Description
I came into the world an Army brat. Moved here, moved there, landing at the corner of trailer park and military housing. I learned how to load a gun, dodge a social worker and make an exit plan – before I could even drive.My escape came via the doors of a strip joint coined the Peppermint Lounge. It’s there that I met a comic, became a comic, won this and won that. I pounded the road hard, picked up a camera, did beaucoup TV, married my manager, then quit the biz – because more than anything in the whole wide world, I really wanted kids.
There were times between baking cupcakes, changing diapers and daydreams, that I would dress up fancy for Hollywood brunches. Sometimes I would find myself droning on about art, vintage furniture and the irony of disappointing love. I would even catch myself saying things like, “Less is more, clean lines are timeless and carefully considered materials are always enduring.” When in reality, I only liked an old vintage dresser because my grammie had one on the side porch. Soon enough, I knew, I needed to make another exit plan.
Today, I’m a single mom and proud to say – once again – a working, professional stand up comic.
How Her Handlers See It:
An “Army Brat” who was used to moving about, Michaels built her early career by refusing to allow her gender tame her material and never once flinching when it came to the rigorous travel and tv schedule that a stand-up comedy career demanded in the late 90’s.
Her comedy appeared on such networks as MTV, A&E, COMEDY CENTRAL, VH1 and SHOWTIME. Not to mention NBC, ABC and FOX. She soon found herself becoming a COMEDY GRAND CHAMPION on STAR SEARCH. Her first comedy CD, “Lewd Awakenings,” landed Felicia on XM Satellite’s list of top 100 jokes. She was nominated twice as Funniest Female by the American Comedy Awards before clinching it.
Breaks from touring were supplemented with film and photography courses at NYU and The New School, which led to her writing and directorial debut with the Cine Eagle Award-winning short film “In the Weeds.” Work soon followed on Mitch Hedberg’s Sundance Film Festival selection “Los Enchiladas,” as an actor and assistant director. Guest appearances followed on sitcoms, and her ongoing photo documentary project “Stand UP / Stripped DOWN” won first place at the PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE COMPETITION in Paris.
She quit comedy after her second child was born, only to return from that hiatus stronger and more determined then before. Touring followed quickly, along with a two-year run with the hit underground podcast “Beauty and Da Beast” with fellow comic Joey “Coco” Diaz. Their “raw-some” comedy chemistry earned them a Best Comedy Podcast nomination from the Podcast Awards in 2012, keeping company with the likes of fellow nominees WTF and the Nerdist.
Currently Michaels keeps herself busy as a returning regular on the second season of Nick’s “Parental Discretion,” touring, and putting the finishing touches on a new directorial project – all this while raising two young boys as a single mother.
Felicia Michaels at the Comedy Underground
Felicia Michaels has a clear, bell-like voice and an enchanting, wide-eyed delivery that she employs in telling some of the bluest material you’re likely to hear onstage from a woman’s perspective. But it’d be a mistake to simply relegate Michaels to the “ingenue with a filthy mouth” category of comedians; she’s far too accomplished and multifaceted to be reduced by such a facile label. Michaels has been on just about every televised standup showcase from NBC to A&E, she was a Star Search Comedy Grand Champion, and she was voted Funniest Female comic by the American Comedy Awards in 1999. Comedy fans will recognize her from her appearance in the excellent 2010 documentary I Am Comic, and more recently, as a regular panelist on NickMom’s Parental Discretion. In addition, Michaels is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer whose ongoing series “Stand UP / Stripped DOWN” captures the offstage moments in a comedy life.
Michaels is also the single mother of two children. This grants her an outlook that is rare in a field crowded with bros and boner talk. It’s refreshing, even bracing, to hear a woman talk frankly about sex from a viewpoint unconcerned with male approval. As a divorced single mom with no “virtue” to protect and a respected industry veteran with a mountain of credits to recommend her, Michaels is free to say pretty much whatever she wants. And she does.
Michaels is recording her new album for Uproar Records (previously on City Arts here) at the Comedy Underground this weekend. I asked her a few questions about comedy, photography, filmmaking, and motherhood.
You are the single mother of two children and a full-time standup comic. How the hell do you make that work?
Scheduling is the tough part. The bonus is that even though I’m out of town for up to a week, It’s concentrated, so that when I’m home, I only work at night right when they’re going to bed. That being said, sometimes I get home at 1:00 in the morning and I have to get up a few hours later to get them ready for school. I’m not a pleasant sight in the carpool.
What is the stupidest question/comment you’ve ever gotten in regards to “women in comedy?”
I was just at a coffee shop waiting for my morning libation when I heard a shrill and obnoxious middle aged woman telling a table of 7 or so what she finds wrong with every single woman comic, “Is that they ALWAYS carry on about their vaginas and only do tampon jokes.” I have to tell you, it pissed me off. So I went to her table after I had my latte in hand and said, “Yes, some of us do talk about our vaginas, but we also shine a light on philosophical, literary and artistic subjects as well.” Then I flipped her off, channeled my best Beyonce walk, and strode fiercely out to my car.
Christ, I can’t lie… I only flipped her off and scurried away.
You’re also an award-winning photographer. Does your standup inform how you approach photography, or vice versa?
Absolutely. Being a comic first made me understand when a moment is coming in order to unload the punch. To be patient, look calm and fish for the sweet spot. Learning the mechanics of photography after, made me rethink my approach to my stand-up, tighten up and respect the set up more.
You were an actor and assistant director on Mitch Hedberg’s film Los Enchiladas. Do you think it will ever be properly released? How do you feel about the bootlegs circulating on the internet? [The whole movie is currently available on YouTube.]
The memories I have of Los Enchiladas run high and low. The highs: having one of the sharpest tools in comedy call me up and ask, “Hey you want to come crash in the hallway of an apartment in a halfway house in downtown Saint Paul and help me make a movie?”
The low: seeing one of the sharpest tools in comedy, ever, not try and grasp firmly what was rightfully coming his way. The best case scenario would’ve been the proper release of Los Enchiladas, in order for all who worked on it to get paid. I mean this mostly for Mitch’s wife and family. The second best scenario is that it eventually becomes a sought after bootleg, by people who enjoy watching a young talent try and express himself.
You’re recording your new album with Uproar Records at the Underground. What is your approach to developing material for a recording?
Just try and focus on storyline, at the same time not carving my set in stone, so I can play and be a little wild.
Can you choose a picture from the internet to show how you’re feeling today?
Yesterday, I worked on a pilot for TruTV, so I didn’t have any lunch, then I went and worked on a new podcast, I’m doing with fellow comic Gene Pompa. It’s called the Whine and Cheese Party. Perhaps a little too much “Whine” was had on an empty stomach. This picture is how I felt making my kids blueberry pancakes before school.
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