S10E4 - Lynn Harris
In this episode of More Than Work, Rabiah sits down with Lynn Harris, founder and CEO of Gold Comedy — a comedy school, professional network, and content studio built for women, non-binary folks, and anyone who's ever felt like an outsider in the comedy world. Lynn shares her winding career path from journalism to Oxygen to human rights advocacy, and how it all led to creating a space where comedians can build real careers without the bro vibe. She and Rabiah dig into the sexism still baked into the comedy industry, why it matters who makes comedy and not just who watches it, and why putting in the reps beats raw talent every time. Plus, Lynn reveals her Groundhog Day song, her undefeated prescription record, and why she's currently inspired by eye surgeons.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to More Than Work
00:34 Meet Lynn Harris: Founder & CEO of Gold Comedy
02:34 What Is Gold Comedy?
03:57 The Comedy Industry's Gender Problem
04:58 Tokenizing Women Comics — and What It Costs Everyone
08:30 The Jeff Ross Story: Sexism Is Bad for Comedy
20:38 Lynn's Career Path: Journalism, Oxygen & Breakup Girl
25:18 Human Rights Advocacy Through Comedy
29:23 How Gold Comedy Came to Be
37:07 How to Join Gold Comedy
31:37 What Success Looks Like at Gold Comedy
33:12 Advice & Mantras: You Don't Have to Change Who You Are
37:07 Fun Five Questions
46:26 Outro
Note from Rabiah (host):
Lynn Harris saw what a lot of us in comedy have seen and is doing something about it. With GOLD Comedy she has created a community for everyone. I was intrigued to learn about her career and what she is doing with GOLD. As a woman in comedy myself, I have been introduced as a “female comedian” and even had someone say, “we needed a woman so out next comic is here” as though there was no other reason or value in my being there. The inclusion of me also became exclusion at the same time. I enjoyed our chat and hearing about her experiences in New York City. Plus, she gave some of the most sound advice I’ve heard whether you’re a comic or not. Enjoy!
Host Rabiah (London) chats with GOLD Comedy creator Lynn Harris (New York).
Find Lynn
GOLD Comedy is the comedy school, professional network, and content studio where women, non-binary creators, and other “others" build their comedy careers, join a powerful community, and make funny stuff that gets seen on all kinds of stages and screens. Unlimited classes, community, shows, and more, all online. Join from anywhere, anytime! Explore here.
Upcoming Closs: Build and Pitch Any Idea with Ryan Cunningham (starts June 22)
FREE: GOLD Comedy presents Spring 2026 30x30—write 30 jokes in 30 days. Low pressure, high rewards! Join here.
For any of the above, usecode GOLD10PERCENTOFF for 10% off!
Not sure what's for you, where to start, or how to pay? Book your FREE comedy consult with GOLD founder Lynn Harris here.
Transcript
Rabiah Coon (host): [00:00:00] This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth is made up of more than your job title. Each week I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves. You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are. I'm your host, Rabiah. I work in IT, perform standup comedy, write, volunteer, and of course, podcast.
Thank you for listening. Here we go.
All right everyone, welcome back to More Than Work. Today i'm excited because I have someone who's really involved in the comedy industry on with me. It's Lynn Harris, the founder, and CEO of Gold Comedy. So welcome to More Than Work, Lynn.
Lynn Harris: Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
Rabiah Coon (host): Cool. I'm happy to have you. So first of all, uh, I'd just like to know like, where am I talking to, to you from?
Lynn Harris: Uh, don't tell, but my kids' room, um, [00:01:00] they said, before they left for college and also in Brooklyn. I know that's what you meant. Before they left for college, or No, once they went, they went to college and they're a sophomore and we were like, and they have a huge bedroom and we were like, can we use your bedroom?
And they were like, yeah, but you have to ask us every time first. And we were like, okay. So it's now like the office, the weight room, you know? Uh. So, yeah. Uh, but I'm in, I'm in Brooklyn, New York.
Rabiah Coon (host): Oh, nice. Yeah. Well, and you have to repurpose the rooms, I mean, you know, places are only so big, especially in New York.
Lynn Harris: I know. There's just, there's just this big operation, like whenever they come home from school, we're like, move it out, You know, like, I
Rabiah Coon (host): yeah, yeah, yeah,
Lynn Harris: get the dresses out of the closet and the, you know, the weight has to go in my other kids' room and, you know. Yeah.
Rabiah Coon (host): yeah. I was just watching, um, on Graham Norton, There was like this clip of Joan Rivers talking about age, and she said, um, She hates when people, well, at the time she hated when people would say like, oh, can, [00:02:00] like, oh wow, you're 77. Congratulations. And she's like, what they really mean is, oh, there's gonna be like property available in New York pretty soon, you know?
Lynn Harris: Right. Exactly. Exactly. Scan the obits. Yep.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. So, um, so like anyone, well not anyone listening as people will listen, maybe for the first time might know that I perform comedy and I'm pretty young in it, I have been only going five years. But you've been involved in comedy and entertainment for longer. So can you talk about, first of all, like what is Gold Comedy?
Lynn Harris: Sure. Um, thank you for asking. Um, Gold is, a comedy school, I should say the comedy school and professional network and content studio where women and non-binary folks, and as we like to say, other others come to build and, um, amp up their comedy careers or their creative side hustles, uh, to join a powerful professional network, powerful community.[00:03:00]
And to make funny stuff that gets seen on all kinds of stages and screens. So, um, it's, it's a combo where our members, you know, come they, they come as, they might be new at comedy, they might be very not new at comedy, but what they're looking for is a place, um, that takes them seriously, and take their success seriously.
And. we prioritize women and, and folks who are outside the comedy norm, but we exclude no one. Um, the only thing that we, that we really, um, promise is that there's no bro vibe.
Rabiah Coon (host): Right.
Lynn Harris: Because that's what people are mostly escaping or avoiding or, and that's what tends to be the biggest hindrance.
Um, you know, even though comedy is hard for everybody, it's still, uh, no matter how, how white a and straight a dude you are, it's of course it's hard. But it's, it's still too hard for, uh, a lot of us and or harder than it should be for a lot of us. So we're hoping to change that.
Rabiah Coon (host): That's cool because I mean, it is a very male dominated [00:04:00] space. And I think one thing I didn't realize, maybe before doing comedy, and even like when I think about being really young, like as a younger woman, when I was like in my early twenties sometimes I was like, God, why are women complaining? Like I would sometimes think that like what's going on, because when you're really early in something, it's like not necessarily noticeable, like your first year of work or whatever, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh no, we are getting treated differently. And there's these spaces where you end up not feeling very good because people are just saying things that kind of are almost threatening in a way. And they go, "well, I'm just joking", but it's like, but you just talked about assaulting someone, and that's a woman, and I'm the only one in the room and I have to walk to the train alone. And you know, there's all this stuff that I don't think some people necessarily appreciate and some very much do.
And, um, I don't know how it is where you are, but like in the U in the UK, like sometimes promoters will say, um, you know, looking for a non-male [00:05:00] act. Then a guy sometimes will go on the thread and be like, oh, well I can be whatever you want me to be. And it's like, that wasn't the point, dude, you know? Do you see stuff like that happening or?
Lynn Harris: Yeah, still, still, um, I, what I tend to be aware of is less sort of, you know, individual trolls like that and more of the, um, I just, and I'm not that they're not there, it's just I'm not hanging out in those spaces. But, um, what I hear about most often and see most often are things that I'm like, I can't believe this is still a thing, you know, where, um, someone, there was a, a Goldie who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, who was visiting New York and, um, she was like, all right, I, I did a bunch of shows. Now I wanna go see a bunch of shows. We looked at the listings for The Comedy Cellar, which has a lot of rooms. It's a great club.
And we looked for like that night and I [00:06:00] was like, I'll be damned. All of these shows have one woman. And like it's a Cellar. You know, I don't, I don't mean to, like, we love The Cellar. I don't mean to, um, impune just them. It's just like if The Cellar isn't keeping up, then I don't know what to say, you know?
Rabiah Coon (host): Right.
Lynn Harris: You know. Um, and I also just talked to someone who was touring. She was like on her, you know, on the road with, um she was on the road with two male comics. She was, maybe she was middling or opening, I can't remember.
And all three of them got, you know, their drink tickets after their performance. And they went to the bar that was in the room. And, for whatever reason, the, um, the dudes ordered their drinks and the bartender, you know, asked for their drink ticket, whatever. And then when it was came time for the woman to get her drink, um, a comedian and I know named Nikki, um, they said that'll be 12 bucks.
And she was like, I'm the co. I was just, I'm with ju you know? And um, the assumption that like men are comics and women are [00:07:00] not, is still, I mean, even the number of times that like this is getting into it, but like that, that they still call us comics. I guess as you know, you just said non-male comics. It made me think of it.
Comics and women comics.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Lynn Harris: We're like, it's okay if you need to identify me that way for some reason. But like if sometimes people say like, oh, this is Lynn, she's a woman comic. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, this is so-and-so. She's a lawyer-ette, you know. Um, and, uh, I feel like the day that we no longer call anyone a comedianne is the day that we can think that we're, that, that our work is done.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, I mean it's really, it's annoying and I know I've been introduced as like a female comic on stage, and it was like, first of all, I'm not, yeah. There's no reason to say that. Like
Lynn Harris: Would they be like now an Asian comic? Like they would never.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Yeah. And it, and I, I said, I remember it was like way [00:08:00] earlier, and I haven't really done it lately, but, um, one time I did say, I go, I go, yeah, I go, I'm, I'm the female comic, I'm the lady. I go, they needed someone funny. That's why they booked me. And everyone was like, ah, and, and the guy later. And, and it's like, dude, I know you tried to make an inclusive bill and that's great and you did. But then he also alienated me and othered me in that case, and it was unnecessary.
Lynn Harris: Yeah, I mean, I, my favorite old story about that, and I will use the name Jeff Ross because it was Jeff Ross, but again, it's not, this is not a story about Jeff Ross. This is a story about that, of, of, about this phenomenon, um, which is, yeah, I remember as usual, I was the only woman on the lineup. This is in the nineties, but again, still happens. And, um, he was MCing some, uh, maybe it was the Cellar I don't know. It doesn't matter. It wasn't a big deal show, um, but he was, he was the MC and, um, he, it was all dudes. And [00:09:00] he went around as one does to ask all of them, what, Hey, what do you want me to say about you as one does.
And either he didn't ask me and I had to go up to him and be like, Hey, do you want my stuff, my credits? Um, or he did ask me, but then this is what happened. Anyway, um, so it, I, you know, it's my turn. He, he goes up there and he is like, oh, and yeah, now we got a, a, um, and we had a girl, um, uh, I forget her name. I think she, I think she, she worked at like Lifetime I think. I worked at Oxygen. And anyway, um, here she is. And I was like, okay, we can have, I'm happy to give you a TED talk about sexism and, and the obvious, you know, obvious, you know, uh, not paying attention to me as obviously sexism, but we don't have to have that TED talk. We can just talk about how you're bad at your job.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Lynn Harris: Sexism is not just like bad in principle. It makes [00:10:00] people bad at their jobs. You know, so the, the harm there was not to me as a woman, 'cause like whatever thick skin. It wasn't the first time. It wasn't the last time, right? The harm was that people had a less good show because he didn't do his job.
Because I had to then work to be like, okay, you know, I had to work to like get them. I had to work to get them as opposed to him doing his job to get them, you know, and to get them psyched for every single performer equally. That is his job. And so he fell down on the job because he is sexist. And again, I don't mean it's not about him in particular, although it is, but like it's not.
But like anyone who does that is bad at their job. So my point is, isn't that like sexism is bad just because it's bad and we shouldn't do it? It makes comedy bad. It makes the experience bad. And that's not good for, it's not good for women because we're comedy's a job and we are people, but it's also not good for comedy and the people who are consuming it.
Rabiah Coon (host): Right. Yeah, agree. And it, yeah, [00:11:00] and it does make your job harder as a comic because the compere is supposed to be, and then we say that more than MC in the UK, that's probably why I'm saying that word. But like they're supposed to just like level the room every time. And yeah, like you said, make everyone enthusiastic.
That's it. No other job. And so the minute they make that about themselves, they start doing all their material for 10 minutes. Whatever they're doing, they're not doing that job. And yeah, you're right like. Intro, like, don't, you're not introducing other people like, oh, I don't know his name. Uh, yeah, he, he delivers pizza.
I don't know. You know, I don't know what he does. Uh, you know, it's like, what are you doing? Yeah, I get,
Lynn Harris: like someone good at their job in that moment. Like people, people mess up, people forget, maybe he forgot. He forgot, right? But like, obviously he forgot mine, didn't forget anybody else's. Like, I don't know if that were me. And I legit just blanked. And I'm not, I used to host, I'm not a great host, but I'm a good host.
Um, I know I know how to do it. And like if I had that moment, I would've been like, you know what? Let's bring 'em up here for a second. Remind me, what's your name? Amazing. Remind me, where do you work? [00:12:00] Amazing. All right. Who's excited? You know what I mean? Like, and then, and then like, all right, do over. Ready?
You go back. I'll bring you up again. Like, just make it fun. Like you,
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah,
Lynn Harris: fix it. You can fix it. It's not rocket science, you know? Um, so yeah. Uh, yeah. It's such a perfect example of, of, of why it matters
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Lynn Harris: to everyone besides me.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
why those, why those failures matter to ev to everyone, including, but not limited to the performers like us.
I'm thinking about too, we're seeing a lot of now exclusionary wording or exclusionary like language or policy around women and what defines women and especially trans exclusionary.
And you, I noticed when we started, when we were talking just, you know, 10 minutes ago, basically everybody's included. And it includes [00:13:00] women and non-binary. And you said other others. So what it, do you have thoughts on just the exclusion of certain people? Just, I don't know. For me it's just kind of like the minute you try to make something more inclusive and then you start being excluding certain people that are not the group you wanna define I don't know. It causes a problem too.
Lynn Harris: That's why we talk about the vibe.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Lynn Harris: because for very, for a whole bunch of practical reasons and legal reasons. I can't exclude anybody, like even if I, I can exclude people based on a code of conduct. I actually can't exclude anybody. Also, so from the practical standpoint, I don't know your life. Like, you know, if you, you do show up, I don't actually know unless you don't.
All I know is your pronouns, and that's only if you, if I ask and you tell me. Like, I don't know anything about anything. I don't, and so that we also don't say like "women identifying" because like to me, if you're a trans woman, you're a woman. Like what? I don't, [00:14:00] let's, like, I'm not, I don't who, why, why would I differentiate?
You know, or whatever. I don't. So like, I don't get into,
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Lynn Harris: don't care what pronouns I don't get into what gender assigned of birth, who you, I don't care. Um, I just want to welcome you as long as you bring no bro vibe. And frankly, it's actually never been a problem, you know. We've been around forever and, and it's not forever, but a while and like uh, it's just not an ongoing problem. We're not, so we're not kicking people out, you know, like it's, people get it because they find us, because they want a place that is like us. We're not the only place that is nice. So thank God they're, you know, we live in a world with a lot more friendly, welcoming, inclusive
supportive open mics than there were in the nineties in New York City. Um, there were a few, but not many. So like, we're not the only place, but that's what we strive for. So people are self-selecting. And people are often very nice. Like we do have a few cis white dudes who are like, um, who've like approached me very delicately and have said like, you guys sound great. Is it okay if [00:15:00] I join? Like, is it okay? I really don't wanna. You know, and I'm like, bro, you just passed like that. There's no test. But if there were, you just passed it and, and, and, and finally the, you know, while I'm on the subject, you know, the, the handful of dudes that we have, not a bad experience for people in general
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Lynn Harris: to, to, to understand what it's like to not be the main character. To under to be the outsider in a room. And white dudes don't always get that opportunity. Um, so, and white comics, white dude comics don't always get that opportunity. So I would say, you know, without, I'm not making statements about the individuals in, in, in Gold, i'm just saying it's not, it also actually kind of forwards our mission to have dudes have the experience of being the only dude in the room and to have to learn from a woman or learn from, you know, just learn from [00:16:00] someone who's not a, a, a cis dude.
Like that's actually excellent.
Rabiah Coon (host): Well, yeah, they're getting, they're, they're getting a different perspective, which is great, you know, it totally is so.
Lynn Harris: We also have dude teachers as well, so, um, you know, same reason, like they're great. We have a couple, um, who are like, they're friends, So it's like a cute buddy story, but, um, and one of them is married to one of our, our team members, so it's very, it's like we call him nepo husband, but um, but he's an experienced TV writer, so it's cool.
But like also them, like if, if a dude wants to teach for Gold because they believe in what we're up to, yeah. We, I mean, we'll never have more dude teachers than, than women. Like we just won't. 'cause I always strive to find a woman first for whatever role I'm looking for. Or just someone you know, just someone you know, another other, but like, I think it's great to like build an alternate universe that includes everyone except a bro vibe.
Rabiah Coon (host): Right. Yeah, it, no, it, it totally does. And I think you [00:17:00] do learn from each other and you can, I mean, I think one of the thing you learn is like why a joke doesn't work, and sometimes a guy can tell you why a joke's not working, you know, like, oh, actually, because this is what we're really thinking. Oh, okay, I can do that.
And same like a lot of guys I've seen have benefited from being like, well, you're actually not the target, still your wife. Like, here's how you would be the target. You know, things like that. Um, so what, so you started out doing, like you were doing comedy and you mentioned you worked for Oxygen. So how did you, like what were you doing and then like what was the motivation to start your own
Lynn Harris: Yeah, so there's one, it's, it's sort of a twisty, a twisty path, but there's definitely a through line. Um, and the through line is, you know, like I'm a creator, you know, of many things, um, multihyphenate, all those things. Um, and, but the through line is the through line is like a, like a braid of comedy, writing, [00:18:00] producing, and culture change. So, which is my brand of, of advocacy and social justice. Um, so using comedy and pop, other pop culture tools, um, to drive culture change, um, or in some cases policy change. But, um, but which go hand in hand, right? Um, sometimes one comes first, sometimes the other comes first. But, um, and I've always just really been like a big pop culture nerd, and that's my, that's just, and that, you know, slash comedy is sort of my pick for my tool
that I wanna use to, to, to drive change. Other people are excel at grassroots organizing. Other people go into politics, you know, this is just, this is my angle. Um, and you know, because again, this is not the only way to do it, but the thing that drives me.
Comedy is, you know, all people, people, so often people say to me, they're like, oh, thank God we need comedy now. And I'm like, yeah, but not for the only reason. Yeah. And yes, and not the only reason you think. We [00:19:00] definitely need distractions. We definitely need to Netflix and chill. Um, it's a good medicine for all sorts of things.
Right. Uh, it's also a powerful cultural force.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Lynn Harris: That can shift perceptions, that can establish and change norms that can, uh, affect our, our idea of who has power. I mean, it's a big deal. So it matters who does comedy, whether it's the face that you see, you know, telling the jokes or on the screen, or whether it's the people making decisions about what gets created or how, or, or the writers it matters.
Who makes it. Um, and so. And it also can be used as a tool. We know this, um, like as a delivery system for difficult conversations and ultimately in social change, um, in this sort of sneaky, fun way, it can, um, gently rather than like scolding or lecturely, um, you know, tell you what to do, tell you what's right, tell you to change your mind.
Um. That [00:20:00] doesn't work. That never works. So that's always been my, my jam, my angle, um, you know, just sort of deploying comedy as a tool for change or, um, directly or indirectly or, uh, and trying to change the power structure of comedy.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Lynn Harris: Which can also change the power structure of the world. Um, all just, that's all, you know, just that we can, you know, I figure we can have it done in, you know, six weeks.
But, um, so all of the things I've done kind of line up with that, even though they're very disparate. So, like, I was a journalist for 25 years. Um, my brand was kind of a, you know, being able to write about tricky topics with the proper sense of humor that would help either punch up or find commonalities, find the heart of the thing, so that to make a, a, a, like a prickly issue, relatable to everyone, that kind of thing. [00:21:00] And then I, um, at Oxygen, my, well, we were there because my creative partner and I, um, Chris Cobb genius, um, create, co-created, um, a superhero character named Breakup Girl who helps all people, uh, deal with romantic emergencies. And long story became a huge, we were like basically bragging the first, um, the first, this was 1997, the first multi-platform internet success story.
Um.
Rabiah Coon (host): Oh, wow.
Lynn Harris: When we, yeah, it's a, it's, it was huge, um, and a little bit of a disaster in the.com bust, but we have reemerged. There's, it is a long story, but, but we didn't develop her with this in mind. But as we grew the brand and the different platforms that the character and her stories and her advice column and that showed up on, we realized, without sounding self important, we realized that actually what's the, the why of it all was that we were. [00:22:00] Changing the way people think and talk about relationships and this, and like, first of all, relationships back then, this is the nineties. Were still considered like the stuff that ladies talk about. Like, um, and, but if you, and, and fluff, you know, not and, but like if, even if you count just straight people. You're still talking about only half of the people in all of the relationships, right? So that's dumb.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, yeah,
Lynn Harris: then if you think relationships are fluff, this was by the way, during the, uh, Clinton, Monica Lewinsky detente. Um, and by the way, love her. Huge fan. Um, and, uh, and we're like, okay, but if, if relationships are like the fluff at the end of the news, then why are relationships leading the news?
Rabiah Coon (host): Right.
Lynn Harris: um, so, and we also talked to everyone because it was like the, the people who wrote to her advice column were everybody. We didn't create. It wasn't, even though we got acquired by Oxygen, we never changed the, [00:23:00] which was then a new expressly, there sort of oxygen 1.0 was like for, you know, it was for, it was like another version of Lifetime and um, a comp was Lifetime, and so, but we, we said, okay, but we're not changing the brand. The, our brand is for everybody. That was the strength of it, that like all people of all ages and genders, even before we knew about all the genders, um, were writing us. And so we really, it really was, we were like, oh, that's what we're doing.
That is what we're doing. We're, um, and. It's not, it's even a longer story than that. But the point is, we were using pop culture in a very gentle and fun way to kind of push, push on people's assumptions about, um, about relationships, and also the fact that relationships are a giant deal that should be taken seriously even as they're fun usually.
Rabiah Coon (host): right. Well, yeah, and actually it reminds me of, you know, Modern Love, the New York Times column, and just the way it's not just about romantic love between a man and a [00:24:00] woman. It's like about parental and you know about friendship, like, and then also, and then different relationships and different, um, sexualities and everything.
And it's really great because it's kind of, I think even that helps people be more educated around other things too, because I think a lot of people make, I mean of course for comedy there are these assumptions that are you know, familiar to make and, and to talk about because they make people laugh. But like, I think a lot of the heteronormative, like the people who only wanna express those as like valid relationships, kind of, and, and like, not look at people who are, you know, other sexualities or maybe have other types of relationships than a regular, just monogamous, heterosexual, that's it.
Get married. That's all. Um. I think a lot of people don't know about anything else, so they just kind of think of the rest as BS and stuff, still, which is like crazy to me. But, you know, [00:25:00] um, it just is how, how it is. I think that's great. So, so then when did you, um, coming out of all that, you decided to go
Lynn Harris: Right. I never actually, your question did I.
Rabiah Coon (host): No, no, it's fine. Now that's, no, no. Now we'll get to that part.
Lynn Harris: Well, what happened was I was at Oxygen for a while and then, um, producing Breakup Girl, um, on platforms. We had an animated, uh, animated interstitial on their, on their sort of their night swim, or sorry, adult
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lynn Harris: like Adult Swim, but on Oxygen. Um, that ended with the dot com bust, which, which will, which is the topic for another podcast, um, over drinks.
And, uh, but we have the rights back now, so, um. Yes. And then I, I went back to journalism for a while. I, and I wound up working, um, for a while as the, I was the VP of communications, see through line here for, um, a really cool human rights organization that also used pop culture to [00:26:00] inspire, uh, to, to present human rights issues as real and relevant and actionable, um, including in the US where we don't really think about human rights as much as we think about civil rights.
Um, but we framed, you know, gender-based violence as a human rights issue. And, but we did it, but, but we did it fun, you know, like with, with animations and puppets and, you know, um, and challenging gender norms and things like that. So that was still, again, we, so I worked on a lot of comedy driven campaigns and I created a series called Dudes Against Violence Against Women because Duh, um, was the name.
Um, and it was this, a comedy series that was basically all men on purpose to raise money, uh, actually for us, but, um, but to promote and promote the idea that men, like women can't solve violence against women by themselves. Thank you. Like, you know, this needs to be everybody. So though we use comedy to do it because, you know, no one wants, no one wants to be lectured about that.
No dude wants to be like accused of like being the bad guy, right? But, um. [00:27:00] But this was a way to, to, to be like, actually this is our job. And like, you, you know, and, and just put it, put the responsibility in the hands of, of dudes, but then, but make it fun. So we did that. So, um, and then after a while when I was ready to leave that job, that was when I, I had always had this idea in the back of my head initially as like. Initially for teen girls, I had a, I had a, um, when I, when I first became a parent, I especially thought about this because I remembered being 18 girl. And, um, and, and I remembered the feeling of like, that, that that thing that happens when you're like wild and scrappy and your knees are bleeding from, you know, from falling off your bike and, you know, and, and your hair you have a, like, you know, leaves in your hair and, you know, whatever, and then one day you're like, Ugh. And all of a sudden you're sitting up straight and um, and, and being quiet, you know? And I had that experience to some degree and, um, I was like, comedy will solve this. So I initially had this idea with a friend of mine [00:28:00] named Mickey of that like, what if it could be a thing for teen girls very quickly? Um, it evolved into No way, this is, this is, we love the teen girls and they're welcome, but this is bigger. Um, this is like we, we, let's, let's work on really building careers and transforming the industry and, and, and creating sort of a, and widening the funnel, you know, to create like just a torrent of, to, to, to, to find all those women who like you, like we don't even know how many women quit, right? We dunno how many, we'll never know. Like this is true of all jobs, right? Of, of like, we never know how many women didn't make it because they were like, this is, this is too toxic. This is, or just too exhausting or too, or I'm just, I'm watching dudes like leapfrog over me, um, who are less experienced and less and less talented.
Like, we don't know how many of them just left, you know, so let's like, make it not that, do the opposite, make it easier, um, and, and build a, build a wider funnel, um, and build more pathways to just [00:29:00] creation and power so that we were like, okay, we gotta talk to the grownups. So, and that's, that's how this evolved to where we are
Rabiah Coon (host): That's awesome. Yeah. And so then if you just wanna tell people, I mean, you talked a little bit about it at the start, but what do people do if they're interested in joining?
Lynn Harris: Um, thank you for asking. Come to our website. It's gold comedy dot com (goldcomedy.com). That is where you can find all the things. You, the way it works is, I mean, you can get a lot just from hanging out at our website or following us on Instagram at Gold Comedy (@GoldComedy). We have a lot of good resources, um, for, you know, inspiration and also just practical how-tos on our website.
If you're a beginner or if you're experienced we got it. We have it all. And also if you're a standup, if you're improvs, uh, storytelling sketch, um, late night, uh, production, we have it all. And what you can then think about doing is, um, joining our, [00:30:00] what we call the club. We have classes, we have tons and tons of classes, but the way it works is, um, in most cases, you don't pay by the class you pay by the year.
Because we lead with community, the most important thing is that you're part of, you're, you're part of something. And so you pay for the year and then you can take unlimited classes. You can take all the classes, you can take one class 10 times that, which someone holds the record for that, um, with a, um, and, uh, so then you,
you can either like, stay on one track where like, no, I am committing to standup. Or you can try all the things 'cause they all feed each other. Um, you can learn all the things 'cause they all feed each other. You could take, you can do standup and production so you know how to produce your own standup show.
You know, like you can blend together what you want. Um, or again, yeah, you can, you can just keep taking our standup classes over and over for the accountability and structure. You can start your own thing. We have people starting their own groups for satire writing. Um. Uh, we have weekly, we have actually, we just launched another, we have two open mics every week.
We [00:31:00] have, um, weekly conversations with comedy celebrities and prose. We often have act like activities, you know, like write 30 jokes in 30 days or just things to just keep you going, build, um, do get you to do your reps, help you meet other people, help you be part of something.
Um, and yeah, so that's really why you pay by the year because it's all that stuff in between that's just as important if not more important, um, than classes.
Rabiah Coon (host): It's on just the one and done and, and you kind of go on your way and maybe you don't connect to anyone again. Yeah. That's great. And have you seen, what's the biggest change maybe you've observed even for yourself and in, in doing this versus, you know, just basically going to a gig or, or being in a writer's room or whatever, but working with all these people?
Lynn Harris: Well, I, you know, I mean, for me, I, uh, on the one hand, you know, I'm like, oh, I still kind of wanna do standup, but I can't do, like, I, or I still kind of wanna, like, I'm, I'm, I'm a little jealous of all the Goldies who are doing all these creative things. Um, but I [00:32:00] also do, you know, I also feel like that parental role of like, look at it, look at all, look at all this.
Oh my God, look what they're doing. I'm so proud. You know, we have a, we have two web series, um, that we, one that we, that we were part of producing in various ways. One's actually streaming on Fox Soul now, which is a, a fast channel that Fox runs. And another one, um, was basically came entirely out of Gold, um, came out of two of our classes and was, um, staffed and produced almost entirely by Goldies.
And it's called Rat Czar and it's winning awards all over the place. Um, so that makes me proud. I just feel, and I just feel proud and, and just like a, like a big, like sort of parent slash cheerleader, like the oldest cheerleader. Um, we even, we have people come from our classes. I mean, almost everything's on Zoom, right?
But, but then they like take it on the, then they like take it on the road. Um, we have people go from our, obviously they do standup out in the world, but also they develop solo shows, go and do that. Um. Uh, they really just build their [00:33:00] careers with us and it's so, it's just makes me proud.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. That's awesome.
So one thing I like to ask every guest is like, do you have any advice or mantra that you want to share with people? Maybe just something that you kind of lean on or that helps you when you're, especially like there might be comics listening, you know, in this case, but?
Lynn Harris: Um, uh, first of all, wear sunscreen.
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm.
Lynn Harris: Um, which also means go outside. It's a little bit of a touch grass thing, right?
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Lynn Harris: I know we're all like, you know, we're all like creatures of the night. Um, uh, definitely wear sunscreen. For people thinking of start just starting out or thinking of starting out, you don't have to change who you are in order to be funny or successful.
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm.
Lynn Harris: You don't have to be less shy, you don't have to be more confident. Your, your current vibe is you.
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm.
Lynn Harris: what's gonna develop, that's what you're gonna hone into your persona.
That's gonna [00:34:00] be kind of 1.5 times that, 1.3 times that, um, don't change, just work hard. And actually that goes for anybody even, you know, um, I just don't want that barrier to be in front of people when they start. Um, and then for other, for others it's just put in the reps. It's just reps it, I cannot stress this enough, not just for standup, for everything.
I was a journalist for longer than I was a actually like legit standup writing jokes, for so long, and now I can, like, I can look at something and tell you how many words it is. I can write, I can write things so fast. I can see how to edit things so fast. And it is because I put in the reps for 25 years writing for different magazines, different publications.
Um, so you know, using that as a comp, it just, it makes you get easier and it get, it gets easier and you get good. And actually putting in the work and the reps is more important than being like raw, naturally funny. Because you can be naturally hilarious all day [00:35:00] long, and if you don't put in the reps, you will not succeed.
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm.
Lynn Harris: And fortunately, it's, it's hard work, but fortunately it's still jokes.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I mean, there's something about, you know, you can, I mean there's the, all the crowd work videos now too. Like there's kind of this pressure to keep for everyone to do this, and it's kind of, I mean, it's a talent, but a lot of time people don't realize that, that there could have been five or 10 other conversations till they got to that one that worked.
Lynn Harris: Right. Also, and also that person has been practicing for 10 years.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. And they've been doing it and like you didn't see them before, but yeah, exactly. And I think a lot of, I mean, I still consider myself pretty new. I mean, five years is not that long. And then there's people who are newer and it's like everyone's just trying to get like this thing, but it's like you still have to practice to even have that organic conversation at some point.
Lynn Harris: Totally. To be comfortable enough, you know? Um. Totally, totally. Well, you know, they, they [00:36:00] say it takes 10 years to be an overnight success.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, and I think that is about right and you know it
Lynn Harris: I mean, look at like, the whole cast of Somebody, Somewhere. Right? Like Bridgette Everett, um, Jeff Hiller, Murray Hill. They have all been busting their asses in New York City since at, since at least the nineties. I remember Murray and Bridgette from like, when I first moved here, you know. And then people remember Jeff from back then, they have all been just like in the trenches in New York City and this finally, you know, happened.
So
Rabiah Coon (host): It's such a beautiful show too.
Lynn Harris: I know, I know. And it feels like an overnight success if you didn't know that, how long it took them to come up. But like, man, they were, they all worked hard. I'm so, I mean, they deserve it. I'm so glad it's such a, it's an absolute gem of a show and they're all individually gems. Um,
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Lynn Harris: Well deserved, but it's a good example of what I'm talking about.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, yeah. No, that's, no, and that's such a great show for anyone who hasn't seen it.
[00:37:00]
Rabiah Coon (host): So I have a set of questions I call the Fun Five. Sometimes they're more fun for me, which is fine, but they're just, the questions I ask every guest, uh, that I came up with, um, you know, when I first started the podcast. So the first one is, what T-shirt do you have, like what's the oldest t-shirt you have that you still wear?
Lynn Harris: I have one. No lie. It's gotta be from 1983. And I know because I was in high school and I bedazzled it.
Rabiah Coon (host): Amazing. So do you still like, is it intact, like at all? Yeah, because some t-shirt, it's amazing how some brands stayed and some brands now fall apart. Like you
Lynn Harris: Yeah. I
Rabiah Coon (host): for like a year
Lynn Harris: general things. I mean, if I can swear, things were just less shitty, you know? Like I have my, I, I'm a skater and I had, I still have my roller skates from the eighties that were like those sneaker skates. Um, and they're a little uncomfortable [00:38:00] because they didn't know how to make them padded yet.
But I will tell you, I have still skated on them, like for like, for, for fun. Um, uh, and because they're not, but, but they're in much better shape than any other pair of skates I've owned since. They're roller skates. They're like classic quads, right? And they're, each one weighs like 20 pounds. They hadn't figured that yet either.
But like the bearings are in perfect condition, the hardware perfect condition. Because like things were weren't shitty. So same with the t-shirts. Like they're nice cotton shirts that like, I mean, sure I, you know, I guess I just didn't wear them every single day. But the cotton is still like, it's high quality cotton that's still intact.
What can I tell you.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. No, that's good. Um, so I like to also ask like. If it was Groundhogs Day, and I wrote this actually when it was in the pandemic, but it still feels like it some days, like it's just Groundhog's Day, and every morning you wake up and the same song plays, What song would you have your alarm clock set to play?
Lynn Harris: I would have it set to play, MmmBop [00:39:00] because fight me, that is the funnest song. It is irresistible and I can name you, I can absolutely name you a million other, like I can make a list of songs that are not by white dudes or whatever it is. Absolutely. There are so many other, but that one it is. It's like, it's like the myth.
It's like, um, it's like the story of the red shoes. Like when you're wearing the red shoes, you can't, the girl with the red shoes can't stop dancing, right? And she dances until she dies, you know. I, and I love like prince and like real funk and hip hop and stuff like that, but I dare you to not be able to even tap your toe when that song comes on.
Rabiah Coon (host): No, you have to for sure.
Lynn Harris: the red shoes. It is. You are you. That song comes on. You're wearing the red shoes. So that would get me out of bed for sure.
Rabiah Coon (host): Nice. I and those guys, I mean, Hanson, they still seem like really
Lynn Harris: I know they seem
Rabiah Coon (host): people, right? Like really sweet. Um, all right, so this one's a little easier. Usually coffee or tea or neither?
Lynn Harris: Coffee
Rabiah Coon (host): black. How?
Lynn Harris: I like tea too. I like tea. I [00:40:00] honestly, I'm very, I'm, I'm kind of like, I'm very not choosy about my coffee as long as it's good. I depend, I, I, I, um. Sometimes I'm like, today feels like a, you know, milky, creamy day. And sometimes I'm like, no, today's like black iced coffee. Today's a brew. Today's um, today's a like, douchey, hazelnut situation.
You know, like, I, I just, I don't know. I just, I, I, I, it's very like, according to my mood, I like tea too. But, um, it's like I'm a dog person who likes cats. I'm a cat coffee person who likes tea because I love all the flavors of tea. Tea's fun.
Tea is great and yeah, some, there is some fun. I got a popcorn one and I didn't think I'd like it. It was really good. It was
I get that. That sounds cool.
Rabiah Coon (host): yeah, it was by Teapigs it was called. I don't know. Um, alright, so is there, I mean, and this is a, I don't know, I mean I hope something makes you laugh, but this question is just like, what always cracks you up, like always makes you laugh or what was the last thing that did that to you?
Lynn Harris: The last thing that did that was, [00:41:00] um, my one, my older kid, um, b was home from college and, they were like, okay, you have one night left before you go back. What do you wanna do? And they were like, we wanna play Taboo. And my, and so it was the four of us so that my, so B is seven B's 19, Sam is uh, 17. And we were playing Taboo and I could not tell you what was so funny, but I remember just being like, I remember my, my husband being like, okay, we have to wait for mommy 'cause I was doubled over, um, with something one of my kids did. I don't remember. And I, you know, I'm gonna just take that, I will, you know, to the parents out there, basically, you will learn that you have no control over your children's, uh or successes, but I'm gonna take credit for how funny both my kids are and also my husband together. 'cause my husband's funny. So, 'cause they're both, they're very different, but they're both hilarious. So I don't know what happened, but I just remember like basically bleeding out from laughing on the couch while everyone was like, all right, stop the game.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, well, it gets painful to laugh. So hard. I had that we were playing imposter. Have you [00:42:00] seen that game? It's like on the phone and basically, I dunno, my niece had it. And you can put however many players and then everyone will see the same category. But you tap a player and then you look at it, it'll say the category and then it'll say imposter, or it'll say the word.
And so the imposter doesn't know the word. Everyone else knows the word and you go around and it's, but you basically can't say that word, but you can kind of, I don't know. We probably played it loosely. But we were playing that and just started cracking up and I couldn't stop laughing and my family's just like, oh God, she doesn't have to go to the ER.
You know, it's these games. I mean, but imposter, uh, your kids might know about it.
It's
Lynn Harris: I'm sure they do. Yeah.
Rabiah Coon (host): All right, that's perfect. okay. And then the last one. Who inspires you right now?
Lynn Harris: Okay. Literally right now it's the people who invented the surgery where they fix your eyes, okay, because I just tell you, lemme just tell you on all the podcasts that you may see me on from like the, from two weeks and like two weeks ago before I'm wearing [00:43:00] cool glasses like yours. Okay? So no shade, cool glasses. I love cool glasses. Um, but I've been wearing glasses since I was five. Maybe younger. Um, and I have never, speaking of games, I have never lost a game of who has a worst prescription. Never. I am the reigning champion. I had like negative 13 in both eyes. Okay. Um, and, but they kept telling me we can fix them.
You have little cataracts and they're not bothering you yet, but you're gonna have to get them fixed at some point. So whenever you're ready, we're gonna go in, we're gonna fix your cataracts and we're gonna fix, and we're gonna do the LASIK thing. And I was like, that sounds great, but absolutely not. You know, like, um, um, just 'cause gross and I'll spare you the gories. Like they told me, everyone's like, that's it. Like the really, the, I'm like, okay, what? Uh,
Rabiah Coon (host): is your eyes. It's
Lynn Harris: eyeballs. Okay.
Rabiah Coon (host): and you can smell it. I heard
Lynn Harris: I couldn't smell anything. Let me stipulate. I couldn't smell. That's good. but, um, I, yeah, I had it. Like I just, this one was, this [00:44:00] one was done two weeks ago. Um, and I, it's fast, it's painless.
They do give you like Valium or something, but like, there's no, and they, but like it is fast and painless and heals so quickly and I can, it is sorcery. So I cannot believe that someone had the audacity to. Invent this. And then the way that it's the, the, the, the, so I'm, I'm an admirer of the pe, whoever invented this, invented and perfected this surgery.
Um, and also of, you know, whatever it is we believe in that created eyeballs that, uh, that heal with this, uh, with such speed and force. Um, and so, and I'm also just grateful for vision. Like, I can't bel like I loved my glasses, but like, damn, it's nice to be able to like, put on makeup without holding the mirror like, so.
Anyway, I very much admire, um, scientists and surgeons of eyeballs. Yeah.
Rabiah Coon (host): And I totally relate to that because I, and [00:45:00] I can't get this surgery. I, I wanted to, but my mom got it, and she said, yeah, it was life changing, just waking up and seeing.
Lynn Harris: I know. Yep,
Rabiah Coon (host): what? So, yeah. Oh, awesome. Okay, cool. So just, um, you mentioned the website a little earlier, but yeah. If people wanna find you online or find Gold Comedy, uh, where do you want them to go?
Lynn Harris: Um, they can go to Gold Comedy dot com (goldcomedy.com). They can find everything from there to, just to keep it simple. Uh, although I will also say I'm inviting people to follow us, um, at Gold Comedy. Um, and I'll also make sure, um, that in the show notes you will have, um, more specific links and discount codes and all sorts of, um, goodies like that.
Rabiah Coon (host): Awesome. Alright, well thanks Lynn. It was great chatting with you. I appreciate you being here today.
Lynn Harris: Thank you.
Rabiah Coon (host): Thanks for listening. You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes. Joe Maffia created the music you're listening to. You can find him on Spotify at Joe M-A-F-F-I-A. Rob Metke does all the design for which I'm so grateful. You can find him online by [00:46:00] searching Rob M-E-T-K-E.
Please leave a review if you like the show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas. The pod is on all the social channels at at More Than Work Pod (@MoreThanWorkPod) or at Rabiah Comedy (@RabiahComedy) on TikTok. While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself.
