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Meet Monna

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Monna.

Monna, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana and I relocated to Fort Worth, Texas four years ago with no plan other than pursuing a career in stand up comedy. When lived in Fort Wayne, I drank a lot. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 19 and the medicine that I took worked for a while. When it stopped working, I returned to self-medicating with alcohol.

It’s easy to be an alcoholic when everyone around you is too. We all drank ourselves into a blackout every night; it’s just what we did. I blamed myself for a lot of things that weren’t my fault. The first time I said no and it didn’t matter I was 19 and he was my friend. And then when I was 22, I was branded as a party girl and was stalked and targeted by my new boss. After months of him controlling me by threatening to fire me, I couldn’t take any more. My best friend who I also happened to work with helped me email corporate and returned my badge for me so I’d never have to step foot in the building again. Corporate responded by promptly firing him, though they never responded to me.

A few weeks later, a friend of mine presented me with the opportunity to move to Texas. I had no reason to stay in Indiana, so I immediately agreed. She asked me at 9am and by 7pm I had convinced four other friends to move with me.

I sold and gave away most of the stuff I owned, and shoved the rest into the U-Haul we all split and the back of my ’93 Buick LeSabre. There was a very serious conversation before we started our trip that if one of our cars broke down, then we would just live wherever that was. None of us had any real plan other than to leave in the hope of finding a better life. Two of the guys were my roommates that I’d lived with for almost a year and the other 2 were comedians who also liked the idea of moving to a bigger city.

Moving to Texas was just a Hail Mary that happened to work out.

Great, 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?
I got a job when I first moved and would work overtime because I had no money and then go out at night to do stand up where I would be put on the list dead last. I would work a 12-14 hour shift at the hospital and then grab a cup of ice on my way out of the building (because I needed to shove it down my shirt on the way because my ’93 Buick LeSabre had no AC and I’d had no idea what a Texas Summer was all about) and then head out to open mics in Dallas where I would get put dead last on the list. And then I would get home, sleep for about 3 hours, go to work and then do it all again the next day. I had 13 hours of sleep for the week, for a few weeks in a row until I started to move up on the list.

I’d done my first show at Morty’s Comedy Joint in Indianapolis and then as many gigs and mics that I could in my hometown before I moved but I’d had no idea what it would be like to “pay my dues”.

We’d shoved all 5 of us into a three bedroom house. We all had to pull together change to go to the laundromat together as roommates. It was really tight financially for all of us. At one point I was down to $5.00 in my bank account.

In addition to everything else, it’d become apparent that I’d been in a manic episode for months and I needed to address the state of my mental health. That’s been a constant battle and it always will be- but a lot of things became more manageable after getting myself the proper treatment that I needed.

Building a new life from the ground up was definitely hard, but having friends with me made it possible. It wasn’t a smooth road, but it’s the one that we took and it’s one that I’d take again.

Please tell us about Monna Comedy.
I’m a 26-year-old stand-up comedian with a sharp tongue and quick wit. I was raised Catholic and was taught from a young age to feel guilt as a default reaction to everything- especially anything sexual. I try to address the issues of real life with my humor and I do everything I can to remove that feeling of shame from my audiences, sometimes simply by acknowledging that we all feel shame and no one should feel alone in it. My act covers everything from being confident in yourself to relationships to mental illness.

I run two open mics every week. Mondays I run the “First Draft Comedy Open Mic” at the Tin Panther in Fort Worth, TX at 10pm. This venue is great and allows me to run workshops with comics every week. We open the room up and try to make each other better if you’re in a room where I’m running the mic, it will be one of the most supportive rooms you’ll ever be in. This mic is a unique behind the scenes experience and is great for anyone who’s a fan of comedy and just wants to watch the process.

Tuesdays I run the “STFU Open Mic” at the Twilite Lounge in Fort Worth, TX. This venue does so much to accommodate its performers and it’s a great experience every week. This mic is different because we have featured performers every week who get a longer performance spot than everyone else. These people are working comics and sometimes even touring comics. You can see a lot of great comics for free here on a Tuesday that you’d have to normally pay to see on a weekend.

The success of this open mic has allowed us to branch off into the “STFU Comedy Series” where we bring in some killer comics on a Sunday night for a real show and it’s FREE! The next show 3/31 we’ll be partnering with Vulgarity for Charity.

I’m on the board for Vulgarity for Charity and it’s a very important organization to me. A comedian in our community, Joshua Fischer, took his life last February. Josh was the mastermind behind the name and the idea, though the mission of the charity has changed. His wife Kristina Fischer has been an absolute pillar of strength and made his dream charity a reality. The charity exists to provide financial assistance to those who have been left behind by their loved ones who have checked out early. No one should have to worry about how they’re going to keep the lights on while they’re already grieving.

It fills a need for a group of people that are often forgotten about. There are plenty of resources for mental health services and for suicide prevention- and in a perfect world, we don’t need anything else because these would just work. But the reality is that they don’t always get utilized and they don’t always work. There will always be people who slip through the cracks and there just aren’t enough resources for dealing with the aftermath. Vulgarity for Charity uses comedy as a platform to speak on these issues and promote mental health awareness-because all words have value.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Oh, I don’t know. In the fourth grade, there was a big snowstorm and we were all told that we weren’t allowed to touch the snow at recess.

I threw the first snowball and then never touched the snow again the rest of the time. There was a giant snowball fight and everyone in the school got in trouble except for me. In fact, my teacher lined up everyone in the parking lot and then gave a speech how everyone should be more like me.

It upsets some of my friends to this day, and I still think it’s really funny.
“Why did you do that?” “I don’t know, I got an idea. It just snowballed from there.”

Pricing:

  • I sell merchandise for varying prices related to the product. Ex. Koozies are $5, Pepperspray and T-shirts are $20 each

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Image Credit:
Taylor Higginbotham

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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