One Girl's Journey to Saturday Night Live

My name is Lauren Bancroft and I'm from from Nashua, NH.

I started this Tumblr in December of 2010 to document my path to go from who and where I am now, to being a cast member of Saturday Night Live. I have a realistic plan with attainable goals that I work very hard at every week.

I do stand up. I study improv. I write sketches. I work hard.

Ten phases. Eight years. One goal.

www.laurenbancroft.com
contact@laurenbancroft.com
Twitter - @Bancroffed

I’ve been invited onto the Unscene Comedy podcast hosted by Shawn Carter of Boston.

That should be fun. I’m a little nervous though. Part of me is like, “We’ve done shows together. Pretty sure we’re friendly enough for this to not be odd.” Then the other part of me is like, “Why the hell would he want me on?” Apparently I’m paranoid about his motivations which I shouldn’t be. He’s a nice guy.

I assume he wants me on because I could talk about comedy in New Hampshire? I’m not really sure what else he knows about me besides I’ve been doing stand up for less than two years. 

More on Unscene Comedy can be found here!

My birthday is spicing up!

So initially, Cade (boyfriend) and I wanted to go to Vegas for my birthday so he could meet both my sisters who live in LA. Unfortunately that wasn’t fiscally possible so we’re spending a few days in Lincolnville, Maine together instead.

But the weekend after my birthday my dad and I are going to Foxwoods Casino to see Dennis Miller, Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon! All former SNL cast members and all very funny guys. My padre and I will make a day/night of it so I’m really excited.

You only need one laundry day in your back up bra to remember why it’s your back up bra.

Improv Level One Class Eight In Review

Well. Last night was my last class of level one. I can’t believe it’s been eight weeks since I started at Improv Asylum. That’s two whole months, guys. Mind-blowing.

Our normal instructor is in Maine doing touring improv things so we had subs who were good. I kind of missed Kirsten though. She has this way of making suggestions that sound totally supportive and less like she is correctly a mistake/poor choice.

We played a few new games with “level two twists.” So instead of a just a game, we had to use accents or dialects. There are a handful of people already signed up for level two which doesn’t start up for three more weeks. I’m excited about some, not so much about others but we’ll see how it goes.

LEVEL ONE STATUS: Complete

WHAT I LEARNED:

  • “Yes and” your partners’ choices both verbally and physically
  • Mirroring is key
  • Commit to your scene choices and sell the crap out of them
  • Don’t ask questions
  • Always add information
  • Don’t judge yourself or your partners for their choices
  • Don’t talk about what you are doing/your object work
  • Strong eye contact is important
  • Don’t go for the easy laugh, because you can’t sustain it

I was looking through some things and found this first picture. It was a “head shot” a friend took for me over two years ago. The one on the right is my current head shot, I guess. Why do I like the left one more?

Show at Dog Bar in Gloucester In Review

So the show Monday night was my first show in over three weeks. I was a little nervous because I thought I’d have some rust to shake off but surprisingly I did pretty well! Not well for normal me but well considering my hiatus.

The host seems like a very free spirit, if you will. I was next and he went onstage and said, “I forgot to ask this next comedian what she wanted for an intro. So she goes to Nashua Community College and she doesn’t cut anymore. You don’t cut anymore right?”

I did about ten minutes and my mom and a few of her friends came out. That was nice. I really miss doing multiple shows a week. Seeing the same people out and getting there early and being nervous and excited. I miss it.

I’m fairly certain that I’m having a mid-twenties crisis where I realize I’m not actually certain of anything.

Almost Unsolicited Stand Up Advice

My first open mic was on Sunday May 8, 2011 at Dick’s Beantown Comedy Vault in Boston, MA. I knew very little then and frankly know very little now about stand up. I have however, learned everything below from experience and hope some of you can benefit a little from these collected bullets

Before you read this, my disclaimer. I am incredibly new to comedy. I don’t pretend to be more knowledgeable than I am. The actual disclaimer: What do I know anyway? The answer to that is probably, “Nothing.” I’m just a girl from NH who has been lucky enough to get to tell jokes for a while and have picked up the below advice along the way. If you can’t relate or don’t agree with what I include then ignore it completely. Do your own thing and be proud when you figure out your own better way to do stuff.

The Tips:

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