Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeannie Rapstad.
Jeannie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In the late 1970s, I performed stand-up comedy in the Los Angeles market. I worked the open mike nights at all of the major clubs: The Comedy Store, The Improvisation, The Laff Stop, The Hollywood Canteen, etc. Over time I began getting gigs, including a half hour show on Tuesday nights at a vegetarian restaurant called: The Natural Fudge Company. I began adding characters to my show. Over time, the character sketches became my show, “Comic Sketches.” I still perform two characters from those early days: Gladys Stumpf and Sacajawea. Both of those character sketches won humorous speech awards and became audience favorites. Two other audience favorites are Dinah, from Dinah and Shelby’s Love Story and Seventies Suzanne. I have won many speech competitions. People began asking me to coach them for speech competitions. My private speech coaching is the second pillar of my business, Jeannie Rapstad Presents Comic Sketches. In the spring of 2018, I will launch my humor workshop for business speakers as the third pillar of my business,
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Making a living as an entertainer has its challenges. In order to make enough to live on and plan life as an adult, it was necessary for me to work full-time as a patent paralegal while developing my part-time speaking business. Since my retirement at the end of 2013, I have been able to spend a great deal more time on developing the content of my show, Comic Sketches as well as marketing it. I have performed my show in seven states: Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wyoming, California, and Florida. My target market is upscale senior residence communities, but I also perform my show for social and service organizations, as well as private parties and business clients. I am currently devoting a great deal of my time to writing my humor workshop for business speakers. I am a Grad Student at Purdue University Northwest. My humor workshop is my Graduate Project. I will receive my Master’s Degree in Communication and Creative Arts in May of 2018.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Jeannie Rapstad Presents Comic Sketches – what should we know?
Jeannie Rapstad Presents Comic Sketches is currently a two-pillared business. The first pillar is my hilarious one-of-a-kind entertainment program for hire called Comic Sketches. Comic Sketches is a compilation of funny situations taken from my own life, as well as humorous character sketches and bits I created over the years as a stand-up comic. I am in demand as an after luncheon/dinner speaker. I am proud of my show. It is good clean fun – no politics, no religious jokes, no people bashing. I specialize in writing clever jokes about the foibles of the human condition. I love making people laugh. My audiences tell much how they enjoyed my show, and the funny characters. The second pillar of my business is my one-on-one speaker’s coaching business. My clients are very grateful for my comments and insights that have helped them improve their presentation skills. The proof is that they have gone on to win their rounds in speech competitions.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
If I were to identify one quality or characteristic of my success, I would have to say that I am willing to put in the work necessary to succeed. It takes concerted effort on a daily basis to succeed in any endeavor. I still have many goals. I work on achieving all of my hopes and dreams every single day. I don’t believe that somehow I will miraculously ascend to the top of my profession by just hoping for the best. I know that it will take discipline and energetic commitment to succeed. I am willing to put in the necessary work.
Contact Info:
- Address: Hammond, Indiana (Greater Chicago Area)
- Website: https://www.jeannierapstad.com/
- Phone: (219) 937-1392
- Email: jeannierapstad@jeannierapstad.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComedianJeannieRapstad?ref=hl
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jrapstad
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jeannie+rapstad
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