Meet Rogue Schmidt

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rogue Schmidt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rogue, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?

As a comedian, risk is something that comes up in everyone’s story.

From stepping out on stage for the first time in an improv scene, to pretending to be a student at a Big 10 University just so I could join their sketch comedy team, to taking my shirt off for the first time on stage doing burlesque, or producing and starring in a solo show across the ocean in Scotland, risk is a through line in my career.

For me, I’ve always wanted to take risks, and challenge when someone says something can’t be done. There’s the simple answer of why I’m like this, and the challenging answer of why I’m like this. As a little choose-your-own-adventure, I’ll give both answers.

The simple one: My brain is very theatrical, and using the comedy genre has been just a blast. At the end of the day, I’m always searching for things that will entertain me or surprise me, or crack me up. I have to continually ask myself: “how do I push myself past the bar that I set for myself?”

The complicated answer: Of course, I’m only able to discuss this after years and years (almost a decade) of therapy. I grew up as a plus-sized child in the age of “thin is in”, of “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” and “Oprah stopped eating bread”. I had a parent who was incredibly worried about my “health”, and so I was put in Weight Watchers, fed Lean Cuisines, and sent to running school. Yes, that’s a thing. I was forced to watch The Biggest Loser as motivation, I had been on so many diets before the age of 13, I lost count. I grew up intrinsically thinking something was wrong with me, because the adults around me told me that something was wrong with me, more specifically, my weight needed to be fixed. Around that same time, I was coming to the realization that I was also gay. We have watching Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle to thank for that. Existing in my body felt like someone handed me a beehive and then put me inside of a clown car.

These are incredibly complex feelings to be dealing with as a kid, and of course I had no awareness that my childhood was being robbed from me by the adults in my life. Summers became less about pools and sunshine, and more about skinny cow ice cream, covering up my body, and playing softball for exercise so that I could hopefully “slim down”.

It really created a dysmorphia that I still struggle with today.

However, my light in shining armor came through in 2011. It was Melissa McCarthy in the movie, Bridesmaids. A fat woman on the silver screen?! Owning her body?! AND being the funniest person in the ensemble? She was eccentric, electric and everything to me. I finally saw a path forward for myself and a little seed was planted in my teenage heart.

I started to learn everything I could about women in comedy, I watched blooper reels, I supported every movie Melissa McCarthy was in, I had a heart palpitation practically when I learned she was also from Illinois too.

I did the practical thing after graduating high school, I went to a community college in Normal, Heartland Community College, and I met friends who encouraged my bits, embraced the weird little characters I thought up, and I found an improv group of older men to spend some of my nights with at the local gay bar, The Bistro, they had a stage that we would take over once a month to do improv baby!!! I was living the dream.

My brother went to a Big 10 school and he knew about my desire to be a comedian. At his Student Activities Fair, he saw a group called Potted Meat Sketch Comedy, and he signed my name up. He messaged me and said “I’ve signed you up for this group, be at Greg Hall on Thursday for auditions.”

Big risk. Big reward. Big laughs.

I knew going to that audition would be a huge risk, but I had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and I got in. I fooled them for one calendar year.

Now, as I’m more than 10 years away from that initial risk, every performance I’ve done, every project, there’s a whisper of me chasing that high of “getting away with it.” When I’m in the comedy space, I feel like a kid again, I feel like I’m making up for stolen years, I’m honoring my inner child, and playing free without care for the first time.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a bold, high-energy comedian, actor and writer who delivers sharp social satire, outrageous characters, and fearless physical comedy. My performances blend absurdity with heartfelt storytelling. I’ve performed with The Second City, iO Theater, The Paper Machete, The Annoyance Theater, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and my sophomore special, Going Rogue: A Fat D*ke Comedy Special, sold out at Dorothy Downstairs, one of the only remaining lesbian bars in the country. I was named Chicago Reader’s Best Comedian (non-standup) in 2023 and was nominated again in 2024, and won Queen City Film Festival Best Female Performance for my role as “Kit” in Melanie Field’s short Best In The World.

My voice has become incredibly clear in the last two years, my work is unapologetically queer and sapphic. My shows have a “by a lesbian for a lesbian” feel to them. I want to keep creating space for all queer folks but especially lesbians, I grew up in a small town, and now live in the largest city in the US. I want any young, plus-sized, or queer child to know that there’s hope, and I want them to have representation, especially now that we are entering into another wave of thin superiority in the post-ozempic era.

I’m releasing a recording of my show that I filmed in March, Going Rogue: A Fat D*ke Comedy Special on Youtube soon! Be on the lookout. I also have sticker merch that was released for this special made by Chicago local artist @albolton16 it’s available at rogueschmidt.com. You can also sign up for my email list there too!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Curiosity, Drive, Resilience
Curiosity embeds itself in everything I do. I’m always asking questions and investigating for answers. I wonder without judgment, and I keep my heart and mind open to all the possibilities. I let myself pivot, I let myself change my mind—because we all learn, grow, and change. And curiosity keeps that process ever-changing. My curiosity once led me to taking a job out in the burbs where I was teaching people in their 40s-70s Improv 101. It taught me that so many adults shut off their curiosity by the time they hit 30. Curiosity and play are two sides of the same coin. When we shut down one, we shut down both. Give yourself permission to play and be curious. Our mind and bodies need it, and if you shut it off, I promise you, one day you’ll go looking for it. So don’t lose it in the first place! I also believe staying in touch with your sense of curiosity and play is a radical act of resistance. Especially in today’s world.

Drive – No one rewards you — you have to reward yourself for keeping your curiosity and play alive. So many people shut down their dreams and passions because life *rightfully so* becomes harder and harder. I don’t care if it’s just 5 seconds a day — carve out the time to keep your dream alive, even if it’s just in your head. My dream is my drive, and I’ve let it evolve when it needs to. But my drive keeps me curious. I have to honor and reward that drive, because without it, the whole thing falls apart.

Resilience – Resilience is my religion. I will last the test of time, I will last despite the things out of my control thrown at me until the day something in God’s will takes me down. Until then, I will get up every time I get rejected, have a bad set, get doubted, dropped or pushed aside. I will keep going because I’m an artist. And you’re an artist if you fucking say so!

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

When I first moved to the city, I started looking for internships. I stumbled upon a theater and humbled myself at 22, offering to sweep floors if it meant free tickets to comedy shows and a chance to be around improvisers.
That’s where I met Lillie, the owner of the comedy theater, who took me under her wing. She became more than a mentor, she’s a dear friend: wise, fun, empathetic, curious, and fiercely passionate. Lillie taught me it’s okay to pivot my dreams, to say no when something doesn’t feel right, and to let things end in order to begin again.

Sometimes you need a friend to remind you who the fuck you are, to bring you back to your why, and remind you how far you’ve come. She does that for me. I do that for her.

Self-doubt is a part of the creative process, those waves of doubt will come,, but when I’m struggling or need advice, she’s my first call. Having a mentor changed my life and helped shape the artist I’ve become and it all started from sweeping floors for free.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rogueschmidt.com
• Instagram: @rogueschmidt

Image Credits

@selfoto, @_giantess