Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Mae Gordon
Hi Anna Mae , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I really never had any idea I’d end up doing stand up comedy. I have always wanted to be an actor, and I grew up obsessed with Robbin Williams, Jim Carrey and Steve Martin. Movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, Hook, The Mask, Liar Liar, Planes Trains and Automobiles were my safe haven. I can’t even count the amount of times I’ve watched them. I was always a nerdy theatre kid, and I went to go get an MFA in theatre directing at The Actors Studio Drama School, which gave me a dual training in acting and directing.
I got out of grad school at a very difficult time in my life. My dad had been battling cancer for 8 years. He was a renowned surgeon in Connecticut who had saved countless lives. When it became clear to the family that he was going to die, it sort of changed my life forever. It was – and sometimes still is – sort of impossible to process his passing. I had always believed that everything in life happens for a reason, but this turned my belief on its side.
One bad break-up, an obsession with – and rejection from – The Actors Studio, and a pandemic later, I decided to do a poetry reading in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, reading some old poems I had written 7 break-ups earlier. And I noticed my poems were making people laugh. And that felt really good.
So at the next reading, which was relocated to a busy bar in the area, I decided to read a short story about a guy I was infatuated with in high school. It was extremely personal, self-deprecating, and cringe, and I thought this one is going to make people laugh too, and it’ll be really fun. Well, in fact, nobody at this particular bar wanted to sit through a reading, nobody was paying attention, and also the story was probably ‘meh’. I left horrified. But on the subway ride home, the first thought that popped into my head was, ‘Oh, this is probably what bombing doing stand up feels like.’ And then, for whatever reason, my next thought was: ‘If I survived that, I could probably survive trying stand up.’ The thought of it left me smirking.
So I found myself at the Wednesday open mic at Eastville Comedy Club in Brooklyn. My first time up, I held my own. And my second time up, I somehow did very well. The mic booker told me to keep coming back, and so I did.
A few months later, my lease was ending, and it occurred to me that I could move to Los Angeles. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, and I guess that old feeling of ‘everything happens for a reason’ was starting to come back, because all of these experiences I was having and people I was meeting at the time were pointing to LA.
So, I moved out to the heart of West Hollywood, a 5-minute walk from The Laugh Factory, to pursue my career in stand up and acting.
Since I’ve been out here, I’ve been really lucky. I’ve had opportunities to do incredible shows, kept writing, taking acting classes, got agents, and just have been taking any stage time I can get. At this stage I’m lucky to say I’ve been doing about 15 shows a month (working on expanding this to 30), and have been up at almost all of the major LA clubs.
I still wonder how it’s possible I ended up doing this. But nothing makes me feel more alive than stand up. Sometimes I imagine my dad sort of watching wide-eyed with a smirk on his face somewhere.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The process of doing stand up has pushed me out of my comfort zone in every way I can think of.
First, the obvious one: bombing. I’ve bombed countless times.
I’ve been basically booed off the stage before in London at what’s called a ‘gong show’, where the audience is allowed to vote you off the stage. Somebody in the audience literally yelled, ‘Off!’ at me, which was probably the modern day equivalent of having a tomato thrown at you. To give you an idea of how horrible that was, I immediately went home to listen to a guided meditation on separating my ego from my ‘true self’…
Another struggle for me has been the fear of actually letting myself bomb, which is sort of a catch-22, but it can stop you from growing if you don’t continue to take risks. Coming from a theatre background, I tend to want to be very scripted and prepared. But if I’m not totally present in the room that I’m in, it can run the risk of coming off a bit rehearsed. I’ve had to continue to push myself to write daily, and try new things, sometimes at shows because that’s really a better test than at an open mic. And that’s terrifying.
I’ve also had to get comfortable with asking friends to come out and support, and being an introvert and feeling vulnerable doing this, that hasn’t always been easy. But, I’m shocked and grateful at just how many people have wanted to support me in this.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m still not entirely sure what I’m doing and where my act is headed. But from what I’ve gathered, I’ve been doing kind of a heightened character persona of an anxious attached Jewish girl looking for a husband. Almost all of my material so far is true stories. I’m a bit of a romantic, and I’ve had the wind knocked out of me a number of times in my pursuit for love, so I guess there’s a breadth of that kind of conflict to draw from.
I think my acting training has been impacting my style of comedy. There’s a bit of an arc to the character I’m creating, and she’s sort of an archive of all of my most twisted thoughts and neuroses. I’ve been finding the process challenging and healing, in that I’m forced to dig deep into my flaws and trauma to find what’s funny about it.
I think what’s been working for me in this, and what’s been really nice to experience, is it seems a lot of women are hearing stories that they relate to. Not only does this make me, selfishly, feel less alone in it, but it is also cool to see people responding and hopefully feeling more connected to themselves as well.
I’ve been lucky to have performed at The Comedy Store, The Hollywood Improv, The Ice House, The Laugh Factory, New York Comedy Festival, and in 7 different countries.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
For better or for worse, social media and online presence is a huge part of stand up nowadays, and it seems to only be growing in that direction.
I think in the next 5-10 years we’ll continue to see comedians pop into the public image through social media. It seems like digital content creating will be an increasing tool for comedians.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: annamae.g
- Other: TikTok: annamaegordon
Image Credits
Matt Kallish (headshot photos)
Connor Lee Coughenour (‘Comedy Blvd’ image)
