Delaware State of the Arts Podcast
Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.
Delaware State of the Arts Podcast
S12 E43: Delaware State of the Arts - Representative Madinah Wlson-Anton
What happens when a state representative doubles as a stand-up comedian? Meet Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton, who took the unconventional path from Delaware's 26th District to the halls of the state legislature, with a side gig in the comedy clubs. Initially inspired by her comedian uncle and Saturday Night Live, Madinah's career took a sharp turn during a revealing internship at the Delaware State House, steering her from international relations to domestic politics. Throughout our conversation, Madinah emphasizes the power of humor and relatability in both political and comedy realms, detailing how she uses her comedic chops to connect with people and lighten tense situations.
The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.
Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.
For Delaware State of the Arts. I'm Andy Truscott. My guest today is Representative Medinah Wilson-Anton. Representative Wilson-Anton was elected in 2020 to represent the 26th District, where she grew up. She attended the Charter School of Wilmington and is an alumni of the University of Delaware, where she holds a bachelor's degree in international relations and Asian studies. As a state representative, she continues to fight for social, economic and racial justice for all Delawareans. For what you might not know, she is a burgeoning comic and out there in the world hosting comedy nights all across the East Coast. So, representative, thank you for joining me today and, as we kick off, tell me a little bit about your background and what inspired you to not only run for public office in Delaware but kind of also get up on that other stage that is the comedy club stage.
Representative Wilson-Anton:Awesome. Well, first, thanks for having me on. It's really awesome to be here and, yeah, ok, so when I tell people that I do comedy, most of them know me from the political space and they're like what, why? Um, and some people even are like really, and they're looking at me kind of like side-eyeing, like hmm, but you're so serious, um, because they know me from that political space and so so I guess I grew up in the area that I represent. I also grew up with an uncle who I looked up to and I still do, who was a stand-up comedian.
Representative Wilson-Anton:As a younger person, you know, I loved comedy. I remember taping episodes of SNL and like re-watching things. When I was getting ready to go to college, I like half-jokingly told my mom that I didn't want to go to college and I was going to go to New York City and try out for SNL. And she was like, no, you are not, and I'm glad that I didn't. And so, like you mentioned, I went to UD. I studied international relations, political science, was really interested in getting involved in politics, but at the federal level or the international level was my ideal goal. I wanted to work for United Nations and an NGO and stuff like that. And I got an internship working in our state house when I was an undergraduate student and it really opened my eyes to the impact you can have on your community and state government and that was kind of the beginning of a new path for me. I loved it. I worked there a second year as an intern.
Representative Wilson-Anton:My first full-time job was working as a staff person for the House of Representatives, and the rest was kind of history.
Representative Wilson-Anton:But when I got elected for the first time it was during the pandemic and so a lot of the events that I was being asked to come and speak at were over Zoom and I remember I was on one panel and the question was if you weren't in politics, what would you do?
Representative Wilson-Anton:What would be your dream job? It took me a second to think about it and I was, like you know, a comedian, like I think comedy, and people were like what? And that got me kind of thinking about it again after some years of not really pursuing it. And the other thing was I was doing all these speaking engagements as a politician a newly elected politician and I noticed when I would give speeches and I would make a joke and people would laugh. Their response to the joke was my favorite part of the entire program that I had, you know, and I was like, oh man, like I love making people laugh and I was coming up uh, I just turned 30 last year. So I was like approaching 30 and thinking about different things in my life that I wanted to try out, and I was like you know what?
Andy Truscott:I'm gonna sign up for a comedy class and pay the money for it, so that I have to go and like give it my all and if it doesn't go well, it doesn't go well, but if it does, then at least you know, I know I've tried out this thing I've wanted to do for so long and I got the bug some of the experiences you either had in that class or, as you mentioned, you've had out on the either campaign trail or even just the the trail of public speaking as a as a state representative, kind of what experiences have shaped your views on not only the arts but the arts as they relate to specifically your stand-up comedy or, you know, your your ability to bring people together.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I mean, I've noticed in politics, when I'm trying to persuade someone to join me on an issue, right to hear me out, using comedy is a very effective tool, and you know I've noticed my colleagues do it.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I've noticed moments where it's very tense and you know everybody's like not hearing each other out, and then somebody drops a joke, you know, and suddenly that tension is diffused right, and so there is, I think, space in political discourse for comedy. I also have noticed, as someone who's the first Muslim elected in our state house, like, and you know, I have all these different identities that make me unique, but at the same time I also share a lot of experiences with people that maybe don't see me as someone they can relate to, and one of the things I always go back to was the class I took. The teacher was Chip Chantry, who is a hilarious comedian. He's been doing it for a long time. One of the first things he taught us in our class was that the first rule of comedy is not to be funny. The first rule of comedy is to relate to the audience.
Representative Wilson-Anton:And when he said that it was kind of profound. Right, we're all sitting there like what? But when you realize like you can't be funny if people don't get it right, that was really profound, I think, and it kind of perfectly encapsulates the combo of me being in politics but also me being in comedy. Both those things need you have to be able to relate to people and communicate where you're coming from, hear where they're coming from and meet them somewhere, right, and so what I've been really enjoying with my comedy is talking about issues that people might not think about or might not have experienced themselves, but in a way that they can relate to it and find the humor that I found in it as someone who, like I said, I loved watching comedy from a young age. Like I enjoyed just hanging out with family where my uncle would be telling jokes and you know all of that. But I didn't really understand stand up comedy as an art until I took the class, really understand stand-up comedy as an art until I took the class, and then I started watching specials and things from a different lens where I'm kind of like dissecting it.
Representative Wilson-Anton:One of the really interesting things that Chip shared with us is the whole idea of, like, what kind of a room works, how to get the crowd on your side, what to do when they're not on your side, how to make people comfortable, because a big part of people enjoying stand-up comedy is you have to make them relax enough and trust you to then be vulnerable and laughing, and you've probably experienced this.
Representative Wilson-Anton:A lot of people experience this feeling where you look to the side, to the person next to you, right, like as you're laughing, and you're like we're laughing, right, like this is funny, right, yep, yep, it's next to you, right, like as you're laughing, and you're like we're laughing, right, like this is funny, right, yep, yeah, almost like you're looking for permission, right, and so that was really interesting. He he gave us some different tips about, like, um, you know, a lot of comedy clubs won't seat people on big groups, um, because the bigger the group, the more likely they're going to have their own comedy at the table and then distract from the comedy on stage, just a lot of kind of the like, science to getting people to pay attention to the comic.
Representative Wilson-Anton:The lighting, for example, right like. Since then I've gone to shows sometimes where the lighting is just the same throughout the room and it's really difficult to get people to focus on you as opposed to the funny little quips that their friend at the table is making in response to what you're saying. Right and like. One thing that I have struggled a bit with is I like to tell a lot of jokes that are kind of dark.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I remember I was at one of the early open mics I went to. I was telling some jokes about death and I thought they were really funny and some people were laughing at them. But afterwards a more seasoned comic came over to me and she was like you're really funny. But afterwards a more seasoned comic came over to me and she was like you're really funny, but don't start with death. Like, work, work towards that, right. Like get people on your side where they trust you and they relax a little bit before you start talking about when their grandma dies, you know. And I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense. And now some people are skilled enough where they can immediately dive into stuff like that. But it just it kind of it's interesting and I'm sure you know artists can appreciate when someone's good at something, it makes it look like it's so easy, right. But when you actually start to work on yourself you're like oh yeah, this is much more involved than I thought you know.
Andy Truscott:How frequently have you found yourself testing out material at, say, open mic nights, versus kind of more or less headlining a night where you're not really trying something out but they're providing or coming through on the scripted show? A comedian set is, oftentimes at least, like loosely scripted with the idea that periodically you might shift up your bits or segments as you see where the audience is kind of taking you. Would that be?
Representative Wilson-Anton:yeah, yeah. So one of the first um bits of advice I got from a fellow comedian right before, like one of the first shows I did, was to not do any new material, which sounds, you know, it's kind of obvious to someone who has done performative arts probably. But good comedians make you feel like you're just having a conversation and it's all you know stream of conscious. I just on the way here, you know I stopped at a red light, saw this guy across the street, all this has just happened. You're the first person I'm telling. I stopped at a red light, saw this guy across the street, all this has just happened. You're the first person I'm telling. Right, that kind of feeling. But in reality, like you said, most of the time those jokes you're hearing we've done hundreds of times and each time you're kind of tweaking it to improve it. And so most of the time when I'm on stage at a show, it's material I've done before, unless it's specific to what's happened in that room. And that's something that I think I really enjoy. Using that in the beginning of a show to get people on board is as soon as I get on there I make a joke that is obviously brand new and it's just me and you right.
Representative Wilson-Anton:So I did a show a couple of months ago in Bethlehem, pennsylvania, and so I was on the way there. It was kind of a hike and I'm like thinking about bethlehem what jokes can I make about bethlehem? And I didn't know how they would go. It was a little bit risky, but I started my set with bethlehem jokes, sure, and the comic who introduced me made a comment. He said um, you know she's all the way from Delaware, so you know she took those back country roads just for you guys. So I got on stage and I thanked him and I was like, yeah, he said all. He said I did all that for you guys, but I don't know. You guys like that I took, I took whatever the highway was. I don't even remember it now.
Andy Truscott:I was like I took that highway, the whole way.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I'm not dying for you guys.
Andy Truscott:And they thought that was so funny.
Representative Wilson-Anton:And then I started talking about Bethlehem, right. And so now it's the feeling is she's got this show just for us, right? And then I go into the material. I know that works, works. Sometimes I might switch things up Like I have a joke I do about my. So I have vitiligo, which is a skin condition, and so I have a lot of jokes about that. And that's been an interesting journey, because sometimes people don't like laughing at me because jokes like for most of those the punchline is me and a lot of people like that, and sometimes comedians will use themselves as a punchline in the beginning just to get people's guard down and relax them. But some people do not like that and I've had people come up to me afterwards and say like I don't like that you're making fun of your skin. I think it's so beautiful and I'm like, okay, like I'm not saying it's not, but plenty of other people love that I make fun so it's a difference of, uh, laughing at you versus laughing with you, right?
Representative Wilson-Anton:yeah, yeah and like. So that's something that I've been working on too is like, how do I balance it where it's clear that I'm not, uh, you know, sad, right, like you have to. And I think it was um, who was it? It was either chip or another comedy mentor who said don't make jokes about things that are important to you right away, right, um, like, if you know where, the, where the feelings are still raw, sure, you have to work through that on your own. You can't work through those things on stage, because if it's raw, the audience will tell and they'll they'll pull back, you know, um, and so when I go to open mics, a lot of times that's where I'll hear people doing that, and I'm like, oh, and like you can feel the room start to cringe, right where it's like yikes, I wish you hadn't told me this, man, I just feel bad for you. I don't feel comfortable laughing.
Representative Wilson-Anton:One of the things that I have been, as a new comic, trying to work on is what they call crowd work, which is very popular right now, and, like, some people go to shows just for that, like they're like, I want to see how I want them to. I want the comic to destroy the audience, you know, and like come after people in the audience. Um, I don't do a lot of that, but what I have noticed is some some really good comedians will do that, but they'll use that crowd work moment to get to a punchline that they've already done before, sure, so they might ask anybody in the audience. Married people raise their hand. They're like how long you've been married? Awesome, people clap and they're like you know, I've been married this long and they go right into their their bit about marriage. But then it feels like oh, we're just having a conversation, you know. So trying to kind of employ different tools, um, in my set, uh, something I'm working on comedy.
Andy Truscott:You will not always have a great night. Sometimes you'll have nights you'll have shows where you're just like, wow, nothing landed that one. Tell us a little bit about we know it's it. When it's easy, it's fun. But when it's not easy, tell us a little bit about we know when it's easy it's fun, but when it's not easy. Tell us a little bit about what that feels like.
Representative Wilson-Anton:The fun. I feel the fun most of the time during the show and after, right Before most shows, I'm dreading it. I'm questioning why I was booked right Like driving to Bethlehem. I'm like I don't know why they booked me for this show. These people are going to hate me. They're not going toem. I'm like I don't know why they booked me for this show.
Andy Truscott:These people are gonna hate me. They're not gonna think.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I'm funny. Uh, you know, they're gonna want their money back. They're gonna walk out during my set. It's very easy to get into that like pattern of thought where it's like what they call the imposter syndrome, right, where it's like I've tricked people into thinking I'm funny and the gig is up now. Um, they're finally gonna figure out that I've tricked people into thinking I'm funny and the gig is up now. They're finally going to figure out that I've just been like faking it this whole time, and that's something that I've experienced in in politics too.
Representative Wilson-Anton:Right, I was elected at 26. So a lot of my colleagues were significantly older, had more life experience and a lot of like the the arguments that were made about why they, why I, should not be supported the first time around. Was that right? Like she's young, what does she know about anything? Why would anybody listen to her? Um, and so that's a very familiar feeling for me.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I would say I definitely get stage fright still before most shows when you mess up. Right, you know you've messed up, but with comedy it's not like I'm singing a song everyone recognizes. You know, I might mess up a punchline and the audience has no idea because they don't know what the joke was meant to be, or, you know, I might make a comment that I thought they'd laugh at. They don't laugh at it, but they didn't realize I wanted them to. So going back and watching is helpful.
Representative Wilson-Anton:If you're watching the show, so say, I'm like second in the lineup and there's like four people performing, if I'm watching from the audience it's really hard to gauge if they're laughing more or less, because I'm sitting with the audience, so I'm feeling all the laughter being directed in that direction. And then I get on stage and it feels completely different, um, and so I do enjoy when I get to listen from backstage, because then I can kind of have a better sense of okay, yeah, they, they laugh significantly less when I was on stage, um, I have a lot of work to do, or okay, no, it was about the same. So the other thing is like trying to put my performance in perspective. So like if I'm the opener um, where people are still kind of getting warmed up, they're not as relaxed yet as opposed to if I was the feature. So like not the headliner, but right before the headliner yeah, trying to put those things in perspective too.
Representative Wilson-Anton:So some of my best sets have been where I was later in the lineup, so kind of remembering like, yeah, okay, you people laughed really hard, but they also were like ready to laugh, which is also something to keep in mind. Like there are shows what I've done where it's like we're having a comedy show at this sports bar and everybody's here to watch the phillies, not to laugh at your jokes.
Andy Truscott:The response you get from people is going to be different than where everyone is paid to to come out and laugh as you think back to school or just you know the years that you have admired your uncle, who was also a comedian, how did arts and or arts education kind of play into your interest in stand-up comedy, or was that really unique to just the relationship that you had within your family?
Representative Wilson-Anton:the fact that my uncle was a comedian opened my mind at a young age to comedy as a career. Yeah, um, but I also feel like we were. So I'm I'm 30 now um, I feel like our generation was often encouraged not to go into the arts. Um, because of, like the whole fight, like you have to make sure you have a job and you don't want to study art when you go to college because you have debt, no job and like all of those fears, and so I know a lot of people who pursued something else as a backup, right, and then they're like okay, now I want to pursue this art that I really am passionate about and that way, if it doesn't work out, I'm not talented enough to make it my full-time job. I have something I can fall back to.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I had art classes throughout my schooling, but I didn't have any that were focused on performance. Art, right, it was mostly painting and different crafts and things like that. Art, right, it was mostly painting and different crafts and things like that. When I was in high school, I joined the improv team. I wasn't able to continue with it because I there was no like transportation, okay for that, because it was after school so it was like you had to figure out how to get back home. Probably would have started at comedy much earlier, had that been a more feasible thing for me as a student in high school. I know there were groups in college that would do like improv troupes and like different shows and things like that. It's something we should be investing more in. You can see the change in students Like. I've seen young kids that will go from being like super shy and then they're part of like some kind of art program where they're performing in front of people and suddenly it's not terrifying for them anymore. Right, I think there's a lot of value in that. The skills are very transferable to basically any industry, some kind of appreciation for our benefits, all of us as a society.
Representative Wilson-Anton:I'm part of the Arts and Culture Caucus. I'm like. However, I can be supportive of arts in Delaware. You know I hope to be. It's been. It'll be two years in July that I've been doing stand-up comedy and I'm now co-hosting a show with a comedy mentor of mine in Wilmington. The Comedy Corner at Bootless Stage works. We have shows there this summer. We'll be kind of on a hiatus until August, but almost every month there's a show for the community, just because there's also like the sense of something for us to do in the community where you can go out and have a good time and it's safe and it's fun. You know I'm a clean comic so my performances are also family friendly, but having spaces like that are really important for community building and so yeah, I mean I think the arts should be a really big part of our community here in Delaware, but I think we have a lot of space to grow.
Andy Truscott:Tell us a little bit about some of the events you've got coming up and where listeners can see you.
Representative Wilson-Anton:Yeah, so Bootless Stateworks is a theater, performance arts theater in the Lutheran Church on North Broom Street. So it's 1301 North Broom Street in Wilmington and, like I said, those shows the Comedy Corner shows are almost every month. Our next show is going to be August 24th and you can find tickets for that once we start selling tickets That'll be on Eventbrite. You can follow DH Entertainment I have a link tree where so my hyperlink from my link tree is Medinah Comedy and so all my upcoming shows are on there. June 17th I'll be competing in Philly's Funniest, which is a comedy competition at Helium Comedy Club, and there's some other Delaware comics that will be on that show as well, and then it's like a summer-long competition. So if I get through that round there'll be other shows um at Helium, and I'm really excited about that. I keep my link tree updated, so follow me kind of to keep up with upcoming shows, but there's a lot of comedy, great comedy here in Delaware.
