Vox Celeste

It’s hard to imagine that Comedy Central Roast Master, Eli Sairs, known for his no-holds-barred, kick ‘em in the nuts, nothing is sacred (he roasted an opponent’s wife’s miscarriages) would be the son of an Alabaman Mennonite pastor but here we are.  Even though he grew up poor Sairs claims he never felt deprived. Eli explains how being the scrawny white kid in a predominately poor, Black neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama, molded him into the roast master he is today.  Eli also gets candid about his struggles with OCD and how he finally found the courage to seek help.

Nataly Aukur (@natyourcolor),  was a Lebanese Christian living her best teen life in Beirut, until  2006 when war broke out between Hezbollah and Israel forcing Nataly and her family to make a harrowing escape out of Lebanon.  She remained a refugee for a year and when the dust settled, both literally and figuratively Nataly returned home but eventually found her way back to the States.  Nataly talks about how living in New York City has done more to shape her Arab identity than growing up in Beirut ever did.

Bronx born and bred, comedian, writer, author and dentist- Dr. Jeffrey Gurian (Comedy Matters TV) kibitzes with Vox Celeste-  about his childhood in the Bronx; the anti-Semitism he faced in dentistry school; his leap into comedy and “stalking” Woody Allen.  While Gurian has written for comedy icons such as Milton Berle, Joan Rivers and Rodney Dangerfield and is adored on the red carpet by today’s biggest comedy stars it is his coif that sets him above the rest. 

Music: Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx 

Orphaned by age eight, Domo Jones life reads like a Langston Hughes poem,  it ain’t been no crystal stair.  Domo Jones (@townofjones) joins Vox Celeste to discuss growing up in (pre-gentrified) Brooklyn, in the height of the AIDS crisis; her family’s  hilarious response to her coming out and how she gets up every morning in spite of all the tragedy life has thrown her way.

Music: Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx

Recorded at Comic Strip Studios

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alia Janine’s (Hardcore Comedy;  aliajanine.com) childhood could be best described as Sons of Anarchy meets Goodfellas: Bikers. Mobsters. Drugs.   Alia joins Vox Celeste to discuss her tumultuous childhood; life as a stripper (when twerking was called “booty-popping”); her career as an adult film star and her crossover into comedy. If you think it’s harder to have sex on cue in front of a camera than it is to do a five minute set on stage­­– umm think again.

This week Angela Cobb (My First Time: A Stand-Up & Storytelling Show)  joins Vox Celeste to discuss growing up with an alcoholic father, her “parallel” addictive behavior and conquering her own personal mental health demons.

Music:  Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx

Recorded: Comic Strip Live Studios

Fatherless by choice comics Mike Hernandez (We’re Going to Hell, podcast) Jon Gardiner (Afterhours Comedy) join Vox Celeste to discuss why they do not want to have children.  They share their pullout game techniques and bond over their favorite strippers.

Recorded at Comic Strip Live Studios

Music: Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx

In the second episode of our series on comedians caring for their parents­– scholar, comic, author, and always a lady Dr. Leighann Lord (People With Parents, podcast; Dict Jokes; Real Women Do it Standing Up) joins Vox Celeste to discuss living with her octogenarian parents, who each have a host of age-related cognitive and physical ailments that require around-the-clock care.  Leighann discusses how Alzheimer's has robbed her once very close relationship with her mother and even though her mother is alive- she misses her.  

Music: Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx

Recorded at Comic Strip Live Studios

In the first of this two-part series about comedians as caretakers for their elderly parents, self-proclaimed optimistic-cynic, uber-Texan, Jason Salmon, (Force of Nurture), joins Vox Celeste to discuss life with his father who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, six years ago .  Jason sees this as a blessing. (Crazy, right? Trust me, you’ll come around).  His outlook is both heartwarming and hopeful.  Also, find out why the Cowboys will never lose a Super Bowl in the Salmon house.

Music: Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx

Recorded at Comic Strip Live Studios

We’re back with comedy inferno and my sister from another mister, Yamaneika Saunders.  We talk about scabies; why she cursed out one of the judges during her audition for the prestigious Los Angeles High School of the Arts;  her foray into comedy at the age of sixteen; and of course her distain for shrimp poop.  

 If you haven’t died from laughter from by the end of this episode, you were never  really alive.

Music: Phantom Boyz and Arkitexx

Recorded at The Comic Strip Live Studios