Podcasts by My Opening Line

My Opening Line

Hosts Keith and Chemda (of Keith and The Girl) ask comedian friends and performers about their first time on stage. Listen to popular comics telling embarrassing stories of their first performances as they share some of their most terrible opening lines, awkward executions, and epic fails.

Further podcasts by My Opening Line, Starburns Audio

Podcast on the topic Comedy

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My Opening Line
51: Siobhan O'Loughlin's First Time from 2020-02-15T17:00

Siobhan O'Loughlin, host of the news-making traveling bathroom show Broken Bone Bathtub, discusses what it was like growing up in a family that supported the arts (WHAT?!) and the shows and si...

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My Opening Line
50: Joe DeVito’s First Time from 2020-01-18T21:11:09

With 20 years of hard-learned experience and advice, stand-up comedy staple Joe DeVito talks about his work as a journalist, advertising writer, praised comedian of stage and screen, and funny...

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My Opening Line
49: Hannah Berner's First Time from 2019-12-07T00:36:14

Summer House's Hannah Berner began her entertainment career studying drama in a performance arts middle school before creating her own viral sketch videos and memes. After her intense work wit...

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My Opening Line
48: John F. O'Donnell's First Time from 2019-11-10T02:47:26

Keith and The Girl legend and Redacted Tonight correspondent John F. O’Donnell shares his stand-up beginnings at age 12, taking his show on the road, and being a featured act on Comedy Central...

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My Opening Line
47: Kyle Ocasio's First Time from 2019-10-13T22:15:21

Keith’s girlfriend (and a comic who has performed worldwide for over a decade, including multiple military tours) discusses early stand-up influences including Rita Rudner and the blatant sexi...

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My Opening Line
46: Gina Brillon's First Time from 2019-08-30T22:30:06

HBO stand-up veteran Gina Brillon is here to discuss her early days performing in front of fellow students into a hairbrush, professionally starting stand-up at 17 with her identical twin sist...

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My Opening Line
45: Katharine Heller's First Time from 2019-07-21T04:00:14

Whether it’s starring in commercials, acting in voiceover work, entertaining an audience through improv, written sketches, or songs, Katharine Heller is as well-rounded an artist as they come....

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My Opening Line
44: Andrea Allan’s First Time from 2019-07-04T04:00

After her first stand-up experience (at an open mic night while plastered), Andrea Allan still knew she wanted to perform stand-up comedy. After a roast battle (where she bombed on stage while...

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My Opening Line
43: Lenny Marcus’s First Time from 2019-06-22T04:00

From putting together a bringer show of 60 people to performing multiple times on late night TV, Lenny Marcus covers the highs and lows of his decades in comedy, including his first televised ...

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My Opening Line
42: Dave Hill's First Time from 2019-06-08T04:00

Whether it’s stand-up, TV, books, or music, Dave Hill’s fun and quirky personality has branched out into so many avenues of comedy and art. Dave talks about self-doubt, believing in yourself, ...

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My Opening Line
41: Chemda's First Time from 2019-05-27T00:47:06

It’s all fun and games until Chemda’s in the hot seat. It’s the greatest singing voice Keith has ever heard, and Keith wants to know how it formed, how Chemda discovered it, and the places it ...

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My Opening Line
40: Mike Cannon's First Time from 2019-04-29T00:44:45

We delve into how innocuous childhood situations shape an artist in the biggest ways as Mike Cannon covers the George Carlin line that changed his life (spoiler: it involves an anchovy’s cunt), ...

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My Opening Line
39: Jessie Jolles's First Time from 2019-04-22T01:22:34

Comic and actress Jessie Jolles joins us to talk about her start and rise in entertainment from her childhood performances to being the spokesperson for major TV commercials and the wide-spread ...

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My Opening Line
38: Josh Gondelman's First Time from 2019-04-05T20:34:18

From his big break in The Music Man to being a multiple Emmy and Peabody award winner, Josh Gondelman regales us with stories on his school musical triumph, teaching pre-school, his first time o...

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My Opening Line
37: Dan Hartley's First Time from 2019-03-15T22:13:07

Actor, writer, and producer Dan Hartley shares his career stories including his first stage performance at age 10, humiliating himself in front of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, and being his own ...

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My Opening Line
36: Sean Patton's First Time from 2019-03-08T05:00

Whether it's being born in The Big Easy (New Orleans), talking about his bathroom habits (wiping with dryer sheets), performing his first set (after drinking half a pitcher of Jack and Coke), wo...

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My Opening Line
35: Dante Nero's First Time from 2019-01-21T03:33:20

Dante Nero talks about how he leveraged his (male) stripper work into a stand-up comedy career. From his introduction and close friendship with Patrice O’Neal to starting the podcast that took h...

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My Opening Line
34: Jesse Joyce's First Time from 2018-12-24T22:14:34

Jesse Joyce, writer for the Oscars and Comedy Central Roasts, discusses his very first jokes as a child, alcoholism, and discovering stand-up. Jesse remembers when he learned The Big Stand-Up Tr...

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My Opening Line
33: Jon Laster's First Time from 2018-12-23T21:43:41

Jon Laster, comedian and actor, talks Def Jam, roast battles, and where it all began. The gang discusses legacy, the reason Eddie Murphy quit stand-up, the death of an absentee dad, and the joy ...

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My Opening Line
32: Frank Liotti’s First Time from 2018-12-22T20:31:45

Frank Liotti joins Keith and Chemda to talk about his acting and stand-up career. They talk about the rarity of getting to see comedy performances as a kid, misunderstandings coming from people ...

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My Opening Line
31: Shane Mauss's First Time from 2018-10-29T00:32:47

Shane Mauss, comedian who made it to national television by year 3, shares his ups, downs, and secrets to success. From him calling up his local club and saying, “I want to be a comic,” to headl...

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My Opening Line
30: Paul Hooper's First Time from 2018-10-05T17:07:03

Road Dog Paul Hooper is this episode’s guest. After visiting 10 countries and 42 U.S. states, Paul talks about life as a comedian on the road for over 2 decades. We chat about how audiences diff...

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My Opening Line
29: Mehran Khaghani's First Time from 2018-09-21T20:04:33

The hilarious and energetic Mehran Khaghani joins us to talk about his beginnings as well as his confrontations with Joe Rogan and Roseanne Barr. The gang talks about using laughter to combat ph...

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My Opening Line
28: Abbi Crutchfield's First Time from 2018-08-30T19:26:37

Abbi Crutchfield shares how it all started, including her cultivating her own comedy… group? club? in college. Abbi talks with Keith and Chemda about small town living and everything that led to...

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My Opening Line
27: Mark Douglas's First Time from 2018-08-17T23:32:09

Mark Douglas is the creator of the extremely popular YouTube channel The Key of Awesome, which has over 5.4 million subscribers. The channel features musical parodies of some of the biggest song...

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My Opening Line
26: Mike Lawrence's First Time from 2018-08-03T20:49:22

Roast Battle Grand Champion Mike Lawrence worked at McDonald's for 7 years before landing multiple TV appearances. Mike discusses the effects of growing up with a comedian mom, discovering his c...

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My Opening Line
25: Carmen Lynch's First Time from 2018-07-21T17:03:12

Carmen Lynch talks about being in the Top 20 on Last Comic Standing within 2 years of performing stand-up before regaling us with stories of how she learned the secrets of stand-up comedy, her a...

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My Opening Line
24: Lucie Pohl's First Time from 2018-07-13T23:06:28

Overwatch’s Mercy joins us to talk about her break in theater, television, and one of the biggest video games of all time. Lucie Pohl talks about her first times performing, getting a role taken...

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My Opening Line
23: Bonnie McFarlane's First Time from 2018-07-06T21:58:59

Bonnie McFarlane talks about starting her comedy career in Canada, making her way to clubs in the U.S., and the differences between the audiences in the two countries. From her first time on sta...

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My Opening Line
22: Jimmy Pardo's First Time from 2018-06-29T23:59:22

Jimmy Pardo, host of Never Not Funny, talks about what he experienced in 30 years of stand-up , from soup to nuts. Jimmy covers the fear of the art form, the secret to success, the audacity of i...

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My Opening Line
21: Allison Raskin's First Time from 2018-06-23T17:55:01

Allison Raskin, of Just Between Us and the comedic soap opera GOSSIP, talks about getting fired from her improv group, her #MeToo moment, and leaving BuzzFeed. She explains why constantly perfor...

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My Opening Line
20: Julian McCullough's First Time from 2018-06-09T21:02:51

TV regular and stand-up veteran Julian McCullough discusses his first times on stage including when he performed stand-up immediately after seating customers and how it felt serving fellow comed...

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My Opening Line
19: Graham Elwood's First Time from 2018-06-01T19:14:32

Comedy Film Nerds’ Graham Elwood visits NYC to talk about his stand-up beginnings that include Judd Apatow and Doritos, and we have the tape! Graham discusses the lows that included bankruptcy a...

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My Opening Line
18: Chris Mancini’s First Time from 2018-05-25T22:09:07

Today we visit with Comedy Film Nerds’ Chris Mancini, and we talk the beginning of podcasting and the early mistakes. We discuss his start in stand-up, his experience managing a comedy club, and...

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My Opening Line
17: Jeff Meacham's First Time from 2018-05-11T04:00

Actor Jeff Meacham is doing very well with the show Black-ish, but, before that, Keith and Chemda worked with him as children’s party entertainers. We catch up with Jeff and go over his rise to ...

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My Opening Line
16: Nick Thune's First Time from 2018-05-05T19:22:20

Comic and musician Nick Thune lets us know where and how it all began, the differences between comedy music and regular music to those in the business, and what he learned about women.

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My Opening Line
15: Gaby Dunn's First Time from 2018-04-28T21:06:18

Actress, writer, and comedian Gaby Dunn discusses her first times in the spotlight. Yes, she has a massive following and videos with millions of views, but first, there was MTV audition-crying. ...

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My Opening Line
14: Dan Soder's First Time from 2018-04-21T22:09:37

While selling the radio station records he was supposed to be playing, Dan Soder painfully learned how to write jokes, saw how alcoholism affected networking, and discovered the politics of pick...

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My Opening Line
13: Ted Alexandro's First Time from 2018-04-14T04:00

25-year stand-up veteran Ted Alexandro talks about breaking out from a stand-up duo and going solo to begin his illustrious career as well as sharing his first joke on stage ever, his performanc...

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My Opening Line
12: Gilbert Gottfried's First Time from 2018-04-07T04:00

Legend Gilbert Gottfried covers his first times in comedy while sharing his need for attention and being raised by television. The gang covers Gilbert’s early impressions, his breaks on TV, and ...

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My Opening Line
11: Alia Janine's First Time from 2018-03-24T04:00

Comedian Alia Janine not only talks about her first time performing stand-up, which happened to be with Andrew Dice Clay, but she talks about other firsts as well, including her first dance as a...

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My Opening Line
10: Kevin Allison's First Time from 2018-03-17T04:00

Kevin Allison, from MTV’s The State and host of the Risk! podcast, shares his monumental firsts on stage. From his first time performing with members of The State (with no clothes on), to his fi...

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My Opening Line
9: Christian Finnegan's First Time from 2018-03-10T05:00

Fletcher Christian Finnegan, Comedy Central staple and veteran stand-up comedian, talks about his performing debut at NYC's alternative art house Surf Reality, the same place where Keith and Che...

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My Opening Line
8: Myq Kaplan's First Time from 2018-03-03T05:00

Myq Kaplan has had many successes in comedy from competitions like Last Comic Standing, @midnight, and America's Got Talent to his late-night sets and live comedy tours around the world. Listen ...

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My Opening Line
7: Ruby Karp's First Time from 2018-02-24T05:00

Wunderkind Ruby Karp, who was featured in a video on feminism with Amy Poehler at age 7, performed a TED Talk at age 12, and wrote a book at age 16, shares with us the first time she performed s...

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My Opening Line
6: Laurie Kilmartin's First Time from 2018-02-17T05:00

Emmy-nominated New York Times bestseller Laurie Kilmartin tells us when she first learned the shocking news that comedians don’t actually perform off the cuff onstage. With that knowledge at han...

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My Opening Line
5: Ophira Eisenberg's First Time from 2018-02-10T05:00

NPR host and award-winning storyteller Ophira Eisenberg joins us to talk about her very first time on stage. Was the $300 for the stand-up class a scam? The teacher said she had great stage pres...

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My Opening Line
4: Matteo Lane's First Time from 2018-02-03T05:00

With a little burlesque, some comedy, and a hint of opera, Matteo Lane finds his way to his opening line. Find out what Matteo’s first time doing stand-up was like in this episode.

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My Opening Line
3: Adam Conover's First Time from 2018-01-27T15:02

When Adam first did stand-up, he chose to play a character of a tree doctor who healed trees while hating bushes. He was in a taco restaurant at an anything-goes open mic. Except this didn’t go....

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My Opening Line
2: Jared Freid's First Time from 2018-01-27T15:01

Jared’s first time doing stand-up was at an open-mic known for being super supportive of new performers. Unfortunately, his act was the least supported ever. Find out why in this episode.

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My Opening Line
1: Emma Willmann's First Time from 2018-01-27T15:00

Emma tells her never-before-heard story of the actual first time she performed stand-up. It involved making sure her guests got more drunk than they wanted to, an awkward pep talk, and hiding be...

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My Opening Line
0: Keith Malley's First Time from 2018-01-10T23:38:38

In this intro-episode, Keith describes how he didn’t understand stand-up protocol and asked to perform for the first time at an already booked comedy show in Manhattan.

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