sadiemagazine.com - On Sisterhood in Comedy and Making People Laugh: A Chat with Morgan Murphy

by Kendall McKenzie, photos by Isauro Cairo

(via warrenellis)

Morgan: I think the surprising thing for me is how many really funny people are not household names. I see comics who I go “God, that person is brilliant. They’re on top of their game. They’re funnier than 90 percent of the people on TV right now.” But if I were to ask anybody outside of comedy who they were, they probably wouldn’t know. A decent chunk of the time, it kind of seems like as hard as people work or as funny as people are, some really talented people are just not going to catch on, and some people who are mediocre are going to make millions of dollars and be household names. In some way, when you see the luck factor, it keeps you from being too resentful or comparing yourself to other people. That stuff is very unsettling, but it also reminds you that you have to do what you do because you like doing it. It can’t be a constant pursuit of fame or getting a TV show or movie.

Kendall: It almost seems unsettling yet oddly comforting at the same time.

Morgan: Absolutely. It is comforting. It reminds me that, like, my favorite thing about stand up is just being around other comics and sharing that sensibility and riffing and being idiots with people who think the way I think and laugh at the same shit I laugh at. You know, if I had to choose between having more money or my friends, I would go with my friends.