Getting Started

If I were writing my bio for a play program, it would begin as follows: "Sylvana Budesheim is not funny." It's true: not funny at all.

It all started when I tried to tell my friends stories that I thought were funny, and was met with the blank stare that indicated I shouldn't be done speaking. So I gave up on trying to be funny.. or I thought I had. In college, I met a guy who laughed at everything I said-- not because he was making fun of me, or trying to get in my pants. He thought I was genuinely funny. 'Maybe there's hope for this storyteller yet,' I thought to myself.

Remember that scene in Office Space? Not the one where they demolish the printer (although I'm sure it feels good to be a gangster). The one where the main character is asked what he would do if he didn't have to work. My answer is Stand-Up Comedy. If I could, I'd be on stage telling stories to uproarious laughter. This is where I remind you of the "not-funny" part of my personality. Snappy comebacks, scathing "after-the-fact" commentary-- that I can do. But it blows me away that people can formulate funny scenarios and offer unprompted commentary. As much as I consider it, there's no way I could do what they do.

You know what they say: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." My adaptation is "Those who can, joke; those who can't, discuss." I hope you'll read what I have to say. Maybe I'll come out of this a little funnier-- okay, a little funny. Maybe you will, too.