Today we’d like to introduce you to Vanessa Hollingshead.
Hi Vanessa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I never planned on being a stand-up comic. I was trained as a Shakespearean actress and also learned Method acting. I always wanted to play a cop. But I couldn’t arrested, so to speak. Agents passed on me, plays I did were way the hell off, off, off, Broadway, and it was an embarrassment to have anyone see me, except a close friend who would always say, “Well, you have to start somewhere.”
I was temping at various jobs in NYC and I felt life had passed me by the time I turned 30, no matter my talent, training, and willingness to work hundreds of bread-and-butter jobs, and keep believing in myself, “Maybe next year.” I had just moved into an apartment in Astoria, and adored my new roommate Colette, she remarked. “I laugh harder when you tell me what your day was like at the office than any sitcom I’ve ever watched, why don’t you try stand-up comedy?” I laughed, “What are you nuts, just me making jokes for strangers?” I would be terrified.
Anyway long story short a few months later after my 31st birthday, I gave it a try. I waited 4 hours to go on, and all the girls in my office were falling asleep at the club, I was comic number 36. I finally went on, my heart pounding, having had 18 diet cokes, and barely anyone laughed. I said, “You guys are so tired, I don’t even think you’d laugh if Richard Pryor was on stage. They laughed, and I never looked back. I knew that if I could just write jokes, I would never have to rely on anyone else to get a head and I would be in complete control of the destiny of my career. It was just me, a mic, and an audience. Cut to 32 years later, I am still making a living as a stand-up comic.
All my material was based on my life, being the daughter of two hippies, having an English father who gave Tim Leary his first hit of acid, and my experience taking 9 hits of acid by accident at 5, and then my crazy mom, who had me live in Bed-Sty Brooklyn as a kid in 1968 was I was so young, and we were the only white people in the neighborhood, and Dr. Martin Luthur King was assassinated that year, so no one exactly rolled out the welcome mat. There was so much rage, pain, and violence growing up in Bed Sty, and I missed a lot of school.
My mom couldn’t afford the apartment we had in NYC after my Dad left and had to go on Welfare. After I got beaten up a few times, or my mom too, some kids and parents stepped in and looked out for us when they could. I used to wait for it to rain, because no one except me was out on the streets, and I felt safe. I wrote jokes about everything. No one knew all the jokes were based on fear, anger, and trauma. Later on with my string of temp jobs, in and out of various homes and countries, and dysfunctional relationships, I was able to impersonate any accent, or the pain of a bad breakup, make fun of any guy, or even drink too much became the fodder I used to write material.
And it was because I was somehow able to transform this intense sadness into humor, that all the feelings dissipated. It was like the audience was my mother and father, letting me know when I was funny, giving me so much love and approval, and also, letting me know when I wasn’t funny at all, or they could just be mean and drunk, just like my parents too. I had to learn how to deal with that as well if I were to continue. But after my crazy life, that wasn’t too hard. I learned how to keep my real feelings inside.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The feeling of being an actress acting like a comic, and one day I would be found out. Not being “thin.” Always feeling like an outsider, looking in. Unable to understand why I was so overly sensitive you picked a profession that involves constant rejection.
Endless years on the road traveling from one city or country to the next, feeling like a little girl, but having to act supremely confident and sure of myself. Falling in love with the wrong men. Emotionally unavailable, cold, removed, maybe a drinker or had a drug problem, or a combination. They were almost always very good-looking but certainly not good for me. Always feeling, “What’s wrong with me?” I just want to love and be loved. I just want to perform and get to the next level.
Why does everything seem to come so easy to others, and I have to work so hard? I had question after question. And for any success I had, it was so short-lived, that I could never see what I had accomplished, only where I had fallen short. Being a woman in this business, having to eat like a bird, and workout like a gymnast. Then getting thin and feel old. There was always the love of what I did, but no love for myself, turning to cigarettes, sugar, and alcohol to deal with all my feelings. And just wanting to feel comfortable in my skin.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I would say I am an actress, I still work in films when I get cast, and I am in town, I had a rock band when I was 16, and then at 22. I played keyboards, and guitar, sang, and wrote most of the music. I love to paint, it is the one thing I can do, that I am not trying to sell, or promote, I do it for the joy of painting. I have written a show I am trying to sell, and have several pitches for other shows.
But I would say it is a comedy that I have devoted most of my life to. I am known for my impersonations of all the characters I meet, from any country or state, and of course, the men I have loved or dated I am a storyteller too, and love to make a fool of myself, I have no problem being silly and larger than life when I have an audience of friends or strangers. Just making people laugh seems to give me the greatest joy.
What were you like growing up?
I was very sensitive to criticism and painfully shy as a little girl, but the second I knew kids or grown-ups accepted me, I would come right out of my shell and go from “wallflower to sunflower.” I am still like that. As I got older, in my teens, I was sarcastic, very friendly, and ambitious. I loved dance and sports, I always stuck up for kids if I saw they were getting picked on, seeing as that had happened to me for being “fat.” I would act first and think later. Very impulsive yet very street smart.
I could usually tell when I was in danger. My interests were usually cats and candy. the Beatles, memorizing Broadway shows, and doing all the parts. I am always curious about stuff. and asked way too many questions. Thank God for Google. I always dropped things and always got lost. I still do. No sense of direction and I panic if I am lost. In 8th grade, I had 2nd grade geography. I was a straight-A student and just liked to be the best. Not to compete with anyone but to prove to myself I was smart.
Contact Info:
- Website: vanessahollingshead.com
- Instagram: @vanessacomedian
- Facebook: Vanessa Hollingshead
- Twitter: @vhollingshead
- Youtube: vanessacomedian
- Other: tiktok @hollingshead
