You might know Mandee McKelvey from the monthly storytelling show We Still Like You, and as various characters in The Celebrity Roast series. This week, she steps into unfamiliar territory, balancing her dark sense of humor with the dramatic ups and downs of her past, when she premieres her first one-woman show Herself at The Bards Town. Its about pretending youre an adult, she said, hoping no one figures out that you have absolutely no idea whats happening.
LEO: Being your first one-woman show, are you nervous yet?
Mandee McKelvey: Yeah, the freak-out has begun. I tried some of the stories last week on a friends show, and some didnt work. But its my fault. I got really into my own head and was too concerned with digging into every detail of the backstory -- and I forgot to just relax and be in the moment. So yeah, it turns out you can tell a really shitty story if you try hard enough. If you really put your back into it, you can suck the fun out of anything.
Is it hard to balance drama with comedy when youre writing a show like this?
I love tricking people into laughing at the tragic things that have happened. That really gives me a personal chuckle. You have to find a way to get the light out of it. And if there isnt a lesson, so what? There often isnt, I dont know why people think everything means something. Sometimes awful shit just happens.
How long have you been writing this show?
I started writing it two years ago, but I didnt know it at the time. I went on the Chicago version of We Still Like You. It was the first time somebody said, We want you to tell us a story. If its funny, great. If not, it doesnt matter. It just had to be true and steeped in shame. I loved it so much we decided to bring a branch of the show to Louisville. After doing a few of those, I realized that, after 12 years in comedy, storytelling is the most natural thing in the world to me. This is where I shine. Digging into my own gut-wrenching experience, then flipping it on its head and making an ass of myself for the benefit of everyone. Some of my story is hilarious, because you wont believe someone tripped and fell into their own shit as much as I have.
Do you remember the story you told in Chicago that made you fall in love with storytelling?
I do. [Laughs] If you were going to identify it with a phrase, it would be: a pants-shitting story. A plain, old pants-shitting story. Youve seen me obviously, I dont look like a shit-in-your-pants kind of girl. I try to look very femme, dolled up and pulled together. Or at least act like it. So when I tell the events around the shitting, I try to paint a picture of the stress at work, the stress at home, all of the things that led up to this disgusting, bodily foul-up.
What was your first joke?
I came to Louisville for grad school, and I convinced my boyfriend to move here with me. Within a year, he got cancer and died. All of this is in my show, by the way... its hilarious! The first joke I told was about him, which I know sounds like the opposite of funny, but its the only way to cope that I know.
Clearly, your sense of humor is smart, but also tends to be a little dark.
Yeah. I dont aim for it, I dont even really know Im being dark until I look around and notice the looks on peoples faces. Sometimes I freak people out because Im so casual when I talk about the most horrendous aspects of life. But that also comes with having been a therapist for 15 years. Ive dealt with depression and suicidal ideation since puberty. Ive seen a lot of death, Ive had a lot of trauma, and it seems weird that I would walk around and pretend that all of that isnt a part of my day.
Were any of these stories hard to write?
Yep. Absolutely. I grew up in this tiny, rusted-out town in South Carolina. It was like the town in Sling Blade. And I have always been scared that people might judge my parents for the inappropriate, nutty shit I was taught as a child. Because my parents are incredible, and they did the best they could. I didnt want people to view them as ignorant hicks. Well, they are ignorant hicks, but theyre the best of them. Theyre all heart.