Vulture: This Week in True Crime Podcasts

This Week in True-Crime Podcasts: Murdered Grateful Dead Fans. Plus, the urban legend of the “Bunny Man.”

The true-crime podcast universe is ever expanding. We’re here to make it a bit smaller and a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows, and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the noteworthy and the exceptional. Each week, our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists will pick their favorites.

Are you seeking something spooky but you’re a bit of a scaredy-cat? Then, you’ll want to hop down the rabbit hole with Dallas-based comedians Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney as they unravel the urban legend of The Bunny Man. In 1970s, Fairfax, Virginia, victims reported a menacing man wearing a rabbit mask and wielding a hatchet. According to these reports, this curious critter was quite territorial, threatening violence and smashing windshields to scare off trespassers. From there, the legend of the Bunny Man has grown, spawning wild theories, a macabre tourist trap, and a string of slasher movies. With giggles and jibes, the ladies of Sinisterhood separate fact from fiction to uncover the true horror of this mysterious masked man. —Kristy Puchko

Read the full article here.

Vulture: This Week in Comedy Podcasts

Sinisterhood - The Bunny Man

Sinisterhood sees Dallas, Texas-based comedians Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney chat about a different true crime, cult, or creepy topic each episode. “Why are bunnies so freaky?” ask the hosts this week before considering the source of the spooky rabbit, from the animal’s feet to the film Donnie Darko. It’s a humorous and slightly scary introduction to the legend of the Bunny Man, “a deranged, ax-wielding figure dressed in a white bunny suit that disembowels those that dare trespass near the eerie Colchester bridge” in Fairfax County, Virginia. Filled with research and interspersed with reminiscing between two longtime friends, Sinisterhood strikes the perfect balance as an amusing history-horror hybrid as the hosts joke about the terrifying tales they share. Following the legend from start to finish, Wallace and McKinney begin with the origin before attempting to uncover the truth of the Bunny Man. After tracing numerous news stories that rely heavily on bunny puns (“bunny chops”), the hosts weigh in on whether this story is fact or fiction. Either way, they make the frightening funny. 

by Becca James

Read the full article on Vulture here.

SMU Law: Alumna Heather McKinney receives the Equal Justice Works Fellowship

Read the full article at SMU here.

Congratulations to Heather McKinney, class of 2015, for receiving the Equal Justice Works Fellowship. She will work at Legal Aid of North West Texas for the next two years to address the gap in civil legal services for victims of elder abuse and exploitation, with a special emphasis on serving rural communities.

The Elder Justice Program has placed 22 Fellows across the country at legal services organizations for a two-year term, where they work with victims of elder abuse and exploitation to enforce their rights and address wide-ranging civil legal issues, such as financial exploitation, housing, protection orders, guardianship, and public benefits, and make referrals to other supportive services.

Heather McKinney Fellowship Information

Sponsored by: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime
Service Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Issue Area: Elder Abuse
Fellowship Class Year: 2020
Program: Elder Justice Program

The Fellowship

The primary issues of focus her fellowship will be physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial exploitation, multiple forms of abuse, cognitive impairment, and physical disability. Heather’s project will create an organized, community-based response aimed at protecting the elder population from scams, exploitation, and other legal issues facing that community.
Heather’s advocacy interest in protecting the elder population springs from her personal, familial experience assisting older family members as well as from her prior career experience. Heather began her professional career advising clients as an Investment Advisor, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Lindus Advisors, Inc. where she saw firsthand the devastating impact of financial exploitation when the firm assisted senior clients in recovering after victimization. Heather also worked as a solo practicing attorney, providing legal hospice services to seniors and terminally ill clients.
She then worked as a private equity associate at Weil, Gotshal and Manges, where she had the opportunity to work with the firm’s impressive roster of pro bono clients. That rewarding experience led her to now make it her career’s mission to provide high-quality legal services to low-income individuals in the vulnerable senior population.

The Project

Heather’s project is designed to provide high-quality legal representation to victims of elder abuse and exploitation; enforce victims’ rights; address wide-ranging civil legal issues such as financial exploitation, housing, protection orders, guardianship, and public benefits; and make referrals to other supportive services.

She will also be conducting community education and outreach to foster an organized, community-based response to instances of senior abuse and exploitation. If you or your organization could benefit from a presentation on any aspect of recovery from senior abuse or exploitation, please reach out to Heather at mckinneyh@lanwt.org.

Read more about Heather McKinney.

Read more about the Class of 2020 Equal Justice Works Elder Justice Program.

Women's Health: 22 Best True Crime Podcasts Of 2020 That Will Keep You On The Edge Of Your Seat

Just try not to get too wrapped up in the drama.

BY LINDSAY GELLER AND MADELINE HOWARD

SEP 2, 2020

Sinisterhood

Produced by Dallas comedians Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney, this podcast is a deeply-researched discussion of America’s spookiest stories. Christie does research, maps out timelines, and offers historical context for fans, while Heather (who has a day job as a lawyer) breaks down the legal jargon and geeks out about the Fourth Amendment, the part of the Constitution that covers search warrants and suspect rights in criminal investigations.

Read the article on Women’s Health here.

Marie Claire: True Crime Podcasts We've Been Hooked On This Year

True Crime Podcasts We've Been Hooked On This Year

Seriously, you need to keep up with these.

By Bianca Rodriguez and Kayleigh Roberts

Aug 27, 2020

'Sinisterhood'

Best friends and improv queens from Dallas, Christie Wallace, and Heather McKinney, chat all things sinister in this funny and well-researched podcast. McKinney is a corporate lawyer, so her small blurbs of background legal information are totally helpful when it comes to understanding a case. Not all episodes cover murder mysteries despite the title; some of their best ones highlight the theory of the Mandela Effect to the Kennedy Family Curse.

Read the full list here.

Meet Heather McKinney of Sinisterhood in East Dallas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather McKinney.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Heather. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have been writing and performing comedy for over 12 years, both in Dallas and Chicago. I grew up in Mesquite and went to undergrad in Chicago where I fell in love with comedy and began performing professionally. In 2011, I moved back to Dallas to attend law school and have now been practicing law for the past four years. When I found Dallas Comedy House in 2016, it reignited my love for comedy and performing. That is where I started back with improv but have now branched out to storytelling and stand up.

Christie Wallace and I met at Dallas Comedy House and discovered we had a mutual love for true crime. In addition to discussing the more macabre things in life, we also just made each other laugh. Turning on mics and pressing record seemed like the natural next step. Plus, she brings in a unique perspective with her degree in psychology and her experience as a new mom. That along with my background as a lawyer made us feel like we had something unique to add to the comedy podcast landscape. That’s how Sinisterhood was born. We discuss crimes, cults, and supernatural occurrences, but always derive humor from our own lives while respecting the stories we tell.

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?
We had some early issues with show formatting and audio quality. The more research we did helped us discover what worked and what didn’t. Now, we record in a dedicated studio room and have Christie’s husband, Tommy, edit our shows. After doing this many episodes, we have found our groove and our unique voices.

Please tell us about Sinisterhood – what should we know?
Sinisterhood is not your average true crime podcast. We bring extensive research, legal expertise, vulnerability and a lot of humor to the otherwise dark subject matter. Some of our best episodes are where we dig into the justice system and how certain information is portrayed in the media versus the courtroom. We take any chance we get to explain legal concepts or rules of evidence because sometimes a trial comes down to the exclusion of some piece of evidence or a technicality. That type of nuance doesn’t always get picked up in the headlines, so we like to give all sides of a story. We hit the iTunes Top 10 Comedy Podcast list in November 2018, just six months after starting and hit 1,000,000 downloads when the show was less than 10 months old. We have also garnered some local and national press, from Good Morning Texas to Vulture and the AV Club. I am incredibly proud of those milestones, but I am most proud of how we interact with our listeners through social media and the Patreon platform.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
The chemistry between my co-host, Christie, and I is the key to our success. I am so grateful to do this show with someone like Christie. She has an eye for great storytelling and always makes sure anything that goes into the show is completely source-checked. My personality can tend toward off-the-rails and off-topic, so it is awesome having her to keep me on track. Her personality and the humor she brings to the show always makes me laugh, so I know the listeners love it, too. We laugh the most at each other and genuinely love spending time together. I think that joy comes through when you listen.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://sinisterhood.com

• Email: sinisterhoodpodcast@gmail.com

• Instagram: @sinisterhoodpod

• Facebook: http://facebook.com/sinisterhood

• Twitter: @sinisterhoodpod

• Other: http://heathervstheworld.com
  

Read the full article on Voyage Dallas.

Vulture: This Week in True-Crime Podcasts

The Rock Star and the Nanny, Sinisterhood, and More

The true-crime podcast universe is ever-expanding. We’re here to make it a bit smaller and a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows, and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the noteworthy and the exceptional. Each week, our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists will pick their favorites. 

Sinisterhood, “The New Jersey Watcher”

So a couple buys an enormous house in a wealthy suburb in New Jersey and before they even move in, they get a letter from someone referring to themselves as the Watcher, referencing specific details about their lives, including their children, who they call “the young blood.” Because they’re not sure what to make of it at first, they ask the previous owners if this situation seems familiar to them, and sure enough, they also got a letter from this character the day before they moved out. And then there’s another letter, and another, and another.

The Watcher case is deranged in a very particular way, so you need the right guides to walk you through it, and Sinisterhood’s hosts, Heather McKinney and Christie Wallace, are those guides. They will give you the details you need, but also ask important questions like, “What if you read the letters in a not-scary voice? They sound great!,” and understand that the baby doll–style shirts of the ’90s were no one’s friend. You will be entranced by how weird this story is, confounded by the many theories people have about it (including the one where the letter writer is the ghost of John List) and perhaps, at the end of the episode, inexplicably craving Costco meatballs. —Chanel Dubofsky

Read the full article here.

Make Way for the Dallas Comedy Festival

Dallas Comedy House is going forward with a focus on podcasts. Not only will local podcast Sinisterhood be cutting two episodes of their hit show (it was recently featured in the AVClub), but the co-headliners are Daniel Van Kirk and Rory Scovel doing their show Pen Pals (description on their website: "Every week, your pen pals Rory Scovel and Daniel Van Kirk respond to the letters you send, from free will to freeway etiquette, from mental health to manatees. It’s your podcast, we just talk about it.") The new Dallas Comedy House space will have a podcast studio, to boot.

Read the full article here.

AV Club: 15 podcasts to listen to this week

Sinisterhood: The Momo Challenge

True love is someone who will look at some nasty shit for you. And because Dallas comedians Heather McKinney and Christie Wallis care so much, they’ll look at Momo. Mother Bird (by Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa) and its journey to becoming the sinister, Kim Kardashian–bothering suicide game “the Momo challenge” is the creepy subject of this episode. Momo is a woman with long black hair, protuberant eyes, and, according to McKinney and Wallis, looks like Shelley Duvall from The Shining or the thing from Beetlejuice if it had a baby with the girl from The Ring. Momo has allegedly been telling teenagers to kill themselves via Peppa Pig videos, Fortnight, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, but somehow no one seems to have any receipts. If you love blacking out in a Reddit hole or have spent time on Rotten.com, this close read of Momo’s nasty alleged behaviors, and her similarity to past internet hoaxes, is disturbingly amusing and off-kilter. [Morgan McNaught]

Read the full article on The AV Club.

Dallas Comedy Festival to Celebrate Decade of Laughs

March 1, 2019  Bianca R. Montes

The Dallas Comedy Festival is celebrating a decade of shows, workshops, and bringing comedy from across the country to Dallas with a jam-packed lineup – the biggest yet. Nationally recognized podcasts “PenPals” and Dallas-based podcast “Sinisterhood” are on the lineup this year.

DCF is expanding its programming and venues this year to reach a larger audience and share the love of the comedic arts with more Dallasites in the Deep Ellum neighborhood its called home for the past 10 years.

The 2019 festival, beginning March 28, will have 213 performers, 46 shows, panels, and podcasts, and five stages.

“We’re thrilled to add two more stages right here in Deep Ellum, making it a really fun, walkable festival for the neighborhood,” said executive producer, Maggie Rieth Austin. “The added bonus of more local and national industry attending the festival and participating in panels will be great exposure for comedians.”

Multiple headliners will round out the programming for DCF, including Comic-to-watch Daniel Van Kirk, Jaime Moyer, and Maribeth Monroe. National industry panels and a two industry-specific stand-up and character showcases will be new additions to the programming.

Other festival highlights include a JELL-O shot tasting on opening night; a local talent day featuring working stand-ups, improvisers, and comedic actors and writers from across the state, as well as a few who are coming home to Texas – Dallas’ comedy sweetheart Paul Varghese will close out the night.

In their hit two-person improv show, Jaime Moyer (Second City, Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls) and Maribeth Monroe (The Good Place, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Workaholics) will be closing out the festival with shows on Friday and Saturday night.

Festival badges and individual tickets are now on sale. For more complete festival lineup, sponsors and partners, visit dallascomedyfestival.com.

Read the full article here.

Talking to Ourselves: Dallas' Best Dallas-Focused Podcast

These Dallas-Fort Worth Podcasts Mostly Turn The Lens On Their Hometown, And They Provide Entertainment And Insight Alike In The Process.

Alex Gaskin | March 1, 2019

If you’re in search of a new podcast to play on your morning commute, you have plenty to choose from: According to a Forbes article from May 2018, more than half a million podcasts currently exist for your listening pleasure.

But while the volume of podcasts available online can make it hard for a particular show to stand apart, allow us a suggestion: Subscribe to your city’s local podcasts, and especially the locally focused ones.

We promise, there’s real joy to be found in consuming this medium all farm-to-table-like. Listening to local podcasts can often feel like listening in on a really great bar conversation (and sometimes it’s exactly that), and if you’re not familiar with the subject matter, chances are it’s still something you should probably know about.

The podcasts fitting that bill here in Dallas-Fort Worth can be edifying, esoteric and even morbid, while also offering perspective and insight onto the region at large through their looks at Dallas’ history, culture and people. Better yet, these shows’ hosts aren’t just engaged with what’s happening in and around the city; they’re also mostly eager to put a spotlight on others doing important or unusual things for the community.

Like the region itself, the podcast topics that concern our Metroplex’s podcast pool are varied, and reflect a range of interests and perspectives. And if you’re looking to burnish your civic pride during your next long drive, prolonged housecleaning session or, well, whatever it is you do while listening to podcasts, these shows have you covered.

Sinisterhood

The Sinisterhood podcast has a zeal for the morbid and the mysterious. Co-hosts Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney move freely in search of the frankly alarming number of macabre rumors and vicious crimes that have shaken communities far and wide. Yes, that’s right: Their topics can stray far from home. But Sinisterhood merits inclusion here on the strength of two episodes it shared at the end of November last year that brought them back to Dallas to break down the many components of the JFK assassination. While there’s no shortage of coverage concerning the shooting of President Kennedy, a study through the Sinisterhood lens clarifies its role in our local (and national) lore — as well as our local (and national) history.

Read the full article here.

Dallas Comedy Festival threatens to turn Deep Ellum into a laugh riot

Sinisterhood doesn't look so sinister. Photo courtesy of DCF

By Teresa Gubbins | Feb 28, 2019, 9:35 am

There'll be laughs ringing all through Deep Ellum with the return of the annual Dallas Comedy Festival, positioned to be bigger than ever, with an increase not only in programming, IE more performers, but also in the number of venues.

This year's version will feature 213 performers, 46 shows/panels/podcasts, and five stages. "We're adding two more stages in Deep Ellum, to make it a fun, walkable festival for the neighborhood," says executive producer Maggie Rieth Austin.

The festival is affiliated with Dallas Comedy House, the comedy showcase located in Deep Ellum. It began when they moved into their Commerce Street location, which had a small bar and a theater seating about 70 people.

"This year, we're partnering with Independent Bar & Kitchen, Off The Record, Deep Ellum Art Co, and Dallas Comedy House to put up shows across the neighborhood and bring in more performers/workshops/members of the entertainment industry," Austin says. "We're excited to activate more parts of the Deep Ellum neighborhood, and have our attendees experience great comedy and some of the best shops and restaurants Dallas has to offer right here in Deep Ellum."

Bringing in more industry folk to participate in panels ultimately provides bigger exposure for the participating comedians, which helps up the game on who they can attract.

This year's headliners include Daniel Van Kirk, Jaime Moyer, and Maribeth Monroe.

The bill also includes nationally recognized podcasts "PenPals" and Dallas-based podcast Sinisterhood, and two industry-specific stand up and character showcases.

Festival badges are on sale now. Individual show tickets go on sale March 1 at 10 am.

Other highlights include:

J-E-L-L-O! Per tradition, the Dallas Comedy Festival is a Jell-O shot lovers dream. Kicking off the festival on Tuesday night is a Jell-O shot tasting of this year’s festival flavors. It’s not a comedy show, but everyone can agree that Jell-O shots are the funniest of liquor drinks.

Texas night: Wednesday is Texas Night, with all comedians having roots in Texas. The night features working stand-ups, improvisers, and comedic actors and writers from across the state, as well as a few who are coming home to Texas for DCF. Paul Varghese headlines the 10:30 stand-up show closing out the night.

Sinisterhood Live Podcast recording: If you like murder and creepy things, you may have already heard of the Sinisterhood podcast, featuring local comedians Christie Wallace and Heather McKinney. These conspiracy-theory-loving funny ladies will be doing a live recording of their hit podcast on Saturday evening.

Panels. An industry panel afternoon features entertainment industry professionals from across the country and will highlight ways to break into the industry for those starting out. On Saturday, a look into the DFW entertainment industry will be discussed with local agents, filmmakers, and working comedians, followed by a panel about building your personal brand.

86 the Bar: The Dallas Comedy House will be moving in early April to a new home across the parking lot. The bar at DCH needs to be cleared out as much as possible by the end of Saturday, the last night of shows at their current location.

Jaime Moyer & Maribeth Monroe: In their hit two-person improv show, Jaime Moyer (Second City, Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls) and Maribeth Monroe (The Good Place, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Workaholics) will be closing out the festival with shows on Friday and Saturday night. Opening act is improv troupe The Late ‘90s from iO Chicago, returning for their third festival.

Hangover brunch: Join festival attendees and performers at brunch at Independent Bar & Kitchen. Badge holders receive 10 percent their bill.

Read full article at Culture Map.

Meet the East Dallas comedians whose true-crime podcast cracked the iTunes’ top 10

By Jaime Dunaway | February 28th, 2019

Sinisterhood: “The first episode we just hit record and didn’t really know we were having a podcast.”

Neighbor Heather McKinney is a self-proclaimed fraidy cat. But she thinks it makes total sense to co-host a podcast dedicated to the cults and crimes that keep her up at night. 

Photo by Danny Fulgencio.

“It helps quell the fear,” she says. “If I know as much as possible about the subject, then it can’t hurt me. If my goal is to not get killed by a serial killer, then I just have to know everything I can about them to achieve my goal.”

Serial killers, unsolved murders and conspiracy theories are just a few of the subjects McKinney explores with co-host Christie Wallace on their podcast “Sinisterhood.” The two East Dallas comedians have privately probed their fascination with the paranormal since meeting at the Dallas Comedy House about three years ago. They began sharing their passion publicly when they created their first episode in May 2018.

“Initially, we just started talking about our mutual interests,” McKinney says. “The first episode we just hit record and didn’t really know we were having a podcast. We did it for fun. Once we realized people were listening, we figured we might as well have a good product.”

Fans of the podcast include Karen Kilgariff, a comedian who co-hosts the weekly true-crime show “My Favorite Murder.” When Kilgariff promoted the podcast to her 120,000 Instagram followers, “Sinisterhood” downloads soared.

In November, “Sinisterhood” cracked iTunes’ list of top 100 podcasts and jumped to No. 9 on the top 10 podcasts for comedy, alongside Joe Rogan and Anna Farris. The show has since been downloaded 200,000 times and gained thousands of followers from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands and more.

“I started crying when we hit the top 10,” Wallace says. “We spend all week researching, and it’s really validating to know all these people were liking what we were doing.”

Although researching and recording the podcast is time consuming, the two haven’t given up their other hobbies. They’re scheduled to perform at the Dallas Comedy Festival in March. Nor have they quit their day jobs. Wallace is a stay-at-home mom, and McKinney is a lawyer.

Their goal is to make producing “Sinisterhood” a full-time job with merchandise and, perhaps, a tour. But for now, the two are focused on making each installment educational and entertaining.

Wallace is responsible for researching each of the weekly episodes, which feature topics such as the John F. Kennedy assassination and the Golden State Killer. McKinney breaks down the legal aspects of a case. That legal knowledge helps “Sinisterhood” stand out among other true-crime related entertainment, such as “My Favorite Murder” and “Last Podcast on the Left,” Wallace says.

“We get so many comments from listeners saying they appreciate someone who can finally explain something in an understandable and relatable way,” she says. “If you can learn something and laugh, that’s a good way to spend an hour.”

Sinister on Stage:

Hosts Heather McKinney and Christie Wallace will perform a live recording of their podcast at the Dallas Comedy Festival.

When: 6 p.m. March 30

Where: Dallas Comedy House, 3025 Main St.

Cost: $12-$18

More info: 

sinisterhood.com

Artwork by High Proof Designs // Photo by Danny Fulgencio.

Read the full article on the Lakewood Advocate here.

Texas Bar Journal: Off the Cuff (Profile)

IN RECESS

Off the Cuff

A DALLAS ATTORNEY TAKES THE STAGE AS AN IMPROV COMEDY ACTOR.

Heather McKinney, a graduate of the Dallas Comedy House’s improv program, is a fixture with her troupes, Watermelon and AH, OK. Photograph courtesy of Heather Mckinney.

Interview by Eric Quitugua

On one stage, Heather McKinney is a Dallas-based wealth management attorney. On another, she’s an improv actor and comedy writer. Influenced by In Living Color, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and Mr. Show—sketch comedies where the absurd meets a sane world—the lawyer-turned-actor is a fixture at the Dallas Comedy House, where she works with her troupes, Watermelon and AH, OK.

What came first? Was it your interest in law or was it your interest in comedy?
I worked part time as a file clerk at a law firm in New Orleans and, fun fact, the case manager did standup. It was so funny to me because this guy was a professional person but then also got to do comedy. He gave me a lot of leeway. If I was filing a deposition, he would say, “Read it and you can see why I ask the questions I ask and think off the cuff.” I definitely always wanted to go to law school and be an attorney, but when living in Chicago later on, I loved performing too. If there’s a way I can do both, I’ll find it.

How did you link up with the Comedy House?
The first improv class I took was in 2007 at a place called ComedySportz, which was originally in the West End. Then in undergrad in Chicago, I was part of an independent troupe, and we performed all over. I came back to Dallas and went to Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Once I finished school and studying for the bar, I realized that I really missed doing improv. At SMU, I did the Law Follies sketch show and I loved that, but coming out of the routine of working, I needed a good hobby. Some people play tennis. I missed doing comedy. So I looked up DCH’s classes, signed up, and then have been into it ever since.

Do you have any recurring themes, characters, or sketches in your writing?
I just started a troupe called AH, OK. Our show is called Good Morning, Tonight! and is improvised in a morning show format like Good Morning Texas or Good Morning America. We use suggestions from the audience and focus on their hometown and its quirks. For Watermelon, our shows naturally tend toward the absurd in the third beat. During one show, in the first beat, I shushed my scene partner and said, “Honey, you are talking during this play. We waited weeks for these tickets and you are making us look bad!” My stage partner said, “Well, I waited this long to see Seussical the Musical, I don’t care what anyone thinks!” From there, all the other cast members walked out into the audience and started heckling us onstage as if they were Seussical the Musical characters—and they did it in rhyme. By the end of the show, we were feuding and insulting each other in rhyming song.

How do you know something you write will be funny to an audience?
When I think of something that makes me laugh, I put it down on paper. Then I read it back to myself to see if it still works. There’s nothing like being in a collaborative work environment such as with the improv troupe Watermelon that I perform with. The idea in improv is “yes and____?” You say an idea and someone says, “Oh, yeah, and what if this happened?” And then someone else says, “Oh and then this happens next.” You get to this absurd, great, brilliant place that sitting alone in your house you would never get to. So I think that no matter what for writing, whether it’s prose or sketch, it’s always great to have a writing group.

How much do nerves factor in when you’re onstage?
If you told me that I could go onstage and perform in front of 200 people or I could go into a room and network with 20 people, I would say, “Oh, put me onstage. Where’s the microphone?” I’m more comfortable onstage. But for the members of the troupe that get nervous, when we’re backstage together, we do a warmup where we all get our minds on the same page. And the very last thing at DCH, before you go out onstage and break the curtain, you take your palm and tap it on everyone’s shoulder and say, “I’ve got your back.” I know when I’m in a scene, if it’s not going well, that someone, out of nine of us, will take me out of the scene to make it better or cut the scene off because it’s gone where it needs to go. I don’t get nervous because I know the other Watermelons have my back.

How do you balance comedy and your law career?
I just forsake all things for comedy. No, I’m just kidding. Luckily, the most time-intensive thing was taking the classes because they were on Thursdays from 6:30 to 9:30. My boss is understanding. I’m in-house, so I don’t have billable hours, and we work with the stock market. So 3 o’clock to 5:30 is more administrative work. I can come in early and do it or stay late on other days and do it.

Do you have any long-term plans with comedy?
We’re submitting AH, OK to festivals. I’m excited about Good Morning, Tonight! We just had a four-week run of shows and it went so well. Hopefully, we’re getting on the schedule for this next round at Dallas Comedy House and will see if we can expand into YouTube or short films. We just need to submit to comedy festivals, travel a bit, and get our name out there.TBJ

Read full article at Texas Bar Journal