Today we’d like to introduce you to Sally Brooks.
Every creative professional has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I tried stand-up for the first time when I was right out of college and living in Chicago. I was really just looking for a way to meet people in the city, so I took a stand-up class with a guy I worked with. I loved it but never thought of it as something I could do for a job. Fast-forward several years, after thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail (where I met my now-husband) and going to law school, I was working as an attorney in Cincinnati, Ohio and was miserable. I saw an advertisement for a stand-up class at a local comedy club and decided it might be a fun, after-work hobby.
That class led to open mics every night, which led to me getting paid work at clubs around the midwest, which eventually led to me quitting the law altogether and going on the road full-time. So much for a fun, little hobby! After telling jokes on the road 45 weeks a year for five years, now while living in West Virginia, my husband and I moved to New York City. In my three years there, I put out an album (Brooks Was Here), had a baby, and produced some fun shows in the city.
Last summer (August 2018), my husband got a job offer in Atlanta, and we decided to jump on it. So now we’re here, and I’m loving the Atlanta comedy scene, which is full of crazy-talented people and has been super welcoming.
Oh, man, you said brief. Sorry.
We’d love to hear more about your stand-up career. Please tell us about your art.
I’m a stand-up comedian, so I appreciate you referring to my ridiculous jokes as art. I don’t have a set writing process; the best jokes almost never come to me when I sit down to write, but rather when I’m on a walk or on a long car ride. I’ll mull over the seed of an idea, sometimes for a day or sometimes for months until I’m ready to try it out on stage. Then I’ll just keep working and refining until I realize it’s either only funny to me or I have it where I want it.
I don’t know that people are going to walk away from my show inspired, but I do hope they walk away a little happier, looser, and feeling better about themselves. I like to talk about dumb things I’ve done and the silliness of everyday life, so I think if I have a message, it’s that we should own our imperfections, laugh at our awkwardness and stop caring what other people think.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of comedians has changed? How do local, national, or international events and issues affect your art?
Comedy based around lazy stereotypes, which was the norm for a lot of years, no longer flies in many places. Audiences, in general, are much more attuned to issues of inequality and are more culturally sensitive. Some comics lament this change, but I think it’s amazing because it’s breeding better, more personal, smarter comedy.
I don’t talk about politics much, mostly because I have a hard time finding the humor in our current situation, and I think comedy should be first and foremost funny. I do talk about issues that affect me as a woman, a mother, and just a person in the world, and I hope some of that will resonate or make someone think about things differently.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
In addition to traveling around the country, people can see me live all over Atlanta. I’m a regular at the Laughing Skull, perform at Ten Buck at the Highland Inn at least once a month, and am on lots of other shows around the city! People can check out my website to see where I’ll be on any given night. There is so much great comedy happening in Atlanta! If you like listening to comedy, you can check out my album “Brooks Was Here” on iTunes or Spotify.
I’m a freelance writer during the day and am finishing up a memoir about hiking the Appalachian Trail, so if you want to watch a person write/procrastinate, you can find me at Wallers or Banjo Coffee. If you’d like to read my writing, you can find a lot of it linked on my website.
Contact Info:
- Website: sallybrookscomedy.com
- Email: thesallybrooks@gmail.com
- Instagram: @thesallybrooks
Image Credit:
Mindy Tucker
Yoko Haraoka
Tina Vice
Josh Cocks
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