Kara Buller

Today I am interviewing Kara Buller, a comedian born in Ithaca, NY who has been doing comedy for over six years. To find out more about Kara, please visit her website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I started doing stand up because I had been doing bad improv. I don’t want to disparage myself too much—some of what I did was really fun and good—but there were definitely moments were I was just staring into the floodlights, wondering when I would have my next idea. That makes your scene partners uneasy. I would just get really stuck in my head. So in 2003 I stopped doing improv and sketch and—I should also say that the Jerry Seinfeld documentary, which came out in 2002, played no small role in my starting stand-up. There’s this song that plays over the ending credits. “A fork a spoon, a something something, dog in the moon.” It’s just so fucking simple and sweet. I was listening to that and something really hit me. Make it simple, make it sweet. Make it good. With stand up, I could do that. I could craft a joke in the privacy of my home, play with the wording like a craftsman—make it simple but good—and then give it to the people. In improv I couldn’t do that. You're not given time to craft your words. It's not for the slow kids--or the perfectionists.

As far as childhood, I peed my pants and stammered a lot. This did not portend a lucrative comedy career.

Are you marketing and promoting yourself and how?

I have a blog and I facebook a lot. I talk loudly on the L train… I send friends lots of text messages. That’s promotion. I also spend whole days googling “comedy booking agent” “comedy gigs new york” and “female money beauty power.” Can’t say anything has come from it. I did go on one of those pay-to-play auditions this week, but all I did was name drop and make an ass of myself. Wait. That’s the heart of marketing and promoting.

What is your writing process like?

I have a number of games I play. One is called “24 hours.” I make a list of all the things that have happened to me or that I did in the past 24 hours. (There's also a version called "72 hours" and "Since the Last Time I Played this Game.") Next to the activity or incident I write my feelings. “Fear, anxiety that I would f*ck up the convo with my dad and that I would not give good convo.” “Fear that highlights would be very bad and my boyfriend would dump me.” I take the emotion, enlarge it and entertain various comedic scenarios. I really have to be careful that I actually write punchlines though. Sometimes I think incredulity around absurdity is enough. It’s not—not for me anyways. It can’t just be me on stage yelling “this is absurd of me to think this! Don’t you think!” I hate watching other performers do that and I get the feeling the audience hates it too. We need to drive the 1988 Cadillac Cimmaron of a joke premise all the way into the joke garage.

Another game is just called “Fear.” I make a list of all the things that I am truly afraid of.

Okay, it’s not really a game. It’s a heading. But for me it’s been a great joke generator.

Another game: New York Times. Every story or headline gets a joke. It’s a good game for generating weekly material, but not a good game for generating a set for Letterman. It will hone your skills though and leave you more informed about crime in Mexico.

The sad truth of it is that my best material has arrived almost wholly formed, untried for, in the midst of life. I see something, it provokes me and then there, whaddya know, is the joke. The B material comes out of the joke games. That’s fine. B material has its place as well.

I write with a Uniball Vision – micro (.5) pen, in black. There is magic in these pens. I try to always carry my comedy notebook with me. I also punch ideas into my phone. I totally agree with the person who said ALWAYS write it down. In bed at night I have ideas and I’m like this is soooo good how could I ever forget! Then the next morning, it’s like nothing ever happened. I just go on with my life—and that joke is gone forever, like it never even happened. I would probably be famous by now if I kept a pen in my bed.

I have a secret hidden genius in Chicago who I turn to when I’m stuck. I like talking with fellow comedians about my material. I have no problem taking a line that they might give me.

I do not have a set writing time each day or week. I’m in grad school right now and that is eating up a good amount of time. I am trying to get my own show with my friend Asie, and then I will have to write each week. Gotta keep it fresh for the bartender. It really is about pleasing others and not yourself. I don’t think I’m even kidding.