Tammy Pescatelli

Comedienne/Actress Tammy Pescatelli is a three-time Addie Award winner and two-time Cleo nominee. She's performed in comedy clubs all over the USA and is arguably one of the hardest working women in comedy today. Tammy has appeared as featured comic on television shows like "Evening at the Improv" and "Court of Common Sense," and was recently named winner of the "Bud Light Ladies of Laughter" Competition.

Advice from the Green Room: How did you figure, 'This is what I want to do?'

Tammy Pescatelli: I always loved stand-up. I mean, I was crazy about stand-up comedy. I remember being a kid I had every Eddie Murphy tape that came out. I had to sneak to buy them because I wasn't allowed to listen to that kind of language in my house. And I had to sneak it and listen to it in the closet. When I was 18 I got a fake ID. And all of my friends would sneak into dance clubs and I would go to comedy clubs. It never dawned on me that I could be a comedian because I didn't see women that I could related to. Not that there weren't women that were funny. Roseanne. Ellen. Rita Rudner. But none of them were young, or they were talking about their husbands or their kids. Ellen probably wasn't that much older than me - probably only 7 or 8 years - but no one I could relate to. One day I went to a comedy club with my brother. I had just graduated from college. There was this female emcee. She wasn't that good and I told my brother, 'I could do that'. He said, "I'll bet you 50 dollars. There's an open mic night.” So I went home, and I practiced. I did my open mic night and the next week I did it again and they gave me the radio show.

I still didn't know I could do it professionally until I saw Kathleen Madigan. She's really the reason. At that time I was 20 I think she was 24. And she was rolling with the boys, and telling jokes. And even though I'm a girl, I have a great father and brother and I didn't want to male-bash. I didn't want to talk about menstrual cycles. That's what the women were talking about. I wanted to talk about stuff I found funny. And when I saw Kathleen she just rolled and I thought, 'That's what i want to do'. That's how I tried to write my act from that point on...

Advice from the Green Room: What was some of the best advice you've received?

Tammy Pescatelli: One female comic told me to 'go home.' That was the best advice I got because I wanted to shove it in her face. Women have been the worst to me in this business. Some have been the best, and some have been the worst. I was so excited to see her. She was a headliner. She said, "You just graduated with a degree in fashion design?" I said, 'yeah.' She said, “Well that's what you should do. You should go home and do that.” C'mon. I've only been doing comedy six months. What do you want?

Some of the best advice I got was silly things. Brett Butler told me, "Never sleep with a comic." and that was the best advice because [comedy] is a boy's club. People would think that if i slept with them, and I made it, then people would think I slept my way there.

Don't drinks out of the coffee mugs in hotels because the cleaning ladies wipe the toilets, then they wipe the mugs with the same towel. Mark Curry told me this, and Bill Cosby told him this: Don't let cleaning ladies in your hotels because they think that you're rich because you're a comedian - even when you're not making any money. And they will likely take stuff because they think you're rich and you can replace it.

Festivals

Montreal changed my career. Out of Montreal I found an agent and a manager and really made my presence known in comedy because I had just been a road comic working, working, working. I had just moved to LA a year before so no one really knew me. So it was really good and for me it made a great start to the industry.

Material Girl

Try anything. Try everything. There are only so many thoughts in the world. And we're looking at the third generation of stand-up comedians. You have to figure out who you are. Ultimately, if you think I’m funny or if you think I’m not funny - what ever the case may be - I finish my show and people leave the room. And if someone came up to them and said, "What do you think Tammy Pescatelli thinks of this?" they should know. Because my opinion should be that strong - and hopefully make them laugh in between.

Write something that's so uniquely personal to you. There are going to be some things that are typical, but you can know when people steal because all you have to do is listen to their act. "Does that stuff blend with their other material?" If you write something unique to you, you're less likely to have it lifted by someone else.

I had a joke stolen and they did it on the Tonight Show. Years later I told Jay Leno about it. He told me 'someone is going to steal your stuff. But you're a comedian, you'll write another.' The good news was, I now already had a joke that was on the Tonight Show! Now all I needed to do was write about 17 more Tonight Show-worthy jokes. I could do it. By happenstance, my first TV appearance was the Tonight Show.

Friendly Competition

The beauty of comedy is that when other comics are doing well, it only helps you. Who cares if they laugh at Larry The Cable Guy or Dane Cook? Maybe it will make them want to come to a show and see you?