Meet Hilarious Stand-up Comedian Megan Stalter!

I recently saw Megan at the Comedians You Should Know show and I knew we had to interview her! She is an incredibly funny and unique standup-comedian who also produces her own shows. She talks about her comedy experience and gives some advice to other comedians among other things.

Women in Comedy: Tell us a little about your background in comedy.

Megan Stalter: So I have truly always been a theater crazed attention seeking maniac. As a kid I would audition for every play, record my own movies, and make my family sit through taped interviews about Christmas for no reason. In 2013, I started performing improv at this little theater and was eventually asked to leave because I was being too jokey on stage. I was also taking classes from a different teacher on the side that left the theatre which I was asked to stop doing but wouldn’t. When I got kicked out of the theater, my mom emailed them saying, “Me and my friends will NOT be coming back to this theater due to you guys firing RISING STAR Megan Stalter.” They knew it was her because it was sent only minutes after them asking me to step down from the improvised Shakespeare show I was in. At the same time, I just started stand-up and was crazy about it so just months after, I decided to move to Chicago where I started doing sketch as well. The guy that runs that improv theater said I could never make a career out of stand-up and it was a waste of time but my mom’s never emailed a club so I feel like it’s already going much better.

Women In Comedy: What is your favorite part of stand-up comedy?

Megan Stalter: Stand-up is really wild to me because it’s all you up there. You write it all and perform it all and you don’t have to negotiate any of it with anyone else. You’re creating everything about it and you can try things up there that maybe you wouldn’t be able to convince a whole sketch group to try.

Women In Comedy: What has been your biggest challenge?

Megan Stalter: I think my biggest challenge is balancing everything that I want to do. I love to produce shows and sometimes the balance between running shows and working on new material for yourself can be hard but I love it all. The thing I’m learning is that when you have amazing co-producers everything always works out. Shows have to stay fun even when producing is stressful -- otherwise what’s the point!

Women In Comedy: How do you you develop your new material?

Megan Stalter: Usually it starts with something weird I want to try out on stage even if it’s just me wanting to use a balloon drop in the middle of my set. After the strange thing, I can be like ok how do I justify doing that? Once I have it sketched it out I just try it at one of my own shows. I also love to do stuff with tech so sometimes it just starts with me making a weird sound mix. I also write a lot of sketch with my best friend and writing partner Paula Skaggs. She’s the only one who I can write out loud with; that kinda thing is super hard for me. I usually have to be alone but we can get together and bounce things off each other I wouldn’t normally think of. My advice for developing new material is to have a Paula. Everyone’s better for having a Paula.

Women In Comedy: Tell us a bit about the different characters you play in your act.

Megan Stalter: Usually when I do stand-up, I’m just one deranged version of myself. I would describe the character as someone who’s both the most confident and nervous person that you will ever meet all at once.

Women In Comedy: You included lot of other women in your performance at Comedians You Should Know -- what made you do that?

Megan Stalter: Men still get the majority of comedy bookings; it has gotten better but it’s still bad. Even though we are progressing, you still see shows with only one female producer. You still have to do shows where you’re the only girl on the lineup. I thought by saying in the middle of my set that I brought my own all women lineup in case I did bad/misrepresented women on an all male lineup was a cheeky way of saying that even one of the best shows in the city needs to book more women.

Women In Comedy: Do you have advice for people starting out in comedy?

Megan Stalter: My advice to everyone is to find your humans. Comedy is hard and life is hard and it’s not so scary when you are with people you can create with and truly love. I wouldn’t be anywhere without the women who have rescued me in this city. I have a very close group of talented, incredible girls who stand by me in everything I do and I stand for them. They are more important than any show. The same people who give me huge comedy opportunities have let me cry on their shoulders over boy/girl problems that’s just the way it worked out. I’m really really lucky and for anyone who starts comedy I hope you find your family. Oh that and don’t do just improv. Improv is the most fun tool but it won’t give you all you deserve I promise.

Women In Comedy: What are your goals for the future?

Megan Stalter: I have a lot of goals for comedy and they are pretty big and delusional. Right now, I’m focusing on the shows that I run and being the best producer and comic I can be. At the end of last year, I was added to the cast of The Lincoln Lodge and it’s been one of my favorite things to happen to me. I also bleed for my show FreakFest which I run with some of my favorite people ever on Friday nights at 10pm at Under the Gun (right after Lincoln Lodge at 8pm -- wow is this a show plug, I’m getting embarrassed.) We get to do these really big strange ideas at FreakFest and it kinda blows me away that a show can be all the things that I love. I also want to keep making these very strange big sketch shows with my Paula. I think my ultimate goal is to make other people feel free on stage. I also want to be a huge strange alt icon who lives on a huge boat full of money. Just kidding, I hate boats.