Katie Rubin began her career as a writer/performer at Amherst College with her first original piece, PartyBoobyTrap; Her second play, Avoiding Less Blue, was produced through the 2000 New York Fringe Festival; Insides OUT! is her third work for the stage and was her first solo show; Ms. Rubin’s most recent writing credits include the completion of two plays commissioned by the Health Education Department at UC Davis; Currently, she is in development of her second solo show, tentatively titled Visiting Dr. Awkward or Indecision Collision.
Katie received her MFA in Acting from UC Davis and earned her BA in Theater and Dance at Amherst College; She has studied classical, jazz, and musical theater vocal techniques for 15 years; In New York, she studied acting at The Wynn Handman Studios at Carnegie Hall; In Los Angeles, she studied The Viewpoints and Suzuki Actor Training with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company.
In addition to performing and writing original material, Ms. Rubin also works as a stage, screen, and voice over actress, and as an acting and vocal coach; Most recently, while teaching acting to undergraduate students at UC Davis, she appeared in The Laramie Project and the musical, Falsettos; In ’00, Ms. Rubin made her television debut as a law student on A&E’s 100 Center Street with Alan Arkin
Recovery Comedy: What were you like as a kid?
Katie Rubin: Both highly sensitive/introverted and social/performative. I used to do this “bit” for my Mom all the time because it made her laugh. I would be the mana mana puppet from The Muppets… Or was it Sesame Street. Don’t remember. But I just remember being very invested in her enjoying that “show.” I did it as often as I could justify it in my head. Also, when I was 8, my birthday party theme was “The Katie Carson Show.” All my friends had to wear a costume piece, sit in a chair and be interviewed by me. It was very telling…
Recovery Comedy: What made you decide to become a stand-up comedian and how long have you been performing?
Katie Rubin: I have been performing professionally since 1999 when I graduated from Amherst College. I have been touring theatrical comedic solo shows since 2001. After 10 years of doing comedy in theater shows and working as a comedic theatrical actress in professional regional theater, I finally took all the stand-up material I had been secretly writing FOREVER and made a full hour long stand up set. I had all the performance, comedy and writing experience- I just needed to GO for it. Now, that hour is integrated into my current solo show, and I’m touring with that show. The last 45 minutes of the show is stand-up. It’s SUPER fun!
Recovery Comedy: Were you performing stand-up comedy before you got into recovery?
Katie Rubin: Nope. I wanted to, but was waaaaay too cray cray.
Recovery Comedy: How has your comedy changed since you got into recovery?
Katie Rubin: Well, I was always doing comedic theater at that time, and have always had the knack for it, but when I got sober, the amount of energy moving through me was astounding- I had to PUT it somewhere- so I started making my shows!
Recovery Comedy: Does your comedy have a message and if so what is it?
Katie Rubin: I’m interested in pointing out the struggles of being a person in the world, and laughing at them. I think life can be so hard that we need places to go to first SEE ourselves reflected back, and then LAUGH at ourselves. It often feels to me like we either laugh at our stuff, or we jump off a bridge. I know that’s a bit black and white/dramatic, but I have always felt like comedy has been one of the main things tethering me to the earth. I like healing work a lot, mysticism, deep spiritual work, therapy and so on. But when I’m having a REALLY bad day, nothing beats a good Pete Holmes podcast or a trip out to some alt room here in LA. Laughter is SO rejuvenating. With my shows, I just hope to be able to articulate some of the human experience and then support our collective laughter at it.
Recovery Comedy: Who are your comedy idols?
Katie Rubin: Eddie Izzard, Early Whoopie, Early Eddie, Early Steve Martin, Margaret Cho, Sarah Silverman, Mitch Hedberg, Chris Rock, Brian Regan, the list goes on..
Recovery Comedy: What is the difference between a recovery show and a normie show?
Katie Rubin: I think people are people. But recovery folks are, of course, always profoundly tuned in to and ok with the darker stuff. They can take a solid dick, car crash, or drunk joke more readily than a normie audience. Then again, I think that depends on the normie audience. Recovery audiences also can handle what I call “depth-diving,” more readily. Where I go deep and then bounce right back up and out into humor. Sometimes normies, not having been through profound wounding and pain, will have to sit still in the heaviness for second before they are ready to pop back out. Recovery folks can jump all over the place cuz they’ve BEEN all over the place!
Recovery Comedy: Where does your inspiration for material come from?
Katie Rubin: From being alive and paying attention.
Recovery Comedy: What is your joke writing process?
Katie Rubin: When something strikes me as odd, funny, interesting, weird or inspiring, I jot a little line down. Then I go home and elaborate on it- Usually having a gig to do inspires my elaboration process.
Recovery Comedy: What is your kryptonite?
Katie Rubin: Fear. Self-doubt. Playing small.
Recovery Comedy: Is comedy part of your healing process?
Katie Rubin: YES. It grounds me. I am really into spiritual healing work, as well, but that work doesn’t often validate my “lower self” or my “shadow” side the way comedy does. Comedy is such a great way to own up to all the human frailties and difficulties without wallowing in pity or self-hate around any of it. It takes the darkness and transmutes it into light, joy, and fun.
Recovery Comedy: What was your worst experience performing comedy?
Katie Rubin: I once did some stand up on a yacht for some VERY disinterested drunk people who were clearly irritated that I kept my shirt on for the duration of the show.
Recovery Comedy: What was your best experience performing comedy?
Katie Rubin: every time there’s a packed house and everybody’s laughing a lot. Two weeks ago, I got to do two sold out shows with Joe Klocek in Sacramento. He killed. I killed. Everybody laughed. All was right with the world.
Recovery Comedy: What is your comedy dream?
Katie Rubin: I’d like my next show (the fourth one) to take my work into the next level of theaters around the country. I’d like to be booking at the level that Sarah Jones and Danny Hoch book- The Public Theater in New York, Berkeley Rep in Berkeley, etc. I’d also like that show to open the doors to TV and film work for me so that I can make LARGE amounts of money with which I would buy a house, set my Mom, Dad, and step sister up for life, and then donate to a variety of amazing causes that help a variety of challenged humans do what they need and desire to do in this life.
Thanks for asking these great questions, and for hearing my answers.
Big love, deep blessings
Recovery Comedy: Thanks Katie. Best of luck to you.
Do you have any questions for Katie? Wanna tell us some of your craziest stories before you got in to recovery? Let us know in the comments!
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