A Quote by Selenis Leyva

I did sketch comedy with a troupe at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. — © Selenis Leyva
I did sketch comedy with a troupe at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
There wasn't a big tradition of comedy at Dartmouth. More than that, there wasn't really anything artsy going on in Hanover, or even in New Hampshire. The cool thing about the school is that there's nothing for people to watch, so if you were to do a play or a sketch or an improv troupe, it was always packed. There's nowhere else for anyone to go. But there was no comedy.
I had seen some shows at the Groundlings [legendary L.A. improvisational and sketch comedy troupe] and thought, "If I could ever do that, that would really mean something, that I have arrived." So I went through the program and said to myself, "I'm going to stay here until they kick me out." Seriously, they can ask you to leave at any point. Luckily, they never did that to me.
My father would take me to auditions and put me in the room right in the corner because he was watching me; he couldn't get a babysitter. He'd be at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in the LES until four in the morning, trying to tell his story and using his craft, but because he had a kid that didn't let him stop.
When I was in college my improvisation troupe and I did a road trip to Chicago, and went to The Second City to see the classic 'Paradigm Lost' revue - with Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Scott Adsit and Kevin Dorff. It blew my mind, and proved to me you can do sketch comedy like you're doing 'Long Day's Journey into Night.' We could treat it like theater.
When I graduated, I was director of my school's sketch comedy group, and I knew that I wanted to be writing and performing my own sketch comedy. It kind of made me want to do my own one-person sketch group.
I never pursued anything in terms of performing comedy until I was in my twenties. I was basically forced into it by a couple of my friends who were starting a sketch troupe and thought I'd be good at it. I was kind of terrified by it, but I gave it a try. I am so grateful to those guys for believing in me and viciously twisting my arm!
There was a male sketch group in my college. I was like why isn't there a female sketch group? So then I started doing sketch comedy and all that stuff. It just happened.
I did sketch comedy, but I never did improv. So I've just tried to learn as I go.
I did sketch comedy for years. I've always enjoyed it.
I did sketch comedy for years. Ive always enjoyed it.
When you're doing sketch comedy and you're pregnant, it's like wearing a giant sombrero in every sketch.
That's what I love about sketch comedy: a sketch is five minutes, then it goes dark, and there's the potential for something else.
I think I'm one of those guys who was sort of always in comedy. I thought of myself - and other people seemed to think of me - as funny from a very young age. I was a very young comedy nerd and I even did sketch comedy in high school and college. I wrote and shot sketches on video and acted in them.
I'm a huge sketch comedy fan, and I think my love of sketch is reflected in my stand-up in that I do a lot of vignettes and voices and characters.
My experience - and it might be just the kind of comedy that I do, which is usually sketch comedy - is that there's a lot more texture and subplot in drama than in comedy.
In college, I pretty much abandoned music and started performing with the school's improv and sketch troupe, and at some point, that became my permanent thing.
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