The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - How to Break Into Comedy and Avoid Student Debt with Comedian Chase O'Donnell | KEV Talks #19

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Chase O'Donnell is hilarious, and her Instagram series of reels "If Musicals Were Real" is amazingly entertaining. Chase has been in "the biz" for quite some time. Chase grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles, started dancing at a young age, and made appearances on hit shows, including "Judging Amy."As Chase grew, she knew she wanted to make people laugh and pursued a career in standup comedy. Along the way, Chase wrote a play called "Too Blondes," in which she and Savannah Brown starred and received rave reviews. Feeling the call for home Chase went back west, kept doing standup comedy, and was fortunate (but also worked hard) to connect with Christina P., who is acting as a mentor in many ways.Chase is now opening for Christina P. on a national comedy tour, and now Chase has her very own comedy special coming out. Chase's special is called "People Pleaser" and will be released on YouTube on February 2, 2023.It was a pleasure to meet and talk with Chase, and I look forward to watching her continued success.Follow Chase on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/chase_odonnell/ and check her website out at http://chaseodonnell.com/Thank you for listening, subscribing, and sharing the KEV Talks Podcast. Read and listen to more great episodes at https://kevtalkspod.com/.

Hello and welcome to the KevTalks podcast. This is the podcast for anyone interested in hearing industry-leading best practice processes, particularly from people in the healthcare, technology, and public safety spaces. Lessons learned are shared and knowledge passed on through facilitated conversations or solo episodes with host Kevin Pinnell. That's me. Kevin shares his 20 plus years of experience as a US Navy veteran, public safety professional, and healthcare IT program and project manager. In the end, this podcast has a little something for everyone, especially those who want to make progress in their personal and professional lives. Thank you so much for listening to this episode, for subscribing, and now let's hear more about this episode. Chase O'Donnell grew up in a suburb

of Los Angeles, not far from Hollywood. In fact, she started her career in show business at a very young age as a dancer on some hit shows, including the Gilmore Girls. And now she is a playwright. She has been on shows off Broadway called Two Blondes. She is a stand-up comedian, has been for a while, is opening for Christina P. Traveling across the country and has her own special coming out called People Pleaser that comes out on February 9th. I am very happy and had fun with this interview. Chase O'Donnell. Hey, everybody. Thanks for coming back to the KevTalks podcast. I am joined with Josh Potter, podcast guest of the year winner,

and much more Chase O'Donnell. Chase, thanks so much for being on the KevTalks podcast. Thank you so much for having me. And I've never been introduced that way. What an honor. There you go. Thank you. It's pretty cool. Yeah. I appreciate this is one of those. I think for folks, I'll just, we'll give them something right now. If you reach out and ask, some people say yes. And I reached out and said, Hey, I love your videos you do. And we'll, we'll talk about that, you know, where folks can reach you on Instagram and all the other stuff you do. But the, you know, if, if Broadway plays were real, if I said that correctly, uh, just hilarious, uh, and reached out and you're going to be on here. So I really appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, no, I'm so happy to do this.

Cool. And we're, I think practically related. You have family from Virginia. I am in Blacksburg, Virginia. Wow. Look at that. I, I, um, know that my grandpa was born in Virginia and raised, but lived there up until his 20s, but I've never been. Oh, there you go. Got to check out the East Coast or not, or stay in sunny California. No, no, I should check it out. I should check out Virginia. Yep. I'm in Southwest in the mountains. It's pretty nice here. Although I'm glad when I go for walks and visit folks in the flat part of Virginia, I'm like, okay, we're not walking on the mountains, which is nice, but that's not why we're here. Oh, sorry. Lots of skiing out there. Not real close to where I am, but not too far, like over toward

West Virginia where it's a little more mountainous and have resorts and things like that. So I'll be in West Virginia in May. Oh, cool. Very nice. But I, I figure that's different. Yeah. Officially it is different. I think that's a different state. Okay. It's funny. Cause I just talked to a guy who did a, what's called a staff, right? It was a leadership thing. So you went to Gettysburg and we talk about the decisions made and all that. And of course,

around the 1800s Virginia to West Virginia were one big thing and it was all Virginia. So we actually touched on that, but yeah, it's, it's interesting that the split there. So that's cool. So that'll be part of the tour that we'll learn more about, which is also very exciting, a lot of stuff going on, but let's, let's kind of start from the beginning. You're from the West. So where'd you grow up? And, and again, you dove right into showbiz pretty early. So let's learn a bit about you. Okay. I grew up in Southern California, kind of LA um and I uh I have a very you know creative family my mom was a dancer and

she was a dance teacher and she put me and my sister into dance like very early and my dad's a writer and he's an incredible guitarist and there's just so much creativity in our family. So it just, there was no question that me and my sister were both going to have a career in the arts as well. It's just kind of all we knew and all we know. We joke now that like we didn't even know that having a normal job was an option like we would have loved if our parents were like in high school like why don't you guys think about you know going to college for being a lawyer or a doctor or like you know something with some money and stability but we didn't know that like it was like of course we're gonna follow our dreams and of course we're gonna pursue

you know the arts um so it's you know grass is always greener but it's definitely been you know it has its challenges but it's at the end of the day, I think it's pretty cool that, um, that I've taken this path. Um, so I started dancing, uh, really young, like at two. They're very young. I was in class young. Um, and, and then it was around high school that i got into theater and i just i fell in love with musical theater love love love it and then i i went to college for theater and um comedy specifically like i love i loved acting but not dramatic acting, please. Who has time for that? Too much? Oh my God.

I didn't like you had to like, in order to be a dramatic actor, you have to like tap into these dark memories and places and I mean, for it to be real, you have to like live this really dark experience and it wasn't for me i felt so like oh god because i do believe in um law of attraction very much okay and i would always be worried like oh my god universe this isn't really what i'm thinking don't worry i'm acting don't bring the

brad things don't bring the bad things i'm acting bring the bad things. I'm acting. So did you like making people laugh all growing up then? Definitely. With dance, there's a lot of acting in dance if you choose to act in your dances. But in any performance, I had a lot of pizzazz. I would try to make people laugh just with the dances. So yes, from a very young age, I just loved making people laugh. And then when I found out, I could actually act and make people laugh even better. Bonus, no doubt.

Quicker, quicker to the point. Yeah. Was it before high school? Because we touched on this when we met that you had opportunity to dance on film was that before you were even in high school um when you were at your dance school yeah um at my dance studio uh because it was so close to la we had lots of opportunities to be on tv shows when whenever they needed dancers they'd come to our dance studio. So I was on Gilmore Girls from age 9 to 14, just as one of Miss Patty's dance students. And all other little shows like Providence, Judging Amy,

just shows wherever they needed a dancer. I'm probably there. No big deal. I just, you know. I would go on set and be a a dancer like a ballet little dancer yeah cool so my i definitely had like experience on set growing up gotcha which i would imagine that made you just comfortable as you you know got older and got more into theater and more into standing up in front of people or yeah and it like made me realize how much I love being on set okay so fun I just like

it was like Disneyland for me so yeah that's cool I enjoyed it is it is it just being around other other creative people just just all of it because I mean it sounds awesome right I'm sure folks listening and just people that see the behind the scenes parts of movies and shows and you know stand up and things it's just like wouldn't that be cool and they get snacks and they get to you know do all these kind of things was just all of it or any particular thing that kind of struck you well like gilmer girls shot on the wb lot which is where friends would was filming so like um and that was like it was you know so popular always but at the time still so popular so i like you'd be in the cafeteria and it would be the friends cast and it just like

you were around like it was just no big deal you're just around all these people and it was like all these different worlds like and you just walk from one place and you're like in Connecticut and then you walk here and you're in this in New York. And I guess Connecticut and New York aren't that different. That was a bad example. I know what you mean, though. It's like you're stepping in. You're stepping in a different world. It's really fun.

It's really fun to be on a studio lot like that. I bet. And you're in the world that most folks only see from their living room, you know, and you're like, oh, that's the folks that just did the scene that, you know, I loved or whatever, you know, on the show. That's pretty awesome. And because I was so young, I didn't have like, oh, I don't deserve to be here. Oh, I'm nobody. Don't worry. I just was like a kid and it was like, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be here. I'm amazing. Oh yeah. No big deal. So it just made me feel very comfortable being on a set too. That's cool. That's good. So is that something that you would suggest for folks is to either start their kids or if their kids

are young and are excited to get into show business of some sort right dance comedy shows to that starting young helps kind of get you ready because you can hear the other side too right where it's a negative oh yeah no see that would not be my advice okay okay i think um because i begged and begged and begged my parents to put me into acting and let me audition. Like when I around like 14, I was like, please, I just want to be on TV. Oh, wow. Please. And they would not let me, which in hindsight makes so much sense.

A good thing. Yeah. Child actors tend to have some issues but what they did do which I'm very very grateful for is put me into class and like they're just like if that's what you want then you're gonna train and you're gonna get really good and that is my advice is training I have so much training that it's right i feel very confident with my um skills because of the amount of training i have and a lot of that was um part of was that was it the groundlings and then other training as well like formal well i guess both formal training you know

like kind of formal education things like that yeah um Yeah. And I know, I know that's not, that's like a privileged thing for me to say was that I got to take class because I know not everyone has that opportunity. But the dance studio, being in dance class, it helped because my mom was a dance teacher there. So I just kind of lived at the dance studio. So that's, that's very lucky that I was able to take so much dance class. And then, um, I took acting classes and I took, um, singing classes and then, um, like in, in the acting class field, it's not just acting acting it's like cold reading classes and audition classes and um scene study class there's so many different classes within acting um and then i went to the performing arts high school which um there's for kids listening to this podcast yeah there's usually a performing arts high school in a in a

big city okay there's a couple in like la orange county san francisco but i know like in cities they'll have some sort of performing arts school and um that's, you know, then I had all day long, just like different acting classes, different dance classes, different singing classes. And then I went to college for theater and trained even more in Shakespeare and Chekhov. And the amount of training I have is too much. Like you don't need this much training for comedy, but let me tell you I'm trained. But are you finding it helps today though? Like you know that you're building on it or it just is? It's interesting because what I noticed once I got into the real world and started auditioning um you it's looks in hollywood it's do you look the part and it doesn't matter if you

can act it really it's just what do you look like gotcha so i don't even know if it's helpful but it's given me confidence that oh good i'm just i know that i'm capable of i've had my 10 000 hours wow yeah that muscle memory is there. That's always helpful. Yeah. That's cool. And it sounds like, because that's the, you know, I don't know if it's always been a debate, but like, should I go to college versus trade school? Should I do this for what's practically, because college to me is, and I have a bachelor's degree is like, Hey, you finished something. Right. But I, like I went to, I went to college and I have a home insecurity degree,

but I'm a project manager in healthcare IT. So I use principles, but I don't use my degree like if I was an engineer. But if I went to trade school or it sounds like, which sounded awesome, we're going to teach you not only how to do this creative part of it, but also when you show up for something,

how to read, when you do these things, it's directly applicable to going out in the world and trying to get parts and and be in shows and do what you want to do that sounds pretty awesome yeah but with acting again you don't need it all that okay i don't care if you have a degree with comedy too it doesn't matter um i in hindsight these these kids the the covid college kids yeah um all went, a lot of people chose to go to community college and just do it from home and save money. I think that's what I would have done in hindsight because I'm still in debt from my theater degree. Gotcha. Which is not necessary.

For now, just for now. For now, maybe one day I'll pay it off. That's right. That's right. I mean, it seems like you're headed that way and already doing it, but that's good advice is so some level of education helpful, but you don't have to go to school, have a degree. Don't break the bank for, I mean, I get it. I get it for other degrees. Sure. You don't break the bank for I mean I mean I get it I get it for other degrees sure I don't need to break the bank for your theater degree but I do think um just I'm clearly because that's the path I took I'm all about like getting trained in education so yeah that's cool good so did your education then open up doors um because you also did go from the West Coast to the East Coast, right, for a bit on Broadway, no less. So not a small venue for honing your craft and performing it with two blondes, TOO blondes, right?

Which is cool. So tell us about that. So you wrote that and then you changed it, which one would love everybody to hear about when I stopped talking. And then, but also to kind of talk about how you, how you change it and being dynamic with kind of your product, so to speak. But so yeah, what took you out, out to the East coast? So there is something to like beginner's luck, I believe before you get jaded by the industry. I was like auditioning straight out of college and booked a musical that was in LA. Oh, wow.

But it was by the creators of Rock of Ages and Legally Blonde. And it was like this incredible show that I booked. And they took the show off Broadway. So we were all like straight out of college, right around the same age. And we all got to move to New York together and do the show off Broadway. So we were all like straight out of college, right around the same age. And we all got to move to New York together and do the show in New York off Broadway. So that was so cool. And so I just like moved to New York with a job off Broadway, off Broadway, not off Broadway.

But we can say Broadway. There you go. And then anyways, when that um show closed i decided to stay in new york because my sister was living there and i was living with her and um i took the one person show that i had written in college as a template and turned it into a two person show, which is two blondes. And we did that off Broadway as well. Nice. What, what inspired you to make it a two person show and change it? Savannah Brown is who I did the show with, and she's one of my closest friends and she was living in New York and wanting to be creative

and create her own work too. So we were just in the same place in our lives. It was fun. Yeah. It was fun having a partner to do it with. That's cool. So timing makes a difference too. How was the, you know, did you have kind of culture shock from West coast to East coast? Was it just living in the moment, enjoying, you know, the have kind of culture shock from west coast to east coast was it just living in the moment enjoying you know the the opportunity off broadway uh but still very close to broadway um but you know uh was it just too exciting to even you know kind of think about that but but was it um new york was great when i had a job um It was miserable. It is miserable being, quote unquote, a starving artist in New York because it's not an easy place to live. It's just really hard to...

I would live in New York again if I was living in the penthouse overlooking Central Park and taking taxis. Lovely. I would do that. That's a good setup. But I was living in Brooklyn so far away from the city and commuting on just packed subways, and it was either scorching hot or freezing cold. And if you need to get your groceries, you're like carrying four bags on the subway or you're like taking your laundry to a laundromat in the cold and the weather and the elements. I mean, it's just a hard way to live.

And it's harder because I grew up in sunny California where I really didn't know how lovely I had it until I moved to New York and now when I go back to New York I have a great time but it's because I'm staying in a hotel and I'm there for like a few days right so New York I really like I've learned in short spurts, I didn't like living there. Gotcha. Good to know, but visiting is just fun. I had a tough time, but I'll go back when I'm a millionaire. Oh, there you go. Sold. Cool. So we were off Broadway, adjusted, made a two-person show. And then what took you back west then? Um, a quarter life crisis because I, I hated, I really hated New York as we've learned. Um,

I was pretty, I was pretty miserable in New York and, um, the, the apartment I was living in, they were like renovating it and kicked everyone out in the building like literally paid us to leave and that's when my sister and I were like okay I think they the universe just like is giving us a sign to get out of here like we're literally getting paid to leave New York. Wow. So, yeah. Hopefully, it helped with the ticket, plane ticket or whatever. Oh, yeah. My sister negotiated a great deal.

Nice. And I took the money and actually traveled to New Zealand for a month. Oh, wow. So, yeah. I traveled with that money and then I moved home. Oh, cool. Did you enjoy New Zealand? Oh my gosh.

Highly recommend everyone goes to New Zealand. Awesome. Highly recommend everyone gets paid to leave their home and then use that money to go to New Zealand. So lessons learned. If you do get kicked out of your apartment, that's probably really expensive and you don't like living there. Negotiate for a better deal. Travel. Yeah. No, no. Negotiate. Because if they say, oh, we can pay you like a thousand to leave, which they try to do, that you can negotiate for so much more. They tell you the

lowest number they can. And most people in our building took that low number. But my sister talked to a lawyer friend and worked that number up. So never take the low number. There you go. Probably. Is that also good advice for folks in the biz for show business when you're booking things and getting picked to do parts? Do you do a lot of negotiation there or have you? No. I guess when you were younger younger your parents probably would have right no i don't know i've never been a negotiator um so i guess that's good advice for me as well yeah there you go good well hopefully you get something out of this show for free usually

people ask me to do something like you don't need to pay me. Don't worry. Don't pay me. I'm so used to working for free that I have a tough time being like, okay, I want more money actually. So yeah. That'll be the evolution of your rocket to success then. So does your sister work in a field where she negotiates or that's just kind of part of who she does? Yeah. My sister is an artist. She's a street artist and uses like crochet. Oh my God. My sister's so cool. But she's been her own like boss running her like crochet street art business for many years and has had to negotiate many, many deals. Gotcha. I've never heard of crochet street art. That's

pretty cool. I know she was like the first in the she like pioneered this um industry because now it happens quite a bit oh cool it was the first yeah nice so you um must have been pretty frugal with your money earned some money in new zealand and then got back to california uh what what was your favorite thing about New Zealand? The nature. It's just so beautiful. Everywhere you look, it's just stunning. So I think that was my favorite part.

But what I realized when I got back to California, there's so many places in california that look like new zealand i i no longer need to go to new zealand just to see the beauty i can drive up the coast of california it's so pretty out here gotcha so is that something you do more is get out and get in the get in the nature there more that's something i try to do i have um like i always say i want to but um i don't prioritize it enough i'm very like work work work work work career career okay i'm doing like i i do feel like i should get out into nature more it makes me very happy gotcha yeah it's it's science hashtag science getting out and doing that that That's cool. Awesome. Well, cool. And then I imagine too, getting back to California, although New York from an outside perspective, also from what you hear in different places, like has a lot of comedy clubs, LA, a lot of comedy clubs. So is that when you kind of really kicked up your standup comedy career is when you got back near your home base? Yeah. I was always doing stand-up in New York alongside of everything else I was doing. And

then when I was back in LA, I got a job working on Curb Your Enthusiasm as a productions assistant because when I moved back to LA is when I kind of like quit the acting auditioning side of the business. That's what like really made me miserable in New York. And I was like, I quit. Like, I hate that. I just want to be on set, which was like my first love. Like love being on sets and so I just wanted to work behind the scenes on set and I got this job on Curb after like probably a year of interviews like it's very hard to get into it once you're in that field it's very easy to jump from job to job if you're if you're good but um to initially get in is oh oh my gosh, it's a process. So I finally got this job. And I mean, what a miracle it was on Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is like one of the best comedy

shows. And yeah, so that was just the plan. And then do stand up on the side and that's all I wanted to do. And then luckily stand up really took off once I was just more focused on things that were making me happy. Wow. Also, I was going to say a great lesson learned I would imagine. It sounds like you do better when you do something you're enjoying more because you put more into it right and yeah and when you're more focused because I also was so scattered like my focus wasn't anywhere it was on so many things so when it was just being focused on stand-up I was able to put more time into that and I don't think it's a coincidence that that's what's like taken off. For what's the average time of like a comedy set that you do or – yeah. It depends.

When you're starting, you need five minutes. Oh, wow. And then you go to a tight club, seven. Seven minutes. And then you need like 10 to 12 minutes. Okay. When I'm touring touring so my average is 30 minutes when i'm on the road i do 30 minutes so i need 45. okay so it gets longer the more

experience you have and the more gigs you get and oh yeah yeah oh yeah oh yeah yeah because i also when i first started stand up in new york i didn't know that you were allowed to use the same material. Oh, wow. I thought you had to do a different set every show. And I mean, let me tell you, I'm actually thrilled that that's what I thought because the amount of five-minute sets I was writing was through the roof. And so... You've got like encyclopedias of material now.

Cate Grieves, Yeah. So when I needed 25 minutes for the first time, I was like, oh, thank God I have all these five minutes built up. Preston Pysh, A lucky mistake then or something, right? Cate Grieves, Really lucky mistake. It wasn't until like, I mean, it's not like all the sets went well. I would bomb because I was like doing these new sets for the first time whereas the other comics were like honing their their sets over time okay and one comic came up to me and was like you know you don't have to do new material every time. And I was like, oh, wow. Thank goodness that person did that though, right?

To, you know, said something. They could have just let you keep going and going and going. Yeah, it's true. I was writing like crazy. I don't know. I don't know if it was a curse though, because once she told me that I did not write nearly as much. Oh, gotcha.

Nearly as much. And it really was good to nearly as much. Oh, gotcha. Nearly as much. And it really was good to write that much. So for a 15 minute set, how much time off stage do you put into that? Like in the writing of it, like hours or is it's, it's hours and hours and hours and, and it's,

it's less of the writing of it and more more the bombing on stage of it. Oh. Because you can write something and think it's funny and then go on stage and there's not a single laugh. Like crickets. So you have to – it's more the time on stage embarrassing yourself that's painful. Okay. So then if you're getting all the material ready some you're gonna cut out because it's just like yeah this didn't work um are you just writing

all the time like throughout throughout your day i i wrote one new joke recently and it was it worked and it was like great a new joke okay that adds 15 seconds to my set like it's so like every like 12 seconds there should be a laugh oh gotcha stand up set okay so if you want the audience if you want it to be stand up and not storytelling so um it's like to get i mean you're writing like seconds at a time you're not writing minutes at a time so it's like to get, I mean, you're writing like seconds at a time. You're not writing minutes at a time. So it's so long of a process to get to like where I was when I filmed my special. I was very confident.

I knew all those jokes worked. I knew there was jokes throughout the whole thing. And now that i'm starting over it's like oh my god i mean i'm already exhausted yeah is that because so to your point and we'll touch on your special but when you get to when you've done a big show or you do a special then folks that are going to watch the next one are going to know hey you did that last time right so do you try and just prevent that as much as possible but maybe leave some of kind of the favorites so to speak in there or no i don't i don't think you should leave anything in there okay i mean listen it depends if you put a netflix

special out there then you can't use any of it oh yeah. I think I'll be at a place where I'll still be able to use my material because it's not like it's going to be seen by so many people that I can't use it again. But I just think I'm also at a place where those jokes that I wrote for my special I had been writing since 2015 and they're they're not me anymore they're like an older version of me that's what gotcha that that was my life and I think it's exciting now I can write jokes that are more my life now that makes sense so your jokes reflect kind of where you are in life right in your perspective at that time like I it's cool I had jokes about like living at home I don't live at home anymore like I right you know it's just like that's not it's not real if I'm telling these

jokes anymore like it is time for me to move on yeah right. That was so five years ago or whatever. That's awesome. So yeah, let's, let's get up to your, to your special. So, and cause you, a couple of great things are probably more than that, but that we talked about or whatever you want to touch on as well as, so you're both touring and you have your own special. And so how did you get to that place? Did you, when you get to tour with someone and I'll let you talk about that. So you're doing shows right throughout LA and, and wherever else you've gone to. And then you kind of link up with the comedy circle of, of folks that do comedy, right. And, and, and other folks, in addition to you, um, that people see in specials.

Um, yeah, I'm, I'm on tour with Christina P. I'm very, very lucky to have her as a mentor. She's like just a big sister to me and there's a lot fewer female comics than male comics. And I think it's so sweet of her to like nurture me, a female comic. And like, she doesn't, she's, she doesn't see it. I feel like some people could be like, oh, I don't want competition or like, why am I helping another girl? Like, she's so like, couldn't be kinder about just like wanting to help females in comedy so anyways um that was really a huge help in my career because first of all being on tour other comics respect you a little more i found i found like it's not that they would say it but i just like can tell they're like oh oh you're on tour with christina oh okay okay then

then we think you're then you're allowed to talk to us now you're legit yeah it like something about it like really like helped me let other comics feel like they could like talk to me like i'm allowed to be in the circle um you never get out of high school apparently yeah it's always groups you don't and then um it also just has been like boot camp because I think having to do shows across the country in a different city and like different audiences and having to just like do it. I think that's where the best learning comes from. And I just got thrown into the wolves and was just like okay and Christina also doesn't have a host she purposely has me host and open because it's harder on purpose yeah it's harder to host and open and she she definitely just wants me to like grow as much as i can because if i were to just open

there was already a comic before me that would have warmed up the crowd okay i i go on stage to a cold audience and have to warm them up and then get them laughing. And so it is hard. It is work. Yeah. I mean, that sounds like a great leadership thing is she's both teaching you stuff, but also pushing you, not just showing you, here's how you should do it or showing you, but also making you get the reps and do the hard stuff, which is seems pretty invaluable. She's definitely pushing me to make sure that I'm growing and not just staying put. That's cool.

And also has been in some of your, and let me say the title right, if Broadway was real life or if musicals were real life. If musicals were real, yeah. So if those, and what is your name on Instagram? Just because folks right now, pause, go watch some of their hilarious and then come back. Chase underscore O'Donnell.

Yeah. But on TikTok, it's Chase underscore Elaine. Oh, gotcha. Which I just found out. Oh, is a porn star.

Chase Elaine, which, oh, you know, you know, I didn't. That wasn't a yes. Like I know that was a,

oh, I was going to say, is there any way you can change the name to Synchroism? Because one, my practical brain was like i don't get it like why is everyone laughing at this and then someone dm'd me and i was like sweetie chase elaine is a porn star darn it darn it but that's my middle name that's not like i randomly chose it that's just anyways there's a practical obligation of it yeah yeah so um that's my tiktok and then my i post everything on instagram too though chase underscore yeah and for folks which there's probably not many that haven't seen them it's like half of the music your voice which is awesome from being from all your training i'm sure

um but but you know because you sound good oh my god the amount of singing training there you go um and then the the music from the music was actually playing and then it like cuts off and But, you know, because you sound good. Oh, my God. The amount of singing training. There you go. And then the music from the music was actually playing. And then it cuts off and you're like on the street next to a homeless person or you're like next in a park. And everyone's like, what? And can I ask for some of the behind the scenes secret sauce? Do you tell the folks before you film or do you just do it and then get their reaction? It's like 50 50 if i feel like i'm gonna be unsafe i'll tell them but um like the homeless people i did tell because and i knew the

comments were gonna be like honey be careful yeah i do get a lot of those. But most of them I don't tell. Although I just filmed one in a golf course and I know golfers are – I was scared. We didn't tell them. Oh my. But my performance wasn't good because I was so nervous. You were nervous. Right. First I was nervous I was going to get hit by a golf ball.

And then I was nervous that I was going to get hit by a golf ball. And then I was nervous like that I was going to get screamed and yelled at, which is the point. Like we want the reaction out of the people. But I ended up like we did it first with a group of golfers and I didn't tell them and it just like didn't work. I was too scared. So sometimes if I'm just scared, I'll be like, hey, like, do you guys mind just standing here? I'm going to do something like, don't worry. And sometimes people say no, which is the problem of asking. Then you risk like just being told no. And then you have to wait a while to get another group of people. But sometimes they're like, what? Okay. what okay and but yeah most of the time

i don't tell people to get the most authentic reaction out of them that's pretty funny yeah i could which don't want to but the golfers yeah if you mess up their hit they get really yeah i i know like because the the my friend nico, who films them, who's just my favorite person, but she loves to embarrass me. So she tries so hard to not tell people. She's like, no, just do it. Just do it. Go. Was she the cause of getting kicked out of one of your recent ones? Did you all get kicked out of somewhere recently? it was i actually did it with a a comedian friend of mine tori piskin and gotcha i knew i knew i was like they're not gonna like this like i'm already iffy like we need to change locations and tori was the one that was like oh my god who cares let's just do it and i and was like, no, they're not looking. Go. Just perform. Go.

They're not looking. And it was Tori who was so excited. Right. She was like, this is my drug. Yeah. And they were looking. Oh, we got kicked out. And then Tori couldn't even go back into the bathroom where we had our bags and stuff.

Oh, no. They made her wait as the security went and got the bags they didn't trust her and then I'm sure they found my alcohol because I I had a I had vodka to so much in case I was nervous I need some liquid courage sometimes a quick medication with these yeah cool so when you're not getting kicked out of places filming uh hilarious and and talented videos is like such a mix which is great and then touring you're filming a special which is pretty awesome so you have your own special and we talked about sets getting longer like so how long is your set when can folks see it where

can they see it uh and how is it getting to write your own special yeah that was like five questions all the same okay let's start from the beginning um what's so cool is i was on tour with christina and there was a producer um in an odd in one of the audiences in cincinnati and through crowd work i found out his name was Chase and had the same birthday as me. And it's just funny, we just like always kept in touch. We like would just zoom and catch up with each other. Like we were very supportive of each other's careers. And he eventually was like, Hey, Chase, we're gonna get a phone call. And okay, it didn't ring on the computer. He was like, we're my production company is starting to film comedy specials and we want to do one for you. So it kind of just like landed in my lap. I got very lucky. I didn't like go pursue it. It just came to me and I felt very ready because I had been like doing so much time on the road that

I, I like, I already knew what my special was going to be. So writing it was, I was really writing it for tour with Christina and it, um, it felt like a really good time. Like I felt like I, I was really prepared and knew these jokes so well, and it was time to let them go and start a new chapter. So it was nice to be able to have them filmed and in a time capsule. So I have proof that I did those jokes. That's cool. So it was lovely. And then that first show I did in New York that we moved from LA to New York for the show. Okay. I was in LA doing a standup show and the producer of that musical was there.

And I was like, what am I doing here? He was like, this is my club. I own it. And I was like, oh my God, I'm filming a comedy special. Can I film it here? Nice. He was like, oh my God, I'm filming a comedy special. Can I film it here? Nice. Absolutely. So everything just fell right into place with this special. And I just, yeah, I'm very lucky. That's great. So networking is helpful. Networking negotiation seems to be helpful. Networking, but just being genuinely friends with the people you meet and keeping

close yeah because he that that the producer of one day the musical what i which i did in new york he's like i think of him as a like dad figure like we it was so so amazing to all of us and like it was such a special show because we were it was all of our first shows out of college. And yeah, so like, we actually are super close. So it was just so random that I didn't know he had this club in LA. That's amazing how that stuff works out sometimes. And a little plug. It's the bourbon room. I was gonna say what's the club that's cool in Hollywood. They have amazing shows shows everyone should check them out nice there you go plug for the bourbon room and a show coming up so um how long is this show when does it come out where can folks see it yeah

it's um comes out on youtube february 9th it's called people pleaser and And it's, I think, 35 minutes is what the final edit is. Digestible. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. Is it, you know, watching shows or standups or something like that? Depending on, I guess, what kind of, it was interesting you mentioned, you know, whether you're doing standup or storytelling where, so that like a 12 second, here's a joke and then laugh and then joke and then i mentioned the storytelling is is just that right like at the end of the story you realize something earlier was either funny or ironic or something like that is and so um other other other um categories of things yeah skills that that you've learned or or that that kind of exists in the comedy world yeah i mean i have tons of improv training back to my training there you go um i mean the amount of improv i've taken my god

and that i i um i i like stand up better because even though it seems like stand-ups are coming up with stuff on the spot, it is so written out. It is like a script. It's like a long monologue. And that's why I feel so much safer knowing that I'm going to be funny than going on stage and being like, maybe this will be funny. It's so scary. It's so scary.

So you have to be so present., I mean, you have to be present with everything, but with improv, I mean, you have to listen, listen, listen. And like, if you're lucky, you'll find a joke out of the listening. But there's also sketch comedy, which I've done a lot of, and that's a different like writing skill. Like for curb, essentially? Or is that considered sketch? Not really. That's more like sketch would be like SNL type writing.

Okay, gotcha. The writing for Curb. Curb Your Enthusiasm is actually all improv. Oh, wow. There's no script but so because because i would have loved to be on the like the writing team on curb your enthusiasm it's not even an option they don't have one but for for like yeah other comedy shows that's just like scripted comedy which is also another skill so there's lots of different skills in comedy.

Gotcha. Cool. Yeah. I actually have a cousin that writes comedy out there. We can see if y'all know each other offline or something, but he wrote, I forget, I think he wrote for The Onion a little bit. Yeah, that's fun. A few other things out there. So I always, always loved comedy, funny guy, things like that. So it was cool to, that was my connection you know to out west yeah no there's definitely if you want a career in comedy there are so many different like jobs in comedy that you can get as far as like different types of writing for different genres yeah that's cool and you still do writing, right? Yeah. No, I still, I love writing like scripts.

Okay. It's more, it's so fun. But I was writing, like I actually had jobs as writers, writing for a children's show and then writing for National Lampoon. Wow. But right now the writing I'm doing is just for me to eventually maybe sell. Oh, cool. As a show.

But yeah, not getting paid yet. That's awesome. I do a lot of stuff for free, like I was saying. I look forward to re-promoting this when it's picked up by Network or somebody else. Yeah. Other than one anyway. And speaking of promotion, so the show comes out. Does the special have a name that comes out on February 9th?

It's called People Pleaser. And it's also going to be on iTunes or wherever you buy comedy albums. Oh, nice. Oh, cool. On all the platforms. Well, cool. So we talked about your Instagram, your TikTok that you share a name with somebody else that's famous for a different reason. And where else could folks reach out to you or follow you?

YouTube, we'll see the special there. But where else can folks follow you? I mean, Instagram is really the place I like to lead people to. But if you want to check out Chase O'Donnell.com, you're more than welcome to. Oh, cool. Be my guest, but we'll share all that in the show notes. Yeah. So you can just click on the link,

just show up to the show notes, click on the links. Yeah. And clarity will ensue. Thank you so much. It's great to, great to talk with you and for being on the cap talks podcast. Good luck.

It's, it's amazing to me. To me, it sounds cool. Just kind of like you talked about how cool it is to be on the set of something to tour and do comedy and be mentored and have your own special now. And so look forward to your career. Just keep taking off. It's pretty cool. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. Thank you. That's so nice of you. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. Cool. Look at that. Everybody appreciates each other. Yeah.

Well, everybody, that is it. Fun conversation with Chase O'Donnell. Again, she is Chase, C-H-A-S-E underscore O-D-O-N-N-E-L-L on the Instagrams. Follow her. Watch her videos. It's funny. She was pretty cool to talk to. And I am PanellKG, P-A-N-N-E-L-L-K-G, on Instagram. Same on Twitter.

KevTalksPod.com is the website. Feel free to give a donation if you'd like, if you enjoyed this, if you enjoy the show. If not, the podcast is still free. Thanks for coming. Remember, have a plan. Keep your teams aligned. Stay informed with facts, not fear. And get involved so you can make a difference

and you know what have a laugh take care and godspeed