We were lucky to catch up with Yola Lu recently and have shared our conversation below.
Yola, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.
Back in my early years of doing comedy, I faced burn out a lot because I would go really really hard, going to things like open mics and doing shows, and writing every day for a month – trying to also get on stage every day. And after going on that schedule for so long, I’d eventually burn out and have to take a few months break after that, and then any sort of progress I’ve built in that time would go down the drain.
Since then I’ve been a lot better with dealing with burn out. I go to regular therapy now, where I have been learning about making time to really rest and recharge, and also learned how I need to spend some days just doing nothing, and try NOT to be productive. I also think that keeping a routine as much as possible is super beneficial. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I will also go and take walks with my dog and let go some of the stress there, and also if I’m not booked up on the weekend, I’ll allow myself to sleep in and get rest that way.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a comedian and new filmmaker. I started doing stand up comedy in 2012, and have since spread out and have started doing improv, sketch and acting. I enjoy all of the art forms and have really found a community in comedy.
Earlier this year, I filmed my first short film, PATSY, which is a story about a recently divorced Asian American standup comedian, ‘Patsy’, who has hit rock bottom. She draws from her life to get laughs on stage, but flashbacks reveal gut wrenching loss and love. I filmed this in February, and am currently in post production right now. I am super excited about this film because it’s very autobiographical and follows all the hardships that I recently went through after my divorce. The next steps are to finish post production, and then start submitting it into the festival circuit.
I am also producing and performing in shows on a weekly and monthly basis. If people would like to see me perform, I perform improv with my all Female-identifying improv troupe, Garage, every Thursday at 8pm at the Fallout Theater, and I also perform with my troupe, Y’all We Asian, that I co-founded, every first Friday of the month at Fallout Theater, and I produce a stand up show called “Oops! All Headliners!” at ColdTowne Theater at the last Saturday of the month at 10pm.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Patience, persistence and an openness to learn are the three qualities that I think are important when going on a creative journey. This road is super long and when you’re first starting out, you might not be getting any of the opportunities you see other people get – that’s because you’re on different paths and timelines and your path may not look the same as someone else, who might have different goals and ambitions than you. But if you do it for long enough, show your face in the community and keep working on your craft, the patience will pay off and you’ll start to get more opportunities offered to you.
Persistence is also a key quality – you’re going to get a whole lot of rejection from gatekeepers. All the way from auditions, festival submissions, grants, fellowships, competitions – anything, there’s so much rejection in this industry. You wonder constantly if your efforts are even worth it if you’re not moving forward in these things you submit for. And it’s discouraging and makes you wonder if you’re doing the right thing. And I’m here to tell you that you are – are people laughing at your jokes at shows? Are you writing constantly and improving there? It’s these little actions that if consistently done, will drive you to the next level. So you have to keep working at it. I was told many times that you need to submit for 50 auditions to even get one yes. I don’t even get 50 auditions in a year sometimes. So sometimes it’s a very dry year for me, but I keep persisting and slowly get opportunities opening up to me.
And the last one is an openness to learn, which also is about dropping your ego. There is always room for improvement – whether it’s from another comic wanting to give you a tag for one of your jokes, or taking a class to hone up on your skills, finding coaching, etc. You can always, always get better. I find that when you’re stuck, asking your community for help has always helped open doors for me. If you think you’re too good for classes or to put in the work to learn, then your progress is going to be much slower.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
Money. I hate talking about this, but it’s so true when it comes to things like filmmaking. I will be the first to say that filmmaking is not the most accessible medium, especially if you never went to film school and have friends in film. I was able to do most of this film because of personal loans I had to take out, as well as crowdfunding and getting funding from my community. I’m currently out of money for post production right now, and am trying to figure out other strategies that I can do to raise some extra funds – from selling merch, to putting on fundraising shows, I’m trying to do it all just to get my movie finished.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yolalucomedy.com
- Instagram: @yolajlu
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yola-lu-2378701b/
- Twitter: @yolajlu
- Other: IG for my short film: @patsyshortfilm
Image Credits
Steven Hu Emily Hicks
