Hey, everybody. Welcome to my guest tonight. I'm Jeff Revilla. I've got a great
guest joining me tonight, Leanne Lynske of Plauzzable.
We're talking comedy, virtual comedy. She left the
boardroom, took the mic. Now she's killing punchlines every night
from New York to her LA shows. She's bringing laughs
wherever she goes, zooming in with a comic plan.
She built a stage in virtual land. No cover charge, no drink
minimum, just laughs on tap. Oh, here she comes.
It's leaning comedy set
queen on my guest tonight with
Revilla Inc.
Yeah, that's amazing. One of my favorite parts of the show is creating the
theme songs for my guests. And I've given every guest the choice if they
wanted to hear it before or live in the moment.
And Leanne's the first one to choose Live in the moment. So I
love seeing you backstage and everyone starts dancing and swaying a little
bit. What was your first impression of hearing the song live? I was
like, hey, that's pretty good. And it's accurate.
Well, I do a lot of research on my guest. I got about 10 pages
on you here that we'll be getting into and we're going to God.
You have quite an amazing journey to where you got. And there's some
parallels between what I've been working on and what you're working on.
I think we're going to have some crossover towards the end where we're both really
supporting these independent artists, independent creators. And
I think there's going to be something that comes out of this. I think it's
going to be very good for everybody listening, especially if you're an independent
creator. So stay tuned to the end and see what the heck's going on here.
But we definitely want to focus on Leanne Story. And you were, you came
out of Illinois. I think you started school there.
And is that where you kind of found comedy back in Illinois?
Yeah, no, I. So in a sense, because my family's
really funny, so it was a kind of requirement to get by.
So I guess that's where I first learned the, you
know, to have a sense of humor is, is my parents and my brothers,
they're all very quick witted, very funny.
And that was kind of like our family's default is,
you know, having the ability to tell jokes and
comedic timing. So I kind of grew up in a household of
that. So that's where I was really first introduc used to it.
And my parents were also very encouraging of me,
public speaking, honing those skills. So anytime I Had a
presentation or something to do in class. They always
were like, practice. Do get up, do it
a few times in front of us. And so from a very young age, I
learned the importance of practicing a presentation because that
ultimately reduced any stage fright or any nervousness
that I might have. So I kind of grew up feeling very
comfortable doing those things. Did you do. Did you come home from school and have,
like, little skits ready to try out in front of the family at dinner time
or. Oh, I. I was always doing some sort of
performing. I guess when I think about it, even when I was really little, my
mom used to babysit another girl, and she'd come over and she probably
hated it because I'd be like, we're doing a show. And I put up
a shower curtain between the furnace and the storage cabinets in the
basement. And then I'd make. We'd go. And we'd go through the whole
neighborhood and knock on doors and have all the other K invited. And they'd have
to come down and watch us come out. In my mother's clothes to old
records. I didn't know quite what
I was going to be performing, but I knew I was on stage and they
had all come to see me. Did you initially lean more towards
improv or towards comedy? Back in those
early, early years, when. I first started doing comedy, it was.
That's an interesting question. So I first took a comedy writing class so that I
could write monologues like Johnny Carson style, because I was doing public speec.
Speaking for work. So I took my first comedy writing in 2001.
And then shortly thereafter, I learned that the Second City opened a training
center in Las Vegas, because that's where I was living. I went to UNLV
for my junior and senior year of college. What a great place to
go to school in your 20s, right?
So I was in Vegas and then got a job in State. So the people
I worked with were like, hey, you know, it's like in
cities here. And I was like, what? And then I ended up
taking all their classes and multiple classes. So that's how I got into improv.
So it started out I just wanted to, like, really be funny during my
public speaking for work. And then I took an improv class, and
I was like, whoa, this is amazing. And I'm going to do this
forever. Yeah. And did that lead into that first
time getting up on stage and trying out material solo? Or
how did you get to falling in love with comedy? Or what was
your first comedy experience? I think my first comedy experience
was trying to do that Johnny Carson style monologue
in front of everybody. I worked with. So a few hundred people. And then,
like, it wasn't good. Like, I was like,
I need to work on my joke writing.
So although, like, when I spoke and everything
in general, when I. When I would do any public speaking, I could be funny
in the moment and things like that. But joke writing is a very
special skill. So I guess I could say I bombed
that first time. But when I first did, I think
my first class show for improv was in a coffee shop
across from unlv, which I had since graduated long before.
But it was in this coffee shop across from the university, and it was
packed. Because when you first do improv, like, all your friends
are excited, like, oh, you're doing comedy. I'm gonna come see you. And it's usually
not good. Um, but I just remember that
some random man, he wasn't part of any one
group, but he. I don't know what was
going on with him specifically, but he kind of stood in front of the stage
right as we were starting our show and was like,
disrupted the whole coffee shop and they had to like, escort him
out. And then. And then we started. So that's kind of how my first show
went. Do you remember whenever you did that performance
in front of your co workers, you said, a couple hundred people, you're delivering
a speech and you said it wasn't, you know, it wasn't your best performance
ever. You had, you got through the presentation, but even though
you didn't get like, maybe those rush of laughs that you thought for your
first time, did you walk off that stage, like,
feeling pumped or, you know, just like, that was
incredible. Yeah. So. So typically when
I would do my present in front of work and everything, I
kind of had a different way of going about it. Like, if I were talking
on a specific topic, I knew, I somehow knew how to make it
funny. But I wasn't joke writing. And even in
school I got a lot of feedback. In fact, in.
In college, my advisor, I. Just
to give you an example, I was in an international marketing class and
my advisor happened to be the professor for that. And we each had to
do a presentation on the G7 meetings at
the time. And so each one of each pairing of us, we broke
off into pairs to do these things. And
everybody had a different country that was part of it, and you represented that
country. And so ours was German, so there's like these other
countries. And somehow it was like the two or three People that went ahead of
us, they knew how to speak something in the language from their country,
and that's how they started their presentation.
So I looked at my partner. His name was Chris, and he was like. I
go, do you know how to speak German? He's like, no. And I was like,
all right, I got this. And so I was like,
udge evening A pig Latin. We don't know German.
So my teacher basically threw up his hands and put his head down
on his desk, and everybody busted up laughing because it
was so serious. And I never spoke in that class, you know,
as a student. And then all of a sudden, this was our first presentation, and
he was just like. After that, he's like. I would go to him and be
like, I gotta get a job after I graduate. And he's like, I really think
you need to go into entertainment. So he started introducing me to people
in the entertainment industry in Las Vegas. And. And I tried
helping my friend's band. I wanted to manage a band, and I was doing all
this stuff, marketing for them. So that's kind of like,
in general, when I would get up in public speak, I. I did pretty
well. Like, especially in class, I would get really good high marks for
it. And I would always have a comment like, great use of humor. But when
I did that initial monologue where I actually tried to write jokes,
it was terrible. And I knew it wasn't good. I'm like, this isn't going well.
Like, this isn't my norm. And I realized, like,
writing jokes in that, like, to deliver them in such a
way of, like, a comedian would. Was much different than the way
I was doing it. And I was like, I gotta get.
So I. I didn't feel bad. I was like, what happened? Like,
how is that different? And I wanted to know, like, how do I get better?
How do I work that out? How do I improve that? And that was kind
of my thing. I was kind of bummed. I was like, interesting.
Yeah. And you hear that from comedians a lot. That, you know, sometimes.
Sometimes your jokes land on your first appearance, and you get laughs, and you're like,
oh, my God, it's so easy. I could just do this all the time. Yeah.
And sometimes you have it where it's. It's a struggle, but the
art in that struggle is, how do I get this better and better? And I
think what's important about your backstory is you came from the family who was, you
know, performing at dinner time and in the evening and doing skits, and
then you found UCB and you're doing
these things that translate into your work life. You're making work more fun
by performing. And, you know, now you're getting up on stage and doing
comedy, but you realize that the repetition is important,
the getting, you know, doing it over and over and over and trying things
is what is really fun about performing, is how do I make this
idea work? And. And you didn't. Maybe you didn't find it perfectly in
that coffee shop, but you, you. I think you really started to really like that
process of, yeah, here's how you get from point A to point B. But
something disconnected. It wasn't just like performing at my office
where in the moment I can make a joke. Yeah, this scripted thing that I'm
trying to work. Yeah, the scripted thing in front of my co workers.
They were like, what? And then the thing with a coffee shop. I don't even
remember how our actual show was, but I think the most interesting thing about that
was the man who distracted everybody. I couldn't tell
you how I did. You're like, how am I supposed to follow this?
Right. But the other thing that I remember too, growing up, that I think
is, like I said, my parents really instilled in me, like, you have to
practice. You're not going to just be good. You have to practice at anything.
And so two things come to mind is one, my dad,
he was a telephone repair man for his whole. His
whole career for 30 years. And the guys would get
together every year and they would have a dinner, like,
with their wives, and they'd all go out and they'd, you know, they fund it
themselves and everything and do it. And they started calling them,
I don't know, the no dinners. Because my dad would get up and
tell jokes and he be like, no, this one's. No. Like, that's what
it's. So. But he started. So they'd
ask him to. They asked him to MC it every year. And so he
would spend, I don't know, four to six months
finding jokes. Like, he didn't yet. So, like, he'd.
He'd, like, try to research, like, what kind of
jokes can I put together? And, like, spending time and reading in the
library and stuff and then trying to come up with jokes for each person in
attendance. So he did a roast of everybody there, and it was really
popular. So he spent a lot of time, like, researching
jokes and how to write a joke about each person.
And so that's. And I got. I. So I saw him do it and I'm
like, yeah, it's a lot harder than one would think. So
that. That kind of made me. And then the other thing was, is my mom
was a fan of Dear Abby,
and so she wrote to Dear Abby several times, I think, as she raised us
children. I don't know if you remember Dear Abby. It was the only way to
get answers. You know, you couldn't. You couldn't Google it. Yeah. But she
actually sat down to have me because I used to worry a lot when I
was a kid. Nothing much has changed, but she,
I guess, worried. I was always trying to, like,
be perfect, get good grades, do all these good things. And so she.
She found an article from Dear Abby, and I still have it, I think a
news clipping, and she gave it to me. It's about being the best little shrub
that you can. Not everybody has to be a tall tree, because the shrubs serve
their purpose and everything. And so. But it has
about, like, how you go about doing that and that you have to put in
the work even to be a good shrub. And, like, do. I don't know why
that came up in this conversation, and we're talking about Dear Abby and news clippings,
but those things play into, I guess, my work
ethic and comedy, if you will. Yeah. And so from
Vegas, I think it was around a couple years later, you moved to
New York. Yes, New York. You start finding open mics
or. And then I think you move up into hosting some evenings. Tell us a
little bit about your New York journey. Yeah, I lost my job. So
I was laid off from, you know, full disclosure. I.
I had a job of nearly 13 years in Vegas after I'd graduated,
and I worked for a big corporation, and I loved it. And
when I started doing comedy, I also loved comedy. And my friends.
Then I. I take vacations and I go to New York for a few weeks
and study improv, and I drive to LA every weekend and study
improv. And my friends, I had said to him, they're
like, oh, you're gonna move to LA or New York? And I'm like, well, I'll
move to New York, but. But I can't, because I have this job that I
love and a home and these things. Well, eventually,
you know, fast forward. All of a sudden, I'm out of a job. My friends
were like, hey, didn't you say. And I was like, why did you listen to
me? So I had a phone call that said,
hey, I move one of my friends, hey, I got a sublet in New York.
Do you want to go in on it with me. And I was like, I
have to think about it. He goes, you have one hour.
Right? So I was like, I called them back a little short time, you know,
within that hour. And I was like, hey, yeah, I'm in. And then picked up
two suitcases and I moved to New York with just a couple of suitcases
and. And no idea.
And I was like, I'm here. So. So to your point of, like, how did
I get into open mics? I got real involved in taking classes at the
Magnet Theater and at ucb, which is Upright Citizens
Brigade, and got really involved in the
improv scene. And then I actually went back to Chicago that summer and took a
class at I.O. chicago for five weeks, like their summer
intensive where you go through levels one through five, went back to New York.
And then sometime in that first year, a friend of mine, we were like,
I was trying to write a lot of sketch comedy, and
I was like, how do you know if it's good unless you get people together
and do a table read or you put it up on its feet and just
kind of work through it? So I started. He and I started an open mic
for sketch comedy called casual sketch. And
then we did that as like a monthly open mic. And people could come in
and bring and cast their sketch and then do that. And
then after a few months, he was like, not really interested anymore. I'm like,
oh, I'm gonna keep going. And over the years, I did it for seven and
a half years. And over the years, it evolved from sketch comedy to monologues to
stand up. And then we sometimes had these random
magicians who would come in and do stuff. They're like, can we do magic? I'm
like, as long as it's funny. So I had like
this. This wild journey of this open mic
that evolved. And I wasn't going to stand up open mics, but I
just started hosting my own and.
Yeah. And. And then eventually I started going to other open mics and things like
that. Because eventually I started doing standup. But I didn't start out doing
standup. I was doing improv. I was doing sketch comedy. I was
doing some theater. Yeah. And then when I wrote my one woman show,
I incorporated standup into the one woman show. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about
the one woman show. It looks like it ran in three different cities.
Yeah, I started it in. So I took about a year to
write it. And I would write, like, every day
from. You know, I treated it like a job, like from 9am until
lunch, I'd be writing. And then in the afternoons after lunch, I would work
on marketing or submitting to festivals
or rehearsing or classes or
performing in other shows and whatever I was doing. And then
what. When I, when I did that, it was
called Lady Luck is a what happens in Vegas
Days. Everything or what happened in the show, everything that happens in the show stays
in the show, is, I think, my tagline. So
to kind of a play on that. So
I did that show and I premiered it at the People's
Improv Theater, also known as the Pit, in New York City.
And then I got a run. So they gave me a run of shows
and I did that. And when I first premiered it, it was
like a 25 to 27 minute show because you
would share an hour slot with somebody else. And so
I did that. And then while I was doing that run and through the next
few months, I continued writing my show because I wanted to
get into Cap Fringe, which was in Washington, D.C. and for that
I needed 50 minutes. And I hadn't written it yet. So I was frantically
writing, and yet I submitted, I got accepted into Cap Fringe,
and when I got there, I had a run of shows and it was 50
minutes. And then from there I was accepted into Fringe
Wilmington in Wilmington, Delaware. So I went to Delaware and did a
run of shows, and then I got accepted into
United Solo Festival back in New York City.
So I went back and I was in Theater Row. And so I went back
to New York and did the United Solo Fest.
And so I was performing that show for probably a year or
so. Yeah. Wow. And, like, the thing that I
love about your story is, you know, you're. You're trying new things,
right? You're pushing the limits. Comedy's always like, I can make people laugh like this,
but I want to try to make them laugh like this. And. And you're. You
go to New York, you're doing these open mics, you're hosting, and you're kind of
pushing the limits of, you know, what is an open mic night. You're doing
improv and sketches, and magicians always show up. I'll have a
magician story for you later. But they must be the most underserved
market in the world. But magicians show up all the time. And.
But in 2019, you start pushing this
boundary further of, where can I perform? Or maybe
what. What is a performing space? And you started dabbling in,
like, these online shows. What was kind of the. The thing
that pushed you into. Into trying to experiment because that's before COVID You're doing
these things. Yeah, prior to Covid. So how did you get there in
2019? So what happened was in the end
of 2014, beginning of 2015, I moved from New York to
California. I would say la, but it was Long Beach. And if you know
LA area, Long beach isn't as close as it looks on the map.
And also my friend Slide, So
also, anything over like two miles is
an hour at least. Drive in California is silly.
And so what happened was this. Here I land in LA
and I am driving
into the city to get spots on open
mics. And I'd show up and there. It's a different vibe than in New York.
You know, it wasn't what I was accustomed to. And a lot of
bring your shows, if you're familiar with bringer shows, where you're required to
bring X number of paying people in order to get like three
minutes of stage time. Hard to do when you don't know anybody in
the city, you know, like, who am I bringing?
So, so I would go to these open mics and everything,
and I was spending like ridiculous amounts of time
on the highway. And I was driving a Buick, which is just like
sucking gas and money out of my wallet, you know, also, it
was great because Buick, I have to give him credit. Like, it's. It's like driving,
you know, like, no one's gonna hurt me. I was rear ended on the 405,
which I now have severe anxiety from.
But, you know, I was in a Buick. I was safe.
So anyway, I. I was like, how can I?
I don't want to spend all my time driving. I don't like it. I'm used
to being on a subway where I can multitask. What? And also, I
really missed the camaraderie and the community that
I knew in New York. It just, you know, I'm like, how do I. How
do I hang on to that? That was very meaningful to me. And
what do I do? Skype, you know, Zoom. And I was using Zoom way back
in 2014, 2015, for work. I had a day
job. And I'm like, maybe I'll do that. And then I was like, ma,
Skype. You know, most people, when I mentioned Zoom, people didn't know what it was.
And then fast forward. So then I started producing shows in Long Beach.
I started podcasting. I started doing all these other things. So I kind of
put it off to the side. Life happened. And then Fast forward
to August 2019. I'm like, you know, What? I've had this idea for
so long, it's, it's just a, an itch I have to scratch. I have to
do some things online. So I'm like, I'm just going to use Zoom.
I had a WordPress site for a business I had for coaching. I
created a whole sign up thing, cobbled it all together, invited
people and then people were coming and paying for this online open mic. And
then other people are like, online? Why would I do that? And then Covid happened
and then everybody's online and I was like, oh,
now everybody's doing what I'm already doing. Great,
great. Because I think those technologies
serve a purpose and got us through a really terrible time. But
also for as great as they were, they weren't designed for
online performance. And, and as a comedian, I.
Having real, you know, a response without a delay
and having, you know, some. I don't want to feel like I
just got off a work call with Bob from accounting. No offense to Bob or
accounting, but I, you know, it doesn't. How many hours can you
spend on, on one particular platform without losing your mind?
So I thought if I solve the problem of bringing things online
and now clearly it works, other people are doing it throughout a pandemic. How
do I solve the other nuances and other
challenges we have as, you know,
comedians? And so I started putting
my thoughts together and I ended up going back to school for my master's
in innovation and entrepreneurship. And I thought if
I want to go and create something, I have to surround myself
just like I did by moving to New York and just jump in the ecosystem
of comedy. I have to jump into the business
startup ecosystem and find
developers and people who can actually bring my vision to life.
And so that's kind of how I got to where I was
making Plauzzable.. Yeah. Plauzzable dot com. I'll have the spelling
in the show notes, a direct link in the show notes. Tell us a little
bit. So you go back to school. I think you got, did you get
accepted into like an incubator kind of? Yeah, I
did. After I graduated I got accepted into an incubator program
and then from there accelerator and then a few other accelerators and
founders programs which are very helpful. They're kind of like
these. If for people who aren't familiar with
accelerators or incubators, incubators kind of like was where you have an idea
and you want to hatch the, the plan. You know, a very early
stage startup and then an accelerator is where you're,
you're building or you have an mv, a minimum viable product and,
and you want to grow more rapidly or get funding and
things like that. So these, these
programs are also really key because they offered a lot of workshops and a lot
of opportunities to, to grow the network and to meet
people I might not otherwise meet because I was running with a comedy
crowd, which is not the same as a business
crowd. So, you know, much different things. And then kind of
like diving back into my, my undergrad was also in business and
taking all of the odd jobs in my corporate
positions and everything that I had learned over those years and I'm like, oh, now
I see why it's so valuable and so putting it all
together. Yeah. And when you, you started piecing it together, you know,
this is an idea you had many, many years in the making. You start to
get this rough draft, the MVP that, you know, what's the minimum I can
take the market. What were some of the, the key components? What were some
of the must haves that Plauzzable had to have for you to
deliver on that dream of you can do comedy
virtually, you can have an experience on, in your computer,
on your laptop and it's still going to be fun and entertaining. Well, I
kind of believe that could be possible before I even tried
it. When I initially, when I thought of it, I'm like, yeah, why wouldn't
anybody, why, why wouldn't we do that? Like there's just
bridge that gap, you know, connect east coast to west coast. And
then when I started having this idea more, I
was like, well, I'm gonna test it just using the things I already
use for other things and see what happens. And
when I ended up, people found me through Google
searches before COVID to sign up for my open
mic online and were finding me through, you
know, just random without me doing any marketing. I was like,
okay, this is something, you know, and especially
great. And I was like, it also mattered because new people,
it might be too scary to go to an in person
club, but it reduces that level of
fear to just log in online.
So there was also that element. But the other really cool thing is like we
had people from all over the world who
had tap in, you know, which was really cool. So people
I knew from, you know, California, also New York.
And then all of a sudden some new people hopping in from very
rural areas in the US and outside of our country was mind
blowing. I'm like, okay, this, this tells me I'm onto something
that, that was kind of where I knew and something that's.
Really unique about Your business model that really has
that, that DIY mentality that, you know, you mentioned a lot
of newcomers. This was a place for people to try it out. Maybe you don't
want to go to the club and try to run seven minutes in front of
strangers or you know this, your structure
allows people to just try it out. Like if you want to just have a
show with a couple of friends, you can do that on Plauzzable.
If you want to have a show with 10 or 20 people and sell tickets,
you can do that. And the tech stack of Plauzzable
handles both kinds of shows. Tell us a little bit about you
know what can you. What kind of as a creator who wants to come to
your platform and do a show, what are my options for.
For producing a night out? Yeah, great question.
So first I'll say this is. I wanted to level the playing
field and there's no gatekeepers, there's no
algorithms, there's no major hoops you have to jump through
other than creating your account which if you're a fan
it's your first, last name, email and password. If you're
a comedian then you would enter first,
last name, password, email and then you can fill
out your profile because your profile is public facing like a LinkedIn
profile, you know, example or your Facebook profile. It
kind of tells about you so that you would show up in.
Oh yeah, you're logged in on the first page there. So you would be able
to log in you. Once you create your profile and
your account, then you have access to the scheduling
tools, the ticketing services, the virtual stage, everything you
need to to host online comedy
event. Whether it is a. You can pick from an open
mic, a show, a podcast,
tech rehearsal. People should have tech rehearsals. I highly encourage that.
Especially if it's your first time on any new
like don't just show up and think. You know, you don't probably maybe.
And then what is the other one? Oh, a class. We have classes and
workshops so you can kind of pick and so the. When you schedule
an event, it'll walk you through like answer like tell us about the
event, what time is the event? Is it a recurring event? All those things. Do
you want to charge for this event? And then it will show up in the
event listings. So fans when they log in they
can go peruse the listings of all the comedy events
on Plauzzable and Plauzzable is designed.
You don't have to cobble together any technologies. So
think of Zoom or Google Meets or something and then you have
an eventbrite and then you have your own Website and then
you have, you know, some, who knows
what else you're cobbling together. You just log into Plauzzable.
We offer the video streaming service so when you log in,
like, you don't have to download anything. You just join a show and it's
on your screen. It's all cloud based and you can see and hear each other
just like you would like. You and I, Jeff, are seeing and hearing each other
on here. Except that our screen is designed specifically for
comedy. So it doesn't look and feel like you're in another
platform or a work event or anything like that. You can bring multiple
people to and from the stage. So if you're hosting a
podcast with a couple comedy guests, you can bring them to the stage and they
have focused. The audience is on either side so you, the audience
can see and hear each other. You can see and hear them. There's. Yeah,
there's a number of different things. So yeah, we have the talent
directory, the event directories, everything that you need all
in one place. So you don't have to figure out all the tech all the
time. Yeah, you're not, you're not having a subscription to
Zoom or Streamyard. You're not, you're not having a monthly,
you know, however event create or Eventbrite
pricing works nowadays, nobody knows. But sometimes there's subscriptions for
ticketing and, and the way, the way your model works, if I'm correct,
there's no subscription. It's a revenue share based on the performance.
And. Yeah, tell us a little bit about that. So I have no upfront costs.
If I sell zero tickets, that's okay. But if I sell 10 tickets,
then a little bit of, you know, revenue exchange happens between my show and
Plauzzable. Yeah, the majority of the money goes to you, the host.
So if you host a comedy event and you
charge $10, let's say you sell one
ticket, you just made six bucks. So the host gets
60% of the revenue share and 40%
covers all your costs on Plauzzable. So that's it.
There's no hidden fees, there's no extra like this, plus this, plus
this tax, plus that tax, nothing. We take care of all the service charges
for the payouts and all of the other
things that come into it. We don't add the tax onto your
customer. The price is what you say. If you say it's 10 bucks,
that's what the customer pays and Plauzzable handles the rest.
Yeah, that's, that's incredible. No subscriptions. And it's just,
hey, if I do well, great. I Do. Well, Plauzzable takes a little bit
for. For building this giant tech stack. Yeah, it's a
fair trade and it's. It's a great model to bring in new people to live
performing. I love it. So what. What does the future
look like for Plauzzable? Where. Where are you going from here?
Yeah, great question. Well, we want to continue growing, and we're looking
forward to doing so. Obviously doing
exactly what we're doing. We also have some plans to further bridge
the gap so that it's an easier. It's not
quite a leap for people to go, I'm doing all these things in person to
why would I ever do anything online? So we're working on some features
that would bring those people together.
That's one of the. The big things, I think, because I,
when I created this, I'm like, this will never replace in person. That was never
my intent. Because some people. That's our question. Like,
well, I'm not gonna, you know, it's an either or. There's kind of like, I'm
in this corner, I'm in that corner. It's like, there doesn't need to be a
corner. There's. There's this very
fragmented industry of comedy and
there's a lot of opportunity. And I think,
you know, I had the luxury of being able to move to
New York or la, right? Not many people have that. And
yet there's a lot of talented people in rural areas or other countries or
places where, you know, they may not have a comedy opportunity for a
couple hours drive. So my intent is
to, how do we bring more people into the fold? How do we kind of
level the playing field? So even though, you know, Sarah, who
has a family in Kansas, still has an opportunity to
hone her comedy skills and maybe get some shows going and dip
her feet in and see where it takes her more of
that kind of vibe. And also people who do a lot of in
person already and are really more well established, you know, somewhere
in their comedy journey, hey, if you're getting ready to go on the road,
why not hop online, make some connections, book
some gigs, you know, make some friends so that
it's not. So it makes a difference, especially if you're traveling, you
know, knowing people in other areas or maybe you hadn't considered going
somewhere and it's on the way. And so there's a lot of people that I've
seen meet on Plauzzable, and since then they've traveled to do shows
with one another, which is really cool. So there's a lot of
opportunity and I think, you know, I want to
bridge that gap between in person, online, and help people
make connections within the community. Yeah. At the beginning of the show, I
teased that you and I are on very similar journeys. And I don't know
if you know anything about me, but in 2015, I started
virtual podcasting. Like, I started a trivia show on a platform
called Blab. And Blab was this first four in the box live
stream service. People either know it or they don't. And. And it's not relevant, but
it ended up growing so fast, it collapsed under its own weight. It had no
business model, no way to make revenue, and it just collapsed.
So I spent, like you, I spent seven years with this idea
in the back of my head. Well, where can a. Where's a podcast performed
at? Why does it have to just be, you know, you know, online
or recorded, you know, privately in my mom's basement or something like
that? Yeah. Where is a podcast? And where are these performing ideas?
So I built this thing. It was. I called it Theater in a Car. It
was basically a mixer and some speakers that I could fit in the back of
a sedan with a podium and I could set it up anywhere. And I started
doing shows like that. I would just take my. My theater and set it up
in the middle of a park or at a coffee shop and. But I
kept thinking, there's something more. And just like you, there's something more
to this. There's something here that I don't understand. If you look behind me, I'm
going to get out of the way a little bit. I. I built this theater
out of the idea of loving live performances that
I could broadcast. And this is where I think you and I may cross
paths into the future, where I'm trying to do a performance
with an audience in my studio and
broadcast it live. So this hybrid type event, and
you're building this great platform where
it's immersing the virtual audience. So that was kind of the
tease at the beginning of the show. Like, we're kind of building very, very similar
things, and there's got to be something here
that is bigger than the both of us put together. So I hope for
people listening who are, you know, just dipping their toes into. For me,
I'm more on the podcast side. Leon's more on the comedy
improv side. There's something happening that's bigger than
both of us. Everywhere we see podcasters, they're starting
to fill theaters and arenas, and we're seeing this type of
entertainment become more mainstream. So Pay attention to
Plauzzable. If you reach out to me, if you want to talk to
me, but this isn't about me. This is about Leanne. What she's
doing is so good and so far ahead of
where the market is, like, on the cut, I mean, on the cutting edge,
as far as this ability to do a virtual performance,
sell tickets with this DIY mentality that
by serving, we're going to produce better shows and reach bigger
audiences. And, and that. That's the part that caught my attention about your story. And
I'm. I'm so grateful we've had this time together. Thanks. Yeah,
it's exciting. And I agree, you know, knowing what
you're doing it to your point, there's something bigger happening.
Like, I think we can all feel it. There's opportunity
that technology brings. And I, I sometimes think that often
as artists, we're like, ah, technology adverse to some degree.
But at the same time, I'm like, but you know what? Like,
this could really, really help us in a way
that hasn't ever been done in the, in the,
in the past, you know, so, you know, coming from a place where
we don't have to do anything but check our mic, now all of a sudden,
people have to like, log in and check their camera and do all these things.
But I think it's fascinating and I think, think that any way that we can
bring the audience in closer to an experience and,
and as performers, even with you and your podcast, you know,
sometimes if you were here by yourself, it's like screaming into the wind. But
having, you know, another person do it, having a guest, it's.
It. It fills a void. And I think as a comedian,
obviously, for me it does. Having, like, even improv
shows when I was just starting out to your, to your question earlier,
like, how were they? I. We. We had a whole improv shows every week
at like, this bar in a basement. And I remember one time one person
showed up and everybody's like, we're not doing it. I'm like, there is one person
down there who took the time we're doing a show and, you know,
we're going down there and doing a show because that's what we do it for,
you know, or that's what I do it for.
Other people would be like, I can't do a show for three people. I'm like,
I have. And I will. Full
transparency. I've had nights where I was on stage and I just locked
the front door because nobody was there. So. And I still did the
show. You Know, because there's a virtual element to it. But I've. I've done shows
for zero people, so it's those repetitions matter.
And that's just it. Like, there was a show we were doing in
New York, and the host, the producer of the show were like, we can't get
anybody to come in, you know, because you'd have to go stand on the stage,
street and bark and. And get people to come in. Like, we're just not lucky
now. And I said, well, I'll go ask these people that just sat down at
the bar, and they're like, yeah, we'll be in a few minutes. And then the
girl who was going to host didn't host. And I'm like, fine, I'll host. Was
it. By the time we were done doing this, when we went up and I
started hosting, there was zero people. By the time we were done with the show,
it was a full house. People standing in the back. You
know, I'm like, you never know. You just never.
So, yeah, every opportunity to perform is, you
know, I have to take it. And I love what you're doing and,
you know, giving people a space to make their, you know,
their dream a reality and then be able to broadcast that live.
Well, thank you. Thank you and all of your journey. What's
the. What's the one big takeaway you can tell us about?
Because you've really, you know, you pushed on your own like that back when you
were with the family and doing these skits and that
idea of creating. I come from skateboarding and punk rock. So when I
start talking about these things, really, the rules that most people
follow in the world don't really apply when you start to
become creative. And comedy is very similar to
skateboarding and punk rock because you're pushing the
boundaries of what you know and what you understand, and you're. You're learning and
you're absorbing. And what were some things
that if somebody just getting into this, you know, maybe they were that
kid that, you know, did skits under the dining room table by themselves with a
flashlight, you know, under a blanket. You know, what would you tell somebody
who's maybe on the fence of, should I really do a live
show? Do I have what it takes? Can I even do this? Yeah,
I would say one of. I know everybody knows this quote.
You always miss 100% of the shots. You'll never take. You never take
Wayne Gretzky. Right. But I firmly believe in that, and I
think that it's really important, like, you know, I'll. Most people,
I'll try anything once. I'll usually try anything twice, maybe
sometimes 10 times, you know, but I think it's that
it's like, just because it doesn't work once doesn't mean it won't
ever work. And just because like, like you, you think there,
you have this feeling, like I know something's there, but what is it?
Sometimes we have to experiment to figure out what that is
or to test it. Maybe, you know, we, we can sense it, maybe not
know exactly what it is right away, but put it out there and see what
it is. Because I don't know, I always think about.
This is longer than like a one takeaway. But you know, the book the
Help and then it became a big movie and the, the woman who
wrote the book I think went to like 30
plus or 60. Either 30 or 60,
I don't know, I'll have to look it up again. Publishers and got all these
notes and her family after a while was like, you know, you're not going to
get published. And she's like, no, no, no. And, and she was
like obsessed and they were like, please stop. So, because
they were getting frustrated and mad at her. I think it was taking a toll
on her, her whole family life. She said, okay, I quit. And they're like, oh,
thank God. And then she was like, I'm going to do a weekend with the
girls and I'm going to go here. And she started living her life, or so
they thought. But she really went and rented a hotel room and put herself
away. And like, and she kept at it and she did it and then
finally she got published and then it became a best selling movie.
Right? Like, but that, it's tenacity. It's
truly. You take the shot and then if you truly
believe in it and you have that feeling, be tenacious with it.
Don't let go of it. Don't let someone else talk you out of it. And
I think that is really, really important because
in comedy, having a thick skin, if you're going
to be talked out of something really easily, you're probably not the person
for comedy, you know. Yeah. You know,
just hasn't worked yet. You know, if you really believe in something, if you think
something's funny, you're like, I'm gonna try this. And it, it bombs and it bombs
and it bombs. You just haven't figured out how it works yet.
Right. And so take those swings, take those chances, you
know, do those repetitions and, and figure it out. It's It's a giant
puzzle and how all these things go together and fit together.
You might not know it at first, but once they go together, it's
like, you know, the heavens and earth move for you. Like, wow. You
know, everything opens up for you. So, you know, take those swings.
Leanne Plauzzable dot com. If people want to connect with you directly or
reach out to you and ask you some more questions, what's the best way that
they can do that? The best way is sign in on
Plauzzable.com. there's a contact me form and also LinkedIn.
I'm the only Leanne Lynskey in the world.
Ah. I'm the only Jeffrey Villa in
America. There's like 50 Jeff Revillas in the Philippines. I don't know.
I don't know what happened, but I'm not. I don't know. I don't know. I
was always told I was Italian.
Me 23andMe. Leah,
thank you so much for joining us. Plauzzable.com. we'll
hear that theme song. She left the boardroom, took the mic.
Now she's killing punchlines every night from New York to
her LA shows, she's bringing laughs wherever she goes.
Zooming in with a comic plan. She built a stage in
virtual land. No cover charge, no drink minimum, just
laughs on tap. Oh, here she comes. It's
Lean and Lynske. Comedy set queen
on my guest tonight with
Revilla nc.
The last line, it was so bad. It's Leanne Linsky,
comedy's tech queen on my guest tonight with Jeff
Revilla. End scene is all
wondering what the last word was. And I'm hearing it. I'm like, nobody's
going to know that that says end scene.
