Grief, Comedy, and COVID
Slate News
Slate Podcasts
4.5 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 June 2020
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week, comedian Laurie Kilmartin took to Twitter to talk jokingly about something that wasn’t funny –– her mom was dying. JoAnn Kilmartin, Laurie’s mother, had contracted the coronavirus in her nursing home and was on her deathbed only a few miles from Laurie’s home in southern California. The experience put in striking display her grief and anger, but also her wits and charm.
With the death toll in the United States passing 120,000 people this week, Laurie’s experience is resonating with those who have lost loved ones to the virus.
Guest: Laurie Kilmartin, comedian and author of Dead People Suck: A Guide for Survivors of the Newly Departed.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Lori Kilmartin is a comedian and writer based in L.A. |
| 0:08.0 | She's used to making people laugh by getting up on a stage, going on tour. |
| 0:13.0 | But the coronavirus put an end to that. |
| 0:16.2 | As a stand-up now, I do my job on Zoom in my bedroom where exactly where I'm doing this podcast. |
| 0:24.1 | Is that weird? It feels weird. It's incredibly strange. |
| 0:31.7 | The fun thing about stand-up is being with a crowd and knowing that things can go off the rails at any second. |
| 0:39.3 | I think that's totally lost on Zoom. |
| 0:42.0 | The audio delays are, they're like only two or three second delays, but they kill jokes. |
| 0:50.5 | They kill timing. |
| 0:52.1 | Yeah, it's funny because you said, you know, stand upup is all about something could go wrong, which is so true. |
| 0:57.6 | And stuff goes wrong on Zoom all the time, but in like the least funny way. |
| 1:02.2 | Yeah, in a frustrating way. |
| 1:03.6 | And it happens multiple times in a show. |
| 1:07.7 | So it gets less funny every single time when someone starts chewing during your set. |
| 1:16.0 | Lori's been to Zoom shows with designated laughers, folks who try to make it all feel more seamless. |
| 1:22.9 | It's still weird. |
| 1:24.9 | I mostly just try to slam in as many jokes as possible on Zoom. That's my style. And then get out of there? |
| 1:31.5 | And get the hell out of there and do the dishes or whatever. Yeah. |
| 1:41.2 | Do you talk about COVID in your sets? Yeah, I was definitely talking about COVID. |
| 1:47.2 | One of Lori's COVID jokes was about her 82-year-old mom. |
| 1:51.4 | Her mom is a bit of a regular in Lori's comedy. |
| 1:54.8 | They've been living together. |
... |
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