We had the good fortune of connecting with Kaylin Mahoney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaylin, why did you pursue a creative career?
I gotta follow my joy! When I was a kid, my dad told me he’d rather twist pencils in his eyes for 8 hours than go to work, and that traumatic share was all I needed to commit to having as much fun as possible with my career. Money comes and goes, but making things juices me up, and gives me the same feeling of nailing trampoline tricks in front of my crush, or like, winning a hot tub covered in rhinestones. Over the years, I’ve learned that taking too much time away from my art leaves me feeling lost at sea. And even though I know I need to be creative to feel my sparkly best, it can still be difficult to maintain the discipline to write or tell jokes about whatever humiliating rash I’ve contracted that month to rooms full of strangers. Accountabilibuddies are the only reason I ever get anything done. And thank god for them, because Doing The Thing is always more fulfilling than rewatching Love Island, even though that show is 100% my type on paper.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My style of comedy is physical and strange. Photos of my sets prove I have the posture of a gremlin on stage, crouching with my elbows in the air. I use a lot of made up words and bark about my mental illness. I have stage fright, and I’ve learned to lean into my anxiety, using my shaky voice and physical discomfort to drive my performances. Stand up has become this magical tool (barf, sorry) to celebrate all the things I used to find embarrassing about myself. And even though I’m relatively new to stand up, I’ve been performing comedy for the last 15 years. In that time, my biggest challenges have been coping with burnout and perfectionism. Books like The Artist’s Way and Make Your Art No Matter What have helped me understand that it’s not my job to judge my art, only to make it. Making mistakes, humiliating myself, bombing, it’s all part of it. The quicker I can forgive myself, the quicker I can move on and fart into another bigger, better microphone.

As far as my illustrations go, I love drawing colorful & unflattering cartoons that make me laugh and have a little too much going on. Someone recently told me that my art is giving “Emotionally Disturbed Rugrats”. Recently I started animating my illustrations to audio clips of my stand up and my favorite bit of feedback so far was that it reminds them of a lady Rick from Ricky and Morty.

My stuff definitely isn’t for everybody but it is for someone somewhere, and that’s enough for me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
You know what, I’ve spent most of my adult life improvising in disgusting black box theaters so I would make a horrific host. I could show them what I know: excellent wigs at Nigel’s Beauty Emporium. Tom’s One Hour Photo for the cheesy photoshoot of your dreams. Theaters with great comedy where I haven’t bombed: the Elysian, Largo, Public Displays of Altadena. The best funfetti cake I’ve ever had at Milk Bar. Pretty places to lay/cry/dream outside: Huntington Gardens (tiny bonsai trees) and Oxnard beaches (lots of dead things on the sand but dogs are allowed). And the goth club with the most beautiful awkward dancing that I swore I wouldn’t share but I’m bad at keeping secrets.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Every lil crumb of success I’ve had or will have is due to the (honestly gross) support of my mom. She’s come to all of my shows ever since I was a small tiny, and she always sits in the front row. She’s never once questioned the completely inaccurate impressions I do of her in my act, and she always tells me I was her favorite, even when I flop. I can’t call her fast enough on my drive home after each show to hear all her hot takes on the comics, because she’s right, that guy with the hair WAS adorable. We all need a Gail. I hope you all have a Gail, and if you haven’t found one yet, you can totally borrow mine.

Instagram: @kaylinmahoney

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaylin.mahoney

Other: @kaylinmahoneyneedshelp on Tiktok, and if folks aren’t on social media but they’re interested in catching one of my shows, they can reach me via email at kaylinbmahoney@gmail.com and I’ll get them subscribed to my email list.

Image Credits
Photos by Zack Arch and Ben Nickelson. Illustrations by me.

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