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Stand-up is an inherently personal form.
Most often its you up there, using your real name, sharing real thoughts about your real life.
Shes grown as a comedian partly by learning what she wants to withhold.
We talked aboutone of Beths earliest storiesand how her comedy evolved from there.
Read a short excerpt from the conversation or listen below.
Download the episode fromApple Podcasts,Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Did you talk to your dad before writing about him?No.
His attitude on it is, Theyre your stories.
You do your thing.
The relationship with my stepmom, I wouldnt ever describe it as horrific, but its just not great.
Thankfully, its just not in our genes to have addiction problems.
With my stepmother, I couldnt go, Hey, are you drinking and driving right now?
Whats in the cup?
Im just buckled in the backseat, making my sisters laugh by fake-humping her from behind.
Was it my way of processing it?
Ive heard you talk about how you feel conflicted about being a storytelling comedian.
How has your thinking about this evolved?Im 100 percent okay with it.
Of course, in a comedy club, you have a lot of seats to fill.
I believe you eventually stopped talking about it onstage.
But ironically, I had to force myself.
It would make my hands shake and I would often put one hand in my armpit.
I had a lot of support.
Then I went to a healing-trauma program in Tennessee called Onsite and worked through a lot of this.
You dont leave these places cured, you just take steps in the right direction.
But one of the takeaways was: Some things are sacred.
Your life doesnt have to be an open book.
It just took someone telling me, You dont have to.Oh, I dont?
This new hour has more sexuality and sexual things, and it really made me uncomfortable.
Took me a while to be like,Im a grown woman.
This is what Im talking about.Its gonna connect with people.I still get in my head about being dirty.
And Im kinda like,You didnt see him live.
