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

Reese, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made (either in terms of time or money)? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

The best investment I have ever made was in community.

When I first procured Laughs PDX from its creator, I thought I’d be able to lean solely on my ambition and relevant skills in order to enhance an already meaningful resource.

I have a background in communications and multimedia with focusses in graphic design, website development and marketing – All valuable skills to possess when expanding the presence and functionality of a web resource. The only problem is that no matter how effective I think I am at leveraging my skills, I am but a single mind attempting to drive a community resource. Not only is it counterintuitive for a single mind to drive a community resource, but it is nearly impossible – for me at least.

No matter how much time and effort I invest in myself and my abilities, the puzzle of developing and maintaining a community resource like Laughs PDX will be incomplete without insights and assistance from other individuals and the community at large.

That much is true for most things. The best investment I have ever made has not been financial… it’s been social.

Reese, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

“Digital Jack of All Trades” is how I sign my emails, putting a nerdy twist on the adage “Jack of all trades, master of none…” – There is more to that idiom that most are either unaware of or don’t know too well and that is “…but oftentimes better than a master of one.” That last part resonates with me deeply.

I’ve been a contrarian as long as I can remember; My grandfather said I’d make a great lawyer… I can’t think of anything more boring than practicing law. Who wants to have financial security in lieu of an exciting and varied life?

My scholastic pursuits have been all over the place: broadcast journalism, computer information systems, multimedia and microelectronics technology to name a few… I like variety.

Sales ended up being my game – I can jump from enterprise level security software implementation strategy to customizing furniture in the same conversation as seamlessly as a knife edge stitch on a chaise lounge for your data center rec room. In many ways sales is a performance art.

My Aunt Sylvia gave me a Compaq desktop running Windows 95 when I turned 6 years old and it lasted me about 3 days before I figured out how to take it apart (much to her chagrin). Can you blame me? I wanted to know exactly how it worked. Granted, I couldn’t put it back together again, but my love affair with computers wasn’t as much a bug as it was a feature.

Let’s shift gears and jump ahead a bit to the pandemic of 2020 – Setting: South Florida. After a stretch of time as the Marketing Director for a restaurant in West Palm Beach and then as the SE Regional Photographer for an auction house located across the street, I found myself being holed up at the homestead waiting for the sky to fall along with everyone else… For about two weeks; Florida is a horrible monster, but in some ways beautiful. During that brief down-time, I watched a lot of standup comedy which rekindled my desire to perform… I hadn’t piqued the ears of the populous since my time in the booth at Santa Monica College delivering campus news to anyone who would listen.

I fell head over heels for comedy, hitting mics around W. Palm Beach as soon as the Covid restrictions lifted. I immediately felt the benefits of performing and becoming a member of a community of really funny people. I was happy getting to know the three-dozen people I’d see at mics and shows, working on material, roasting each other and developing friendships that transcend distance and time.

Then I moved back to Portland, OR – Where everything changed.

If I thought that S. Florida had a tight-knit and supportive comedy scene, working in Portland was like getting introduced to a long lost family you were never told about that couldn’t wait to watch you bomb… Then help you punch up your material. What I noticed more about this market was that there was a system in place beyond word of mouth and being in the know to get out to mics and shows; That system was laughspdx.com which is how I got into the Portland comedy scene.

Brent Lowrey created Laughs PDX out of the pandemic lockdown and what it did to the Portland comedy scene. Originally “Lots of Laughs PDX”, it was intended to sell people on the idea of parking lot comedy in dark times. Luck and timing, but mainly the support of a community, has made it much more.

LaughsPDX started as a drive-in open mic in a vacant parking lot in November 2020 during the second lockdown of the pandemic. As live comedy returned and the community gradually reestablished itself throughout 2021, the website became the official source of information for all Portland comedy.

That was how I found it upon my return to Portland in September of 2021: A succinct list of active mics and shows listed by day – Valuable for any newbie to the scene looking to make a name for themselves in this market. After using Laughs PDX on a daily basis for weeks, I met Brent by chance at a now defunct mic At The Garages Satellite Pub in Beaverton. We got to talking and the website made its way into our conversation – I thanked him for running the resource, went on stage and talked about my cat getting euthanized before going about my evening, not thinking too much more about the site or our convo.

We’re going to jump ahead again… This time to November of 2022.

I was talking with Brent at another now defunct mic at Arrowood in NE Portland about the Laughs PDX website and how there was potential to expand its coverage to include other facets of the comedy scene. I had been deeply involved in my podcast Science Factual (@sciencefactualpod) for about a year at that point and was talking with several other comedians about joining forces to create a podcast network; During my conversation with Brent, I broached the concept of placing that network underneath the Laughs PDX banner, lending ethos to the network from an already established entity.

As an aside, the pursuit of podcasting on an individual basis has been the most intensive use of my amalgam of skills; From research to writing and copy editing, to recording and audio editing, to graphic design and developing marketing materials – and then executing on marketing strategy so that it actually hits ears – I wouldn’t have been able to do it all had I focused solely on becoming a Systems Administrator. Like I said, I like variety.

Getting back to the Laughs Podcast Network: That never happened. Instead, Brent encouraged me to run with my ideas of expanding the coverage that Laughs PDX provides to the community. That’s when I took over operations for the website.

Here comes the tie-in, I promise:

All of the skills I’ve accrued from various scholastic and professional pursuits are being leveraged in transforming Laughs PDX into what it is today. Functionality through improved UI and subsequent UX comes from developing more websites than I care to recount. Increased search engine ranking through SEO initiatives which helps the site reach a wider audience comes from developing marketing strategies and selling such services to a wide variety of industries. The resource hub comes from working with community members in the arts and developing ways to best showcase their skills and services.

I’ve talked a lot about my skills and desire to mold myself as a Digital Jack of All Trades, but none of those skills matter without the Portland comedy community and the support they give the website… That is to say that without the incredible members of the comedy community, the site simply would not exist. I rely on them just as much, if not more so than they rely on the site as a resource in order to make it what it is: Portland’s home for comedy.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Consume their art. It was made or performed for your consumption to illicit emotions, provoke thought and contemplation and change the way your perceive reality.

Art is life, and without it you are not living,

Donate to artist collectives – sponsor an artist – hire an artist to paint your wall – read a book – go to the Portland Art Museum – draw a picture with your niece – buy art from a booth at a farmer’s market – consume as much art as you can.

Kill the concept of the starving artist. I was talking with a peer who helps me logistically with organizing Laughs PDX – she’s a dancer – and the topic shifted during conversation to the fact that “rising tides lift all ships” (forget about the fact that JFK is credited for that aphorism). That’s true… but sometimes it feels like the tide is perpetually going out instead of in. Priorities should always include the arts on individual and societal levels. Capitalism crushes and perverts the arts instead of bolstering one of the few joys we get to experience in life.

Think about all of the art we’ve missed out on because someone has to choose between working and creating. I’m eternally grateful for the arts programs I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of, but I am privileged in that respect. So many people miss out on the opportunity to express themselves through art and develop artistic skills because of our current socio-economic state.

That’s not to say that arts programs don’t exist, but they are typically underfunded and not made available to everyone which is a sad facet of our society’s relationship with the arts. Therefore it is up to the individual to take it into their own purview to appreciate and bolster the arts in a meaningful way and that starts with consuming art – That’s what it’s there for.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Relating to others. Life can be lonely and boring and without art. It’s why our ancestors drew their surroundings on cave walls… it wasn’t just a way to pass the time, but rather a way to connect and affirm their perceptions of reality. As our desire to depict art grew, so did our ability to convey what was within ourselves as well – That’s why art is so meaningful; It allows us to relate to the parts of ourselves that are otherwise difficult to articulate.

I feel the most connected with people when they consume my art and it makes them feel something, anything other than the dull background noise of life.

Contact Info:

• Website: laughspdx.com
• Instagram: @laughspdx
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaughsPDX

Image Credits
Courtesy: Bangerz Comedy | Eliza Butler, Bjorn RG