How Art is Born Season 3

Episode 8

TRANSCRIPT

 

R. Alan Brooks (00:00:00):

So, uh, you guys know, uh, I host this podcast day, it's the producer. Now we're coming into an episode with, uh, Dyketopia. Kate and Lee. Uh, they're comedy duo. They do a lot of cool events. Um, really, it is a really fun episode. Yeah.

Dele Johnson (00:00:15):

I enjoyed being the quote unquote fly on the wall <laugh> for, for this conversation. Um, plenty of times where I had to resist laughing out loud.

R. Alan Brooks (00:00:24):

Right. Speaking of which, there was a fly in the studio and it did not bother us during the interview, which I'm very glad about. Yes. Uh, you know, it's interesting thing people talk about, like, uh, comedy comes from sadness, and so like sometimes when you have like a serious conversation with a comedian, it can be like, not bad, just not, they're not, it's not always what you

Dele Johnson (00:00:46):

Expect. Maybe a little more somber. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:00:48):

Yeah. Yeah. And in this case, um, with both of them, we were able to talk about very serious and vulnerable things, but it was still like high energy and a lot of fun. I feel like I learned a lot about their perspective as, uh, queer women in comedy, uh, like their journeys in engaging with comedy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, just a lot of like cool kind of gems in this interview.

Dele Johnson (00:01:09):

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And, uh, we're both really excited to engage more with dystopia and go see a live show. Yeah, definitely. Um, and so hopefully you all will have that same reaction too, uh, and wanna follow along on their journey and, uh, have some laughs along the way.

R. Alan Brooks (00:01:27):

Yeah. So, uh, yeah, you guys check it out now. I, I always try to remind, remind you to, uh, I and subscribe and please leave reviews. That helps us a lot. Share the show with other people. Um, I'm proud of the interviews we do here. Daley does a lot of hard work editing them, uh, which saves me the work of editing them. So, uh, you know, like, uh, we would like more people to engage, so however you could support it, I appreciate it.

Dele Johnson (00:01:55):

Awesome. Well, should we send 'em onto to the show?

R. Alan Brooks (00:01:57):

Yeah. Go check it out.

(00:02:03):

Welcome to How Art Is Born, a podcast from the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, about the origins of artists and their creative and artistic practices. I'm your host, R. Alan Brooks, artist, writer, and professor. Today I'm joined by standup comedians, co-creators and co-hosts of the delightfully unhinged queer comedy variety show Dyketopia, Kate McLachlan and Lee Robinson. Say hello.

Lee Robinson (00:02:24):

Hi. Thank you so much for having us.

R. Alan Brooks (00:02:25):

Thank you guys.

Kate McLachlan (00:02:26):

Hello.

R. Alan Brooks (00:02:28):

Cool. Okay, so to start off, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Lee Robinson (00:02:33):

Yeah. So my name is Lee Robinson. Um, I'm a standup comedian here in Denver. And do you want us to talk about the show? Should we dive into the show? Or should we do like a little personal

R. Alan Brooks (00:02:43):

Well, uh, yeah, the personal thing, and then we'll get more into like what you're doing now and how it evolved.

Lee Robinson (00:02:48):

The Personal

R. Alan Brooks (00:02:48):

I know. Vulnerable. Remember. I

Lee Robinson (00:02:50):

Love it. Getting Vuln. <laugh>. Yeah. No, I, um, been doing standup. I started in improv comedy. Okay. And you did too, right? No, just kidding. You took some improv classes, right?

R. Alan Brooks (00:03:04):

The look of disdain.

Lee Robinson (00:03:05):

It's so, standup comics have this weird like improv verse standup.

R. Alan Brooks (00:03:09):

Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:03:10):

Don't need to get into it. <laugh>. We do a ton of improv in our show. That's like a half of our show is all improvised. So anyway, so I started in improv comedy, gotten a standup after, um, I was actually in a standup group with Ed Bell, another comedian. Okay. And he was like, you have to do, you have to do standup. Like, nice stop doing improv. But he was actively doing it. Um, so probably like four or five years ago. Hmm. And yeah, run a couple shows and obviously do Opia with Kate and yeah, it's a lot of fun.

R. Alan Brooks (00:03:41):

Alright, Kate, a little of who you are.

Kate McLachlan (00:03:43):

Um, hi, I am Kate. I'm a standup comedian here in Denver. And let's see, I started doing standup about six years ago in Durango, Colorado. My hometown a teeny little place and yeah, I, I'd wanted to do standup like my whole life. Huh. It was my dream as a kid was to be on SNL.

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:08):

Oh, wow.

Kate McLachlan (00:04:08):

That was like my, I had like an SNL themed birthday when I was

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:11):

How old?

Kate McLachlan (00:04:11):

10 and stuff.

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:12):

Wow.

Kate McLachlan (00:04:14):

Yeah. It was cute. It was really cute.

Lee Robinson (00:04:15):

That's so cute

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:15):

Wait, okay. I, I want to know like, what, what is, what makes an SNL themed birthday? Like

Kate McLachlan (00:04:20):

I said, so <laugh>,

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:23):

Was it, was it like hats and like, or were, were there, were there comedy performances? Did you guys do sketches?

Kate McLachlan (00:04:29):

No. Oh man. You would've been an amazing party planner. No, none of these things. I think we just had it on in the background, like, um, best of videos and stuff. Oh, that's cool. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:41):

That's really cool.

Kate McLachlan (00:04:42):

Yeah, it was really, it was a treat.

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:44):

Um, okay, so you're from Durango? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, where are you from originally?

Lee Robinson (00:04:48):

I am originally from the great state of Missouri. <laugh>.

R. Alan Brooks (00:04:52):

Yeah? Nice.

Lee Robinson (00:04:53):

Something no one's ever said before. <laugh>. Technically I was born in Kentucky and then my parents hopped over to southeast Missouri.

Kate McLachlan (00:05:01):

Tell 'em your town's claim to fame.

Lee Robinson (00:05:03):

Oh, which one? The, the one, the Cape Gerardo. There's a lot of claims, many claims to fame. It's, it's like, what's, is it, what's, is it notoriety? Sure. I, I associate notoriety with like, Paris Hilton, like fun, but like negative. Like, we don't have any, so, so I'm from a town called Cape Gerardo. Okay. Uh, where the river turns a thousand tails. 'cause we're right on the Mississippi River. Um, but yeah, Rush Limbaugh's from There, that kind of really gives you the whole vibe of Yeah. But I've been in Denver coming up on eight years. Okay. Which is wild. Nice, wild. Um, so Denver is kind of hometown now.

R. Alan Brooks (00:05:42):

Okay. So I, I'm interested in, um, so you had that ss n l party early on. Like what for you guys was the first sort of connection to comedy? Like, do you remember a time when it was like you saw it and you're like, this is something I wanna do? Or that it spoke to you really strongly?

Kate McLachlan (00:06:00):

I have a family that really likes comedy. Okay. Uh, my mom was an English teacher and is very witty. Yeah. And loves puns. Nice. And yeah, <laugh> and, uh, really enjoyed like Tom Swifties and those kinds of things. And then my dad is funny in the sense that he would just say whatever was on his mind mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And some of the times it was insane <laugh>. And so the both, but I was really influenced by both of them. And then we also, like, you know, my dad showed me the jerk when I was like really young. Yeah. And he loved Steve Martin and we loved Saturday Night Live. And I think I've always just been very intrigued by like, comedy and show business and

R. Alan Brooks (00:06:48):

So, yeah. So it was kind of like ever present in your, in your

Kate McLachlan (00:06:51):

Life, ever present. Okay.

Lee Robinson (00:06:53):

Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:06:53):

And then Lee, you mentioned that, uh, before we started talk, before we started recording, you mentioned that you had a lot of your childhood was divorced from pop culture. Oh yeah. So how did you connect with comedy?

Lee Robinson (00:07:04):

I'm just listening to what you just said, Kate. I'm like, God, that sounds so fun. That sounds So

R. Alan Brooks (00:07:09):

The SNL Party, or just everything?

Lee Robinson (00:07:11):

SNL part-- No, just like, yeah. Just like having a kind of familial culture of fun. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> fun. Not really the vibes in my hometown. So yeah. I, I wouldn't say I had, honestly, and this is like really deeply embarrassing, but like, probably my first like con concept of comedy was like The Lonely Island, like Andy Sandberg.

Kate McLachlan (00:07:34):

That's not embarrassing.

R. Alan Brooks (00:07:34):

Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:07:35):

Well, it's just like pretty recent, you know, know what I mean?

R. Alan Brooks (00:07:37):

This's a safe space here.

Kate McLachlan (00:07:38):

I love The Lonely Island.

Lee Robinson (00:07:39):

Thank no, I love them. Like I love that the album they put out, I love their stuff on. I love, I did love SNL um, but I wasn't like an avid fan or anything. Right. Um, but I never really, like, I was always just like funny. Like I was voted class clown

R. Alan Brooks (00:07:54):

Nice.

Lee Robinson (00:07:54):

As was my old Yeah. Heck yeah. As was my older brother and my younger brother, I have three. Wow. Three three of us. And my mom was so pissed. She was like,

R. Alan Brooks (00:08:02):

Like family championships.

Lee Robinson (00:08:03):

Yeah. And it was just like, what my mom? Yeah. Yeah. Like, we did it, but my mom didn't want that to, she was like, what about most likely to succeed? And I'm like, well, you know, this is kind of what happens. Right. Um, so yeah, I wouldn't say I really had like any like, early inspiration or anything like that.

R. Alan Brooks (00:08:22):

Okay so you were sort of like the cut up in school, stuff like that. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:08:26):

Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:08:26):

And um, so this is you sort of generating your own comedy before you're connecting to the like, pop culture comedy. Right. So it was just sort of innate would you would say that was

Lee Robinson (00:08:37):

Yeah I guess it would have had to be.

R. Alan Brooks (00:08:38):

Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:08:39):

Because otherwise, like, I mean, I've always been goofy and like, kind of like, you know, always dressing up for like class days and stuff. Like the mo Yeah, yeah. You know, it's like goofy, goofy people. Right. Yeah. Um, and I do wish I had like, some more, more to pop culture. 'cause then it's, I think it's easier to find your voice that way if you're like, oh, I'm kind of like this and a little bit like that. Um, but we're still here.

R. Alan Brooks (00:09:03):

Yeah. You're here. So it's really interesting, um, to me to hear like, I guess as a corollary to that first question, that the second part of it would be, what is the point that you decided that you wanted to make comedy, that you wanted to like, pursue it as an art for yourselves?

Kate McLachlan (00:09:21):

Um, I, I always was writing little plays. Hmm. And in fifth grade for the talent show, I wrote a musical about Elian Gonzalez. Oh, do you remember him? Oh,

Lee Robinson (00:09:35):

What

Kate McLachlan (00:09:36):

We're a news family? <laugh> <laugh>. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:09:39):

I'm interested to hear how this led to comedy. But,

Kate McLachlan (00:09:42):

Uh, so it was a lot. It was like other Broadway songs changed to the lyrics to be about Elian Gonzalez. Okay. I worked really hard on it. I went to Catholic school and I did it at auditions. And they were like, absolutely not. And I was like, okay, okay. But, uh, wow. So I think, and then when I got past high school and into adulthood, I always had the desire for it, but had extreme anxiety about like, and I think what a lot of it was was finding my voice. Like I knew I wanted to be funny. I knew I wanted to entertain. Yeah. I didn't know how to do it. And so I just ended up being like the jokester in any friend group or workplace for a long time.

R. Alan Brooks (00:10:33):

That's interesting. Okay. So you had that desire, but you didn't have a, a venue like a to express it. An outlet.

Lee Robinson (00:10:40):

Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:10:41):

Yeah. Or even, um, I think I stopped myself from taking it. Like I, it was such a vulnerable thing. Right. You have to really put yourself out there Right. When you perform on stage compared to just like, joking around with friends. It was a level that I wasn't confident enough for. Mm-hmm.

R. Alan Brooks (00:11:00):

I said this, uh, when I, in season one when I interviewed Janae Burress, uh, that like, I think comedy's the only kind of entertainment where an audience is daring you to make them react in a certain way. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So like, like if an, if I'm doing music or something, the audience is into it or they're not, you know. But with comedy it's like, make me laugh. <laugh>. Yeah. And so I think there's a different level of challenge and opposition that you as comedians have to face.

Kate McLachlan (00:11:27):

Yeah. Some, some people are more in like, I don't know, especially some venues in town, like at Comedy Works, people go there expecting to have a good time. Yeah. So in some ways I feel like it's easier to get them to laugh because they like are expecting that. But there are audiences out there where you have to prove something to them. Right. And it's very annoying. <laugh>, are you here

Lee Robinson (00:11:51):

To have fun? Why are you here? Yeah. It it's like you paid to be here right now, you're like making me sing for my supper. It's very strange. <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah.

[AD] R. Alan Brooks (00:12:03):

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R. Alan Brooks (00:12:29):

Okay. Well, so Lee, uh, how about for you, uh, was there a clear time where you were like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to create comedy for people?

Lee Robinson (00:12:40):

I mean, let's see. I did my first like improv jam when I was 25. I was with my best friend in Austin. He was like, let's do this thing. Knowing that, like, I did deeply want to do that. Yeah. But I was so scared. And so we did it and it was just like, it was like at a big time for like self-growth and like, I was reading like a million self-help books and I was like, yeah. I knew I had an out, like, I knew I had a craving for more like a yearning for more. Um, 'cause I wasn't really happy like doing my day job. And I was like, I have stuff to say. I have things, you know, I have, um, this ability. But I was like super scared. Right. It's just scary. It is scary to put yourself out there.

(00:13:21):

Right. And so I did that jam and then I came home and I signed up for an improv class. And <laugh>. Then when I, the improv class, it was like the cheapest one available in town. Right. It was at some guy's apartment. <laugh>, the guy who owns Chaos Bloom now. Okay. So improv. It's so improv. And I show up and, um, he's, he, he's not there. So we're all standing outside of his apartment, <laugh> being like, did we just get scammed out of a hundred bucks? Right. Like, what the heck? Anyways, that led, that was the great start to my career in improv. And then I was in like three groups, had a lot of fun. Like I really loved it. But again, it was like that, that like nagging thing of like, I have more to say. Huh. Yeah. And it's improv is so fun.

(00:14:05):

Like, I would say like 5% of the time when you're on stage, it's magical. The other 95% doing or watching is garbage. Yeah. Yeah. And I was just like, I <laugh>, we've all been there, we've all been supported. A friend. I've been that person. People have come to support and it's just so bad. And I was like, I was just like, ed ga gave me that push. Yeah. And was like, you really have to, to do standup. Like there's not a career ladder in improv in Denver, like in other places perhaps, but you're also doing sketch or you're doing character monologue, like standup and, and that just doesn't really exist here. And so he pushed me into that and it's just super addictive. Like, once you kind of start, it's like, oh my God

R. Alan Brooks (00:14:48):

Okay. So this is interesting. So for you both at that point where you're deciding I'm gonna do it, is it like you write like a type five or something and hit open mics? Like what's the next step?

Kate McLachlan (00:14:59):

So for most people yes. Uhhuh that I, um, I've never been good at like internet research. Uh, and I have had a long history of clicking on the first link to something and then like <laugh>,

R. Alan Brooks (00:15:15):

SS N f Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:15:16):

Yeah. And then just be like, mission accomplished. Right. And so I finally, I was like 24 I think, and I finally like couldn't take it anymore. I was like, I'm gonna do standup. Yeah. Well, and I'm sure you experience too, you joke your whole life. Oh yeah. And people are like, you're so funny. You should do standup. Right. So I'm psyching myself up. I'm gonna do it. I click on, I just type in open mic Denver. And the first thing I click on is a showcase at the improv. Oh,

R. Alan Brooks (00:15:47):

What <laugh>,

Kate McLachlan (00:15:49):

Which was like, like Steve Agyei was on the showcase and like other comics that I'd recognized, but I don't remember their name. Like, it was like a big deal. I don't know why they had a signup format. <laugh>. Right. What? But I emailed them and they were like, congratulations, you made the showcase

R. Alan Brooks (00:16:07):

<laugh>. Okay. Now this is interesting. So I want to like, so did, did did you have to send samples of you just No. You just applied.

Kate McLachlan (00:16:16):

I, yeah. I wish I remembered more about the pro. It was about 10 years ago. So Sir

R. Alan Brooks (00:16:21):

Or Madam, that was very funny. Or whatever. <laugh>. Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:16:23):

I, I don't think I had to have like, references or anything. 'cause normally a showcase you'd send a tape or something mm-hmm. <affirmative> and maybe they just needed butts in seats. I'm really not sure. That's interesting. Because they, but I really just did not understand anything about it. And I invited everyone I've ever met <laugh>, my ex-boyfriend brought his parents. Wow. Like all my coworkers, that's, oh my God, my family drove in from Durango. Wow. Six hour drive. Everybody was like, this is Kate's break. It was so, okay. And I think that I had a delusional energy that was really leading the charge on it. You know what I mean? Like, it's, this is not, I did the improv. This is not on them. This is on

R. Alan Brooks (00:17:07):

Me. Do you think it was your break?

Kate McLachlan (00:17:08):

I don't know what I thought. Yeah. I, 'cause I didn't know anything about how it went. Yeah. So I was like, yeah, this, you know, stranger things have happened.

R. Alan Brooks (00:17:16):

Like, how much time between when you got accepted and when it was happening? Like

Kate McLachlan (00:17:20):

A week

R. Alan Brooks (00:17:21):

<laugh>. So you had a week to prepare.

Kate McLachlan (00:17:24):

Yeah. So anything I, I had, I mean, like, you know, before you start, I had jokes and like, I'm pretty story based. Okay. So I had a lot of stories. Yeah. And I remember practicing and I was like, I'm gonna practice six minutes of material. So in case I talk quickly, it'll be a tied five <laugh>.

(00:17:45):

And I got there and I instantly was like, what the fuck have I done <laugh>? And like everything got so real and I got there like two and a half hours early <laugh>, which now I'd say I'm a pretty solid 15 before I'm asked to be there. That's like Yeah. What I do. So I got there two hours. I could have seen a movie across the street in the time that I got there. <laugh>. And I spoke so quickly that I was up there for three minutes. Wow. And I just put the mic back and ran off the stage. <laugh> and the host literally was like, that was it.

R. Alan Brooks (00:18:24):

Okay.

Kate McLachlan (00:18:26):

And I, I, I didn't do standup for like four years after that. I don't even count that as my like start. I mean, obviously it was an epic start.

R. Alan Brooks (00:18:37):

But Did it feel like, did it feel bad to you?

Kate McLachlan (00:18:39):

It felt so bad. Yeah. Like I, I was talking so quickly. The lights were so bright.

R. Alan Brooks (00:18:48):

How was the audience?

Kate McLachlan (00:18:51):

I, oh, the only thing I remember is seeing my one friend laugh and I instantly was like, she's just doing this made me feel better. Like, I don't, you know, we'll never know for sure if she was actually laughing or not because of my mind.

Lee Robinson (00:19:05):

<laugh> the thing that you have to understand is that usually everyone gets their first time right at an open mic in a basement. Right. Where 10 people are not paying attention.

R. Alan Brooks (00:19:15):

Denver,

Lee Robinson (00:19:15):

It's the Denver improv is, I

R. Alan Brooks (00:19:18):

Like the Squire or something. Right.

Lee Robinson (00:19:20):

I'm shook

Kate McLachlan (00:19:21):

like it's a huge deal.

Lee Robinson (00:19:22):

Like that is <laugh>.

R. Alan Brooks (00:19:24):

That's crazy.

Lee Robinson (00:19:24):

Then you invite . I mean, I think that's really wholesome. I think that's so cute. Like, definitely delusional D de lulu

Kate McLachlan (00:19:31):

Delusional.

Lee Robinson (00:19:32):

Like Yeah. I just can't believe that was your fir that would, I'm surprised you ever got back up and did stand up. That's

R. Alan Brooks (00:19:39):

Pretty, pretty epic.

Kate McLachlan (00:19:40):

Well, I didn't, and then I went to a few other open mics, like a few mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But no one really talked to me, which is now I completely understand. Yeah. Because there are new open mic people every day. Right. Unless you're like the mayor of photographic memory, you're not gonna possibly like get everyone down. Um, and I didn't really do it again until I went to Durango. 'cause it was like Newtown clean slate.

R. Alan Brooks (00:20:06):

Okay. So now you're like 28?

Kate McLachlan (00:20:08):

Yeah, I'm 28.

R. Alan Brooks (00:20:09):

Okay. And so you do it in Durango?

Kate McLachlan (00:20:11):

I do it in Durango. Um, oh my God, that's such good math. I just turned 28. You're so cool. <laugh>. But, uh, nothing gay people are really bad at math. So I,

R. Alan Brooks (00:20:23):

Uh, I'll let that be your quote. Not mine. <laugh>,

Kate McLachlan (00:20:26):

You should name the episode that and then with your picture. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:20:30):

<laugh>. Right.

Kate McLachlan (00:20:32):

That should be your merch if you don't have any

R. Alan Brooks (00:20:35):

<laugh>. Okay. So how did this, was it just a reg, like did you get encouraged to do it? Was it just you just decided

Kate McLachlan (00:20:40):

To cry it again? Yeah. I mean, I was still cracking a bunch of jokes. Yeah. And like, you know, everyone I had ever met was at that first show. So they were asking follow up questions. Right. Like, are you doing this again? Like, it's been four years. What's going on? It's been four years. Like you seem still very interested in it. Right. And my just, my anxiety was just off the charts. I could not, nothing about it brought me joy. Right. At all. And open mics, you wait there for like three hours sometimes to go up there for three minutes. Right. Audiences aren't listening. Yeah. I had no, I, but Durango had a really different scene because it's such a small town that, because there just aren't a lot of things to do. Shows or mics are like an actual event that people come to. So there were audience members. That's fair. And there were only like 10 other comics in town. Huh. So we all got, they noticed that someone knew was there because like, obviously Yeah. And it was just a much more wholesome scene. And I couldn't, I couldn't do comedy today. If I hadn't gone home, I would've just,

R. Alan Brooks (00:21:44):

Wow.

Kate McLachlan (00:21:45):

Yeah. That's really interesting. Not because it was a, and then for years no one was invited to my shows. Yeah. Like,

R. Alan Brooks (00:21:51):

'cause you felt like you had to.

Kate McLachlan (00:21:52):

Yeah. Well, I was like, I'm not doing that again. <laugh>, I've been once bitten twice shy. Right. So yeah, about two years ago people were allowed to like, come see me. And now it's like, it's sweet when friends come.

R. Alan Brooks (00:22:05):

That's really cool.

Kate McLachlan (00:22:06):

It's to the point where friends like don't care as much with every show. I mean, which I think is okay. Yeah. It's happening regularly enough that they're like, we'll get you next time.

R. Alan Brooks (00:22:14):

Okay. So it's, it's cool to hear the journey. All right. So then we Yeah. Like what was the first significant one like for you? Um,

Lee Robinson (00:22:21):

Well what's funny is the first open mic I went to Janae Burress hosted that

R. Alan Brooks (00:22:24):

Oh, nice.

Lee Robinson (00:22:24):

At the Black Buzzard fun in the basement of Oscar Blues. And it was the same thing. It was just like, no one wants to be friends with me. <laugh>. Yeah. It's so, like, it's a really weird isolating experience starting out. Um, I remember Sarah Benson, I don't know if you ever knew her, she lives in like Vermont now, but I saw her and she was so sweet. And I just walked up to her, and I think this wasn't even at the first mic, but one of the first mics. I saw her coming around regularly and I was like, hi, you wanna be my friend? You're

Kate McLachlan (00:22:55):

So brave, dude.

Lee Robinson (00:22:56):

Well, I was just like, it was just like a m it's a miserable experience. Yeah. And like, especially when no one knows you. Like they just, there's so many people. So you just, it's a total grind. And like, that was like 2019. Wow. Maybe I started at Yeah. Like the very end of 2018 into 2019. And then I just like hid it. Like there, I worked in Boulder and so like, there would be nights where I would like, do Mike in Boulder, go up to Longmont and then drive down to Denver and do three in a night. And now I could never imagine doing that like Huh.

R. Alan Brooks (00:23:29):

Robin Williams used to do.

Lee Robinson (00:23:30):

Yeah. As Min, if I could get three shows in a night. Absolutely. Right. But a three page spot. Three page spot. Oh, honey. Um, but yeah, things have just changed after the, the pandemic, I think. Like, there's so many less mics. Oh. Um, and like, just things kind of have shifted in the scene. That makes sense. Yeah. Like different comics left or quit. Lot of new comics come into the scene. Kate came here. Yeah. That was amazing. Um, so yeah, I mean, I, I, whenever I did that first mic with Janae, I mean, I was just like, this is horrible. I didn't tell anyone. Um, well, okay,

R. Alan Brooks (00:24:10):

So what was horrible? Like, was it the same kind of thing? Did, so, okay. You wrote your material for it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, was it five minutes for you or It was

Lee Robinson (00:24:18):

Like, uh, like four or five minutes. Okay. Yeah. I had been writing a lot.

R. Alan Brooks (00:24:23):

And so you get up and like, what is it? You

Lee Robinson (00:24:25):

Just bomb. You just bomb. You know, you Right. Like, you were talking about music and, and yeah. People are really, you can kind of see, see people visually like, vibing to your music or maybe they're kind of not as engaged. Right. When you don't hear people laughing, you know, it's your fault <laugh>, you know, you know, I mean, not always. 'cause again, at open mics, it's, it's attended a lot of the times in Denver by other comedians who are up. I was gonna

R. Alan Brooks (00:24:52):

Ask, like, are other comedians supportive? Or are they, like, do they laugh at each other's jokes? Is the It

Lee Robinson (00:24:57):

Depends. It depends.

Kate McLachlan (00:24:59):

Yeah. I am, I need to be better at this in the sense that when it's my friends on stage, I pay attention and laugh. Yeah. Or if it's someone I've seen before that I like know, they're gonna be funny. Um, there are a few mics in town where it's like pretty standard practice for like the one at the Skylark. Everybody listens to each other. Yeah. Wow. And it's really nice. Yeah. Like it's, but other places, like the Irish Rover, no. <laugh>. I'm not, I'm not inside hearing other people. Right. Like

Lee Robinson (00:25:33):

Yeah. It's just like <laugh>. It's, each mic has its own culture and you kind of know. Okay. Yeah. Like, like there's a, a mic at blush and blue and like, I always do Well there <laugh> nice because there's a, there's at least one table of lesbians there. Yeah. And then the comics are polite. Like there's a, like, there's a lot of politeness. But like, when I started, that was my memory. I mean, I was also so bad at comedy. So like, I wouldn't have wanted to laugh at my shit. Either's

R. Alan Brooks (00:26:00):

Good when they see no one's good. So, uh, Nate Lund.

Kate McLachlan (00:26:04):

Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:26:05):

Yes.

R. Alan Brooks (00:26:05):

So I went to, uh, I went to a comedy open mic to watch maybe like seven years ago. And he was hosting it, I think it was like Three Kings or one of those places. Oh

Lee Robinson (00:26:13):

Yeah, yeah. On Broadway. That's no longer open, right?

R. Alan Brooks (00:26:15):

Yes. Yeah. It is something else now. It's, but he did a hq. Yeah. So he did a, uh, he did a thing in, he was hosting. He did a thing in between. He was like, here's my impression of a, a first time comedian. And I can't do justice to what he did. But basically it was all like the most, uh, sort of like vulgar, offensive jokes. <laugh>. Yeah. And then he was like, why isn't anybody laughing? <laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:26:35):

Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:26:35):

And I've noticed that when a like a, like a first time or like ear inexperienced comedian is bombing, they become more offensive to try to like provoke some kind of reaction. Oh, yes. Yes. So I wanna know like, what it was like, like did you guys fall into that at all? Or like, no. You know, just what it was like in that environment. You know

Lee Robinson (00:26:55):

For me, I, I struggle with that a lot with other people. Like, I, that was actually why it was really hard for me because of just the constant, like now, like, you know, we don't go to Mics as often 'cause we'll be booked on shows Right. The same nights. Um, but like sometimes I'll, even today I'll go to Mics. I'm like, Jesus. Like, you hear slurs and stuff. Yeah. And it's Right.

Kate McLachlan (00:27:19):

It's insane.

Lee Robinson (00:27:20):

It's awful.

R. Alan Brooks (00:27:22):

The only time I've ever heckled was when somebody was doing,

Lee Robinson (00:27:25):

And that's appropriate great time to heckle.

Kate McLachlan (00:27:26):

They likely deserved it.

Lee Robinson (00:27:27):

They definitely deserved it. And that, that was just like, I remember like, not even just people on stage saying unhinged stuff, but like, people coming up to, like, I remember one time in one of my first mics, a guy came up to me and tried to start, this was 2019, tried to start debating me on like, trans athletes getting to play sports.

Kate McLachlan (00:27:45):

Oh good.

Lee Robinson (00:27:46):

And I was just like, leave me alone. So it's just like, it's just kinda like a lot of incel men

R. Alan Brooks (00:27:51):

Right.

Lee Robinson (00:27:51):

Who you'll never see again and will never have a career. You have to like, sit through that. It's just like sludge. It's detritus of the comedy scene. And like those people

R. Alan Brooks (00:28:02):

That's so well said. But Yeah. Yeah. That,

Kate McLachlan (00:28:03):

That's really eloquent. Beautiful.

Lee Robinson (00:28:06):

Yeah. But it's like when you're in that, I don't know if this happened in Durango 'cause it was like such a small scene. Like it was just such a, like, I felt like I had to kind of cocoon myself away.

R. Alan Brooks (00:28:16):

Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:28:16):

And like, because I was just like, these people are awful. I don't know anyone. But like, I have this belief that like, I am funny and my voice does deserve to be on stage.

R. Alan Brooks (00:28:25):

Right.

Lee Robinson (00:28:25):

And that's like part of the seeds of like, wanting to start a show like Dyketopia to create a space for queer comedians.

R. Alan Brooks (00:28:31):

Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:28:31):

And other people who like get shit on constantly by these like straight white men.

R. Alan Brooks (00:28:36):

Right.

Lee Robinson (00:28:36):

Who think they're the next Joe Rogan. It's like, honey, sit down. You're, you're not <laugh>. Sorry. I have a lot of feelings. No,

R. Alan Brooks (00:28:44):

<laugh>. This is, this is actually a perfect segway because uh, I noticed earlier that you said, I feel like I have something to say. So, um, a lot of times when I'm talking to creative people on this podcast, it's the question of do you create art to heal yourself or to say something to the world, or both. And so I'm interested in what place comedy occupies for both of you. Is it to both something to the world that isn't there? Or to help people? Or like, or is it just to heal yourself?

Kate McLachlan (00:29:14):

I think in sharing my point of view, I have healed a lot of myself. Yeah. That it, I think that my first objective is to like, write funny things. Especially because a lot of my jokes are personal stories that having like reclamation over the narrative Yeah. Of like embarrassing or weird things that have happened to me. It's been a very healing thing. So I'd say both. That's dope. Yeah. It's been, it's been really cool. Hmm. Um, to like take moments that were very humiliating and then bring other people joy with them.

[AD] R. Alan Brooks (00:30:04):

MCA Denver at the Holiday theater is a year-round performance and event space that is an extension of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. The holiday is home to a spectrum of creative expression, including original productions, live music, film screenings, artist talks, and serial programming like Mixed Taste and Cinema Azteca, as well as performances and events presented by other cultural organizations. The theater's also available for private rentals. Visit mcadenver.org/holiday-theater to learn more.

Kate McLachlan (00:30:35):

In the process of like, just trying to be silly. I've been able to have more control over the narrative of my life. Yeah. And that's been very powerful. Like, I didn't expect it. 'cause you know, my objective has always been just like, make people laugh. Right. So I don't Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:30:58):

I love your stories. They're so good. Oh,

Kate McLachlan (00:31:00):

That's very nice. I've made a lot of mistakes.

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:03):

<laugh>, <laugh> not to draw from. So

Lee Robinson (00:31:05):

Lots to draw from. That's good. A good repository. <laugh>. Um, let's see. So it's, it's heal yourself versus,

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:16):

Or heal the world Basically. Heal.

Lee Robinson (00:31:17):

Well, <laugh>, I've got a lot of jokes on fisting that I don't think really fit into the, that category.

Kate McLachlan (00:31:22):

Hey, fisting has its place.

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:24):

It heal. Wow. You had to act it out. Nice. I'm sorry for people. Sorry. For people who are just

Lee Robinson (00:31:29):

the folks at home

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:29):

Right. Who are just listening. <laugh>. You might wanna Go to YouTube for that one.

Lee Robinson (00:31:33):

Yeah. Go to the YouTube to see Kate's inaccurate portrayal of fisting <laugh>. It's not, okay, here's my thing. Fisting.

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:40):

It didn't seem very arousing.

Lee Robinson (00:31:41):

Fisting has a branding problem. 'cause you don't punch, but we won't, we don't need to go in deeper. 'cause this is

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:47):

It was a He-Man character. Named Fisto

Lee Robinson (00:31:50):

Fisting.

Kate McLachlan (00:31:50):

Really?

Lee Robinson (00:31:50):

Oh wait, what?

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:52):

Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:31:52):

What does Fisto look like?

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:53):

Yeah. He had a giant metallic fist and it was like masters of the universe His name

Kate McLachlan (00:31:57):

Queer Icon,

R. Alan Brooks (00:31:58):

His name was, his name was Fisto.

Lee Robinson (00:32:00):

We gotta look him up.

R. Alan Brooks (00:32:01):

Yeah. So you're welcome for that

Kate McLachlan (00:32:03):

Fisto sounds awesome. <laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:32:06):

Okay. Back to me. Heal.

R. Alan Brooks (00:32:07):

Yes. Healing right back

Lee Robinson (00:32:09):

To me. Healing the world with comedy like Bo Burnham said. Yeah. He, it's, it's, it's so funny 'cause like Bo Burnham does have that song about healing the world with comedy and, um, I don't know. Like I, I don't like think that my, I I think dystopia can be a really healing place for queer people to come and like laugh because a lot of people have never been to a comedy show, or they have been, and they've had bad experiences. Right. Where, you know, you're the butt of the joke. Right. So I think, you know, not like blow smoke up our own, you know, thing, but like, <laugh>. But like, I, I think that it can be, and like, I love doing, I love doing the show with you and I love that we get to have a space where queer people can have fun and laugh Yeah. And be safe. Um, but I do think it's healed me personally. Oh my God, like so much. Like,

R. Alan Brooks (00:32:59):

That's really dope.

Lee Robinson (00:32:59):

Yeah. It's, it's like a beautiful thing, like community too. The community is healing. You find your voice through comedy. Right. You can like, be comfortable and become like someone you never thought you could be, which is really cool.

R. Alan Brooks (00:33:11):

Yeah. Okay. So I say this as, uh, an outsider, like somebody who's never done standup comedy, but it seems like so much of comedy is about identifying an essential truth, like shining light on the truth that people haven't gotten to. Um, I often say this about art in general, that art takes these intangible things and makes them tangible so that we have a way to confront or find our way through them. So even if you like jokes about fisting, for example, like if that's something that people feel shame about or haven't been able to discuss, the fact that you are able to bring it into like, regular life, real life Yeah. Becomes healing. You know? Yeah. So I, I want to know, uh, is that you're like, when you guys are writing stuff, are you trying to express a truth to yourselves? Are you more just thinking about what's funny?

Lee Robinson (00:33:56):

We're absolutely insane. <laugh> we're we get together. That wasn't one of the choices. We just we're not, there's no, yeah. There's no, like, I mean, I, I I wouldn't say like, we sit down and we're like, how are we gonna have an impact on people? We just, yeah. What do we think is funny? What do, what's the most ridiculous thing we could think of? Like in our last show, we, we partnered with Cheer Colorado Queer Cheerleading Group, and they wrote us a custom chant and they came out, did a full routine. We came out, did like thigh stands with them. Wow. And we were cheer doing a chant about strap ons. They had the, like, they had the s t r. It was, it just, it was insane every time we just, it's really just like, what do we think is funny? Right. And our audience will go along with it a lot of the times.

R. Alan Brooks (00:34:44):

Huh.

Kate McLachlan (00:34:46):

I think to me, a lot of what makes comedy moving is when people are their most, like, not relatable, but themselves. Like that's always comedy writing advice is to make it really specifically about you. And that, that ends up, that's what makes me laugh the most. Like being real. Yeah. Like, uh, do you know John Mullaney? Yeah. Did you see his most recent special about, did you see Baby J I'm just asking everyone in the room for those of you that are, did you but, um,

R. Alan Brooks (00:35:20):

People at home. Have you seen it?

Kate McLachlan (00:35:21):

Yeah. Tell me. <laugh>. And it's all about his like stint in rehab Yeah. And divorce. Wow. And it's so funny, I'm, I'm not making it sound funny, but it was one of the

R. Alan Brooks (00:35:34):

Best, but because it's honest and true. Right.

Kate McLachlan (00:35:35):

It was so honest. It was so true. I That's what everyone loved about Richard Pryor.

R. Alan Brooks (00:35:39):

Oh. Like tick tick nataro. Oh

Kate McLachlan (00:35:41):

Yeah. That's what everyone loves about Tig Nataro. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:35:43):

Did like, did that, uh, routine fi like right after finding out that, uh, like a cancer diagnosis. Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:35:50):

Cancer. But then also she went through a breakup. Yeah. And then she also had some other issue going. Yeah. Yeah. Like all

R. Alan Brooks (00:35:56):

Disasters and went on stage. Yeah. I think that's, but I think the empowering thing for people who are watching or listening is that, oh, I've never had words for this. Oh, somebody else feels this. Somebody else has experienced.

Kate McLachlan (00:36:11):

Yeah. And so it's not, and by speaking about yourself and your experiences, that I think is what is a much more broad access mm-hmm. <affirmative> to people than trying to like please everybody. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:36:27):

'cause like, I lost it. Sorry.

R. Alan Brooks (00:36:30):

That's, that's all right. Well,

Lee Robinson (00:36:31):

I was just gonna agree

R. Alan Brooks (00:36:33):

<laugh>. Well then I wanna say, uh, so you guys, you did standup com comedy on your own for, uh, like a couple years each mm-hmm. <affirmative> should that be Right. And then combined your powers to create dystopia.

Lee Robinson (00:36:45):

Yeah. We,

R. Alan Brooks (00:36:46):

Yeah. So I would love to hear how that came together

Kate McLachlan (00:36:47):

I was like, you seem like a huge fucking idiot. So am I <laugh>. So

R. Alan Brooks (00:36:51):

How

Lee Robinson (00:36:51):

<laugh>, I prefer the term clown.

Kate McLachlan (00:36:54):

Okay. I'm sorry. Yes. I forgot your extensive clown work. I thank

R. Alan Brooks (00:36:58):

You. Uh, how did you guys meet?

Kate McLachlan (00:37:00):

So we met through a friend, uh, Kate Strobel. Hmm. She had us, we all grabbed beers when I first moved to Denver. Okay. 'cause Kate was a friend of mine. And then I told her I was moving to Denver and she wanted to introduce me to other comedians. Nice. Yeah. I'm very thankful. And then, uh, we didn't really hang out or we weren't on any shows together. Then I booked you on a show and then you booked me on a show. Nice. And I had bought this like, gag gift of Barbie tarot cards. Okay. Which I, I don't know anything about tarot. Really? Yes. But I brought them because I knew there'd be other gay people on the show. <laugh>. And that's a big part of the queer community is like tarot and astrology.

R. Alan Brooks (00:37:44):

I was like tarot or Barbie. I didn't know if, but Okay.

Lee Robinson (00:37:47):

Barbie honestly, both.

Kate McLachlan (00:37:48):

Both actually crossover. Nice. Yeah. So I was a little ahead of the time. You could say <laugh>. This was in 2021. And then we were just like joking at the show about if maybe doing a show of doing like fake tarot readings. Yeah. And then, I mean, what, you know, from there more, not you don't know more, but you have more to add.

Lee Robinson (00:38:12):

<laugh> <laugh>, you were there. I wasn't <laugh>.

R. Alan Brooks (00:38:14):

Yeah. Associated.

Lee Robinson (00:38:16):

What were you doing? No, I think we were joking about it. But then you you followed up with me on Facebook Messenger. Nice. Facebook messenger. The follow up. Yeah. And you said, you said something like, we should really do that bad, like bad astrology readings or whatever. And then we just started talking and then like over, I think we just started like kicking it more like at shows and stuff. Yeah. And like at Rita's Law, oh my god. All those Wednesdays, it was this venue that's closed down. Okay. Rest in peace. But there was a week, Kate Strobel, who is now my roommate, um, ran a weekly show there. Okay. So people would just kind of come hang out and stuff. It was like the weekly hangout thing. And, um, we just kept talking and it kind of evolved. And then I quit my job. I got a different job and I had three weeks off in July. And I was like, let's do it. Yeah. Let's just throw it in someone's backyard. Let's just, let's go. Um, and yeah, the rest is history <laugh> as they say.

R. Alan Brooks (00:39:13):

I love this. Okay.

Kate McLachlan (00:39:15):

From the jump, it was really collaborative. Mm-hmm. Um, because it instantly became not a normal comedy show. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:39:23):

Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:39:23):

Um, be like for a normal comedy show, it's like a host comics a headliner. Okay. But we, that wasn't our idea to begin with. So it's kind of been able to go wherever we want it to go. And that's been at times exhausting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But at other times, like really cool

Lee Robinson (00:39:44):

<laugh>,

Kate McLachlan (00:39:44):

We've gotten to do the dumbest things. Like we have a game called Finger It Out <laugh>, where we show closeup of celebrity's hands. Okay. And someone in the audience has to guess

Lee Robinson (00:39:57):

What Celesbian

R. Alan Brooks (00:39:58):

Nice.

Kate McLachlan (00:39:59):

Yeah. What queer Celebrity's hands that are. We have this game that we've done twice now called Battle of the Signs, where we just get one person from each astrological sign to like, compete against each other and like egg tosses and shit. <laugh>. Like, we

Lee Robinson (00:40:15):

So

Kate McLachlan (00:40:15):

Cool. We get to really just paint with all the colors and it's been very nice. It

R. Alan Brooks (00:40:21):

Sounds epic. I just wanna acknowledge the word celesbian, it's my first time hearing an

Lee Robinson (00:40:26):

This one. It's a lesbian. You'll have to come to our show. Nice. You'll have to come. Yeah. Come hang out. Right on. It's My parents came to the last one. Yeah. And that was their, that was their first time seeing me do comedy ever's.

R. Alan Brooks (00:40:38):

How was that for you?

Lee Robinson (00:40:39):

I was anxious. Yeah. I was so anxious. Oh my God. Um, but they loved it. Huh? They're like dystopia number one fans. Now's like, that's so cool. My mom like, we need to talk about merchandising. Oh wow. Social media. You know, so funny. I love that. It's so funny. Um, she's so sweet. But, but yeah, we, we've had some highbrow stuff like Yeah. Kay McLaughlin Book Club. Oh yeah. Okay. There's a, there's a lesbian writer named Kate McLaughlin. Oh. That always, always comes up when Kate, you Google Kate McLaughlin. Right? Yeah. And so we've done it several times where we've ordered her books are, include things like 10 little lesbians, rip Van Dyke, uh, what was the Christmas tree? One Christmas Crush Christmas Crush. Like, it's so bad. They're self-published. They're self-published. Wow. We love her. She's an icon to us. We should reach out to her to get her on the show. Actually should get Kayla Blocklin on the show. We should. Oh my God. But we'll do, we'll make people come up and do dramatic stage readings with us. Right. And stuff we've made, we've rewritten the lyrics to like, 12 days of Christmas at a holiday show and made everyone stand up and sing. Like Yeah. We just get to have the dumbest gayest time and it's like, really cool. Fun. It's so cool, huh? Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:41:52):

Okay. So this is really cool. So you guys come together and you, you create this event, a series of events. I guess, um, given what you've shared about like your journeys and all that stuff, when you do an event, what represents success? Like, what makes you feel like, Hey, we did something cool, like, I wanna do another one. Mm.

Kate McLachlan (00:42:14):

I think telling each other we're geniuses. <laugh>. Yeah. <laugh>. It's, it's something we often text each other and tell each other constantly. I mean, we've been, we're the luckiest comics in Denver, I think in the sense that we have a very loving, appreciative audience. Yeah. And the joy is pretty palpable to have like a queer space. Right. And to see, you can just tell that a lot of the people in there are really like, letting loose. Yeah. Because they're in the space. Wow. And it's, I mean, we're really lucky. We just have heard really special things from our audience and that to me feels like massive success. Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:43:01):

Like nothing is more motivating than that. Like, having an audience that just says, we see you and we're here for whatever deranged stuff you're gonna do next. Like, it's just like, I mean, I, I literally have chills, which is, you know, I know. I'm like getting serious. It's just like, it's so cool. Like, no, not many people are lucky to have an audience like this that is just so like gung-ho. And like, another thing that helps me feel like a success is when I feel like we've connected on stage really well. Mm. And we're like in sync. Like we leave after a game or something. We're like, that was awesome. Right. We crushed that. That was so, yeah. Like we we're just like, that was amazing. We're killing it. You know, like in the moment of the show. Right. And then like, the planning, there's just so much planning. 'cause every show we do is custom pretty much. Okay. Um, we,

Kate McLachlan (00:43:47):

In our, in our Denver shows, everything is new. Okay. Each time. Wow. How,

R. Alan Brooks (00:43:53):

How often do you do it?

Kate McLachlan (00:43:55):

Well, last year we did one a month and it broke us. So That's a lot. That's a lot. We had to take like three months off. Yeah. Of, we

Lee Robinson (00:44:03):

Also threw a

Kate McLachlan (00:44:03):

Festival and Wow. That was, what the fuck was that man? <laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:44:08):

We've learned a lot.

Kate McLachlan (00:44:09):

We've learned so much.

R. Alan Brooks (00:44:11):

What was the festival called?

Kate McLachlan (00:44:12):

Camp Dystopia. Nice. And it was on a really lovely queer owned farm in, uh, Lakewood. Okay. Littleton. Littleton in on the Littleton Lakewood border. Exactly. <laugh> <laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:44:24):

Everyone knows the Border

R. Alan Brooks (00:44:25):

<laugh>.

Kate McLachlan (00:44:28):

I just know that strobes grew up like really close to it. I know. It was on the Good Otros. This is for another podcast. This

Lee Robinson (00:44:33):

Isn't even that geography.

Kate McLachlan (00:44:34):

This is for another podcast <laugh>, I guess. And we had live music. Right. And like Art Fair. Wow. And Porta-Potties. And I'm naming

R. Alan Brooks (00:44:47):

All best how you know, that makes it a real festival. Inness, porta

Kate McLachlan (00:44:50):

Potties. I'm made all these things outside our wheelhouse that I personally was not prepared for whatsoever. <laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:44:55):

Yeah. I know way too much about how much it costs to get porta-potties now. And like, I think we, we collectively decided that like in 2023 and beyond, like, let's focus on comedy. Yeah. And like, having fun together. And it was just, it was just a, the biggest event either of us have ever done in our whole whole lives of 700 people. Wow. Two days we flew in a comic from LA It was just a lot of new at once. And I think, um, we were like, let's focus on being funny and like having fun together. Say

R. Alan Brooks (00:45:26):

It's very cool that, uh, that both of you move forward, like doing your own standup and then brought your stuff together, but then like, created a festival. Like, even though it was a lot, you know, so many people are constantly stuck in waiting for opportunities. Yeah. You know, like waiting for people to put them on the show. That kind of thing. Did

Kate McLachlan (00:45:45):

Not have that problem last year. <laugh>,

Lee Robinson (00:45:47):

There was almost too many opportunities. Which is a good thing. Yeah. And to say

Kate McLachlan (00:45:52):

That it sounds, it sounds like I, I don't know. I I'm anxious that it comes off as ungrateful or something. Yeah. Which we're not for us to say that. It was like, oh, so many offers and we just took them all and we hated

R. Alan Brooks (00:46:06):

It. Your gratitude is acknowledged. Okay.

Kate McLachlan (00:46:08):

It's recorded. Well on that note then, no, I'm just kidding.

Lee Robinson (00:46:11):

<laugh>,

R. Alan Brooks (00:46:12):

Right?

Kate McLachlan (00:46:12):

Yeah. I have all these problems. But yeah, it felt really good this year to learn to say yes to things that we both were a hundred percent. Like fuck. Yeah. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:46:24):

So it's not monthly now. How often is it?

Kate McLachlan (00:46:27):

Mm. Every other month. <laugh>. Okay.

R. Alan Brooks (00:46:29):

<laugh>. Yeah. I mean that, that makes a difference. It

Kate McLachlan (00:46:32):

Does cut it in half.

R. Alan Brooks (00:46:33):

Yeah. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:46:34):

So, and I think it's, it's still good enough. 'cause like we, we actually have traveled the show for the first time, which I think is like, again, coming back to like focusing on the comedy versus like doing a big events and stuff. Right. Like, we got to travel the show for the first time. Nice. We went to Portland and, and Seattle. It was so fun. Congrats. That's for you. Yeah. Thanks. It was just, it was super cool. It, we're gonna go to Durango, Kate's hometown. Nice. Next month. Almost this month. July. Um, and I think it's just been like, yeah, like pulling back and being like, okay, we have a lot of good opportunities right in front of us because we have that audience that is so grateful and excited to engage with what we do. Yeah. But pulling it back to like, what are our goals in comedy and together. Right. And I just, I'm excited for every, like we, we brought our podcast back. We're gonna do, we're at like a real studio. Um, and we have like more travel like in the future and stuff and bigger shows where we're bringing more people in. So, I don't know. I think we're growing in the, in the right ways and reducing a lot of the stress. Like a whole show every month new. So it's like what the, what what was wrong with us? Right. Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:47:50):

Well I think maybe you guys can relate 'cause you're also in the arts mm-hmm. <affirmative> that sometimes you, it feels like if you don't take every opportunity Yes. You're gonna miss out. Right. And it's, I talk about this with my therapist constantly, the like opportunities or buses. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> not like the last chopper out of Vietnam. <laugh>. Like, it's not,

R. Alan Brooks (00:48:13):

We'll see

Lee Robinson (00:48:14):

<laugh>. Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:48:16):

My therapist thought it was

Lee Robinson (00:48:17):

Funny.

R. Alan Brooks (00:48:17):

<laugh> <laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:48:19):

And I'm sure she, yeah. Does she know you're a comic

Kate McLachlan (00:48:21):

Comedian? Yes. Unfortunately. Yeah. Well, so now instead of just getting a laugh out, they're like, why, why did you make that joke? And I'm like, oh, <laugh>,

Lee Robinson (00:48:31):

You're supposed to be my audience.

Kate McLachlan (00:48:32):

<laugh>. Yeah. Like, this is, Hey, I'm paying to be here. You know that

Lee Robinson (00:48:35):

Test material? Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:48:35):

Yeah. Exactly. But yeah, that's been really exciting to figure out like what opportunities we want mm-hmm. <affirmative> and what, and that we don't have to make a million opportunities. Right. And we don't have to be in every event space. Like we can say yes to stuff that really excites us.

R. Alan Brooks (00:48:58):

That's definitely like a phase of an entertainment career, right? Yeah. Like it begins with like, hoping somebody will have you on something. Oh my God. But then you get to a certain point where you're like, okay, now I have to say no to some of this stuff so I can focus on the results that I want. Exactly.

Lee Robinson (00:49:11):

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's just a, you know, we're coming on our two year anniversary. Nice. Which is wild. And it's absolutely,

Kate McLachlan (00:49:19):

That's not that

Lee Robinson (00:49:20):

Long. It's, it hasn't been that long, but it feels so long. 'cause we've learned so much. Like together, like we became friends Right. As the show started. Right. And then it was just like a lot of learning and growing with each other and like kind of what, what is that called? Like norming and storming or something where you never heard that. Sorry, my brain has been ruined by the business world. But that's a I

Kate McLachlan (00:49:42):

Need you, I like that expression to stop talking and tell everyone what norming and storming is.

Lee Robinson (00:49:47):

Um, it's like when you have a new team and everyone's trying to get used to like who does what and how things go and like what the vibe is gonna be or whatever. Like it's a really boring corporate tournament. Like the, basically the thing is, is like we came together, we learned, we had, we had a really unbelievable amount of growth. Like we got put in a museum after we had like six shows. Nice. It was insane.

R. Alan Brooks (00:50:10):

Like, oh. Which where? Where

Lee Robinson (00:50:11):

The Denver History Museum Oh, nice. Put us in their queer exhibit, which I think was just like, hello Imposter syndrome. Like Right. And, and like that was really good and beautiful and amazing to be honored in that way. And then it was just like, well we gotta put the foot on the gas now. And like you look, you know, looking back at last year, I was like, okay, we learned that that was not Yeah. We, we did the gas and that was, you know, a learning lesson and now we know where we're at this year and what we actually want to do. And it's just like, so cool. More Yeah. Connected. I'd say.

R. Alan Brooks (00:50:45):

You guys said that the show is part improv, part sort of scripted comedy. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:50:52):

Script a couple things.

R. Alan Brooks (00:50:54):

Okay, so

Kate McLachlan (00:50:55):

Scripted concepts.

Lee Robinson (00:50:57):

Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:50:57):

There you go. And then you just kind of riff off of it. Is that

Lee Robinson (00:51:00):

Yeah. 'cause we'll do the, we like, we'll open up the show with like, we will tell stories or we'll start with like, we'll do a bit together on stage. We're probably on stage for like 20 minutes together. Yeah. And then we bring on drag performers and standup comics and then we play games with the audience in between. Okay. So we have like an idea like, you know, the finger it out or whatever and we bring people on and, and that's when we kind of riff with each other and the audience member on stage. And it's like

R. Alan Brooks (00:51:27):

A Prairie Home companion. You guys don't dunno what that is, do you? Nope, I do. Okay. Yeah. Is is that nothing like that? I just thought itd be funny.

Kate McLachlan (00:51:34):

This is a big, okay. <laugh>, have you ever tried to explain to a grown adult what Lake Wobegon is? <laugh>. Right. Because it's hard and it's embarrassing for me to be honest. I've tried, you told me, I've tried to explain Lake Wobegon to you and my boyfriend and it's just like me a little.

R. Alan Brooks (00:51:51):

That's the Ferry H companion. It's sort of a variety show sort of. Yeah. <laugh>. But it's very different. And that's part of why I said it. 'cause I thought it was very different. I thought

Kate McLachlan (00:52:00):

It was funny. Thank That was a good joke. All right. Yeah. I'll

Lee Robinson (00:52:03):

Laugh

R. Alan Brooks (00:52:03):

<laugh>. You'll be like one on one day I'll listen to it and then I'll be like, what? He said it was funny five years ago.

Kate McLachlan (00:52:08):

No.

R. Alan Brooks (00:52:09):

So when you guys are creating the show, we talked, uh, you know, I always ask everybody about fear. So, um, in your creation, what kind of fears do you experience and how do you move through them in order to keep going?

Kate McLachlan (00:52:23):

Hmm. My fears, it's, in a way I'm lucky because they're not creative fears because like, well no, I mean <laugh>, I'm teasing. We have fun. Like our show is really fun. Yeah. My fear comes and it's nothing you don't know. It's from like my place in dystopia and if I am like getting enough done and contributing enough. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's a lot of my fear, but in a weird, but then in, it's also like a huge blessing that I'm not concerned about like what our product will be.

R. Alan Brooks (00:53:02):

Right? Yeah. So when you're feeling that fear, how do you move through it?

Kate McLachlan (00:53:08):

I don't know. If I do move through it, I think it's kind of always there with me. Hmm. Uh, your turn.

R. Alan Brooks (00:53:14):

<laugh>, <laugh>. What I, I'll say it's an interesting thing. Your

Lee Robinson (00:53:18):

Hands are just gripping

R. Alan Brooks (00:53:19):

Chair because I talked to some, like, you know, everybody I talked to, we had this discussion. Yeah. And, um, so many creative people talk about fear is just part of the process. Like, it's there, but as long as you don't let it stop you, you know, and you don't believe everything it tells you Right. Then you at the end, you have something that you created. So it's just always interesting to hear. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So that was interesting. Do you have an answer for that, Lee?

Lee Robinson (00:53:42):

Um, um, I don't know. I think I do. I I agree with what you said about the creativity. Like I feel like I trust like our creative process together. Yeah. And I know we will come up with something amazing. Yeah. You know, and fun and like Yeah. Like that doesn't really stress me out. I think it is just like, it's like the other side of your coin. It's just like, there's just a lot of logistics with running the show. Yeah. Right on. And I was traumatized at an ad agency at an early age, so I'm pretty able Right. To send emails and stuff. But we've, we're coming along, we're doing great. We've changed

Kate McLachlan (00:54:22):

So much. Like Yeah. Oh my gosh. In the past year, like, we've grown so much as a team. Yeah. Yeah. And like, I think we both know how to support each other better. Yeah. On stage. And it makes a

R. Alan Brooks (00:54:34):

Huge differe difference.

Kate McLachlan (00:54:36):

Exactly. Yeah. And it's actually changed. I think our onstage chemistry is better, way better than ever too, because we're communicating about everything. That's cool. And it's, yeah. It's been really exciting. I love

Lee Robinson (00:54:47):

It. We set up an LLC last year and that was

Kate McLachlan (00:54:51):

Broke my fucking brain. That was a lot. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:54:53):

<laugh>. So I, yeah, we set up an LLC and then it was just like, you dumbs down, it was just like taxes. I was just crying about taxes. Right. And crying about a lot of stuff, which is just like, at the end of the day, like, I don't know, I feel like we've also kind of handled a lot of like the unfun parts Right. Of a very fun thing. Yeah. And then we get to be connected as friends and people and creators and, and have the time to say, okay, yeah, we are gonna bring on a cheerleading squad. We are gonna bring out this friend from New York or whatever. And I think getting past a lot of those, like bumps of setting up a lot of that stuff and like learning how to work and support each other better. Yeah. Has, has opened up the creativity even more, which is really, I love, really

R. Alan Brooks (00:55:34):

Cool. Yeah. 'cause so often the business of art drains all the energy. Woo. So that you can't do the art. But it sounds like you guys are finding a pretty good balance with that.

Lee Robinson (00:55:43):

We're working, we're we're working on it. Every

Kate McLachlan (00:55:45):

Is

Lee Robinson (00:55:45):

Better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

R. Alan Brooks (00:55:47):

Okay. Oh, you gonna say something else?

Kate McLachlan (00:55:49):

We both have like, pretty debilitating. ADHD, um, Lee functions better in a corporate world, but it doesn't sound like by choice. So unfortunately, care, you know how to do stuff. Yeah, I know. But it's, it's like, and then I've got a huge like, level of anxiety around not being good at more like, traditional corporate stuff. And then that makes me like worse at just contributing it all. And nothing Lee doesn't know every day we discuss this constantly. Yeah. Every day. Yeah. It's been pretty, uh, we've had to overcome a lot of <laugh> mental stuff.

Lee Robinson (00:56:29):

Yeah. Okay. But I wanna brag on you. You booked a theater for us in Durango.

R. Alan Brooks (00:56:33):

Nice. I did. Congratulations. Hey

Lee Robinson (00:56:35):

Book. The theater first theater I booked got us on an alumni discount too. Can you believe that? Nice. Go Skyhawks. So <laugh>

R. Alan Brooks (00:56:43):

<laugh>.

Lee Robinson (00:56:43):

So I think that's, I don't know. I'm gonna get you a cake <laugh>. That's, that's fucking huge. Right? Nice. Thank you. So thank you. We're killing the business part too.

R. Alan Brooks (00:56:53):

Okay. So, uh, what do you guys have coming up? What, what's, what's next on the horizon for you?

Lee Robinson (00:56:57):

Well, we do have the shows in Durango, but we're also going down to, we're gonna go on Thursday to Albuquerque to our friends actually. Your friend Sarah? Yeah. Sarah Kennedy. Um, and Kelly Trapp. They own, um, Albuquerque's only comedy club. Dry heat comedy. Yeah. It'll be

Kate McLachlan (00:57:13):

Our first New Mexico show. Yeah.

Lee Robinson (00:57:15):

So this will be our, this will be our fourth state. Yeah. Right. We're checking 'em off. Off. We're checking 'em off. Wow. That's so cool. So we'll do that and then we'll pop up to Durango for the weekend. Um, and I, and we have our two year anniversary show, August 25th also. That's so cool. At the, oh, so, and then the, do you wanna talk about the podcast?

Kate McLachlan (00:57:35):

Yeah. So Lee and I run a podcast called Dystopia the podcast, <laugh>, you guessed it. And it started out with structure and now it's just mostly our thoughts on gay pop culture. Okay. Um, which is fun. And I'm loving it, dude. We're having a good, do you know what the ultimatum is? Mm-hmm. Well, you'll have to listen to our pod Dating

Lee Robinson (00:57:59):

Nuts. Yeah. <laugh>.

Kate McLachlan (00:58:01):

<laugh>. Um, it's, it's really nuts. It's so, it's a dating show that's not good. Like the format's bad. Okay. But it was an all queer cast. Oh, wow. So every lesbian was like, this is who I am now. And everyone just really held onto it. Huh. So did you see that Tiff and Vanessa were at town hall last weekend?

R. Alan Brooks (00:58:21):

Tiff and Vanessa, you

Lee Robinson (00:58:23):

Gotta catch up <laugh>, it

Kate McLachlan (00:58:24):

Sounds like from the ultimatum,

R. Alan Brooks (00:58:26):

Right? <laugh>. Uh, I was invited a year ago to be on married at First Sight. I turned it down. But

Lee Robinson (00:58:35):

Why why'd you turn it down? <laugh>.

Kate McLachlan (00:58:37):

I thought you were an artist. But <laugh>

Lee Robinson (00:58:39):

Perfect avant garde on

R. Alan Brooks (00:58:41):

It was, it was, it was so surreal to me because it was like a producer specifically to my name, R. Alan Brooks, uh, you know, wearing and like, gave her a cell phone number. I looked up our IMDB. It was like legit. But I was like, what in my work or life makes me a <laugh> a person that you would approach. And it's just not, it's just not my thing. But, you know, now I'm so interested in watching the Denver season. I don't know when it, is

Kate McLachlan (00:59:02):

There a Denver season of married first site site? I mean, they're

R. Alan Brooks (00:59:04):

Asking me to do it. Yeah.

Kate McLachlan (00:59:05):

Okay. I've never seen the show. Yeah. I mean, I can guess what it's all's about.

Lee Robinson (00:59:09):

Right? Yeah. So you literally just get married to someone Yes. At first sight. And then they, I guess you have to be a certain type of

R. Alan Brooks (00:59:15):

Yeah, I guess they, like, they match people and then Oh, good. But they don't see each other, you know, or meet each other and they meet at the wedding and it's a legal wedding. And, uh, you have to get, like, if you, you have to get divorced. Like really? If you don't wanna do it. Yeah. It's a whole thing. And it's several seasons in, and I'm sorry for everyone who wanted to see me on there, but <laugh>

Kate McLachlan (00:59:35):

Well, the, they were recruiting for the new season of Love Is Blind in Denver. Oh, wow. And I am really looking forward to seeing that. And I

Lee Robinson (00:59:47):

Hope, I know, I hope I know at least one person that would make me watch a show like that. I don't know

Kate McLachlan (00:59:51):

That usually. Right. I wanna know one person on their so bad. Well, a big dream of mine is to be invited to one of the Love is Blind Weddings <laugh> to like be where they like you find out if they're gonna get married or not. That's like a huge bucket list thing. Wow. I believe you. Now we've been four states, right?

Lee Robinson (01:00:08):

You're gonna need to get a completely different group of friends. Let me just tell you that you are, you have really wholesome, good connected friendships. Yeah, I have really good friends. You need to go out more, um, right. And just meet the Drunkest girls on Earth. <laugh>. I got, I got a wedding to get to. Yeah, you gotta, you got things to do. <laugh>.

R. Alan Brooks (01:00:26):

All right. So, uh, I always end by asking two questions. The first is, where can people find your stuff or interact with you online?

Lee Robinson (01:00:33):

Um, so you can find Dyketopia comedy. It's at Dyketopia comedy on Instagram. We're starting at TikTok soon. Nice. It's gonna be cool. Um, but my <laugh> Yeah. New, new Avenues. Um, my Instagram handle is @welcomeChilees. Spelled with l e e s. I don't know, man. Uh, <laugh>. <laugh>. And we also have a, we have websites. You can Google us. Okay.

Kate McLachlan (01:00:58):

And then my Instagram is kategluckgluck. It was a nickname in college that I was like, this is gonna last forever <laugh>. And, uh, it hasn't, but I think Gluck Gluck is actually easier to spell and pronounce than my last name. Yeah. I, I'm, so, I'm not too worried about it. It's so You're not the first That's so funny. You won't be the last. Right. It's for real. No one gets it.

R. Alan Brooks (01:01:22):

I will. Okay. So then, uh, the final question is, what is, uh, inspiring you these days? Like what movie, tv, whatever, like, what are you watching reading that's inspiring you creatively?

Kate McLachlan (01:01:33):

Oh, uh, I just finished The Bear. Oh. Season two. Have you watched it?

R. Alan Brooks (01:01:38):

I, I was in Philly with my cousin. We watched the first four episodes of season one. Yeah. We just started watching. It's fantastic.

Kate McLachlan (01:01:44):

It's so good. Yeah. And I was, um, really cool to see like another medium of people really trying and caring Yeah. Through the food. Right. And I, it's a really powerful show. I'm like totally inspired by it. And then I also, um, boy Genius is a band and I've been listening to their new album. Oh, cool. A lot, lot, lot.

Lee Robinson (01:02:08):

I love Boy Genius so much. They're so good. Ugh. Um, I don't think we were record. I was talking about being in a book moment. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> right now. One of the books I bought at the, the gay bookstore in San Francisco was, um, the diaries of Lou Sullivan, who is an early trans mask, like activist Yeah. And writer, author, you know, icon generally. And so someone compiled and like edited down his diaries from like a 30 year span. So I, I only just cracked that, but I was reading about him online last week. Wow. 'cause a friend had shared some stuff. And then I was in the bookstore and I saw the, the book that had been referenced and what I saw it online, I was like, immediately need to get this. Um, because his story is really cool. Like he, there was like, um, the lesbian magazine on our backs was one of like, I don't know how long it ran, but they had personal ads in there.

(01:03:02):

And one of the ones he, he ran was around like, Hey, send in like a couple bucks and I'll send you like my magazine on like, um, F t M Female to male transitioning or whatever. Which like in the eighties was, it was huge. He like wrote and compiled this whole guide for trans people. And that was like what I was looking at. And then I read about his diaries and stuff, and then I saw the book and I was like, oh my God. Wow. He's amazing. Is he still with us? I don't think he is. I don't think he, I actually, I know he's not, um, sad ending to to his life. But yeah, so I don't know. I've just been feeling like this month I've been like, I always just kind of get into a kick of like, I wanna read more queer literature and authors. And for that to happen I was like, ah, perfect. I'm in this skate book store with all these amazing authors. So I'm just feeling like really inspired by that right now. That's special. That's, yeah. Very cool. I'll lend it to you.

R. Alan Brooks (01:03:54):

All right. I always love that question 'cause I always get to hear about things that I don't know about, you know, things to check out and stuff like that. So that's cool. Hey, uh, I appreciate you guys being guests. It was a lot of fun time. This

Lee Robinson (01:04:04):

Was so fun. Thank you for having us. Yeah. We really appreciate. We had the best time. Thank you. Yeah,

R. Alan Brooks (01:04:09):

Likewise. Right on.

(01:04:10):

Special thank you to today's guest, Dyketopia. Thank you. To the listeners, if you're not already, please be sure to subscribe to How Art is Born, wherever you get your podcast, for more episodes. And if you can leave a review, it really helps us out. Check out MCA Denver on YouTube and subscribe to the channel to watch the video version of this podcast and get behind the scenes clips from today's episode.

(01:04:31):

Visit MCA Denver's current exhibitions "Tomashi Jackson: Across The Universe", and Anna Tsouhlarakis: Indigenous Absurdities.

(01:04:39):

How Artist Is Born, is produced and edited by Dele Johnson and executive produced by Courtney Law. Additional thanks to Rachel Grammes for their work on marketing support for this episode.