The Rise of Nicole Byer
Nicole Byer is an actor, writer, and comedian originally from New Jersey. She is perhaps best known to audiences for her work on Nailed It! (Netflix), MTV’s Girl Code, and Loosely Exactly Nicole (Facebook). While I am no biographer I am a huge Nicole Byer fan and look to her as a source of inspiration. The following is pieced together based off of what I’ve learned about Nicole from her podcast Why Won’t You Date Me? If any of the following sounds inaccurate please let me know in the comments.
Nicole first trained at AMDA, which she lovingly refers to as SCAMDA (lol lol lol) in acting. She then moved to New York City and studied and performed at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade (UCB) before moving to Los Angeles, where you can watch her perform Tuesdays at UCB Franklin in Search History.
As a student at the UCB in LA I always looked up to Nicole. She’s not only a dynamic powerhouse of a performer, she’s kind and thoughtful. And a hustler. Nothing stopped her from going for her goals and as a result of her hard work she’s a homeowner in LA (um, yeah, props to that) and makes a very good living doing comedy. Let’s take a closer look to learn how she got to where she is.
Nicole’s journey to where she is now is an untraditional one for stand up comics. Most stand up comics believe the only way to get noticed in the entertainment industry is through the open mic route. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of benefit to doing open mics, but let’s be honest ladies: open mic settings can be daunting because you will be outnumbered by the men. It’s even more isolating when you’re a woman of color because of the lack of diversity, inclusion, and support.
What I love about Nicole’s story is that she found a way to bypass the open mic route and go straight to becoming a PAID stand up comic who regularly travels to perform. And the way she did this was by being willing to learn a new skillset. Her improv and acting training, along with her hard work, is what helped Nicole get her first big break on MTV’s Girl Code. This exposure to new audiences is what got her in the door as a comic and it’s because she won audiences over on Girl Code. Up until this point she was just an improvisor and never considered herself a stand up comic. At her agent’s request, she taught herself how to write and tell jokes so that her agent could get her more work, thus bypassing the open mic route that many people think is the only one available to them. Her web series Loosely Exactly Nicole, which can be viewed on Facebook, also helped her reach new audiences. What this means is that regular ol’ folks got to know her first through her work on TV, and because she did such a great job of winning audiences over she created a demand for her own live shows. In this day and age, and thanks to the awful reputation of many male comics (have you read the New York Times lately?), it is more difficult to convince regular audience members to go see a live stand up show these days when the comics performing are people they’ve never heard of. But a recognizable face that has already proven to make you laugh in the comfort of your own home is a powerful way to motivate real fans to buy a ticket to see you live.
There is so much we can all take away from Nicole’s story. For one, all comedy training is valuable but it’s what you as an individual put into it that will get you ahead. To be a working comic you have to approach this as a business. No one is gonna come pluck you up from an open mic, give you your own show, and make you a star. YOU make yourself a star. YOU put the work into yourself in developing the product you are trying to sell (your comedic self). At the end of the day, this is a business. An agent’s job is to get you work because that’s how they make their livelihoods, and you should want an agent that works for you like their rent depends on it because that’s the kind of ally you need in this business. Nicole admits to being hesitant about starting stand up comedy because she never considered herself a stand up comic. I think a lot of us, myself included, think of stand up comedy as its own thing and maybe this stems from the fact that women of color simply don’t see themselves in mainstream stand up comedy. The ones we do see only made it because they are the exception. But when you have an agent who wants to get you more work, you need to do what Nicole did: learn a new skill set. A lot of people give up on learning after they graduate high school and/or college, but the reality is you need to be a life long learner NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE. But especially so in comedy, you need to be willing to learn so that you can grow. Comedians are artists, too, and artists evolve.
The other significant take away from Nicole’s story is the role of social media and the internet in her success. If we didn’t have the internet we’d probably have no idea who Nicole even is. The reality is online streaming platforms and podcasting are providing opportunities to under represented voices in a way that traditional television and comedy clubs are incapable of doing unless there is a radical overhaul in leadership. Internet platforms are more inclusive, diverse, and accessible to both content creators and audiences. Who doesn’t have a smartphone these days? And who doesn’t consume a great deal of content on these tiny little computers?
What I’m urging anyone to do, but especially women of color pursuing comedy, is to create your own content. Don’t wait for someone to choose you, choose yourself. Make a web series where you star in it and involve the people you want to work with. Start a podcast. Start a blog. Find creative and inventive ways to share your comedic point of view. But most importantly, invest in your product. Be willing to invest in yourself by taking classes, by outworking everyone around you, by taking care of yourself. If you approach this as a business and you think of yourself as a product (but not in an objectifying way) you will attract like-minded people to help you sell your product because everyone stands to make some money that way. We live in a capitalist society and everything revolves around the Benjamin’s, so be a business woman/person. That’s what will set you apart from the rest who merely spend their time day dreaming about the glamour and fame but never take meaningful action to manifest the life of their dreams. Be bold, be different, be you.
In closing, I’d like to quote the wise words of Jerry Springer, the talk show host: take care of yourself and each other.
To learn more about Nicole Byer and her work visit her website:
https://www.nicolebyerwastaken.com
