Rebecca Kaplan has a healthy self-esteem
Rebecca Kaplan is a standup and sketch comedian based in NYC. You can find links to some of her video samples on her YouTube.
From Rebecca: Follow me everywhere @RebeccaTKaplan (YouTube, Threads, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok) for standup and sketch comedy clips, listen to or watch Bad Fan Fic podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Don’t forget to sign up for my video editing for comedians class through GOLD starting mid-October 2025! Whether you do standup, sketch or anything else, it’s a huge help to know the basics!
What were you like as a teen?
I’ve always loved writing funny things. When I was in high school, I wrote for my school’s satirical newspaper (The Radish; very original). One of my teachers told me I cracked up everyone in the grading room for the Regents with a note I wrote a note on the bottom of my essay (“to whoever is grading this, I feel bad for you, because I’m sure this essay is as boring to grade as it was to write and you probably have hundreds of them to get through). I was, however, very very shy.
Did you have an un-sexy starter job?
My very first job out of college was in publishing. All I got out of it was a few months of depression until I ultimately quit.
What do you consider to be your biggest comedy achievement to date?
Some of my sketches have gotten 2-3+ million views across social media, which was pretty cool. One of them made it to the front page of WorldStarHipHop because people didn’t get that it was a joke, which I find very funny, because it’s extremely apparent they didn’t make it to the end before sharing. You can watch it here if you want.
When you were coming up in comedy, what helped you stick with it?
Honestly, I think I would have quit standup if not for a handful of supportive people who told me I had a strong voice and that I should keep going. It can be very isolating when you’re getting started, especially with sexism. It’s gotten a lot better and there are way more women pursuing it now than when I started, which I think is great. At one point, for example, I was the only woman at a mic, and a man decided to deliver a really bad, really gross rape joke directly to me. Yikes.
Have you ever dealt with trolls? Hecklers?
I haven’t dealt with so many in-person hecklers, but I get a lot of trolls online. I just ignore it, mostly. I recently made a post on Threads that made Trump supporters big mad. If you have a healthy sense of self-esteem, it’s easy to roll with it and laugh at the absurdity. Like, 1,000+ trollish men telling you from the basement of their mother’s house that you’re too ugly to ever get asked out on a date is pretty funny.
On your deathbed, what transcendent advice would you croak at a young comedian?
Live a life free of others’ expectations.
Best comedy advice you ever got?
To focus more on building your own audience and developing your voice than pleasing any individual gatekeeper
Worst comedy advice you ever got?
The most memorably bad comedy advice I ever got was to “not talk about veganism; that’s overdone. Your joke about Final Cut, though, is great. No one ever talks about video editing. That’s what I would call an A+ joke.” I think your point of view and what you have to say matters way, way more than the topic itself. Don’t let anyone tell you not to talk about something, whether it’s dating or your body or anything else. Just try to think: how can I make this bit unmistakably mine?
How has being funny helped you in your life, either recently or when you were younger?
I think a good sense of humor–and having a creative outlet–makes it easier to bear most things in life. Being able to name and acknowledge absurdities and laugh about them is so important.
What specific things should a novice comic do to shape their voice?
For standup specifically, listen back to every set you do. This is excruciating, but it really helps, especially when you’re working on a new bit. Maybe you came up with a new funny wording in the morning or realize you didn’t get a laugh because you said something out of order. For any type of writing, the biggest thing is just to do it. Consistently. The most helpful thing I’ve heard is to keep a pen and paper with you, always, so you can jot down passing thoughts in the moment to have a list of idea fodder to consult when you’re staring at a blank page and have no idea what to work on.
Do you have a writing routine?
I religiously journal every morning. Depending on how busy I am, I try to carve out at least 15 minutes a week to free-write. But, as I mentioned earlier, I’m always jotting notes down and especially standup, I tend to write a little bit at a time in the moment.
Was there one person who inspired you to go into the comedy world?
Many people. One example: in 11th grade my English teacher wrote in the notes on one of my homework assignments, “You write funny stuff so well. You should stick to that.” It stung a little at the time, because I was trying to write something profound, but that stuck with me.
