and has been featured at national comedy festivals including New York Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, and Bridgetown Comedy Festival and in shows including Whiplash at UCB, Night Train with Wyatt Cenac, and the Stella Classic Nightclub Show. Brooklyn Magazine called her one of Brooklyn’s 50 Funniest People, and BUST says she’s a comic “you should be obsessed with.” Samantha is a skilled joke writer and her comedy is clever, disarming, and sly. Read her writing on CollegeHumor, Someecards, and Reductress; check out a show; and follow her on Twitter @Samlymatters. You’ll be glad you did. And she will too!

Favorite response to a heckler or troll?

Something personal and devastating.

Describe your worst gig. 

Once I did a bar show that got double-booked with a funeral reception and the first comic tried to do crowd work with the grieving family. The reception wrapped up pretty fast after that.
The people who ran the show are great guys who were doing their best with a bad situation, but the people who owned the bar sucked. They were like “Sorry, I guess just do the show?” Great idea. Not awkward at all.

On your deathbed, what transcendent advice would you croak at a young female comedian?

Use hard C sounds for punchlines!!! (Honestly, I have no idea.)

What’s your first impulse when someone says “women aren’t funny”?

It used to make me angry but now I don’t really care. They’re probably being willfully ignorant and want a reaction, so I’m not giving it.

When you were coming up in comedy, what helped you stick with it?

I just really like it. When I have a bad set, I watch a special I love to remind myself that I enjoy standup and that’s inspiring to me. Just getting to do something that you like can be inspiring.

Best comedy advice you ever got?

I feel like I heard this from Emily Heller via an article, but it always stuck with me, and it was to do your A material when you’re in a new city so people know you’re funny. It really helped me when I moved to NYC.

Worst comedy advice you ever got? 

Somebody told me once that if you mention being gay, you can’t be considered a clean comic. It still boggles my mind.

Favorite response to “What’s it like to be a woman in comedy”? 

A nightmare!!!! No, it’s fine. It has unique challenges but I’m sure there are fields in which it’s even more difficult to be a woman.

What advice do you have for how to level up from open mics + bringers to actual SPOT-spots?

The advice from above of doing your A-game when you get to a new city. I moved to NYC after my first year of doing standup in upstate NY, and I would only do my best jokes at mics and eventually I started getting booked on bar shows.

On shows, I would mix newer jokes in with ones that I knew worked. From there I was able to develop an act and keep getting booked. Building momentum early is huge so you don’t get stuck in a cycle of just doing mics. It sucks, but first impressions matter.

Single word that always cracks you up?

Debacle.

Was there one person who inspired you to become a comedian?

There were a lot of factors, but I remember watching John Mulaney’s New in Town in early 2013 and being really inspired by it to try writing jokes. By the middle of the year, I was doing standup regularly.

How has being funny helped you in your offstage life, either recently or when you were younger?

I was a chubby kid. Well, I guess I’m a chubby adult now, too. But I was way chubbier as a kid and I realized I could deflect any bullying by just being funny. That was when I was around ten years old.
As I got older, I started to realize I wasn’t attracted to boys like my classmates were, so humor definitely helped me deal with that. Granted, I didn’t understand I liked girls, but humor for sure helped me through the three-year span I thought I was like asexual. I just made being funny my thing. In retrospect, I was probably very annoying and I’m sure I owe people apologies.

Feelings about the word “comedienne”?

It doesn’t offend me, but it seems unnecessary. We all do the same thing. Why not have the same name?

Samantha Ruddy tells jokes, writes funny stuff, and weasels her way into your heart with her girl-next-door charm. At the age of 25, she’s headlined Caroline’s on Broadway and has been featured at national comedy festivals including New York Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, and Bridgetown Comedy Festival and in shows including Whiplash at UCB, Night Train with Wyatt Cenac, and the Stella Classic Nightclub Show. Brooklyn Magazine called her one of Brooklyn’s 50 Funniest People, and BUST says she’s a comic “you should be obsessed with.” Samantha is a skilled joke writer and her comedy is clever, disarming, and sly. Read her writing on CollegeHumor, Someecards, and Reductress; check out a show; and follow her on Twitter @Samlymatters. You’ll be glad you did. And she will too!