Growing up, Sara Rooker says she had funny parents, and was alway into comedy and telling stories. As she got older, she had a friend, Aurora Singh, who began doing open mic nights and Sara became interested in doing it as well. Especially after going through a particularly rough breakup.
Comedy is how Sara works through hard times in her life and she found real joy in sharing her stories and making people laugh. Her comedy is based on her real life experiences. She often talks about her experience as a member of the LGBTQA+ community as well as other experiences she encounters. Sara loves being able to represent both women and the LGBTQA+ community on the local comedy scene.
““I think my initial desire to try comedy stemmed from the fact I was in a really sad place personally and the best way to cope with a lot of things was laughing at myself and the circumstances. It was extremely nerve wrecking and scary but you are so raw and clueless that you just keep trying and eventually it starts to go fine,” she told Our Town Reno. “Fine turns into fairly decent and decent turns into good. Not all the time, there are some people up at open mics who are not good, years later. I will say, the comedians in the scene immediately took me in and were pretty great to me. Stand up provides such a great community of friendships. I was instantly hooked on all of it and haven't looked back since,” Sara said.
Sara performs a variety of shows at a variety of venues. Before COVID-19 she used to actively perform at The Reno Tahoe Comedy Club. Currently she actively performs at private parties, The Basement and out in Truckee, California at The Station. Two months ago Sara was originally going to perform in Nashville, Tennessee at the Comedy Bar. However, the Comedy Bar was sold and instead she was booked at Yazoo Brewery and Smoker’s Abbey instead, which still turned out to be an absolutely wonderful experience for her.
Of late, Sara Rooker has taken her comedy talents further away from her Reno base.
“Performing in Nashville was great. The people are so nice there! It is always interesting and can make you a little anxious to see how your material does in other parts of the country but I did well and connected with the audience and other comics,” Sara said.
Along with performing at shows she also has a podcast she hosts with fellow comedian Andrea B. called Same Problems. Same Problems is about the problems both of Sara and Andrea have experienced with dating and can be found on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Reno’s comedy scene she says is a great base. Even if it’s still dominated by men and may not be as big as it once was, it survives and moves along.
“We have a lot of great comics who work super hard and are working hard to produce quality shows,” Sara said of the current trend. “Our scene has a great community of small business owners that support comedy and make sure there is always a place for live comedy in our city.”
During COVID-19 like many other facets of life, comedians' lives got put on an abrupt hold as live performances were no longer allowed for an extended period of time. However, as time passed and activites began to open up, shows started up again.
The Emerson, a bar located in Midtown was the first to allow comedic shows to begin again. Sara was very appreciative as she believed The Emerson was very supportive of local comedians and wanted to bring shows back to lighten people's lives after such a rough year for us all.
Other small businesses began reaching out as well trying to book shows with local comedians in Reno making for a very supportive community. During the pandemic she tried some zoom comedy events but believes it just wasn’t the same as experiencing a crowd in person.
Sara has been inspired by other female comedians but her own name is now in bright lights.
Sara is inspired by many female comedians such as Amy Wong, Beth Stelling, and Tig Notaro, but she finds most of her inspirations come from comedians she has met on the road who actively encourage other comedians to succeed.
Some more local comedians Sara was inspired by would be her two friends from Sacramento, Emma Haney and Becky Lynn who Sara says have always supported her from day one and have given her opportunities to expand her career. When Sara started out, comedians Andrea B. and Brooke Unger also took Sara under their wings and provided Sara with guidance and confidence.
Some of Sara’s most memorable moments would be opening for Kabir Singh, a comedian who was featured on America’s Got Talent, at the Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco. Along with that experience, one of the most memorable moments would be opening for Kyle Kinane at Savage Henry’s, a venue in Humboldt, California. A comedian she also looks up to for inspiration, Kinane had his own streaming specials and also was featured on Jimmy Fallon's late night show. Kinane hand selected Sara for his show and Sara ended up receiving tons of positive feedback during the show and was really able to light up the crowd before his performance. Because of that performance she received a lot of future bookings due to the night being such a success. That show in particular was sold out and had a crowd of around five-hundred people.
Sara's ultimate dream when it comes to her comedy is to be able to do it full time and gain her full income from bringing laughs. She’d also like to release her own EP on streaming platforms such as Spotify.
Sara’s advice to future comedians is to get out there and do as many open mics as possible and keep working on your routine. Comedy comes with trial, error, and repetition as she believes it takes a while to find your comedic voice. Along with that she wants people to know to come into the scene with no expectations and understand you will bomb events but that is a part of the learning process and you can take those experiences and learn from them.
“My advice to people wanting to try comedy, just get on stage as much as possible. it is muscle memory, you have to get as many reps as possible,” she said. “Write every day or as much as you can. It takes years to really figure out your ‘voice.’ People think stand up comedy is glamorous and it isn't (unless you're one of the few that make it big). You hardly make any money, I've driven hours through the night (in a blizzard) for 10 minutes of stage time in San Francisco and turned right back around to make it to work on time at 5am haha. I've done a dog's birthday parties with no microphone and more dogs than people in the audience. I have also performed at McQueen High School's Safe and Sober night for graduating seniors. That was definitely worse than the dog's birthday party. The point is, the grind sucks and the grind lasts for a decade plus and then maybe you never ‘make it,’ but if it is meant for you, you will fall in love with it and it will consume you. At that point, you just have to keep going because nothing else would ever make sense.”