Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Singleton.
Hi Ashley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I had an interest in making people laugh from a very young age. I was not what you would consider “popular” growing up. I can thank the bushy front bangs for that one. So, I learned early on that if I wanted to have friends, I had to do it another way and for me, that was being funny. From then on, I did everything I could to make people laugh. Finally, my senior year of high school, I told my parents I wanted to skip college and move to LA to study comedy. Surprisingly, they agreed and the day after graduation I moved down to LA and signed myself up for every single comedy class, I could find from UCB to The Pack Theater.
From there, I just started studying and trying to get on any show I could. I didn’t initially want to do stand-up comedy. It scared me. But someone told me to just try it and so I did. The first time on stage I was hooked. And since then, I haven’t stopped.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think comedy is a smooth road for anyone. Personally, I think you need those road bumps to gain more experience to then use in your comedy. Personally, my road has definitely not been the smoothest one. My first challenge in comedy was being too young to perform at a lot of places. I did my very first stand-up show at The Comedy Store in The Belly room at 19. They snuck me up the back and let me perform which was the most incredible experience ever. But then, after that one show, they wouldn’t let me back in until I was 21. So, I had to wait two years to be able to perform at clubs. But that was ok because it allowed me to do smaller shows and really hone my set. Another struggle of mine was taking classes at different comedy schools. One, in particular, cut me from the program at the highest level because that particular teacher didn’t care for me. Despite making it that far and having been passed through by all the other teachers, the school still wouldn’t let me come back for class. That was a huge struggle for me. It took me a while to remind myself that one person’s opinion of me doesn’t define who I am.
Most recently my struggle has been my health. I got Covid in 202o and have had long-haul Covid ever since. While I’m gaining a lot of material through this experience, it’s been exhausting. I had to move home for some time to go to the doctor’s and wasn’t able to take classes or perform for months. And where I’m from doesn’t have a big comedy scene, so it was rough. But, I’m slowly but surely getting better and back to performing!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
So, I do a couple different types of work. I’m a freelance writer for an apartment rental company where I write any and all articles from how to decorate your apartment for fall to the best cities to live in. This job has been great as it allows me the freedom to work and have time for personal projects. I’m also an artist for Sagebrush Fine Art. This job is awesome because I get to be creative in a different way than I do with comedy!
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up.
My favorite childhood memory is the day I got my dogs. I wanted a dog for as long as I can remember. The only problem is my sister, and I are allergic to dogs. After years of begging, my mom finally agreed to let us get a standard poodle. We found a lady who had puppies and just happened to live by my aunt. So, that day we sent my aunt to go pick one out for us. Two weeks later we got to go pick her up, and I could hardly contain my excitement. When we got there all the puppies were playing with each other and then my aunt showed me mine. She was the cutest little thing I had ever seen, and I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. While we were sitting there finishing up with the breeder, this other puppy caught my eye, and we started playing with him, too. I showed him to my mom, and to my surprise she said, “what the hell, let’s get two.” I was SHOCKED and so happy. We ended up leaving with a little girl named Ella and her brother named Alfie. They spent their entire lives together which makes me so happy when I think about it. Sadly, my Ella passed this year, but my precious Alfie is still around with me to this day.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleysingleton3/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN-26o2sxxx4Y-6uIVjKLaQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ash_singleton
