Rochelle Takes on Comedy: Faith in Yourself

Wel­come to ​“Rochelle Takes on Com­e­dy” by Rochelle McConi­co. Have an idea you’d like to share in a col­umn? Sub­mit your pitch here: comedywham@​comedywham.​com

I’m Rochelle McConi­co, own­er of Moon­Crick­et Pro­duc­tions, a live com­e­dy event com­pa­ny. I am a standup come­di­an, impro­vis­er, sketch actor, writer, direc­tor, pro­duc­er and pod­cast­er. I am also co-pro­duc­ing the Lysis­tra­ta Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val — a cel­e­bra­tion of women comics. I am writ­ing for Com­e­dy Wham because Valerie is a vision­ary and proud sup­port­er of the com­e­dy com­mu­ni­ty. (And if I don’t say that, she beats me.)

You know how in reli­gious cir­cles they say that the bat­tle is in the mind? I know peo­ple are all anti-reli­gious right now but hear me out. Besides, the same per­son who says they’re anti-reli­gion will tell me how they are also a triple Tau­rus and swear a Chani Nicholas horo­scope told them to quit their jobs and move off the grid. So….

Maybe we’re not tra­di­tion­al­ly reli­gious, but in times of uncer­tain­ty, we are all look­ing for some­thing to believe in. I’m no dif­fer­ent. And what I want to believe in right now is myself. And I encour­age you to do the same.

I chal­lenge you to make your real­i­ty bend to the faith you have in yourself.

Cuz let’s face it. You’re not always going to be the best or be told you’re the best even if you are. You’re not always going to have a good set, or get that next gig, or make the con­nec­tion you think you must have to move for­ward. But when you have faith in your­self, you’ll weath­er these storms. You’ll have the con­fi­dence to cre­ate path­ways when the one you’re on gets blocked. And when some­one tells you that there’s no path for­ward for peo­ple who look like you or come from your back­ground, your belief in your­self will pick you up and pull you through.

And also fuck those people. 

We’re come­di­ans and com­e­dy is one of the few indus­tries where you can choose your own adven­ture. Where for bet­ter or worse there is no set path. So go out there and be great!… Even if your horo­scope tells you Mer­cury is in ret­ro­grade. Have faith in yourself. 

Rochelle McConi­co is the founder and CEO of Moon­Crick­et Pro­duc­tions a live enter­tain­ment com­pa­ny spe­cial­iz­ing in inter­ac­tive, mul­ti­sen­so­ry comedic events. She is a vision­ary, writer, pro­duc­er, and per­former. In June 2020, Rochelle launched the Amuse-Bouche Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val to show­case the many great impro­vis­ers, com­e­dy pod­cast­ers and stand-ups in New Orleans and per­formed as all three.

Rochelle also wrote, direct­ed, and starred in three plays cen­ter­ing her alter ego char­ac­ter, bil­lion­aire media heiress Stan­gela Angela Hemsworth Kings­ley Winthrop Farouk Adams III. I’m Only Here for the Snacks, and Stan­gela for Pres­i­dent were both fea­tured at Infringe Fest 2018 and 2019. Her third play Stangela’s Swamp Thing is cur­rent­ly in pro­duc­tion and pre­mieres June 2022. Rochelle also co-pro­duces and co-hosts the com­e­dy-advice video pod­cast Not Anoth­er Black Show and a bi-month­ly live-streamed show — The Book­club. Both shows are designed to take on seri­ous top­ics and be seri­ous­ly funny. 

Addi­tion­al­ly, Rochelle is a mem­ber of the mul­ti-tal­ent­ed No Lye Com­e­dy col­lec­tive — a group of dynam­ic Black femme come­di­ans. With No Lye Com­e­dy, Rochelle co-pro­duced and co-wrote the sketch and vari­ety show Comedy.Peridot, per­formed sketch in the Dal­las Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val and the Los Ange­les Diver­si­ty in Com­e­dy Show­case (LADC), and per­formed improv in the inau­gur­al 2019 New Orleans Improv Fes­ti­val and 2021 Baton Rouge Improv Fes­ti­val. Rochelle has also writ­ten and per­formed for Mor­phed, a month­ly stand-up and sketch show in New Orleans, per­formed stand up in the Black Girl Gig­gles Fes­ti­val and the Tow­er City Com­e­dy Festival.