Advanced comedy by Lynn Ruth Miller
CONSIDERED one of the oldest female stand-up comedians in the world, Lynn Ruth Miller, hauls her brand of comedy over to the Philippine capital for a two-night show on Oct. 18 at the Relik Bar in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, and Oct. 19 at the Union Jack Tavern in Makati City.
Her shows — cheekily titled Aged to Imperfection (October 18) and Barely Standing (October 19) — poke fun at her advanced age (she’s 85), but her consummate skill in comedy will be front and center. What is interesting is that in terms of a comic, she is just a teen — after all, comedy is a career she entered when she was already 70 years old.
Formerly a journalist who wrote for The New York Times and with masters degree in journalism from Stanford University, Ms. Miller, at the age of 70, enrolled at a comedy college in San Francisco with an aim of writing an article that will expose the college as a “a load of crap” because “I figured you can’t teach comedy,” she was quoted saying in a June article at iNews UK.
But far from exposing the college as a fraud, Ms. Miller discovered that she could do comedy and has quite a knack for it.
“I told a joke at Cobb in San Francisco and when everyone laughed I decided to do it again,” she said in a press release.
The Ohio-born funnywoman joined America’s Got Talent in 2008, and won the People’s Choice award at the 2009 Branson Comedy Festival. She made it to the finals of Bill Word’s Funniest Female Contest in 2009, and has won a host of other awards.
Noted for jokes that center on her life and her advanced age, Ms. Miller thinks “stand-up comedy is a skill that is far more than the jokes you tell. You are paid to make the audience laugh no matter what the demographic. That means adjusting your material to their response. Not easy, but definitely part of the job,” she noted in a blog post on UK writer John Fleming’s site in June.
Ms. Miller noted in the iNews story that while the comedy industry is very competitive, she isn’t at all bother because “I’m 84 and I have a pension, when my career falls, I’ll be six feet under.”
“I am more than an old lady to them. I am a funny comedian. Eat your heart out Joan Rivers. I didn’t have to have a face lift to do this,” she said in the blog post.
For her first visit to the Philippines, Ms. Miller said that she hopes “to make everyone laugh” with jokes that “make aging sound like it’s fun.
Lynn Ruth Miller performs on Oct. 18 at the Relik Bar in BGC and on Oct. 19 at the Union Jack Tavern in Makati City. The shows will be opened by ventriloquist Ruther Urquia and hosted by Aldo Cuervo. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the shows start at 8 p.m. — ZB Chua
Tickets are available at Ticketnet (visit www.ticketnet.com.ph or call 911-555), at Ticketbooth (887-5131), or call 0920-9717055 or 0917-5703057. Tickets are priced at P1,000 for advanced buyers and P1,250 at the door.
