Violet Gray hosts a comedy show at Capital One Hall
Violet Gray was in college when she decided to make a career change, and what a change it was.
Gray briefly attended Towson University, where she studied molecular biology. But her sense of humor and performing talent stood out.
“People kept asking what theater program I was in,” Gray said. “I was always joking around and doing voices and skits and things. Performance proved to be much more fulfilling for me than biology. I had my first open mic, and it just went from there.”
When it’s suggested that she could have become the funniest molecular biologist around, Gray quickly responds, “Big fish in a small pond for that one.” She has been in the comedy business for 16 years and will host the latest Rt. 12 Comedy showcase at Capital One Hall’s The Vault in Tysons on April 5.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Gray will be joined by fellow area comics, Caitlin McDevitt, Dee Ahmed and Joey Coon.
Much of Gray’s material focuses on her life as a non-binary individual who grew up as a Black male in Baltimore and who was something of a nerd. During a set on Night Train With Wyatt Cenac, she joked about being judged by a guy with a strange fetish who was offended by Gray, as if she was the “weirdo.”
“As far as growing up having a gender non-conforming identity, a lot of that material just wrote itself,” she said with a laugh. “I just had some interesting experiences. I have been fortunate, I have been one of the rare people who have interacted with society having been perceived as both genders; and so I have a unique look at both sides of what that’s like, and that’s very fertile ground for writing material.”
Gray also talks about being often pulled over when she identified as male, even though she was a “grown man wearing anime T-shirts.” One story involves being approached by cops at a bus stop because the cops were looking for a “Black man with legs” who robbed a gas station.
“And just by coincidence, I happened to have my legs on at the time,” she quipped. The cops searched Gray’s bag, found Dungeons and Dragons books, and let Gray go.
That incident wasn’t funny then, and Gray said she was thinking about not escalating the situation. Turning those kinds of experiences into comedy is the essence of standup.
“One thing I’ve heard a lot of comics say is that comedy equals tragedy plus time,” she said. “I think so much of comedy is just processed trauma. I think sometimes, once the experience is over, for a certain type of personality, humor is just the process by which you digest some of the ups and downs of life.”
Gray has been making audiences laugh for 16 years, and, though she still gets nervous performing, she has a relaxed manner on stage, with a sharp delivery and a knack for turning a phrase, but never seeming desperate for a laugh while letting her jokes breathe.
That’s not to suggest that comedy has been easy.
“If you want to be good at music, you can go to Peabody, or if you want to be good at acting, you can go to Juilliard,” Gray said. “The only way to be good at standup comedy is to suck at it until you don’t anymore. The first couple-dozen times were brutal. I think some people take to it quicker than others, but I had the social anxiety, getting-up-in-front-of-people problem. I just had to claw from my first set, getting a few laughs here and there, and slowly accumulating and learning new habits until I had a workable set.”
While progress has been made for minorities and the LGBTQ community, there has been pushback lately. However, for Gray, that pushback is a result of the progress.
“Because only with real progress comes real backlash,” she said. “It’s scary for people who belong to any sort of minority, be it racial, gender, religious. The backlash comes from somewhere, and it comes from progress. There have always been brutal pushbacks to any real change.”
She specifically notes the violence Black people faced during the Civil Rights movement.
“The backlash was fierce, but we overcame it,” Gray said. “I find these days, people want to see someone who is a member of a minority doing their thing because it reassures them that people are still fighting.”
The comedy show starts at 7:30 p.m. For tickets or more information, visit www.capitalonehall.com.