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Artist Spotlight: Comedienne Lauren Flans

Lets face it - for a long time the fate of sketch comedy wasn’t looking good. Lost Moon champions something called “Event-Style Theater.” The fact that Lost Moon is headed by an entirely female production team and is, well, completely full of gays (both male and female) is just gravy. Recently, I was able to sit down with one of the stars of the show, an awesome and out lesbian comedian named Lauren Flans, to learn a little bit more about her and the show.

I don’t know about your experiences, but it is tough getting people to come to theater in LA. Almost all of the actors, writers and producers I know believe theater here is essentially dead. And in some ways they have good reason to think this way - the premier productions in the city are at the Ahmanson and associated theaters, and they are almost solely shows that were written, developed, and made for New York or British audiences. The tickets are expensive, and the shows are, in my opinion, pretty boring. They are safe shows- they have already succeeded in other major metropolitan areas, and honestly to become such a large traveling show they are probably not exactly breaking new ground theatrically. Frankly about half the shows feel like modern re-writes of Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Small scale productions, like those on theater row, tend to be filled with iffy productions of iffy plays that are usually showcases that aspiring TV and film actors do in order to attract managers and agents.

Perhaps the only thing that is harder than getting people to come to theater in LA is getting them to come to a sketch comedy show. While many people in the city often frequent improv comedy shows, I don’t know a single person out here that frequents sketch shows that isn’t a comedian or hasn’t specifically taken classes at UCB, IO, and Groundlings. Lets face it - for a long time the fate of sketch comedy wasn’t looking good. SNL is still on - but you really don’t see all the shows put together by up-and-coming artists that you saw in the ‘90s and early 2000s (think Madtv, In Living Color, or even the children’s show All That). The shows that have some version of sketch are not exactly sketch shows per se but are fake news shows (a la the Daily Show or Colbert Report) or used as late night TV talk show bits. Thankfully, there has been an online resurgence through many of the SNL digital shorts and other videos, but again I’m not sure that many people would say that the fate of live sketch looks particularly good going into the future.

However Lost Moon Radio, a live show that is performed five or six times a year at various locations, may be the unlikely candidate that is starting to help save these mediums in Los Angeles. Believe it or not, this show, while merging sketch, live music, and theater, is starting to make these performances types feel current. By having a narrator/deejay with his own story and a theme for each episode, the sketches feel grounded in a way that you don’t ordinarily get. And since they are written with Los Angeles in mind, there is often specific reference to the city and the time at which the show is being performed.

Ruby Rose

Lost Moon champions something called “Event-Style Theater.” Essentially, this means that they often have acts opening or following the show. Suddenly, you have a great show to go to, musical performances that often include live karaoke (you sing and a band plays - it’s amazing and you get to feel like a rock star for three minutes), and occasionally performance pieces (at their last show where the theme was “religion,” there was a fake confessional where a “priest” handed out free Jello shots), all for a ticket price of under 15 dollars. They also keep the show short and tightly executed (for audience members with ADD, the show currently runs at a very merciful one hour and five minutes). And the critics are loving it - Lost Moon has gotten a series of incredible reviews for their often sold-out shows. And, perhaps most importantly, theater is now in serious competition with movies, something that I don’t think anyone in LA would have expected.

The fact that Lost Moon is headed by an entirely female production team and is, well, completely full of gays (both male and female) is just gravy.

Ruby Rose

Recently, I was able to sit down with one of the stars of the show, an awesome and out comedian named Lauren Flans, to learn a little bit more about her and the show.

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I have to disclose though, before getting down to the interview, that I have a personal connection with Lost Moon. In fact, I have stage managed their last two shows. However, I just want to get something out there before you guys think I’m just writing crap –– I have stage managed a lot of bad shows. It’s unfortunate, but it’s really easy to do theater poorly. And I really have no problem saying that many of the shows that I’ve worked on are horrible - hell I just run lights and sound. It’s not like a wrote the thing. But this show really is different. And, since I don’t have any material in it, I feel perfectly confident talking about it and feel like I would be doing LA audiences a disservice if I didn’t talk about it.

Whew. Okay. So a little more about Lauren -

Lauren is a seasoned improv and sketch comedy performer, super hilarious, and very adorable. Along with a few other members of Lost Moon Radio, Lauren also performs in the groupsTitled Sketch Project (an online site with more traditional sketch videos- there’s a hilarious one where she plays Ellen DeGeneres) and Story Pirates (a fabulous group that performs stories written by children in Los Angeles).

Ruby Rose

Lauren on Lost Moon Radio:

The way that I describe it to people is that it’s a staged reading of a fake radio show with a Wolf-man Jack kind of deejay and he plays songs and sketches and we perform the songs and sketches that he plays… But I’m an extremely literal person. Ryan (another member of the group) would say it’s dry sketch comedy and wet rock and roll. It’s probably somewhere in between.

It’s f**king awesome.

Lauren on the Gayness of Lost Moon Radio:

We’re 20% gay. I’m not that good at math but I’m pretty sure that’s double the average in the world.

Lauren on Sketch in America and Abroad (Specifically Amsterdam):

The comedy scene is different from Amsterdam in that… Well there are way less Dutch people here. When you do an improv show in America and it’s passed the year 2005, very few people yell out Monica Lewinsky as a suggestion. But in Amsterdam, that suggestion is alive and well. Monica Lewinsky, closely followed by Michael Jackson.

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Lauren on Her Show For Comedy Central, Netherlands:

The way I got the job actually is well… Gay pride in Amsterdam is insane. It’s insane anywhere and Amsterdam is insane so, you know. Gay pride was like three weeks after I got there, so the first time around I didn’t really do anything. But when it rolled around next year, I got my buddy, who was our video director at the time for Boom Chicago (the improv group Lauren performed for in Amsterdam), to just follow me around during Pride while I asked people questions. We cut together these two videos and we would show them during the stage shows at Boom Chicago. Eventually Comedy Central picked them up for a segment called “Flans on the Street.”

Ruby Rose

Boom Chicago

Lauren on Lesbians in Comedy:

There are tons of lesbian who do comedy… Um Ellen Degeneres is one.

Well also I know an awesome comic - she’s in Chicago, but she’s going to New York or LA. Cameron Esposito, she’s a stand-up… she’s awesome, she’s doing really well. She has a comedy CD called Grab Them Aghast.

Lauren on Mugshot, a Lesbian Night in LA that I Once Dragged Her To:

It was fun! It was cool. I liked the décor. I liked that they had Mugshots up.

Lauren on the Type of Girl She is Interested In - Take #1:

(FYI Lauren is single)

Um… Look! A dog crossing the street! In a pink sweater!

Lauren on the Type Of Girl She Is Interested In – Take #2:

I would love someone who doesn’t do what I do, but has a really good sense of humor and an appreciation for it.

Lauren on the Type of Girl She Is Interested In - Take #3:

I want them to be like that super hot chick on Glee. The one who’s a lesbian now… Naya Rivera… Just kidding.

Lauren on Glee:

Guys, there’s no lesbians on Glee. We want them to be gay but they’re not.

I’m sure I could flip them.