My Opening Line

Actress, writer, and comedian Gaby Dunn discusses her first times in the spotlight. Yes, she has a massive following and videos with millions of views, but first, there was MTV audition-crying. Enjoy!

While selling the radio station records he was supposed to be playing, Dan Soder painfully learned how to write jokes, saw how alcoholism affected networking, and discovered the politics of picking an opener.

25-year stand-up veteran Ted Alexandro talks about breaking out from a stand-up duo and going solo to begin his illustrious career as well as sharing his first joke on stage ever, his performance that led to being cast as a rape survivor on HBO’s Oz, and his Conan debut.

Legend Gilbert Gottfried covers his first times in comedy while sharing his need for attention and being raised by television. The gang covers Gilbert’s early impressions, his breaks on TV, and the time Jerry Seinfeld sucked off Boris Karloff. This god of laughter is hilarious and personal as he chronologically covers his rise to stardom.

Comedian Alia Janine not only talks about her first time performing stand-up, which happened to be with Andrew Dice Clay, but she talks about other firsts as well, including her first dance as a stripper, her first time masturbating on camera, and her first porn scene with another person. Frank, honest, and as raw as it gets, Alia shares her various beginnings and behind-the-scenes secrets.

Kevin Allison, from MTV’s The State and host of the Risk! podcast, shares his monumental firsts on stage. From his first time performing with members of The State (with no clothes on), to his first catastrophic character work following the show's cancelation, and finally to his first story-telling experience which helped him decide his new career path, Kevin covers all the milestones in this highly personal interview.

Fletcher Christian Finnegan, Comedy Central staple and veteran stand-up comedian, talks about his performing debut at NYC's alternative art house Surf Reality, the same place where Keith and Chemda first met. Christian shares with us his thoughts on comedy and intellectualism, how he got his creative juices flowing, and the seemingly obvious mistake open mic'ers are making.

Myq Kaplan has had many successes in comedy from competitions like Last Comic Standing, @midnight, and America's Got Talent to his late-night sets and live comedy tours around the world. Listen to this episode about his start in comedy, and why failing might be the way to the top.

Wunderkind Ruby Karp, who was featured in a video on feminism with Amy Poehler at age 7, performed a TED Talk at age 12, and wrote a book at age 16, shares with us the first time she performed solo comedy on stage. She can do it all, including being a basketball if she wants to.