Comedian/Creator/Employed?: Finding a Niche in The D.C. “Scene”
by Angelica Guarino (Spring 2017)
One of the most striking pieces of career advice I picked up from the BUDC internship seminar class was to create a “mission statement” for your career. Beyond the surface level answers of “make money” or “make a difference”, what do you want to do? Why do you want to do it? They’re questions that most students in this program come to D.C. to find answers to, but I immediately knew mine. I want to create content that makes people laugh and make people think. The part of answering this question which is much harder than simply answering it, though, is figuring out what content to create, and even further, when that mission statement has to translate to a job.
Back on campus, I’ve spent my college career making student films, performing onstage as an actress and as a stand-up comic, and even DJ’ing my own punk music radio show. However, being in D.C. gave me the chance to create professionally for the first time. My internship at Voice of America has taught me so much about what it is like to be a professional documentary filmmaker. I’ve been able to learn so much about the filmmaking process as well contribute to a film that has the potential to create a massive social impact. The entire experience has been equal parts educational and rewarding, and I am so grateful to be spending so much of my time doing a job that is so worthwhile.
A future producer “in action” at work (and definitely not tired from 30+ hours of
footage logging in one week).
The small downside of my commitment to this film, however, has been the realization of how difficult it is going to be to fulfill both parts of my mission statement come graduation. The film I am working on now, which explores the effects of the terrorist group Boko Haram on the country of Nigeria, is absolutely a film that will make its audience think. However, there is this large part of me, namely my passion for political comedy, which has been neglected. On campus, I am used to having total creative control over what I produce. This time around, not having an input can feel not necessarily bad, but certainly a little different. As my hours at work became more intense, and my night classes started to pick up, my plans to create a political comedy podcast and try to get stage time at a local comedy club withered away into me tweeting out Sean Spicer jokes in between emails and research reports while sitting at my desk.
For a while, I felt discouraged. I came to D.C. the most interested to learn about the intersections between journalism and satire. I planned to take an improv class or at least see a good number of comedy shows or concerts. However, while I haven’t been inspired in the ways I thought I was going to be, that’s not to say I haven’t become much closer to figuring out a way to embody my mission statement. When we visited NPR headquarters, I was so excited that was difficult to keep my composure. First, we met NPR’s on-air movie critic, Bob Mondello, who basically has my dream job. Then, we had the chance to see (and sit at!) the famous “Tiny Desk”, which I fully appreciated, given that one of my hobbies is obsessively watching and rewatching tiny desk concerts from favorite artists of mine such as Pinegrove, PWR BTTM, and Julien Baker on YouTube. I spent the rest of the afternoon daydreaming about staying in D.C. and trying to intern there when my time with VOA was over.
NPR photo at the Tiny Desk: I really tried to take a serious photo with this Emmy, but instead I
ended up trying to absorb its power.
As for comedy inspiration, visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture allowed me to see their amazing tributes to black comedians. Reading the museum feature piece on Richard Pryor while clips from Black-ish, one of my favorite shows, played in the gallery led to some intense reflection about the potential of comedians’ social commentary to create change, as well as even deeper respect for the black comedians in America who have done just that. This trip was right around the time that I had the chance to see two brilliant comedians, John Early and Kate Berlant, perform at the Howard Theater on Superbowl Sunday. Both comedians delivered politically-charged absurdity in an abstract, hilarious way – commenting on what in their view is our country’s impending doom, while taking wholly original stabs at Trump voters that left me in tears.
Overall, the most valuable thing I have taken away from my semester in D.C. has been the realization that even if I do not start out in a job that exactly aligns with every seemingly unrelated goal I have, it is extremely possible for me to use my knowledge and experiences to create my own niche within the larger D.C. art community. It is entirely possible for me to get to a place in my career where I can produce content that I believe will make a difference, whether that is in documentary filmmaking, radio/podcasting, or through comedy. I feel optimistic about all of the incredible opportunities this city offers to the students and young professionals who work here, and I can’t wait to keep working on making my mission statement a reality.
Angelica is a junior studying Film and TV and International Relations. She is interning in the Documentary and Special Programming Unit at Voice of America.
