Standup comic Tina Friml was running late and about to set out for a lengthy commute when she got the call: She was booked to appear on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Friday, November 17.
"I was late, though, and had to drive," said the Middlebury native, who moved to New York City two years ago. "So I just sat with the news for an hour in my car, losing my mind."
Friml will appear on the legendary late-night show this Friday, November 17. It's the latest feather in the comic's cap, as the Saint Michael's College alum has seen her star ascend since first taking to the stage seven years ago at the Vermont Comedy Club. She won the Vermont's Funniest Comedian contest in 2018 and was tabbed a rising star at the 2019 Just for Laughs festival in Montréal. After relocating to New York, she's maintained a rigorous national touring schedule.
"The transition was freaky," Friml admitted about moving to the city. "Fortunately there's a bunch of comedians here in the city that came from the Vermont scene, but we all had similar experiences at first: grinding and trying to play as many shows as we could."
When she's not touring the country, Friml works at the famed NYC club the Comedy Cellar.
"It's been incredible," Friml said. "For the first time in seven years, I'm not scrounging for stage time. If I want to try a new bit out, I can take it to the Cellar and run it five times in three days, which is really huge for me."
She was performing at the club in July when she encountered Fallon, who had dropped by to do an impromptu standup set for the first time in several years. The host recounted the experience on "The Tonight Show" afterwards and gave an on-air shout out to Friml.
Friml asserts that the connection between her and the program runs even deeper: It was watching an episode of the show in 2016 that first awakened her desire to be a standup comic.
"I don't even remember who the comic was," she admitted. "But I remember turning on the TV after a particularly hard, heavy day, just hoping for some relief and some laughs. And it worked!"
Friml said it wasn't a sudden, "Aha!" type of moment but rather a slow build over the next year, building the confidence to try her hand at standup. Friml has cerebral palsy and incorporates observations of living with the condition into her set.
"I'm doing comedy about disability," she told Seven Days in 2017. "Just in a way that is not demeaning to me or to other disabled people."
Now that she is finding success in New York, Friml feels like she's flying the flag for comedy in her home state.
"I feel like I'm representing Vermont and our scene," said Friml, who noted that she and other Vermont expat comics refer to the Green Mountain scene as "small, but mighty."
Fittingly, the Vermont Comedy Club is hosting a watch party on Friday at 10:30 p.m., which also doubles as VCC's eighth birthday party.
That won't be the only way locals can see Friml again soon, however. She'll perform along with two other noted Vermont comedy expats at Foam Brewers in Burlington on Wednesday, November 22, as part of its Thanksgiving Eve Comedy Night show.
Featuring Vernon native Kendall Farrell, Montpelier native Carmen Lagala, current Vermonter (and director of the Vermont State Refugee Office) Tracy Dolan, and Friml, the show is the latest in what is becoming an annual Thanksgiving Eve tradition at the brewery. But anyone with travel plans for the holiday, never fear: Friml returns to Vermont in January for a run of dates the Vermont Comedy Club.
"The imposter syndrome can kick in sometimes," Friml confided. "I sometimes struggle to believe that the things I've wanted to happen for so long are actually happening. But I know I've paid my dues for this, I've worked so hard towards it, and I'm going for it."
Bio:
Music editor Chris Farnsworth has written countless albums reviews and features on Vermont's best musicians, and has seen more shows than is medically advisable. He's played in multiple bands over decades in the local scene and is a recording artist in his own right. He can often be found searching for the perfect soft pretzel or listening to a podcast about the X-Men.
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