Building the road for a generation of female comics: Interviewing Tammy Pescatelli (Part 1 of 4)

Tammy Pescatelli’s career in the comedy business has spanned 25 years. Through all the challenges of balancing family life, with life on the road, producing a Netflix special, and now another new special, she continues to pave the way and break new ground.

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I arrived at the Boca Black Box theater at about 7:20 pm on a Saturday night. The parking lot was filling up. As pulled into a spot I noticed four baby boomers toking on a joint next the their Beamer, obviously priming the pump for a fun night out.

It was dusk as I entered the dark theater. I was greeted by Randy Singer, the owner, who had arranged the interview for me. Tammy hadn’t arrived yet so I sat at a VIP table and waited, going over my notes and checking my texts while I reminisced watching the nostalgic 1980’s music videos of the Eagles, “Hotel California,” and The Police blasting on the large screen behind the stage. The audience was filing in with anticipation, ordering drinks, chatting.

Soon, a soft “inside” voice was talking into my ear, different than the potent voice she uses on stage. “Hi, are you Faith? I’m Tammy,” she said. With that thick wavy black mane, of course I knew it was her. She invited me back to the green room to talk. She knew her way around. She’d played this venue in the past and also the night before.

Tammy was wearing all black: black pants, cute black ankle boots and a sheer black blouse with a black lace bustier underneath. The green room was black and white and not at all glamorous. It was just big enough for the two of us to fit. There was a mirror with not the greatest lighting, a tiny counter, tiny loveseat and a little wooden stump that could be used as a side table or seat.

Out of respect, I offered to sit on the stump and give Tammy the loveseat but she refused. She wanted it the other way around, or she wouldn’t feel comfortable, she said. She was fully made up, relaxed and ready to talk and perform. Seemingly only concerned about her sunglass shaped sunburn around her eyes—she was not a diva; she was humble.

“I’ve been doing comedy for nearly 25 years,” Pescatelli said. “I was really lucky—I’m from Cleveland and I started at an Improv there. The owner of that club owned 23 different clubs, Improvs, and Funny Bones and they’re “A” rooms so I was lucky to start off right away as an emcee, then a feature, to a headliner, and here we are."

Pescatelli originally studied fashion design in college, and got hooked on standup at an open mic night that was sponsored by a radio station. The radio station subsequently hired her to do a morning radio show. She continued perfecting her craft and at the same time doing open mics and soon became the house emcee at a club.

Two and a half years later she left the radio station and began her life’s journey, out on the road. “This is all I’ve ever done.” In the beginning she occasionally worked a couple times a month to get some extra money. “I made Italian cookies called pizzelles and I sold dozens of them to coffee shops—this was before Starbucks, and told them, ‘take these and if you sell them, if you like them, I’ll make them for you.’” At one point she had six or seven coffee shops selling her baked goods and every week she had to bring them more pizzelles. “I’ve always hustled to figure out a way to make it make sense, ‘cause in the beginning it doesn’t make sense. Once you reach a certain level of success you make money and people go ‘that’s ridiculous, that kind of money!’ and then you go, ‘but no, I’m making up for the money I didn’t make in the first ten years of my career!’”

She recalls how she used to love that people just thought she was funny, but she said what she likes best about standup has changed over the years. “Now I like to give people 45 minutes to an hour to put down their problems and just laugh.”

(More to Come…)