Erica Rhodes: On Lost Socks and Finding Authenticity

An unex­pect­ed perk that has cropped up out of Valerie’s many Moon­tow­er Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val inter­views is the spe­cial way we have got­ten to chron­i­cle so many come­di­ans’ evo­lu­tions over time. Such is the case with come­di­enne Eri­ca Rhodes — whom Valerie last sat down with five years ago at Moon­tow­er 2017. Since then, Rhodes was hon­ored as a Just for Laughs New Face in 2018, released her debut album Sad Lemon in 2019, com­pet­ed in the tele­vised com­pe­ti­tion Bring the Fun­ny, and released her spe­cial La Vie en Rhodes in 2021. And that’s just the very abbre­vi­at­ed high­light reel of all her impres­sive hus­tle and bus­tle in these past few years.

One way that Rhodes was able to rack up so many accom­plish­ments was her com­mit­ment to work­ing even as the world shut down. Need­ing to pre­pare for her upcom­ing spe­cial, Rhodes took on the daunt­ing task of tour­ing at the peak of the virus — per­form­ing for minis­cule, masked crowds and learn­ing to adjust to their new­found somber­ness and their frus­trat­ing­ly invis­i­ble mouths. Of course, Rhodes rec­og­nized the con­tro­ver­sy of this deci­sion to tour, but it was a choice she felt con­fi­dent enough in mak­ing, tak­ing as many pre­cau­tions as she could and know­ing that she lived alone, so there wouldn’t be col­lat­er­al dam­age to any room­mates or family.

More than that, the pan­dem­ic was a time of dis­cov­ery for Rhodes, as she wad­ed her way into the world of cre­ative writ­ing — begin­ning by blog­ging on Medi­um, where she wrote hon­est, per­son­al sto­ries. These blogs then facil­i­tat­ed her for­ay into more fic­tion­al­ized pieces — begin­ning with a sto­ry born out of a vis­it to her mom’s place after her father had passed away. What start­ed as pos­si­bly a fledg­ling book idea then was whit­tled down into a poignant, med­i­ta­tive short sto­ry on loss, heav­i­ly based in Rhodes’ own expe­ri­ences of grief: ​“Lost Socks and Oth­er Lost Things.”

In a way, Rhodes has the quar­an­tine to thank for her new­found pas­sion for writ­ing — an out­let that she espe­cial­ly appre­ci­ates for its abil­i­ty to bear (and bare) her authen­tic­i­ty, per­haps even more than com­e­dy. ​“What I’m learn­ing is that when I’m writ­ing, I feel the most at peace,” Rhodes states. “… I don’t feel that I’m try­ing to write for some­body. And I’m not try­ing to write with a result in mind.” It’s exact­ly that hon­esty that Rhodes is try­ing to bring more and more into her com­e­dy. ​“I’m try­ing to be more real up there, you know, and kind of stum­ble — I like to stum­ble into laughs, you know, instead of, like, writ­ing for a laugh, or going for a laugh, or expect­ing a laugh,” Rhodes mus­es. ​“I want to get more to a truth­ful place.”

As time has gone on, Rhodes has felt more com­pelled to ​“write onstage” by being and feel­ing in the moment, rather than think­ing her way into jokes. In sim­i­lar fash­ion, the jokes that Rhodes feels most con­nect­ed to now are her most vul­ner­a­ble ones — like the jokes that arose out of the loss of her dad. ​“You can see how stand-up is painful for me,” Rhodes laughs. ​“I love it. I love it in like a masochis­tic way, but it is; the process is painful, because you want to get to this real place,” she explains.

If any­thing, this inter­view with Rhodes is a tes­ta­ment to her tenac­i­ty — from hit­ting the road dur­ing the pan­dem­ic to the crazy feat that was her spe­cial, La Vie en Rhodes. Did I men­tion that her spe­cial was per­formed in front of cars? At a dri­ve-in show in the park­ing lot of the Rose Bowl? The mak­ing of such a spe­cial was, as one might expect, a tall and stress­ful order, but Rhodes rose to the occa­sion all the same.

In line with the Edith Piaf song ref­er­enced in her special’s title, Rhodes is absolute­ly ded­i­cat­ed to that rosy view of see­ing (and active­ly mak­ing) the best in even the tough­est sit­u­a­tions. So, we’re cer­tain that Eri­ca Rhodes will only con­tin­ue to rise to what­ev­er occa­sions are thrown her way, and we can’t wait to see how she con­tin­ues to evolve to be even more authen­ti­cal­ly Eri­ca — from the pen to the stage and every­where in between.

Fol­low Erica

• Web­site — eri​carhode​scom​e​dy​.com
• Twit­ter — @ericarhodes
• Insta­gram — @ericarhodes
• Face­book — Face​book​.com/​E​r​i​c​a​R​h​o​d​e​s​C​omedy
• Youtube — Youtube​.com/​E​r​i​c​a​R​h​o​d​e​s​C​omedy

Eri­ca can be seen, heard, and read:

• On tour (check web­site for dates)
• Short Sto­ry — Lost Socks and Oth­er Lost Things
  
• Album — Sad Lemon (2019)
  • Stay tuned for her new album being record­ed this June
• Spe­cial — La Vie en Rhodes (2021)
• TV Appear­ances
  • Bring the Funny
  • Veep
  • Mod­ern Family
  • Com­e­dy Bang Bang