Reader of the Week: Lane Moore

Comedian, obituary writer, and former sex-toy web site staff member

By Kirsten Kilponen
Published: June 22nd, 2009 | 12:00am

Not many of you VZ readers out there could put video game developer, production company worker, nanny, record store employee, obituary writer, sex-toy website staff member, and comedian on your resume. That is, unless you’re this week’s ROTW, Lane Moore. Yup, this 22-year-old from Los Angeles has done some interesting things to put the (vegan) food on the table. And lucky for you, our interview with her reads just as colorful as her life. Read the juicy details below about how she got into comedy, what she hates about the biz, and about where she likes to eat, have fun, and people watch in LA.

How did you get into performing comedy?

My Sunday school teacher noticed I had a knack for telling stories to our class, so she wound up giving me 10 minutes at the top of each class to do so. As I got older and dorkier, my sense of humor became a coping mechanism to deal with a lot of really difficult shifts in my life. Then when I moved to Los Angeles, I was strongly encouraged to try stand-up, which went amazingly well, and from there I realized it was what I'd been unknowingly preparing for my whole life.

Who influences you the most when it comes to comedy?

Dorothy Parker is huge for me and Tina Fey, obviously. Janeane Garofalo and Bill Hicks were complete idols of mine when I started getting into comedy as a teenager. I see a lot of those people in what I do now, especially Janeane.

What do you like the least about the biz?

You really have to sell yourself, constantly. You have to go up to people and give them a loud, verbal advertisement so they know who you are and what you can do. I have always detested the idea of doing that. And there's no denying you have to yell much louder as a woman, because they automatically discount you a lot of the time. I kind of like that — I get to be a surprise!

Do you have any jokes you could tell us?

I don't tell standard format jokes, so that's a tough one. A lot of my material is either something nonsensical and/or horrible that happened to me and presented in a way that either sees the infinite humor in it, or allows the audience to question things that happen to us all the time that are not normal.

Being a comedian can be tough on the pocket book, what do you do to pay the bills?

I've written obituaries and wedding announcements for a newspaper, worked at an internet sex toy website [and] at a record store, developed video games, nannied, worked in production and casting — basically anything that would pay my rent and put some cheap vegan food in my mouth.

Where do you like to eat, have fun, and people watch in LA?

I hope to have a better list when I get to NYC, but in LA, the most fun I had was walking around the city with a few close friends and making each other laugh. We'd add onto each other's jokes and stories and it's wonderfully inspiring. You don't need to walk more than a block to have a soda thrown at you see a man sunbathing naked near your workplace. I live in Hollywood and that makes people watching easy as pie.

When does having a sense of humor come in handy the most?

It comes in handy when everything is relentlessly awful. Comedy and tragedy really have never been separate in my mind. I’ve always been very sensitive to how people are beneath how they present themselves. I think I feel if I could make people laugh and make them feel a little bit better, then I have a purpose. I can change things in my little way.

What is your favorite thing of all time?

Music. I will always want someone to sing to, sing with, or dance with. That's when I'm happiest. That and Harold and Maude.

Any last words for our readers?

Support alternative female comedians. I think a lot of women resent being pigeonholed as being obsessed with men and shoes. Good comedians are a bit like going to a sketchy Goodwill store. There are some real gems in there that will make you glad you sifted through the shirts that, for some reason, had a lot of blood stains on them.

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http://www.myspace.com/lanemoorecomedy