Today we’d like to introduce you to Audrey Stewart.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Audrey. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have always been born with an insane amount of energy. So much to the point where I remember getting frustrated anytime I had to sit still. I always had a sudden urge to laugh, to smile, and to be happy. I wanted everyone around me to feel the same which got me in a lot of trouble in school. I recall going to many teacher parent conferences, one of which my teacher told my dad in front of me “You might want to think of alternative plans for your daughter, because she will not be attending college.” I knew I was smart though I was just different, I was meant to be doing bigger things with my energy and I knew to be patient and that I would figure out what to do with what I would later consider to be a gift. I am from Indianapolis Indiana. My parents got divorced when I was eight years old and I became a part of a blended family a couple years later allowing me to have three sisters and three brothers. I took pride in making my siblings and family laugh. I recall one time where we were sitting in the living room at my grandparents place in Michigan and we all wanted my dad to take us to ice cream. He kept saying no and my sister said “if we can make you laugh, will you let us?” He agreed and they told me to do it. I immediately did a weird joke and got him to laugh very hard. That was one of my first realizations that I should be doing comedy, but it wasn’t until later that summer when I was positive that performing is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I went to an all-girl overnight two week summer camp, called Gnaw Bone, in Brown County Indiana. There was a talent show where the whole camp attended, I signed up but had no idea what I was going to do. When it was my turn I went on the camp stage by the fire pit with the entire camp watching. I improvised a song that made a lot of people smile and laugh. Made people feel things. When I finished the entire camp stood up and cheered. My whole body got warm. My breathing finally felt purposeful and my arms had goosebumps. I teared up because it was my first encounter of experiencing the happiest feeling I have ever felt. From that moment on I have devoted my life to making people feel things. To make them connect with their happiness and to relate and show them that our flaws are shared and can be beautiful hilarious things. Throughout high school I did plays and comedy sports. Despite what that teacher told my dad in grade school I did make it to college. I went to Indiana University where I then joined the improv team and in the summer finished all the levels of Improv Olympics in Chicago. My final summer of college I interned out in Los Angeles for the hip hop radio station Power 106 and for Gulfstream Pictures on the Warner Brothers Lot. I worked so hard to form relationships there that would hopefully help me with comedy. When I got to Los Angeles I began Groundlings and one of my teachers told me I had to try stand up. As soon as I did I fell in love. A manager gave me the advice that if I wanted to make history with my comedy to do it as much as possible wherever I could. I now get up on stage anywhere and everywhere almost every single night and nothing brings me more joy than being around other comedians who have the same heart and goal as mine, help make the world a better place with what God gave us. Every day I babysit, I walk dogs, water flowers, cater and then get on whatever stage I’m booked on for the night and I never have second thoughts on what I believe I was meant to be doing, making people laugh. I thankfully have been seeing results from my hard work. I have two incredible Agents, Katie Edwards and Michael Szabo with APA, I was on NBC’s Bring the Funny, a prank series on FB Watch, and I just got to host the main room at the comedy store for Arsenio Hall and Dane Cook. My Instagram clips that the Laugh Factory posted have accumulated to seven million views and I’ve been working on a few exciting projects.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When you decide to follow your dreams, in my opinion, there is no such thing as a smooth road. Roads in general, especially Los Angeles, have potholes, warn out areas, or have consisted of accidents that have led to deaths or physical and emotional damage. On my path of making as many people in the world laugh as I can reach I have experienced all these potholes. When I first moved to Los Angeles I arrived with three huge suitcases where I remember tripping over them every five minutes in the airport. My uber app wasn’t working so I found a driver who said he could take me to my apartment in Hollywood for $200. I was shocked and knew I only had $250 in my account but didn’t know another way so I took him up on his offer. I then arrived and walked into my new tiny apartment in Hollywood where I was greeted by four boys. They were through my mutual best friend, Lucy Drew, and it was hard trying to get to know them at first, but they later became my best friends and I now live with them three years later. I don’t know what I would do without them. But when I first moved here I slept on an air mattress for the longest time before I could earn enough money to buy a bed which was hard. I missed my family a lot at first because they were so far but I knew I had to chase this dream. I have gotten many parking tickets, my car has been towed several times, and someone hit me causing my car to be totaled. I uber pooled everywhere to my random jobs of dog walking, babysitting, water plants, and catering. However I found the light in uber pooling and I made several random friends, and many of them came to my stand up shows. I finally saved up enough money and with the help of loans and my supportive dad and I was able to get another car. I still work so many random jobs to try and make my payments each month and I think any comedian would agree when I say that is scary because we don’t have retirement plans, health insurance, and security. The only fuel we have is our dreams and the laughter that puts gas in our personal vehicles. Comedy is a journey. One day I was on set filming the next I’m back to babysitting. But it’s okay because the money changes but the feeling of killing on stage and making people forget their problems doesn’t. You lose money doing comedy as well. One time I drove seven hours to San Diego, performed for two people, and then got a huge ticket from a cop for having an Indiana License on the way back. However, like I said, I wouldn’t change those moments for the world, because I still made an impact on those two people that night. I have driven seventeen hours, to Washington State, from Los Angeles, just to do comedy barely making anything. A lot of comedians struggle with personal battles. Like everyone else on this earth, I have gone through a lot. When my parents divorced that wasn’t easy. I’ve lost people in my life. One death that sticks with me in particular is that of Hannah Noel Wilson. Hannah Wilson was my sorority sister and someone I looked up too. She always was giving me advice and her laugh was the most unforgettable sound in the entire world. It filled the room. I would often have laugh offs with her or do wild things just to hear it. I remember a particular time when we were both in the Gamma Phi study late at night on a Friday and we were discussing what our plans were for after college. I told her it was of course to be a comedian, she told me she had no doubt in her mind that I would be and to never forget her when I was famous. On the night of April 24th, 2015, our sister went missing. She was then found dead in the woods only a few miles few miles outside of our campus. Hannah Wilson was murdered. Every time I’m on stage I take that with me and I hold her in my heart and I want to make her proud and I know I do. I want to be there for people who have felt that pain, I want to help them forget.
When I do standup I think what sets me apart is that you know exactly who I am as soon as I touch that mic. I share my insecurities, my thoughts, my struggles, and I try to connect in hopes of making an impact. After my sets I have many people come up to me thanking me because they are a tall female that is built differently, or they are financially struggling too, or they are also trying to sexually figure out who they are or what they are attracted too. I also never lose my energy, my hope, my spark.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Everything I have done, bad or good, has lead me to where I am so I’m not sure I would have changed anything.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.audreymstewart.com
- Phone: 3172251802
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: audreystewisart
- Facebook: Audrey Stewart Comedy
- Twitter: audreystewisart
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
