#elizaskinner

Los Angeles! This Saturday’s Set List is killer! Improvised stand-up in the moment from Todd Glass, Cathy Ladman, Baron Vaughn, Zach Sherwin, Eliza Skinner and Special Guest!

  Everyone on WitStream is a precious, unique snowflake we think you should worship, or at least follow. Every Friday, we recommend one in particular. Please meet Eliza Skinner:

1. What was your first exposure to Twitter?

I was temping in a shitty windowless office on Wall Street, and I needed something to keep me from going crazy. A few friends kept telling me to try twitter, and I was finally bored enough to give it a shot. Twitter was a pretty barren wasteland back then, in the 70s.

2. When did you really get into using the site?

This is somewhat embarrassing now, but I started a twitter account for my cat. This was before that was a thing - so it wasn't a horrible overdone cliche at the time. Anyway, I had this great cat who was also kind of an asshole & I wondered what he did while I was temping all day. It turned out "he" was actually funny and his account got a lot of followers pretty quickly. It was a lot more fun than filing or whatever I was supposed to be doing at work, and I kind of lost my mind with it a little - I'd tweet back and forth with my own account. He stopped twittering when he, well, died. It was weird to hear from strangers who said they'd "miss him" after he died, it actually helped me a lot. And he still has a few hundred fans who never unfollowed him - @bentleycat. 

3. What has been your proudest Twitter moment?

I once wrote a tweet as I boarded a plane - something about how much I hate Glee, NO BIG WHOOP. When the plane landed and I turned on my phone, I had over 150 retweets and I only had like a thousand followers at the time. It's still one of my post popular tweets. That was craaaaaazy to me - it was my first big bump, and it made me feel like a millionaire.

4. What's the dumbest thing you've ever tweeted?

You know what they say: beer before liquor, never sicker. Liquor before pain killers and muscle relaxers, teepee town barbecue sound!

5. What advice would you give to aspiring comedians or writers?

Be friends with other comedians. Like them and laugh at them, and when they say something funny say "That's a joke - write it down." And when they say it to you, high five them and write it down. Don't be afraid of "reusing" something - your tweets can become jokes, which can become essays, which can become books or scripts. It's ok to keep chewing up the same ideas. Celebrate small victories so you feel like a winner, because then you'll win, because winners win. Keep going - there are no huge leaps, just lots of little tiny steps. 

6. Name one person you would love to have read your tweets that currently isn't (that you know of).