The Comics Unseen
Press Kit
Stand-up · Acting · New York
Vanessa Hollingshead
Nearly 30 years in stand-up, from a mid-90s open mic after years as an office temp to Showtime’s highest-rated stand-up premiere of 2019.
From
Born in New York · dual national
Works in
Stand-up · Acting
Known for
Funny Women of a Certain Age (Showtime, 2019) · Comedy Central special
Started
Mid-1990s
Interview
Instagram interview · @thecomicsunseen
“For half an hour, I’m gonna make everybody forget about their life. That’s the gift I’ve been given.”
Vanessa Hollingshead — The Comics Unseen
Ready-to-use copy
Biography
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Vanessa Hollingshead is a New York-born stand-up comedian and actress with nearly 30 years on stage. She is the daughter of Michael Hollingshead, the researcher famous for introducing Timothy Leary and Paul McCartney to LSD. She spent years working as an office temp before she got up at her first open mic in the mid-1990s, and she never looked back.
She went on to a Comedy Central special, performed nationally and internationally for the network, and has appeared at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal four times. In 2019 she filmed Showtime’s Funny Women of a Certain Age, hosted by Fran Drescher, which became the network’s highest-rated stand-up premiere of the year. She was named one of that year’s Top 10 Innovators Who Changed Comedy, has appeared on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and was listed among Oxygen’s “Fifty of the Funniest Women Alive.”
She has opened for Bill Maher, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Jim Norton, and shared rooms with Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Ray Romano and Brad Garrett. A dual national, she tours England and Australia, and once spent a full month performing for the troops in the Middle East. Her stage persona, in her own words, is “confidently underconfident.”
The part other press kits leave out
What you should know before you book her
Vanessa Hollingshead has worked the rooms for nearly three decades, and she talks about the job with a veteran’s clarity: tell the truth, win the room fast, skip the cheap laugh, and give the audience half an hour off from their lives.
Truth first
She describes comedy as, at its root, shining a light on the truth.
A comedy show, not a lecture
She has little patience for audiences who come to be offended: she is not their teacher and not running for office. She notes how the culture has shifted from quietly leaving a show you do not like to trolling a comic’s career.
Smarter, not bitter
A piece of advice from Whoopi Goldberg changed everything for her: you can let political correctness make you bitter and angry, or you can figure out how to work smarter.
No low-hanging fruit
She quotes Bob Odenkirk on the cheap laugh: everyone goes for the low-hanging fruit, and the low-hanging fruit is the fruit that is rotten.
Wins the room fast
She compares the job to being a psychologist, with about 30 seconds to get the audience on side, and her technique is a big act-out that is then pulled back in.
A persona people follow
Confidently underconfident, as she puts it, inviting the audience to see things her way. Credits run from Showtime and Comedy Central to Just For Laughs and a month entertaining troops in the Middle East.
For press · cleared for use with attribution
Quotable
01
“Comedy was basically shining a light on the truth.”02
“I’m offended by people that are easily offended. This is a comedy show. I’m not your teacher, I’m not running for office.”03
“It used to be, if someone didn’t like a comic, they’d just say, ‘It’s not my cup of tea, let’s leave.’ Now the name of the game is to troll you, to destroy your career.”04
“Whoopi Goldberg said: you can let political correctness make you bitter and angry, or you can figure out how to work smarter. That was the moment everything changed for me.”05
“Bob Odenkirk once said that everyone’s going for the low-hanging fruit. And low-hanging fruit is the fruit that’s rotten.”06
“A good comedian does a big act-out, and then pulls it in. Act out, pull it in.”07
“Being a comedian is like being a psychologist. You get on stage and you’ve got 30 seconds to make sure they like me.”08
“My persona is confidently underconfident. This is just the way I see things — so come with me.”09
“My sense of identity, who I was, was defined by what I did. When all that was taken away from me, it was the beginning of needing to believe in something higher than myself.”
Attribution: Vanessa Hollingshead, in conversation with The Comics Unseen. Read the interview.
Career
Selected credits
Specials & television
- Funny Women of a Certain Age — Showtime, 2019; hosted by Fran Drescher; the network’s highest-rated stand-up premiere that year
- Comedy Central special; performed nationally and internationally for the network
Festivals & recognition
- Just For Laughs, Montreal — four appearances
- Named one of the year’s Top 10 Innovators Who Changed Comedy
- Marc Maron’s WTF podcast
- Oxygen’s “Fifty of the Funniest Women Alive”
Stages
- Opened for Bill Maher, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Jim Norton
- Shared rooms with Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Ray Romano and Brad Garrett
- Tours England and Australia; a month performing for the troops in the Middle East
This kit was produced by The Comics Unseen. The interview and quotes are drawn from Meet Vanessa Hollingshead, published on Instagram by The Comics Unseen. Vanessa Hollingshead and their representatives are free to use any part of this document — the biography, the quotes — for booking, press and promotion, with credit to The Comics Unseen for the interview material.
The Comics Unseen shines a light on stand-up artists and spreads comedy across the world. Follow at instagram.com/hopforpop.
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