Geeking out on Comedy with Lianna Patch
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Brian: [00:00:00] You're about to hear my conversation with Lianna Patch, where we geek out about comedy. Let's get into it.

So I'm about to roll my conversation with Lianna Patch, where we had an awesome conversation, just geeking out about comedy. We recorded this one on December 13th, 2023. And you know, Lianna is one of the funniest people that I know. And it's so cool to kind of, know like an actual comedian and she happens to sort of, she, she's done it in real life, of course, but then she has also done it on the internet and even used comedy to build her business.

So in this episode, we geek out mostly about the craft of comedy, which I think is fantastic. But then we start to roll into how she actually used it to to, to reinvent her business. But we dive into that even more in my next episode with Lianna. Anyway, here is that conversation. Enjoy.

[00:01:00] Lianna Patch, great to connect with you again. Welcome to the show.

Lianna : Thanks so much for having me.

Brian: Yeah. So, I think this will be a fun conversation. It's always a fun conversation talking to you. 'cause you are, I mean, you're, you're hilarious in general. You're, you're, you're quite a comedian yourself, and I want to hear about that.

I want to kind of geek out on all things comedy. Who, who better to do that with than, than you

Lianna : my, honestly.

Brian: I mean, because like, you know, for those who who don't know, I, I think you, you've made a really great name for yourself, for yourself as an excellent copywriter. And and all things copy, but you sort of, kind of carved out this niche of like comedic or at least having like that, that comedic approach to, to comedy or to copywriting.

And I think, we'll, we'll, maybe we can like dive more into your actual work in like, in, in, in the other episode.

Lianna's introduction to comedy
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Brian: But for now, let's just talk about like . Your interest in comedy? When did that begin? Yeah, like where, where does it all begin for you?

Lianna : Yeah, I think it was like [00:02:00] 2012 and I happened to end up at an open mic night in my neighborhood, and I don't recommend going about it this way, but I was like, wow, this is bad. These people are not funny. I could do better.

Brian: Where? Where was that? Where? Where are you from, by the way?

Lianna : oh, new Orleans.

Brian: Okay.

Lianna : So I live in Austin right now, but I'm from New Orleans, so this was like my neighborhood bar, and it Just happened to be Wednesday night, which is the long running open mic night. And I went back the next week and like wrote, you know, I think three to five minutes and then I kept going and I, I kept writing an all new three minutes every week until somebody was like, you don't have to do that. That's nobody cares.

Brian: them again.

Lianna : Jokes over and over. I was like, oh, thank God. This like a second job.

Brian: Wow. Did you like that first time at the open mic, was that kind of like on a whim or on a dare or something? Or were you like, I I actually kinda wanna try this? Let's, let's see what's

Lianna : Oh yeah. I definitely wanted to try it. And then I, I made the [00:03:00] additional faux pa of inviting like 20 friends.

Like I think I made a Facebook event. And comedians don't like that.

Brian: Yeah.

Lianna : standups don't like that.

Brian: That's so funny. I, you know, I've, I've played in I used to play in bands when I was in like high school and college and a little bit after college and stuff. And I mean, it was horrible like, going into these bars and playing to like, mostly empty rooms and like dragging your, a couple friends who, who would just be nice to you and come out like after work to like, it's the worst, you know?

I play guitar mostly. I,

Lianna : Oh.

Brian: guitar and bands. Yeah. But open like comedy on stage is that, seems like could be like the scariest possible thing that you could ever possibly do. In, in my mind, like, like speaking into a microphone alone on stage, nothing else. You're responsible for people's entertainment.

That is insanity to me.

Lianna : Well, lemme tell you, alcohol really helps,

uh, .Um, but I, I think I was determined like not to let it [00:04:00] be. A thing just to have fun with it. To keep fun as the primary motivator. And I have done that and that's actually why I don't really do standup anymore, because when I moved, I discovered it was a lot less fun. The scene here is a lot bigger and it seems more competitive. It

seems harder to.

Brian: serious.

Lianna : Yeah. And it's like I have no desire to be a famous standup. More power to you. There are some people from the scene who are getting famous, like right now here in Austin, and I'm like, that's awesome. I know how much work you've put in.

I have no desire to do that.

Brian: Yeah. I mean, how far did it go for you, like, so you did the open mics, did you, did you go, did you get any more serious with it?

Lianna : I did, yeah, I did a couple shows. I did a few, like 10 to 20 minute showcase shows where it's a bunch of comics who have longer sets. That was about as far as it went for me. When I moved here, I think I did three weeks in a row, a 10 minute set. I. Each time, and it?

was that kind of situation where there are so many mics all over the city that the bar that we happened to be in, people didn't know [00:05:00] there was gonna be comedy and they were just

there to eat

Brian: that's the worst. .

Lianna : It was very awkward.

Brian: Oh, man.

Lianna : Yeah, the audience really matters.

Niching down in comedy
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Brian: so were you always interested in standup, like solo show or like, did you ever get into like sketch comedy or anything like that? I.

Lianna : Yes. So I was writing for a local magazine around that time, or maybe it was a couple years later. It was probably like 2015. And I. I.

was talking to them about improv and they were like, have you ever tried it? You should come out and do a class. And so I went out, did a class, loved it still do improv, and ended up joining a sketch team, an all female sketch team, and

we produced a new hour of sketch every month for I think like eight or nine months.

Brian: Oh, wow. That's, that's crazy. So, I mean, that, that seems like a totally different thing than like standup, right? Like you're, I mean, so, and, and then I guess there's a difference between sketch, comedy and improv too,

Lianna : Oh, for sure. [00:06:00] Yeah.

So sometimes we would do we were all on different improv teams, but sometimes we would do an improv scene and get an idea for a sketch.

And sometimes we would improv our lines, but mostly it was everybody wrote a couple sketches every month, and we did like a table read, and then we decided what the show would be. And some of our, our members were really prolific and really funny. We'd al we'd also do we video sketches to go in between, like while we were changing costumes and dressing the set, we'd have like short clips, like 32nd video sketches.

And I don't know why I didn't keep going with that after the sketch team sort of disbanded. It was super fun. And now I'm, I'm sort of trying that again on TikTok and Instagram these days. Like it took me years to get back into it.

Brian: Oh wow. Yeah. Actually, I was gonna ask you like, so, so going with like sketch or improv, like, do you ever like record it or post it anywhere else? Aside from like performing it live?

Lianna : We definitely have some shows on YouTube from years ago in that particular team, but I [00:07:00] haven't really done any marketing for my business ever. And these days, like within the past six months or so, I'm getting more interested in like, I. What if I actually used my social channels? What if I actually wrote funny things that were funny to me and I've, I've dabbled here and there.

I did two episodes of a like, late night style show about tech and e-commerce headlines. But it was so much work and it all

had to be done in the same week. It was like 15 to 20 hours of work in one week.

Brian: Oh man, I, I wish you would. I, you, you gotta keep doing that. I feel like there, there does need to be more more comedy about, especially our industry like startups, software, like, I mean, there, there's so much, I feel like there's so much material for a great comedian to work with here. You know? What, what was the what was that other comedy video platform that, that was around a couple years ago?

No. It, it was like, oh no, I'm forgetting the name. They, they just made like, sketch [00:08:00] videos about like the startup scene software startups

Lianna : I think I know what you're talking about.

it, was a

Brian: No, not a platform. Like they, they were like a show. They, they were like a channel.

Lianna : Okay.

Brian: man. And, and they sort of like disbanded a couple years ago, I think.

'cause they probably couldn't make it work financially, but.

Lianna : We'll have to find this and like put it in the show notes.

Brian: Yeah. Rob played a couple of those videos on stage at MicroComf one time.

Lianna : Oh, nice.

Brian: Anyway. Yeah. We'll, yeah, we'll get it all linked up. It was really good. But, but like ever since then, I feel like there's, there's like so much there, there's so many people in our industry that could just be made fun of and it would be hilarious, I think.

Lianna : Gently,

you know?

Brian: Yeah, of course.

Lianna : Yeah.

Brian: Um, so, okay, so. How about just like comedy in general? Like what, what even made you interested in trying your hand at it when you, when you went back to, you know, back in the day when you went back to those open mics, like what, what comedians do you, are you a fan of? Like, were, were you into comedy from, from a young age?[00:09:00]

When did you really get into it?

Lianna : I don't think I was into comedy from a young age. I. I was a little bit of a class clown, but I was also like, I have to get straight A's. I don't wanna be disruptive.

Uh, I, I, just have always really been interested in like the craft of a thing that was like me connecting the dots in college, realizing the reason I like Mad men so much is because I'm also interested in ad writing And I was like, oh, I should be a copywriter. So that happened. And then the same thing happened with comedy where I was like, how does that joke work?

What would be clear? Like could it be punched up? You know, what if I started writing jokes and then they just sort of come to you? And then Twitter is one of those platforms where like the short form is really rewarded.

So seeing like the, the golden age of Twitter comedians like drill, you know, happening. I was like, oh, I could write a joke in 140

characters or whatever. It's.

Brian: seeing a lot of that too, like just, just Twitter, like comedians or, or comedians, like running multiple Twitter accounts, just [00:10:00] with a, a theme on, on each one. I love

Lianna : Yeah. Yeah. They have to be so prolific. I've never like gone super viral on Twitter. But I,

Brian: I mean, especially with that kind of thing, you never know what's gonna hit a nerve, you know?

Lianna : yeah.

That's kind of why I'm on TikTok right now. Just apparently the algorithm there is a little different and they reward whatever people seem to like.

Brian: yeah, totally. I, I feel like Tik with TikTok, like I just open it and like my kids and I like it and, and like, but I'm not, I don't think I'm even logged in. So it sort of like forgets my preferences and then I go through these like . Periods where I'm seeing a lot of like, hilarious stuff and then it, and then it loses all that.

I don't know.

Lianna : Oh yeah.

Interesting.

Building a comedy set
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Brian: What was I gonna say? So, you know, I, I'm actually really into, like, I'm a fan of, of comedy as well, and for like the same reason, like the craft of it and, and why things come together to the way that they do. I mean, you know, I like, like, like the big name comedians and . I love watching these, like, like their, they're big special because you know that like, that's like a year of work that like, [00:11:00] this is like the best of the best of, of this year from this person.

Like, they to think about like the, the number of shows where they had to work out these jokes and, and get them to the form where they can, you know, do it in like a Netflix or, or an HBO special or something. Like,

Lianna : Yeah,

Brian: that's always really impressive to me, you know?

Lianna : yeah, there. So I never like really reed it out enough to see a huge difference in my set. But there was a couple, there were a couple times when, you know, you're on stage, the moment is right and you ad-lib something and it does so well that you're like, oh, that's part of the joke now.

Brian: Yeah. And that, that's what they mean when, when they're like working it out. Like, you can't just get out there. It it, and it's crazy to me like how, how well it comes off when you know that they've told that joke hundreds of times, but they, but they can deliver it like, like, oh, just off the cuff. I just said this just now.

Lianna : yeah,

yeah. There's definitely something to that. I bet they get so tired of doing the same show night after night.

Brian: Yeah. I mean, same thing with like bands, you know, playing, playing the hits like [00:12:00] night after night. But I feel like with, with comedians, it's probably a little bit different 'cause it's still of in the moment. May, maybe not May, maybe Jerry Seinfeld is up there just like reciting lines and he doesn't even know what he, what he's saying at this point.

Lianna : He's a robot man. That guy, he's so regimented. As far as I know, we are not personal acquaintances.

Yeah.

Brian: Yeah. . it's great. It, it's such a, it's such a cool art form, I think, you know, and, and I, I really liken it a lot to music because it's, I'm, I'm a big fan of albums as well. Like, that's like something that you are, that the band is, has wor, has worked super hard for a number of months and like, this is the output.

Like, it, it, it's all come together into this. And like the, the comedy special, it seems like, you know, it's like all this hard work that like culminates in this one . Presentation. It's pretty cool.

Lianna : This little portrait of this period of my life from when I started writing these jokes to the end of it.

I think there is also something very real about like crowd energy,

you know, with bands and comedians. Like even if you've played the same [00:13:00] song or told the same jokes night after night, like they haven't heard it yet and they're so excited that like.

Dealing with stage fright (and monkey brain "anxiety")
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Brian: Yep, yep. How, how do you think about stage fright in general? Um. I mean, I, I feel like this is, this is like the superpower for comedians, aside from just being naturally funny and being clever and, and, and being able to write and craft like this, the ability, like the, to, to get over the fear. I, I'm sure there still is the fear, but I feel like it's for comedians, like they have the ability to get through it or get over it, get like, get on the mic and start speaking like, how, how do you think about that?

Lianna : I think it's changed for me because when I started doing comedy, I really felt like I had something to prove as a person. Like, I'm not a bad person and I'm gonna make you laugh. Not consciously. This was all very like, buried below layers of, you know, future therapy excavation, but it was like, okay, I have to crush this, you know, because [00:14:00] this is tied to my self-worth. And then it sort of transmuted into like, everybody wants to see you do well. The stakes are lower than you think. You know, people just wanna laugh. You are likable, you know, and, and all, all sorts of little like mantras kind of like this. You know, anxiety is just your monkey brain fucking up excitement.

Brian: Yep. Yep. I mean, I, you know, it's like . There's so many different forms of this too. It's not just literally getting on stage with a microphone. It's, it's podcasting, it's deciding to tweet something. It's, you know, um, mean, I, I think about this constantly, probably way too much than I, than I should, but it's like, I can't think of how many tweets I wrote and then deleted before I sent it.

Just 'cause it's like, ah, I don't know. It's, I think it's kind of funny, but are people, is this gonna read well to other people or.

Lianna : Yeah,

Brian: I don't know what it is. You know, that happens all the time. I, I feel like there are probably at least twice as many tweets that I would've published then . Yeah. [00:15:00] That doesn't happen to you.

You, you don't, you don't have like, throwaway stuff that like, ah, it doesn't, I, I don't wanna press publish on this.

Lianna : It's not the funny stuff that I delete, like, or the things that I think are funny. If I, if I tweet a joke that doesn't really do anything, and it's like,

all right,

Brian: Mm-Hmm.

Lianna : oh, well. But if I tweet something and later I'm like, like a person will pop into my head and like, what would that person think of this? And I respect their opinion, or I don't wanna, you know, start shit.

So that's when I delete things. But I try not to, but

I, I.

Brian: And with podcasting too, I, I often just forget that people are listening to this. I just , you know, that, that's sort of what I love about podcasting is just talking to people and having a good conversation. And then it happens to be like good content, if you will. I. But like on, on my Bootstrapped Web con podcast where me and Jordan are essentially having like a therapy session on air , like every week it's like, you know, we, we publish it and then the next day I'm like, oh shit, what did I say on that yesterday?

like,

Lianna : I often feel that way when I get off stage. Like I [00:16:00] blacked out and made a bunch of jokes about like,

my mom,

you know, and then like, haha, your mom. And I'm like, oh,

what did I say?

Lianna's comedic inspiration
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Brian: That's hilarious. . What are you into these days? Comedy wise or, or anything else? Like, I, you know, we'll, we'll get into the, into the work stuff here in a bit, but like, what are you, what are you kind of a fan of right now?

Lianna : What am I watching and listening to? I always like blank when people ask me this question. I can tell you a couple specials that have really stuck with me. One is Elijah, Eliza Schlesinger. She's very prolific. I can't remember which special this was, but she's really good with like, physical comedy and she's got a couple characters that she plays with voices and she'll like, use the whole stage, use her body. And I, I'm, I tend to do stuff like that too, like I'll just lapse into a character. So I love that she's turned it into part of her act.

Brian: Cool.

Lianna : Yeah. John Lenney's, newest, special Baby Jay.

Brian: Yeah. Was that the one from like a year ago or so, or,

Lianna : I think so.

Brian: super, recent?

Lianna : It's, it's about him,

Brian: With [00:17:00] with like, like his drug rehab stuff

Lianna : Yes. Yeah,

Brian: really good. I, I liked that a lot.

Lianna : So good. Interestingly enough

Brian: was in the audience . Do

Lianna : yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Brian: I I, couldn't tell if that was planted or if that was real, but that was.

That was hilarious.

Lianna : That's how they get you right there. Interestingly, we were watching that and there was one point very near the end where he said something about like, you know, you wanna, you wanna mess with, you wanna cancel John Malaney, I'll kill him. I thought that

Brian: Oh yeah, right. He is like, yeah.

Lianna : to me was like a missed edit, you know?

Brian: Yeah.

Lianna : that the following jokes weren't funny, but that was like the biggest pop and the most iconic way to end the special,

but like. Who, you know, have an opinion on whatever. Just John, me, if you're listening to this,

Brian: Oh yeah, I'm sure he tunes, tunes into all, all my podcasts. Him and, and my mom maybe.

Lianna : Won't make.

Combining comedy with copy
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Brian: So yeah, I mean, like, uh, I don't know where else to go with this. Like, it, it, [00:18:00] it's always kind of cool to see like that, that's why I, I was, I've always been a big fan of what you do like in our industry. 'cause I feel like you. You do such a good job of like bringing your, what you're into and your personal life, your background and comedy and everything.

Like not only into your work, but just like being known in our SaaS, start startup circles, MicroComp Twitter, like, like just always cracking jokes. I guess. That's like your, your, your thing, but like,

Lianna : It is.

Brian: awesome, you know.

Lianna : I think it, I think it came about because of like exhaustion, I feel like in 20 13, 20 14, I was really tired of sort of masking, I guess that's what we call it now. I thought of it as tying apart, you know, I'm the professional at that time, mostly copy editor, not copywriter. And I had to like put this little mask on while I was writing my emails to clients. And so when I started running a comedy company like That gave me permission to just be more informal and have a little more fun and like make jokes. 'cause that's what people expect [00:19:00] and it's such a relief to just be like, I am the same as the brand. I am the brand.

You know, there's not a.

Brian: a period of time, like when you completely separated your interest in comedy from your work as a, as a copy content person? So like, like was there a period of time in your career when like nobody would even know that you were into comedy? Just looking at your work, if you will.

Lianna : Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Most of my work for like the first I don't know, seven years of my business. And then I had one little I think it was monthly gig. I wrote an article on Etsy fashion. enough for like a Hollywood fan site that no longer exists. And that was where I got to start playing with voice. 'cause I was like, I'm just gonna like pick items that I actually like, but sort of poke fun at them, especially in the photo captions. And it was just a joy to write and it was like, wait, can I get more of these projects?[00:20:00]

Brian: I love it.

Lianna : Yeah.

Lianna's journey to "punchline copy"
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Brian: awesome. And then you made like a conscious decision to like start, I guess that is, is that like when you got into like actually calling it like punchline copy and.

Lianna : No, first I burned out completely. I burned out completely and I went to work for one of my clients running a HubSpot agency.

And I was, oh God,

it was

Brian: went, so you were like independent freelance then. Then worked with that company for a while and then went back on your own.

Lianna : Yeah, I lasted like two months before I put my notice in.

And then I get hit back the truck. Yeah. So I stayed another month,

after I got hit by that truck,

Brian: When was, when was this?

Lianna : this?

was December, 2015.

Brian: Okay.

Lianna : I was like, I'm working harder than I ever worked on my own business. For other people, and I hate it. And I hate this job, and I hate my boss. I hate having a boss. And Joanna Weeb was launching her first copywriter mastermind at the time. And I, I told this story so many times, but it sticks with me. It's so iconic. I wrote to her and I was like, Hey, I just took this full-time job, [00:21:00] so I don't know if like, now's the right time. What should I do? And she wrote back, like, I can't tell you if it's the right time, but what I can tell you is that the next time it's gonna be a lot more expensive. I was like, bye.

Brian: take

Lianna : Best decision ever.

Brian: That's great. Her, her stuff is so good. I, I learned so, so many like fundamental tips on copywriting from her. I think she, she had like an early set of eBooks from like, I don't know, 10 years ago that was just like, it, like I still use the, the same

Lianna : Yep.

Brian: that today.

Lianna : I still have them. People I think ask her for them all the time. She's done like limited

rerelease for charity. Yeah. She was one of the people who was like, I was like, oh man, I'm doing comedy and I Really?

wish there was a way to like merge that with my business. And she was like, why not

Brian: Hmm.

Lianna : And.

Brian: that, so was your you know, that that two month stint at the job and then going back on your own, was that sort of like the marker where it's like, no, now I'm gonna do it like my way, if you will.

Lianna : Yeah. [00:22:00] Yeah. I was just like, if I had ever tried this hard with my business, I feel like I could get so much more out of it. And then I was in this mastermind and it was like, okay, I'm sort of secretly getting ready to relaunch my business, and I've put my notice in,

you know? Yeah.

Brian: That's awesome. All right, we're gonna get, we're, we're gonna dive into that story, like from that point forward in the, in the next episode. So, Leanna, this was awesome. Great to, great to chat with you and we'll we'll catch up on the next one.

Lianna : Great questions. Yeah. Thanks,