Meet Sam Varela | Comedy Booker & Event Producer

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

Hi Sam, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I’ve always been passionate about being of service to the communities that bring me joy and support, and my #1 priority is always for my shows to be a positive influence on the audiences and performers. I first started working in comedy as a comedy fan looking to give back to the comedy community that had given me so much inspiration and motivation. Today I produce comedy events (formerly live, now online) to help get new and amazing comedians introduced to new and wider audiences. I always make an effort to book lineups full of friends that are fun for the performers, and I’m adamant about paying my performers as I don’t believe “exposure” is enough for comedians to survive on. I also believe that audiences like comics from many backgrounds and viewpoints and I build my shows around that ethos, especially while the entertainment industry at large is still primarily focused on uplifting straight white male comics. I have worked for 12+ years trying to help the comedy scenes I am able to touch to become more diverse, more sustainable with making paying comics the norm, and to spread these ideals to the larger entertainment industry leaders. So hopefully my work will be seen as helpful to the community in the future!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Working “professionally” in comedy has been my main goal for the last 12 years. I have had to work at both comedy day jobs and at my comedy shows for years trying to survive and learn the ways of the business, all while dealing with being a disabled woman of color with chronic pain and mental health issues. In that time I’ve worked in most every part of the biz (production, PR, social media, photography/videography, podcasting, live events, live streaming online events, etc) trying to find the career that fit my lifestyle.  I’ve had many horrible ego maniacal bosses and I’ve worked for less than minimum wage until just last year (but then COVID hit soooo…) For so long I kept trying different jobs hoping for better working conditions or more compassionate bosses but never seemed to find the right work environment.

After I hit my 30s I have made efforts to have better self care and be accepting with my specific limitations. I’ve found the value in prioritizing my health over falling into the high pressure competitive nature of most all entertainment industry work environments. Now my goal of working “professionally in comedy” has shifted to trying to make a living just doing my shows and independent projects instead of having a comedy office job.

Focusing on my well being has shown me how many of my health issues were stress related, so a big lesson I would give to any struggling artists/comics/producers reading this who are trying to work “professionally” in comedy is to not doubt the long term health complications of continuous stress and fatigue. You have a right to be healthy while doing your work and no oppressive boss or workplace can legally demand anything else of you, so use your right to set boundaries and do not be afraid! Working “professionally” doesn’t have to mean putting up with poor working conditions and unrealistic expectations.

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?
This is a hard question to answer in COVID times but assuming mask wearing and social distancing is possible I love filipino, vietnamese & trendy fusion food places. Some of my favs include the Char Siu Pork Pizza from Rose City Pizza, Burritos with Tocino from Sayulitas, Ube Horchata/Pandan upsidedown pie & more from FrankieLucy Bakeshop and Cremé Caramel LA. Plus I’m a big Lee’s Sandwiches stan. I love a Carmelized Pork Bahn Mi on a fresh baked french roll, washed down with the most delicious Thai iced coffee.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would love to shout out Teresa Lee, Barbara Gray and Dominique Gelin, the hosts of my show Comedy Quarantine. We got together when the pandemic stay at home order came to LA and shut down all live performance venues. Since 3/19 we have presented a weekly comedy show on Instagram Live through all the ups and down of the pandemic. We raised over $3k to over 20 different charities helping communities survive COVID job losses as well as paying over 450 comedians who lost work from the shutdown. This has been the most direct mutual-aid type show I’ve ever done and it’s really changed the way I think about how my comedy shows can benefit my comedy community. No matter how dark the world was, Teresa, Babs and Dominique have shown up day after day to bring joy and keep our Comedy Quarantine community of performers and audience members from all over the world together. Check them out on Instagram Live at Instagram.com/comedyquarantine

I would also love to shout out my show Picture This!, which has been thriving on Zoom as one of the few show formats to adapt perfectly online! We bring together amazing professional comedians and animators on Zoom for unique one-time-only collaborations of simultaneous live comedy and live animation! It’s the ONLY live animated comedy show around so be sure to check us out every 2nd Saturday online at LittlefieldNYC.com! Updated monthly lineups can be found at PictureThisShow.com and clips from past shows both online and IRL can be found at http://youtube.com/user/picturethisshowla

For more info on all the NakedComedy shows:
Website: nakedcomedy.org
Instagram: Instagram.com/nakedcomedy
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/samvarela
Twitter: Twitter.com/naked_comedy
Facebook: facebook.com/nakedcomedy
Youtube: http://youtube.com/user/picturethisshowla

Image Credits
Photos by Tim Aarons, Kevin Riggin, Noah Eberhart & Mike Bryk