Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lindsey Loon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lindsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’ve grown comfortable with the uncomfortable. I was born on the East Coast, but spent about ten years living in Australia, New Zealand and Japan— with a dash of Texas. My dad yelled “damnit Lindsey, pick a place, it looks like you’re running from the law!” Basically, I went from the nerd kingdom of Cambridge MA, to the BBQ kingdom of Houston TX, to the wildlife kingdom of Queensland Australia (and then Perth and Sydney with eventually a homebase in Melbourne over the years…yeah, maybe it did look like I was running from the law…). What was supposed to be a one month trip to Australia turned into a 6 year adventure, it became home. But I didn’t go to find a new home, I went for the journey. I used to throw myself out of my comfort zone partly to feel that improvisational energy, partly to speed up the process of creativity. When I was 4 years old, in summer camp, I didn’t know how to swim. I threw myself into the 10’ deep end of the pool. I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I didn’t even think I was a mermaid. I leapt in because I wanted to learn how to swim and after weeks of group lessons I wasn’t getting anywhere. At camp during “free swim” we would all just stand there wet in the kiddie pool, staring at each other. Drip, drip, drip, stare. I don’t know if anyone ever learned to swim in that program! But when I threw myself in I didn’t splutter and sink. I squirmed around and gasped and learned how to swim. Fast. I’ve basically done the same with comedy. Over five years ago, on a lark, I jumped at the opportunity to perform standup. I’d never even been in an open mic, and this was a ticketed show at Flappers, one of my favorite venues. I was in that mode of “just say YES to it, and figure it out what ‘it’ is later!” I had such stage fright before that performance I thought I would pass out. Petrified. I had stage fright for the first 2 years I did standup, I even went on the beta blocker Propranolol. It helped for a while. But I don’t use anything now, I just surf through the fear, it’s part of my process.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m focused on humor, performance and self-development. I teach and facilitate creative writing based on the Amherst Writer’s and Artist’s method (AWA) through my Zoom-based writing workshops www.waveofwriting.com (WoW Writing). We generate a lot of content– I want people to write like they’re being chased! It’s about getting in touch with the fun playful creative part of writing. We help people blast through writer’s block, and have a blast. We also ground the practice with a mind-body element that involves tapping with certified therapeutic masseuse Sarah Rennalls. Because it’s on Zoom it’s also really international, it’s a great creative community with such interesting voices. I also perform: standup comedy, sketch comedy/acting, voice. It’s LA, I have several jobs. In addition to teaching creative writing my favorite job is AdLib LA— an organization I absolutely love!— where we facilitate improvisation games for therapeutic effect in a number of communities including rehabs and trauma recovery centers (we also facilitate creative writing). Performance is my home base. I came to LA as an actor. I did an acting intensive at NIDA in Australia that changed my life. Even though it was only a few months, the day we got our certificate I think I was more emotional than when I graduated from Yale and earned my B.A. And I loved Yale, I was an East Asian Studies major which was grueling, but I maxed out on creative writing classes! However hard I pushed in academics, my heart has always been in the creative life. I have two graduate degrees in International Relations (from the Australian universities University of Melbourne and University of Queensland). We would do things like intensive “conflict resolution” simulations. My focus was unusual. I would find myself obsessed with developing each of the role play characters, getting really into the storytelling and emotional element. I wrote my first over-50-page story when I was 13 years old, I’ve always loved the arts. And I’ve sung my whole life, I sang in the Mildura Jazz festival in Australia, and I still train vocally almost every week.

My friend Richard Caines says “feeling drawn to the artist’s life is a Jack in the box, you can pile things on top of it and try to ignore it, but it’s going to keep popping up.” More than half a decade ago I leapt into standup comedy. I don’t know if I’ve ever worked harder on anything in the arts. I love it, and the more I do the more endlessly complex I realize it is. I’m delighted to have spent the past few years performing on some of Jimmy Shin’s “Shindig Shows.” Jimmy Shin did the comedy special “Wok of Shame” on Amazon Prime. He has amazing lineups. I’ve gotten to perform on different lineups that include Pete Holmes, Iliza Shlesinger, Darrell Hammond, Jamie Kennedy, Renée Percy, Craig Robinson, Shang— and of course Jimmy Shin. The talent, experience and artistry blows my mind, and reminds me I have so much to learn. I’ve gotten to perform main stages at the Icehouse and the Hollywood Improv, and the Belly Room at the Comedy Store. Sometimes I play the Hollywood Roosevelt, too, I love the swanky red velvet vibe. I also love playing in female-centric badass environments like Tao Comedy studio, and am an alum of their Laugh Riot Grrl Festival. As a standup I write my own material. And comedy helps me with voice overs. And training in voice and singing helps me with stage presence. Even nine years slogging through Japanese language study, sometimes studying year round— it can pop up in my performance. Last year I got to help write and record vocals in Japanese for an indie film. I’ve done Japanese voice overs, and there are some Japanese characters that pop up in my standup. I’ve always done tons of accents and loved internationalism. Performance, writing, it all connects.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

For years I tried to explain what I do under the umbrella “analytical creative.” But it’s easy to mistake that as an analytical approach to creativity, and that’s not what I do. I love creative-creativity, improvisational energy, accented characters. Yes I work to prepare my standup, rehearse, refine, rewrite, but even that is driven by the energy of storytelling, it’s like helping to shape a living thing. The audience makes the set, there’s a vibrancy in performance that can’t be simultaneously analyzed and created. It’s like trying to run down the stairs while at the same time saying “right-left-right-left” in your mind. You would slow yourself down— just run. What I mean by “analytical creative” is that I spent the first chunk of my life focused on academics, and that was a valuable journey. I spent years as a volunteer alumni admissions interviewer for Yale, encouraging dedicated students and helping welcome them into that environment, a thriving hive to explore curiosity with an analytical toolset. In graduate school I explored conflict and conflict resolution through an analytical framework, a lot of the process of living overseas for a decade felt like live action Cultural Anthropology. I still use that framework when it serves a project. But for the most part I just strive to be a “creative-creative” now. Interact, connect, create.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The audience, the audience, the audience. When I perform standup I’m always awed by the way group energy varies like ocean waves. Unifying people for a moment with laughter or applause is amazing. Sometimes the silence is amazing as well, when the audience graces you with space to shape a story or thought. Writing is like that too, there’s an energy of connection even though it can be a solitary activity. There’s a lot of energy in a good writing group or workshop, the process of always learning. And ultimately sharing writing is an act of performance. I trained and was certified as a facilitator in the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) method which focuses on “strength-based feedback,” a way of connecting with others’ ideas and helping encourage and push each other to new heights. Even though fumbling to “get it right” in writing can be maddening, the effort itself is a way of connecting with a greater energy, and with the best in humanity. Attention, compassion, emotional expansion. To make anyone laugh, cry, change their mood, it’s all an honor.

A strong community of creatives helps so much, especially in comedy. I want to shout out to my favorite fellow comics who make the journey so much fun and who I’ve performed alongside for years. These are hilarious and warm-hearted wits to rush to see in LA and internationally. For LA-based comics check out the hilarious CT Adams, and also the powerhouses of talent Gini Sikes, Rosalee Mayeux, Ruth Brandt, Danna Kiel, Eryn McBride. Internationally, don’t miss Kelly Zemnickis (Canada and east coast of the USA) and Soness Stevens (Japan). Some established comics like Renée Percy (LA-based but international) are also so warm and welcoming to up-and-coming comics, Renée not only shares hilarity, she also inspires.

And one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever been part of is a standup/animation/sketch comedy project with the dynamic creative Indus Alelia, with Spitting Distance Pictures. She animated some of my standup in “Animated Laughter”: https://www.spittingdistancepictures.com/animated-laughter Funny bonus— you can hear me speak Japanese in one of those! We’ve done a number of animations where I’ve gotten to do accents including Scottish, Russian, Irish, British, Southern, Texan, Boston, Aussie and others—these projects let my imagination wander the globe.

Our latest sketch project, “Nancy Days,” which Indus wrote and directed— starring her opinionated talking foot, Nancy, and with some crazy characters I got to bring to life—  is currently winning awards on the festival circuit. You can catch a glimpse at this link, the kooky acting coach character I play, Addison Madison, has been getting laughs:  https://www.spittingdistancepictures.com/nancydays

Aside from performance, my heart-project has been a novel and comedic travel memoir book duo I’ve been working on for about 5 years. They are each currently over 400 pages, I’ve got a lot of editing to do, haha! I’m happy to share samples and snippets though, and love connecting with people on Medium, a vibrant and fun creative writing platform. https://lindseyloon.medium.com/

If anyone wants to see more please reach out, I love sharing creative work!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.waveofwriting.com
• Instagram: lindseyloonofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loonlaughs
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseyloon/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKby4-lpMGUe3ESH-cxCc8w
• Other: www.waveofwriting.com (writing classes and creative consulting) https://wwwspittingdistancepictures.com/ (Nancy Days and Animated Laughter, characters/accents/standup and sketch comedy)  https://loonlaughs.wixsite.com/loonlaughs (official comedy home page)