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Natasha Vaynblat (@natashavaynblat) is a stand-up comedian based in NYC.
She has two dogs that she kisses on the mouth.
Do you think being funny on Twitter has benefited your IRL comedy in any way?
Do you ever try out material on Twitter before doing it onstage?Totally.
I think it pushes me to have more one-liners.
When Im onstage I rarely do one-liners, so its a great muscle to work online.
So I try one-liners on Twitter and then if they do well, I put them in my stand-up.
Ive also found that doing characters is much more fun online than onstage.
Recently, Ive been doing topical characters inspired by whatever news story is trending that day.
And it feels so liberating to throw up a one-minute character on Twitter that speaks to whatever is happening.
And I immediately wanted to hear from those scientists: What were the other experiments?!?!
What do bugs like to have sex to?
So I made aquick Twitter videoabout a scientist going through the songs that make various bugs get horny.
Some Skrillex fans found it and posted about it, which was adelight.
Which was perfect because I dont know any Skrillex fans IRL.
So, your day job is at Comedy Central and you perform comedy after-hours.
But I think as a comedian its really important to do things outside of comedy.
You have to have experiences to write about, and seeing comedy is too limited of an experience.
So I say yes to a lot of random events or hangouts because I might get material from it.
I recently went to a dessert party in a warehouse in Queens.
Yeah, I know.
It was super odd, and now Im working on a bit about it.
I also have a sewing machine and have taken a few classes.
I love clothes and have alotof opinions about them.
And once I felt comfortable doing that, Ifinallytried stand-up.
Mind you, the reason I started doing comedy was because I loved stand-up.
I started watching it in high school and was hooked.
But when I first started doing stand-up, I tried doing it as a character.
And it bombed, oh did it bomb.
And finally I got the courage to speak as myself.
You were brought up in a very Russian family.
Does that inform your sense of humor at all?Completely!
As a kid I had to actively study how American kids were behaving to fit in.
So I learned to smile and nod a lot and to talk with my hands.
All of these things I learned.
They feel natural now, but for a while I felt like someone playing American.
And I still find myself being perplexed at American small talk and how quickly people agree in conversations.
But now Im so grateful for it.
That perspective is a gift.
Im absolutely a dog person in the true sense of the word.
I have two dogs.
But I also love the TV showThe Secret World of Alex Mackthat aired on Nickelodeon in the 90s.
I think about my dogs and that show all the time, definitely several times a day.
This was my way of trying to unite those two thoughts.
Tell us about your dogs!
c’mon, I need to know about your sweet baby dogs!
!THANK YOU FOR ASKING!
But since you asked, THEY ARE THE LOVES OF MY LIFE!!!!
We got the first dog about six years ago and we are his third owner.
His name is Clarence and hes an incredibly high-energy terrier.
His first two owners thought he was too insane, so we took him in.
And then we got the second dog, Harvey, as a buddy for Clarence.
They are buddies, but Harvey is the opposite of Clarence.
I honestly think he is smart enough to do it; he just needs thumbs.
Side note: I want to know what dogs are dreaming.
If I were a scientist, that would be my only research: dog dreams.
