Today we’d like to introduce you to CK Kimball.
CK, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m from Mechanicsville, VA, 20 minutes north of Richmond, and spent most of my time either parked in front of the TV watching local affiliate shows or talking to myself in the woods. The idea of the “artist” and “the comedian” fascinated me from watching a roster of old SNL, MadTV, Jack of All Trades, a WEIRD variety of random rentals from 1st Video and characters in books who were oh so precocious. I studied theater at Virginia Tech (with psych) and never really did much within the department. It was the people I met outside campus in town like Jack Bennett (dir. Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary) and Tippy Canoe (Liz Meade) where I started to get brave creating my own narrative.
Most of my history to Los Angeles is set non-profit adjacent. A year with Americorps teaching adults in Paterson, NJ. A few months with Habitat for Humanity. Finally, a stint farming on the Big Island of Hawaii (again with Tippy/Liz). While I kept up with myself artistically during that travel, it wasn’t until I moved from Waikiki to Los Angeles on a whim before I went from a nice jog artistically to a sprint. I PA’d with Nerdist on Blood and Guts then Bloodworks with Scott Ian (Jack Bennett again), I was in a few music videos, I took some improv with UCB (who hasn’t?), and finally landed at Pack Theater who (unwittingly) gave me a stage to produce on.
Now I’m here. I’m on an amazing sketch team (Nightchurch), I’ve been published a few times, people seem to like me.
That’s quite the ride from farming in Hawaii to where you are today. The way you laid it out, it seems like a smooth, logical progression. Has it been a smooth road?
No no no. It has been a WEIRD ride. I’ve always been broke like I can’t conceptualize what it looks like to not be counting quarters at the end of the month. I spent ten years working in and out of non-profit as an Americorps volunteer, then with Habitat for Humanity, then farming in Hawaii, five years with the ADL. I’ve been running a Homeless Care Kit operation with Erin Bounds servicing over 400 hundred people and completely donation based. Not a lot of windfall in that line of work, so everything I build has to come out of my very shallow pockets and everything I’ve learned to do has been through trial and error. I never went to school for film-making and the only comedy courses I’ve taken… let’s just say I stretched a UCB scholarship pretty hard to finish out the improv program. I’ve never taken a sketch class and that’s not a brag. Sketch classes give you the structure you need to write well out the gate and it was never in my budget.
In my early days, I pushed work to the stage that lived on in infamy (if remembered at all) when I first joined Daughters of Triton at Pack Theater. I produced my first burlesque on the kindness of my manager, John Gaskins, allowing me (and Tippy/Liz) to use the Blacksburg VA hookah lounge we worked in for free. I attempted to help Brittany Woodcox (aka The Royal B) create a web series (What the Hair are We Talking About?) following her interactions with clients as she traveled using a borrowed DSR, our iPhones and iMovie. You’ll noticed you may have never heard of it. Plus my first two produced improv shows (Debate 2000) were uncontrolled disasters. Although the second one was election night 2016 so I blame Trump for an audience literally crying in the seats.
It’s been a road of failure, pretending like I didn’t fail, hating myself for failing then demanding I get another shot because THIS TIME… I’ll nail it.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know? Please tell us more about Nightchurch and any other projects you are working on.
I’ve always been bad about picking a lane. At the moment, I’m one of twelve on Nightchurch, a horror genre sketch team with heavy digital content, a live show every fourth Sunday at the Pack Theater, and a heart of gold. Honestly, it’s been a professional blast joining that team. It’s because of my teammates, I did my first audition for a SAG short (The Snowflakes) that, surprising myself, I was cast in. I absolutely would not have gotten there without my teammate Vanessa Gritton talking me up.
From 2018, I reestablished myself as a producer first by coming on with Eve Esquire (a comedic genius) to produce her play “dorkid” then by co-producing with Hope Richards Blazing Tassels: The Mel Brooks Burlesque Show followed by Bill Murlesque: A Bill Murray Burlesque Show. That last one I’m particularly proud of. We not only had standing room only, we not only had to (for the first time in Pack Theater history) turn people away at the door… it was a stage of some of the most incredible and thoughtful acts I’ve ever had the pleasure of showrunning. You just can’t do this business as a lone warrior. Easily, one of my best acts as a burlesque dancer (ZOMBIE) only worked because Mike Rose came on to partner with me. You need strong people in your corner.
Anyway, speaking of strong people. In direct response to running Bill Murlesque, The Nicky Urban Show tapped me to come on as director. From the feedback I’ve gotten, my approach to producing and directing is welcome. I love finding artists who have a voice or an idea I’ve never really seen explored and helping clarify THEIR voice. If I produced or directed to my own… it’d be a very different show.
It’d be the Sally Sweet Nuthin Show! My next personal goal (aside from making money) is for my burlesque alter ego to do what she loves most. HOST, BABY!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
In my estimation, it’s less “luck” and more “chance” in every opportunity. There’s always an opportunity to take advantage of if you take a chance on it. And luckily, that’s one area I have confidence in. I will always take a chance on something I believe in. Better to fail trying to make something beautiful than to wonder forever if it could have worked.
Though to be fair, that line of thinking also led me to put kool-aid mix in some bread I was baking. I wanted to see what would happen. It was awful. That was what happened. I was in my 20’s.
BUT. Now I never have to wonder.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glitterpizzacat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glitterdinosaur
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/glitterpizzacat
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/sallysweetnuthin/
Image Credit:
Mike Rose, Miles Roberts, Eduardo Ayres
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