Today we’d like to introduce you to Kylie Brakeman.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started doing comedy for a noble reason: revenge. When my sophomore year high school boyfriend broke up with me, I tried to get back at him the only way I knew how-auditioning for his improv team. I did well pretty quickly, and it went to my head very fast.
“Hah! I’m good at performing short-form improv comedy for a packed audience of rich white kids who hate their moms! Revenge!” I thought. But no, he would have the last laugh, for now, I am possessed by an unquenchable thirst for attention that permeates every aspect of my life.
After graduating from Occidental College in 2018, that unquenchable thirst for attention led me to write for the UCB Maude team “Moon Goon,” performing with UCB’s Characters Welcome, and performing improv with the Comedysportz LA Main Company.
I also make digital sketches with fellow writer Sarah Crosthwaite. You can check out our page, Young Hags, here: https://www.facebook.com/younghags/videos/386388951942707/.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve got a fun touch of mental illness, which can always be a challenge to get over when pursuing something creative. Sometimes I want to write things but I can’t because I’m f**king CRAZY and need to sob for five-seven hours. But usually, when I wake up from the sobbing, I have really good and coherent ideas for sketches like “farmer’s hat gets divorce” or “Lady has feet for hands.” What I’m saying is that it only makes me stronger.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I think my sensibility tends towards broad caricatures of women who are not okay. I think the greatest shift I’ve seen in the past decade or so is the expansion of women playing “the girlfriend who is a good person who occasionally gets to say funny things” to roles where women get to be genuinely terrible or very weird. Shows like 30 Rock and Arrested Development were huge influences for me, as well as Hotwives of Orlando and Another Period.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Doing comedy during the Trump era is very strange because all the tools of hyperbole and exaggeration that you’d normally use to highlight a problem now all feel too real.
You can’t parody what is already beyond belief. I think as a result I’ve recently been more drawn to more absurdist or experimental comedy. I do see comedy as a vital form of escape now more than ever because we’re truly living in the apocalypse.
Contact Info:
- Website: kyliebrakeman.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dead_eye_brakeman/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kylie-Brakeman-491934141241969
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sexypitabread
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/younghags/
Image Credit:
Holly Lynch, Maddy Welk
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