Somebody Get a Wig

Somebody Get a Wig

 
To work in comedy is many things:
exciting
hilarious
exhilarating
difficult
good wigs
late nights
loud bars
free beers
never stable
full of gossip

endless hours writing sketches
only to have them forgotten
minutes spent on a throwaway joke
that lands much better

Ceramic sculpture by Teresa Bergen showing a juggling unicyclist on stage.

Juggling Unicyclist by Teresa Bergen

being gutted to hear
I didn’t get it
again
and again
and again

casting calls
my self esteem’s worst nightmare
plain,
not too pretty,
bigger,
wouldn’t turn a head
someone reads these
and thinks of me

Sometimes
feeling like a fraud
what’s even funny
how do I write

When it works
incredible
adrenaline rush
laughter from the audience
“That was amazing!”
“Thanks for coming”
calm on the outside
bursting with excitement inside

I’m meant to do this
I know it

moments later
feeling awkward
out of place
debit card is declined
drunk woman in the bathroom
she likes my lipstick
she shit talks my show to her friend

take the bus home
replay the show in my head
fall asleep
wake up the next day
start the cycle all over again

part of something
a community
a troupe
understood
frustrated beyond belief

tender moments
warm embraces
tears
surprising friendships
kindness
laughter
support
and howling at the moon
 

Listen to Samantha Adams read “Somebody Get a Wig.”

About Samantha Adams

Samantha Adams is an actor, writer, and comedian originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Prior to the pandemic she spent five years writing and performing weekly as part of Toronto’s Canadian Comedy Award winning sketch troupe The Sketchersons. Her writing explores mundane, everyday moments and transforms them into the absurd. Some of her past work includes playing a human-sized thumb and eating a full roast chicken on stage. Currently, she is shifting focus to personal essays and poetry as the stages of Toronto remain closed. When not performing, Samantha teaches in the sketch-writing program at The Second City, Toronto.

About Teresa Bergen

Ceramic artist Teresa Bergen lives outside the seaside town of Chester, Nova Scotia, where she maintains a studio practice interrupted and inspired by her three riotous children, a banjo-playing husband and a fluctuating flock of chickens. Born in Vancouver, she studied art at Langara College and completed a BFA at NSCAD University in Halifax. She was artist in residence at Klondike Institute of Art and Culture in Dawson City, Yukon, recipient of the NS Arts and Culture Creation Grant and Art Bank Purchase Program. Major commissions include a piece for Cinderella’s Castle at a Tokyo theme park and The Founder’s Tree 2010. Her work is exhibited across North America, is included in the permanent collection of the AGNS, and in private collections around the world. teresabergenceramics.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *