Overview:
Prepare to laugh in this week's 5 Questions with local comedian Helen Driesen about the Denver scene and how she discovered her comic voice.
When former Bucket List Community News team member Helen Driesen first signed up for a stand-up class at Rise Comedy, she wasn’t chasing a lifelong dream—she was looking for a release. Her mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, and Helen needed a new outlet to process the fear and anxiety that followed.
Comedy felt like a way to reconnect with joy. Fast-forward a few years, and Driesen has her day job as an associate producer with Ray Bloch Productions and her nighttime gig as a rising voice in Denver’s stand-up scene, performing regularly, building community, and bringing her razor-sharp perspective to stages across the country, including the LGBTLOL Queer Comedy Festival in New Orleans, which starts on May 29.
In this week’s 5 Questions, Driesen shares how she crafts her sets (often while driving), why she avoids shock-for-shock’s-sake comedy, and what it’s like to bomb so hard you end up sobbing in an alley behind Comedy Works. From opening for her comedy hero Beth Stelling to earning spots at major festivals, she’s learned to embrace the grind, trust her voice and keep chasing the moments that make it all worth it.
When did you know you wanted to do stand-up comedy, who are your comic inspirations and how is your journey going?
I’d always wanted to try it, but I didn’t make a move until my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I desperately needed a new creative outlet, so I signed up for a standup class at Rise Comedy.
My incredible mother has been in remission for over three years now, and I’m still doing it. I didn’t go into my first class thinking that this would become such a massive part of my life; I wasn’t even sure I’d want to do it once my class ended, but here we are!
My big [inspirations] are Beth Stelling, John Mulaney and Pete Holmes. They’re all incredible at weaving punch after punch into their stories and tackling very real topics that are important and sometimes very touchy.
I also feel really lucky to be a part of the Denver comedy scene because we have an insane talent pool here and I’m inspired by so many of the people I work with at every level. There are way too many to name. It’s one thing to see comedians I admire on a screen and another to be on shows with them, learn from them and talk to them. It makes it real and definitely keeps me motivated.
My journey is going very well. I love performing, I’ve made great friends, and I’ve gotten to work with some of my heroes.
What is your writing and rehearsal process like, and how do you prepare for a performance?
I think those are two separate questions. My writing process is not much of a process. I have a massive note in my phone with weird little tidbits that sometimes don’t make sense when I read them even a day later. I pull ideas from that and try to flesh them out in a notebook when I feel like writing. I also write onstage a little bit, meaning that something comes to me in the moment as a new tag for an old joke.
I practice new material out loud when I’m driving (oops) and I don’t go to as many open mics as I should (also oops). Approximately two hours before a show, I get nervous and question why I do this. It passes quickly.
Once I’m at the venue, I’ll pee three to five times and write out a setlist. I don’t always stick to it, but I usually open and close how I planned to at the very least.
Stand-ups are often controversial and raunchy. Does that style of comedy appeal to you? What do you feel leads to an entertaining set?
I find being super controversial or raunchy without a purpose to be incredibly lazy and unappealing. I really don’t know why there’s been this rise in “edgy” comedy but it seems to mostly appeal to angry young men. Correlation doesn’t imply causation, of course, but just some food for thought.
It’s easy to get up onstage and say things you know will be shocking or offensive. It’s a lot harder to write jokes that tackle the more taboo topics while actually making people think, see things from another perspective, and laugh at themselves/the world.
My set is not clean by any stretch of the imagination. I have jokes about abortion, school shootings and scissoring, to name a few, but the reason that I talk about those things is that I actually have something to say about the world around me as it relates to those topics. Even with more conservative audiences, I’ve never had someone come up to me after a set to tell me that something I said onstage offended them and I’d like to think that that’s because they were able to see things through my eyes for a few minutes.
I know there are plenty of comics out there who write their jokes with the intention of getting those kinds of negative reactions. I hope they’re having such a blast. That’s definitely not what I do it for.
Stand-up seems very challenging. What’s it like to be in front of an audience when you’re connecting with them and when you’re not connecting with them?
It’s literally drugs*. I got that description from one of my favorite podcasts, “Working it Out” with Mike Birbiglia, and it’s really true. When you’re crushing, especially in crowded rooms with low ceilings (specific, I know, but trust me), it’s a high.
You can feel the laughter in your bones. Being connected to my audience also puts me at ease, and I’ve found that the more relaxed I am onstage, the more I’m able to think on my feet, respond if something weird happens or I get heckled, and just give a better performance overall.
Bombing is tough but necessary. I’ve learned over the years that there could be about a million reasons why an audience isn’t on my side, but it’s always my job to fix it. It can definitely be anxiety-inducing in the moment, and those audiences force me to go the extra mile to stay present in that room, find ways to shake things up and not just go on autopilot.
Those are the nights that really make you grow as a comedian and figure out what to do differently next time. Those are also the nights that scare you for life and I’m not ashamed to admit that I once sobbed in the alley behind Comedy Works. It’s just part of the deal.
*Please note that I perform dead sober 99.9% of the time.
What are your ultimate goals in comedy? And where can people catch your upcoming shows?
I’m not a big goal-setting girlie, but when asked, I always say that my general goal in life is to not have a day job at some point. Ideally, sooner than later.
I love performing—I’m also an actor and a singer/songwriter—and I’ve spent the last few years just chipping away at all of my artistic pursuits, focusing on what feels best at any given time and seeing what happens. That approach has already gotten me opportunities that I never could’ve imagined I’d be given at this point in my career(s) and I’m really excited to see what’s next.
I’ve performed on some really amazing festivals like High Plains here in Denver and CloudTop in Santa Fe, and I’ll be going to New Orleans at the end of May for LGBTLOL. I also got to open for my favorite comedian, the aforementioned Beth Stelling, a few months ago and I’m opening for her in Wyoming in a few weeks.
I’m performing in the first round of the annual Comedy Works New Faces contest, so that will have passed by the time this goes out, but if I make it, there will be another round in the late summer/early fall. The easiest way to find my shows is to follow my Instagram, who_the_heck_is_hel, and click the link in my bio.