Doniele

"Comedy is more than just making people laugh."

By Students of NYC

April 5^th, 2024

"I’m an introvert. I don’t really talk unless it's to answer questions. When Ms. Cunalata asked me if I wanted to be part of Stand Up! Girls, it’s never something I had thought about before. But my mom always told me: It’s never too much. You should always try everything. Comedy opened up a whole different part of my personality. It helps me to express who I am. That first day, Ms. Hollie sat us all down and said we should just go for it. Don’t be shy. Don’t think that, okay, I can’t do this because they’re going to laugh at me. They are supposed to laugh. She told us that nothing is ever too embarrassing to talk about. Be okay with it. She made us feel so comfortable talking about anything and everything. And I was like, okay, I can do this then.

I used to watch Kevin Hart. Through his comedy, he spoke about family and expressed his emotions. I never saw myself actually being on stage performing like he does. But he’s the person I used as a role model. Like okay, I can do what he did. I can talk about what I’m going through, my situation through comedy. My mom has thyroid nodules. It causes memory loss. She had surgery to remove the first one, and now she has another one growing. Sometimes she doesn't remember where she is or where she puts stuff, or even my name. We never really talked about it. It isn’t something I express to anybody. But through humor, we can cope with things. I was nervous to write the joke, but I ran it by my mom, and she was okay with it. She didn’t mind our situation being told in that way to everybody else. Comedy is more than just making you laugh. It brings you comfort. It helps you to come to realizations like, okay, I can deal with this. This is going to be all right.

The day of our performance at Eastville comedy club, I saw I was the first on the program. I was so nervous. But then Ms. Hollie went on to start the show and got the crowd laughing. That made me feel comfortable. Like, Okay, I can do this. Once I was up there, all my nerves went away. I couldn’t even tell my first joke because I was laughing at myself. I started doing my bit and everyone was responding. To experience that — everyone laughing at what I was saying, it was an amazing experience. When I showed my mom the video of my performance, she was like, oh my God. You did it. She was so happy she started to cry.

Since then, I swear I’ve changed. It’s gotten me to try, I guess just talking. To say, okay, I want to do this — and go after it. A few days after the show, I called my adviser at the community center where I go and spoke to him about a position I wanted. The first thing he said to me is, Doniele, are you sure this is you? He was so surprised that I’d asked for something. Two days later, he told me I got the position. It’s really taught me that I can do it. I can express to people what I actually want."