Mimi Meier Blooms Where She's Planted

Every once in a while, you are stunned by the con­nec­tion you have with a person. 

For Mimi Meier and I, our fate was sealed as best pals when we shared that we were mem­bers of the Dead Dads club. We’re still work­ing on our t‑shirt designs for the club. Don’t wor­ry, that was­n’t our only connection. 

Before I share the oth­er con­nec­tions, let’s step back into the time machine and my dis­tinct rec­ol­lec­tion of the first time I saw Meier on stage in Austin at a Mom’s Best of com­pe­ti­tion host­ed at The Creek and the Cave in April 2022. Full of ener­gy, heav­i­ly lean­ing into her Scoo­by Doo Daphne look, Meier exud­ed an ener­gy that comes from years of per­for­mance. I just did­n’t know it at the time.

And now for unex­pect­ed con­nec­tion num­ber two. 

That per­former’s ener­gy, it turns out, comes from years of high school musi­cals fol­lowed by singing and per­form­ing for Dis­ney Cruise Lines and Dis­ney­land Paris. No, I can’t sing out­side the con­fines of my show­er, but I am quite fond of Paris and I was smit­ten when I found Meier’s Spo­ti­fy chan­nel which includes a love­ly orig­i­nal song ​“Ca Va”, which among the pos­si­ble trans­la­tions of the phrase, include, ​“things are going good”. ​“You mean she can sing in French?” I asked myself? So can I.

Well, I speak French, but my singing prowess is no bet­ter in French than it is in Eng­lish. Find­ing Meier’s Spo­ti­fy chan­nel was uncov­ered as part of my typ­i­cal inter­net research as I plan to speak with my pod­cast guests, but I had also start­ed to get to know her after she approached me to prac­tice her writ­ing skills by writ­ing arti­cles for Com­e­dy Wham. Her first arti­cle, by the way, was of Lau­rie Kil­martin, a pow­er­house of the com­e­dy stages. Meier’s eager­ness to work hard and improve her skills became con­nec­tion num­ber three. I’ll throw in a fourth con­nec­tion in that we’re both avid fans of punctuality.

Meier uses her high school musi­cal back­ground as a com­ic to give a sense of the­atri­cal­i­ty to her sets. The poise and stage pres­ence are all there. She once had a job per­form­ing in chil­dren’s the­ater, and as she puts it, ​“when you have a group of chil­dren yelling ​‘you suck’,” it will hum­ble you. Turns out that’s excel­lent prac­tice for per­form­ing to an emp­ty bar at an open mic, but I digress. After high school, she per­formed for Dis­ney Cruise Lines and Dis­ney­land Paris. Some­where in between these adven­tures, Meier record­ed orig­i­nal songs which can be heard on her Spo­ti­fy chan­nel. Meier is a Jane of all trades when it comes to per­for­mance.

When her con­tract was over with Dis­ney, she was­n’t sure where to go. Her best friend had just moved to Austin and had the promise of a job wait­ing for her, so Meier threw the prover­bial dice and moved to a city and state she had nev­er vis­it­ed. She arrived in 2021, at a time when the Austin com­e­dy scene was in a par­ty mode. Hav­ing nev­er per­formed standup com­e­dy, she used her gifts of per­for­mance and a life­long love of com­e­dy (thanks to her afore­men­tioned Dad and to watch­ing count­less spe­cials grow­ing up) to jump in with fer­vor.

As a first time com­ic and first time Aus­ti­nite, it was easy to feel like an out­sider in the Austin com­e­dy scene. But as with many of her adven­tures, ​“what made me feel like an out­sider … is what makes me unique”, Meier says. If you’re read­ing this and feel like an out­sider, please remem­ber those incred­i­ble words. They’ll save your sanity.

To say things have pro­gressed nice­ly in the two years since Meier’s arrival in Austin is a dis­tinct under­state­ment. Standup is part of the suc­cess she’s enjoyed, but so is find­ing a per­fect sketch part­ner in Hol­ly Hart. They became a sketch duo in 2022 and cre­at­ed Austin is for Lovers a show which wears its heart on its sleeve. The show had its lim­it­ed run in Austin (and is expect­ed to return, stay tuned), but was also picked up for Austin Sketch Fest. Who knows, maybe we’ll see it launched at even big­ger fes­ti­vals. Meier also land­ed a spot on the 2023 Moon­tow­er Just for Laughs fes­ti­val, so as they say, her ​‘je né sais quoi’ is earn­ing her some seri­ous bona fides in com­e­dy.

​“Feel­ing uncom­fort­able is good … and I think push­ing our­selves to try oth­er things is real­ly impor­tant.” is a phi­los­o­phy that Meier has adopt­ed to push her­self in so many ways. Whether it’s per­form­ing to hum­bling chil­dren’s the­ater kids, or on a cruise ship or in the City of Lights, land­ing in a new city and state, start­ing com­e­dy, start­ing a sketch troupe, and what­ev­er lays ahead for Meier, the abil­i­ty to take on the uncom­fort­able tasks is def­i­nite­ly pay­ing off. In fact, one could say, for Meier, ça va très bien.

Fol­low Mimi

• Web­site — mim​imeier​com​e​dy​.com
• Link­tree — link​tr​.ee/​m​i​m​i​meier
• Insta­gram — @themimimeier
  
• Tik­Tok — @themimimeier
  
• Youtube — youtube​.com/​M​i​m​i​Meier
• Spo­ti­fy — Mimi Meier channel

Mimi can be seen and heard:

• Camp­fire Com­e­dy — Buzzmill, every Third Thursday
• FPIA Quar­ter­fi­nals — August 22, 2023