Melody Shifflet: Push-Ups on Broken Glass

It’s a com­mon trope that com­e­dy is born out of per­son­al dark­ness. While Melody Shif­flet has had her share (and maybe yours) of hard times in her past, she def­i­nite­ly doesn’t let it define her life and stage persona. 

A native Tex­an, Shif­flet start­ed her life in Pasade­na before com­ing to Austin, and has spent the major­i­ty of her time here ever since. In Part one of her inter­view, She takes Valerie Lopez through a vari­ety of stops on a jour­ney that served to teach her about her strengths, weak­ness­es, and how each help her evolve for the next phase in her future. We also learn how a zine with friends led to that tan­ta­liz­ing first step onto stage that has brought her to being a main­stay on the Austin com­e­dy scene. 

Melody Shif­flet: The Past

When she’s not work­ing on her joke noo­dle arms, Melody Shif­flet has found time to be a semi-final­ist in the Fun­ni­est Per­son in Austin con­test, and has guest­ed on the The Lis­ten­ing Room, a long form pod­cast. The Lis­ten­ing Room is one of the many show­cas­es of her pas­sion for writ­ing. In Part two of her inter­view, Shif­flet and Valerie dig into how she con­tin­ues to dri­ve and refine her skills in the area. 

Melody Shif­flet: Current

Com­ing up in ear­ly 2017, look for Shif­flet in a new sea­son of Stand Up Empire, the PBS series on com­e­dy filmed right here in Austin. You’ll have to lis­ten to learn how she’s plan­ning to pre­pare her set — it’s all the rage these days. 

Find more about Melody Shif­flet and her upcom­ing shows on her Face­book and at Last Gas Com­e­dy. She also does the pic­ture thing on Insta­gram, and mus­es on Twit­ter. If you’re look­ing to check Shif­flet’s com­e­dy out in the near future, here are some opportunities:

• Bar 512, Thurs­day ¹²⁄₁₅
• WE RUN THIS (a stand up and sto­ry­telling show) at Cold­towne on ¹⁄₃ and ²⁄₇
• Court­ney Peter­son­’s Senior Home Show on ¹⁄₉
• Good Vibes at Adel­bert’s on ¹⁄₁₁