Meet Rebecca Kohler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Kohler.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Rebecca. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started doing stand-up comedy 15 years ago. I think my parents thought I was crazy, “How’s she going to make a living doing that?!” and I might have had the same concerns. I never quite knew where stand-up would lead me, I just hoped it would get me to a place where I’d be able to make a living by making people laugh (in whatever capacity that was). Fifteen years later, here I am, doing just that!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No! Not at all! First, it was getting good at stand-up which takes a long time and comes with a lot of public humiliation. Then it was doing road gigs, often with creepy me-too-y guys in the dead of winter. Sleeping in weird motel rooms and having to take the subway home at 2 am. There were sleazy club owners (sleazy both sexually and financially), getting paid almost nothing because the people in charge know you need the stage time. Stand-up has come SO FAR, but when I started it was very much still a boys club and it often felt like I was the only girl in a very dirty men’s locker room.

I was also broke for a good part of my adult life!

That sounds terrible, it’s unfortunate that it’s a story we hear far too often from women we interview.  Glad you did not allow sleazy club owners or other obstacles to stop you from pursuing your passion. We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I guess my “company” (me) specializes in stand-up comedy and TV writing. As a stand-up, I know I’m smart and I try my hardest to look at things from the most surprising or unusual perspective possible. I also aim to be as honest as I can be. I want people to feel like they know me when I get off stage — the more truthful I am, the more of a connection I make with the audience and that connection benefits both of us.

A lot of the same stuff goes into my TV writing. I’m interested in portraying people as we ARE; communicating as we DO. I’m especially interested in honing the way we portray women on television. I think a lot of TV and film today thinks that for a woman to be “strong” she needs to be a jerk or aggressive or frankly, that she needs to act like a man. I like to portray women’s strength by using what society would have us think are their weaknesses. Also, I’m hilarious and my dialogue is whip-smart and so fun.

What were you like growing up?
I moved around a lot as a kid because of my dad’s job (Canada, Thailand, France, Brazil). This gave me a really cool perspective on the world, especially for a kid. I think travel helps build empathy and awareness of other people’s differences. But it also set me apart; I was always an outsider no matter where I was, so I think I was always perceived as a little odd. On top of that, when I was ten I gained a bunch of weight and for the next six years, I was “the chubby kid”. Not being a conventional “good looker” forced me to develop other skills, like a personality. I also got picked on a lot and through an improv class in the 9th grade, I learned how to defend myself through quit wit.

But though it wasn’t an easy time, I’m glad because that kid was tough, she was resilient! And sometimes today when I’m having a rough time I’ll think back to chubby 14-year old Rebecca who was going to a new school in a foreign country, where she had no friends and barely any family and think: “Hey, if she got through that, you can get through this!”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rebeccakohler.com
• Instagram: @rebkoh
• Twitter: @becca_kohler

Image Credit:
Leif Norman

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