Dr. Lisa Gives a Sh*t

Kambri Crews [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambri_Crews]is an extraordinary woman. Not only in her notable achievements (NYT bestselling author [https://www.randomhousebooks.com/books/33484/], QED comedy club [https://qedastoria.com/] founder/owner, just to name a few), but also how her hard-to-imagine childhood as the only child of 2 deaf parents, growing up between a shack and a trailer in rural Texas, having a father in jail because of violence against his girlfriend that she witnessed.  As a performer, club owner, publicist, writer, producer, Kambri has a full pedigree in the comedy world, as well as being married to comedian Christian FInnegan [https://christianfinnegan.net/], Comedy Central, James Corden”, “Good Morning America” and “The Today Show”. (And even Dr. Lisa!—episode 291 [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/RADIO7008331938.mp3?updated=1648575719] + episode 314 [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/RADIO7911643237.mp3?updated=1669313353]. It's a joy to have Kambri on Dr. Lisa at this particular moment in time. She's concluding an 11 year stint of owning/creating a beloved (voted #1 venue in NYC by TimeOut New York readers 2022) comedy venue and is turning the reins to a hand-picked, new owner, comedian and friend, Hannah Lieberman [https://www.instagram.com/hannahlcomedy/], who is eager to embrace her new mantle as owner of QED. Kambri will still be involved though, she's not going anywhere! It seems like this is perhaps, the first time in her life, Kambri feels she has finally accomplished enough that she can take her time deciding on where to put her focus next. In the meantime there's always ice skating and watercoloring to do...

I've known Jane Mogel since we were freshman in college—50 years!!! And her smart, funny, charming husband, Peter Pitts for almost as long. I went to their wedding in the mid 80's. Jane has a successful business as an interior designer [https://janemogelinteriordesign.com/] and Peter has a global trotting business as the co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. [https://cmpi.org/about-us/founders/peter-pitts/]His research, reporting and public appearances range from the New York Times to The Daily Show with John Stewart. Though I don't usually have close friends on, (I'm trying to be a real shrink, remember?!!), I make an exception here so Jane and I can exchange some college stories and we can talk about Jane and Peter's parenting adventures with their two boys, Jeremy and Ben, now both in their mid-thirties and doing well. Jane would invite me to stay with her family in New York City in the later 70's and her parents were a big influence on me. They were very sophisticated for a young person like me and they opened my mind to a lot of new things. Her father, Len Mogel was the publisher of the National Lampoon in it's heyday, so some fun stories from that time too. I moved to the East Village right after college and Jane had her own place in the city by then, so we had a lot of fun running around NYC in those years too!

Originally from Morocco, Layla is a lovely young lady who recently moved to Bushwick from Park Slope a few months ago to find and nurture her creative side which she is pursuing seriously. We talk about the how's and why's she moved to NYC to Morocco, mostly through her career in finance. She is thinking of playing in a black metal band eventually and as a trans woman, finding photographers and fashion designers to collaborate with and explore different sides of her identity in including androgyny. Personally I loved hearing Layla describe her hometown in Morocco surrounded by the beach.

Nick Viagas is very talented comedian. You can hear me say in the beginning of this session that he is handsome, which he is. He also stutters a bit. That combo of funny, attractive and vulnerability (a stutterer!) makes him appealing to the ladies. It seems he doesn't have to try too hard to get their attention and truthfully, they mostly take the initiative with Nick. Nick enjoys this of course! but he has reservations. Is he spending time (euphemism, you know what I mean) with them because it's what he wants or is it more that he's just not turning it down? Nick talks about his childhood and his family (challenging) and where he is now. He is extremely forthcoming and if I wanted to I could make this summary into lascivious clickbait but I have too much integrity for that! Damnit! Anyway, Nick is very articulate and self-aware with a great heart. You can learn a lot about how men see women from this session and maybe even a sexual health session. I know I did! See Nick perform! Feb. 15, 7pm https://www.secondcity.com/shows/new-york/struggle-bus-nyc Follow Nick @nickviagas

Yoshi Sakai is a super talented artist who is showing at my gallery, @Dog_House_Gallery for funny artists at The Brooklyn Comedy Collective. She was here all week and we sort of worked together since I have to manage working with the BCC inside of their busy space. So it was super cool to have gotten to know her and her work process before she came on the show. Yoshie is the first artist in her family and also (first) second generation. Yoshie trained as a professur in great and Latin, but at 30 took a turn and discovered art. Yoshie is very self-effacing, but in my fake-shrink opinion—I think shes self-effacing mostly because she cant quite grasp how successful she is at something so unusual and personal. I also think her humility is part of the secret sauce which makes her work so good. See Yoshie's work and more HERE [https://www.yoshiesakai.com/] Follow Yoshie on Instagram: @yoshie_sakai_studio Yoshie's Artist Statement: I create characters that respond and negotiate contemporary social issues of cultural identity, gender roles, and familial and personal relationships. As a subtly transgressive undercover cultural agent, I expose the absurdities of manipulative social structure while humorously struggling and reveling in those structures as a participant. By staging my videos within intimate installations that become psychological and imaginative playhouses, I give form to our vulnerability and evoking, sometimes, nervous laughter. My sculptures are created from found objects and composed into imaginary characters and interior sceneries grounded in both tangible and fantastical domesticity. I use tropes including East Asian soap operas, Hollywood musicals, and the wellness industry to expose the anxieties of aspiration, model minority myths, and filial piety through the lens of the longstanding, yet under-represented Japanese American community in South Los Angeles. My ongoing project has been an East Asian/Asian American hybrid soap opera video installation series called “KOKO’s Love,” where I challenge the “model minority” myth to reveal the guise of superficial “perfection” of being a 1.5 generation Japanese American woman—the “.5” feeling of not belonging to either the first generation or the second. Loosely autobiographical, I felt it was important to write, produce, direct, and play every character as a performative process. My work is about accessibility while nurturing human connection. I plan to focus on grandparents and the challenges within a family structure of varying generations in order to encompass a wider audience beyond “KOKO’s Love.” My work can function as a a critique of capitalism’s production of space and ways of being, while also drawing on popular forms of entertainment and media to engage diverse audiences, especially those historically devalued, ignored, and seen as burdens. People often ask, “Why are you so happy all of the time?” and my response is “It’s better than crying.” Ultimately, in my work I would like to continue the exploration of humor as a complicated intersection where hope, happiness, anxiety, and darkness reside much like our society, a tension-filled existence of both criticality and complacency.