New York-based comedian and entrepreneur Felicia Madison chatted about her new comedy special.
Madison also opened up about being a comedian in the digital age.
In this comedy special, she covers it all: childhood, marriage, kids, and even depression.
Idea for this comedy special
On her idea to do this special, she said, “I had been thinking of doing an hour show for a while. One day on the treadmill, where my mind really works the best, it occurred to me that my 45th anniversary of my bat mitzvah was coming up in April.”
She continued, “That is how I picked the date, and title, 45 years a woman—Anniversary of my Bat Mitzvah. I noticed after my special everyone was tagging on Instagram with BTS (better than sex, a joke in the special) and thought it was curious and interesting… I do have a joke in there about BTS. So, when someone mentioned that my title was a bit dull, ‘Better Than Sex,’ popped in my head…certainly not dull.”
“I wasn’t sure what to expect from the hour,” she admitted. “I thought of it as my Hail Mary, do it and if something happens great if not, I would concentrate on the business side of the comedy world.”
“I spent three months working with comedians, honing, practicing, honing, practicing rewriting, practicing, practicing, practicing… and then my final performance which by the way was the first time I ever performed the entire hour on stage,” she said.
“The response was better than expected especially by my husband who was jaded by my coming home in tears every night saying I can’t do this. He was very apprehensive. After the performance, he gave me a great big kiss and said that was amazing. After multiple months of waiting on edits, it is finally here, a culmination of years of comedy that pokes fun at parenting, marriage, and life as a mom,” she elaborated.
“I am excited for the world to see the culmination of years of comedy, and I hope at the very least it makes someone laugh and at the best I finally get my pilot about my life produced,” she added.
Inspirations for her comedic routine
When asked what inspires her comedic routine, she said, “Life inspires my comedy! Every day something happens in my life where I say this is going to be funny.”
“My kids are the greatest gift for my comedy, they will say or text me something and I think to myself, this is going to be a great joke…and it usually is,” she said.
“Everyone in my family has a great sense of humor and so we are always making each other laugh, I just made a career out of it,” she added.
Future plans
Regarding her future plans, she shared, “I am thinking about taking my hour on the road in hopes of generating more interest in my comedy and my character with the long-term hope being finally producing my TV pilot.”
“I am also working on developing my comedy school and record label FUNYstandup and FUNYrecords. In addition to all of this I do have my one woman show, ‘The Miserable Mrs. Madison’ that I performed years ago at the NY Fringe that I am hoping to resurrect this fall,” she added.
The digital age
On being an comedian in the digital age, she said, ” Social media is nonstop and honestly I just cannot keep up with all of it, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or should I say X, and now with my special YouTube… it is a full time job!”
“I have decided to just concentrate on Instagram and now YouTube. I really use social media now just for business purposes and try as often as possible to stay off it because I find it very toxic,” she said.
“I am a confident adult who still sometimes looks at Insta and find it demoralizing and depressing, and honestly cannot understand how vulnerable kids and teens can deal with this,” she added.
Advice for young and aspiring comedians
For young and aspiring comedians, she joked, “Don’t do it.”
“I do advise people who are thinking of trying, to make sure it is something they really want to do because it is a grueling, very difficult career that makes it very difficult to have a normal family life,” she clarified.
Madison continued, “Young comedians work day jobs for money and spend every evening traveling from club to club working on their set. It is lonely and isolating working on the material and also traveling around the city and the world. However, the plus side is it is such a creative thrill to be able to get on stage and bring laughter to the world, it is intoxicating.”
“The comedy world has flourished but the downside is there are thousands and thousands of talented comedians and not many spots or opportunities, so it is a long slug and grind,” she said.
“If it is something they are determined to do I recommend that they write daily, find good writing partners, get out on stage as often as possible and do not forget the importance of social media and the business side of comedy,” she elaborated.
“I also always encourage them to dig deeper and look inside themselves and find their unique authentic self,” she admitted.
“I love to encourage women to think beyond the usual dating and sex jokes because I know there is more depth to them than that. My line to every comic is the age old quote, ‘Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard’,” she added.
Success
On her definition of the word success, she said, “Success, to me, means happiness. My goal is to be happy and that is a constantly changing metric. It started out as creating an incredible family unit and helping my children be the best they could be. When they were well on their way happiness for me meant finding a passion I found fulfilling.”
“This quest has been a journey that didn’t always leave me happy,” she said. “It wasn’t until someone told me to not look left, or right but straight ahead at my own goals that I truly experienced happiness.”
“I set my goals, I strive for them and when I reach them, which to date I have been blessed to be able to do that, I am happy. After my special, my next goal is getting my school up and running,” she said.
“Then after that, I will focus on my next goal which I haven’t set yet but will be either my pilot, my one woman show, or something else I haven’t yet dreamed up,” she added.
Closing thoughts on her comedy special
For her fans and viewers, she remarked, “Watch it and laugh. I think there are a lot of relatable life lessons in here for everyone. The hope is everyone can see a little bit of themselves in this and realize they’re not alone.”
“Relating and laughing about your hardships makes it so much easier to survive and tackle them. After all, laughter is the best medicine,” she concluded.
To learn more about Felicia Madison, follow her on Instagram and YouTube.
