A chipper, blonde, 21-year-old college girl takes the mic as the audience expects a comedy show: Seems like it’s time for the men to take their bathroom breaks as their girlfriends and wives giggle at the nice sorority girl on stage. For FSU student and standup comedian, Tara Simmons, a crowd like that just doesn’t exist. Starting her love affair with standup just last June, getting each person in the audience to laugh at outrageously atypical jokes to come from a woman’s mouth is a goal Simmons strives to achieve—and she’s a natural. With plans to graduate early and move to Chicago to work on standup at Second city, it’s no surprise that this Tampa native takes laughing very seriously.
HC (HerCampus FSU): I’ve heard of your stand up from multiple students who’ve enjoyed your comedy. Do your classmates ever see the funny side of you? –Or just the studious side (if there is one)?
TS (Tara Simmons): Sometimes. I have had fellow students recognize me in class and tell me they like my comedy. I try not to make too many jokes in class because people sometimes mistake my humor for an attempt to make up for a lack of intelligence. I am not dumb, but in a class discussion, I like to lighten the mood, especially because I am a political science major, so everyone has these ridiculously firm beliefs and arguments get pretty heated … Then I will throw in a random joke which makes people look at me like “WHO IS THIS GIRL THAT IS TRYING TO JOKE ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE?” The funny thing is I do it because people typically can’t make a rebuttal to a ridiculous statement, but no one ever realizes that, so I just look like a fool most of the time. I do try to compensate by adding in actual intelligent conversation. I guess my classmates get to see a little bit of both.
HC: I hear you do a lot of fat girl jokes… It takes major cajones to do that. Have you ever offended anyone in the audience or do you make the big girls laugh at themselves?
TS: At my first standup ever, I told some jokes about fat girls and some heavier-set girls stood up and walked out looking furious. More often though, people ask me … if it “makes me feel better about myself.” No, it doesn’t … they are just funny jokes and I always make them creative, since jokes about weight are typically cheap and easy ways to get laughs. I have fans that are overweight and they still like my jokes. They know it isn’t a personal attack on anyone … it’s just a general statement. It is the type of situation where everyone thinks it [and] I’m just the only person willing to say it onstage into a microphone. I would never get onstage and point to someone and say, “Wow, look how massive this girl is,” or anything like that. I never call out anyone in my audience because I’m always just thankful that they are there. I’m sure people get offended, but if I restricted every joke I had to make sure no one got offended, I would not have any material. People need to learn to laugh at themselves. I know I’m not perfect either and I still make fun of myself, too.
HC: During meals at the Tri Delta house, are you the sister telling all the long funny stories that everyone scooches in to listen to?
TS: Yes, and my sisters were the ones telling me to try standup in the first place—[because of] those stories. People have always told me I need a TV show or a book based on these stories (I have gotten a lot of, “You are just like a girl version of Tucker Max”) because most people are not used to hearing the crazy types of things I say, much less as casually as I say them. I was born without a filter, so to me, there is never something [too] taboo that I would not say in front of a large group. Plus I am really loud, so if people weren’t listening at the beginning of the story, they are always listening by the end. It [takes] a while for people to get used to, though. People don’t usually know what to think of me at first, so it takes a while for them to get used to my humor. Anywhere I go, I always start out as the weird girl who talks about crazy stuff… until people get used to it.
HC: Has your family or the way you were raised had any effect on your humor? Were you always a silly kid?
TS: Yes. My family and the way I was raised is where I get a lot of material. I have 4 siblings … my older brother Patrick is funnier than me and he was the one who got me addicted to watching standup when we were younger and really shaped my humor. My whole family is funny, though (most of them without knowing it) and they definitely end up being the butt of many of my jokes.
People would expect that I came from some crazy family because of how vulgar I can be, but the truth is they are all very conservative and normal. This isn’t a problem though, like my mom is the sweetest, most kindhearted person in the world—the opposite of me—and she just [completely] embraces my vulgar humor. She raised me to always be honest and up front with people, but I think she might sometimes wish she hadn’t raised me to be so honest. My dad is exactly like me in every way: He will make a joke and my friends will all say, “That sounded just like Tara but coming from a Southern guy with a moustache.” I was always a jokester, though.
HC: I see you met Jo Koy (and I’m a bit jealous)… How did that come about? I’m sure he’s an inspiration to your comedy. Who/what else inspires you?
TS: My mom and I spent my spring break in Chicago looking at apartments since I plan on moving there in the fall to work on my comedy more seriously and he happened to be performing at the Chicago Improv. He was so hilarious and did a “meet and greet” after and I got to meet him.
Every comedian I hear is an inspiration to me. I like to download standup on iTunes and listen to it on long drives and … as I’m driving, I will think of jokes and voice record them into my phone (never having anything to do with the current joke I’m listening to. I just get a lot of ideas when I listen to comedy). Before a show, even if I’m just doing a five-minute set, I will listen to standup before I leave my place to get me in the perfect mindset.
To me, the best way to get better at comedy is perform as much as possible, record all your shows, critique it, see what worked, and ask people what they thought of it. The second best way is to watch other comedians. As far as particulars go, my favorite comedian is Nick Swardson and my biggest inspiration is Chelsea Handler. Most people that meet me or see my standup tell me I remind them of her, which is such a huge compliment. Other comedians that I love and [find inspiration in] are Joe Rogan, Kevin Hart, Katt Williams, Dane Cook, T.J. Miller, Daniel Tosh, Jo Koy, and Greg Giraldo. I really do not like most female comedians for no reason other than I just never find them funny, which is a common sentiment among most people. I like to think that I am different because I appeal to both men and women equally. After my shows, I always have at least one guy come up to me and say, “I didn’t expect you to be funny since you’re a woman, but you surprised me.” I should take offense to this, but I don’t, because even though they had low expectations to begin with, I surpassed them. Most people see a little blonde girl get on stage and think I’m some sweet little girl about to make jokes about periods or boy troubles the whole time, but then I open with something universal and shocking and people actually start listening. Women will always listen to a female comic, but if I can just get the guys in the audience to relate to my first joke, then they will listen to my whole set … and realize I’m not just “girl-funny.”
HC: ??I understand you’re competing in a national comedy competition on the 27th… Are there any nerves running through your system?
TS: Nerves are an understatement. Not only will this be the first time I will be competing with my comedy, but [also] it is the first time my family will actually get to see my jokes. The standup is being recorded and put online at http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/college/standup/schools/FSU, where people can vote on their favorite set, and the school with the most votes total for all of their comedians goes onto the next round.
HC: What kind of new material should your fans expect from you in the competition? Or are you stickin’ to your classic goods until you make it to the next round?
TS: The contest is sponsored by TBS, so the jokes have to be very clean and clean humor is a foreign language to me. My material is going to be new for the most part, with a few of my favorite jokes that I can always rely on. I have been practicing and practicing in the mirror with a hairbrush as a microphone trying to lock down my set and make sure I know how to tell these jokes without any inappropriate language. Cleaning up my set has been very hard since a lot of my humor is based on shock value… and since I don’t usually control my vulgar language, it is just the way I talk. This doesn’t mean that my jokes are going to be clean enough to tell the pope, but considering my usual set, they are very conservative. The fat jokes will still be there, though, and it will be my best performance yet.