Stand-up comedian, writer, and actor Danielle Perez achieved viral fame after becoming the woman in a wheelchair, with no feet, who won a treadmill on the Price is Right. But before winning the hilariously inappropriate prize and subsequent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she had already been making her mark on the Los Angeles comedy scene.
A 2018 StandUp NBC Semifinalist, Danielle has opened for Maria Bamford, hosted an episode of MTV’s Decoded, filmed sketches for BuzzFeed, and voiced a demon animated in her likeness for Comedy Central. Highlighted as one of Los Angeles Magazine’s “13 Women Who Are Making LA a Better Place,” she has been profiled by Refinery29, CNN and Great Big Story. The LA native regularly performs at local clubs, alt shows around town and national comedy festivals including SF Sketchfest and Laughing Skull Comedy Festival. Recently she performed on Nick Kroll & Friends at Largo and just finished writing on a new Netflix series.
Read on to learn more about Danielle’s take on accessibility in comedy, the female comics she most admires and her big plans for the future.
- How does disability inform your comedy?
My comedy is very autobiographical, but I’m a bi-lateral below the knee amputee and use a manual wheelchair, so even if I’m not directly addressing my disability, you can see it. I’m front and center, on stage, by myself. No matter what I joke about, it’s clear that my material is coming from the perspective or a fat disabled Afro-Latina. Most audiences I perform for are non-disabled so when I make them laugh, I’m humanizing a perspective they may not be familiar with and that’s pretty fucking cool.
- Who are some of your biggest influences in comedy, and who did you look up to when you first started?
When I started stand-up I was very into Kathy Griffin, Chelsea Handler and Natasha Leggero. They were the faces I saw on TV. I grew up loving Margaret Cho.
Now that I do standup, I’m mostly inspired by the local female comics I see performing regularly in Los Angeles. Laurie Kilmartin is a brilliant stand-up. She writes on Conan, but is out every night reworking her original material until every last punchline and tag is squeezed out. It’s so cool to watch her process and see her material evolve. Maggie Maye is a hilarious delight. Debra DiGiovanni levels every room she performs in. Marcella Arguello, Atsuko Okatsuka, Naomi Ekperigin, Madison Shepard, they are all so fun to watch.
There are so many great female comedians working in Los Angeles, it’s an embarrassment of riches. I could give you a whole page of names, there are almost too many!
- Even when a venue is accessible for patrons, it is often not accessible for performers. Have you encountered issues with accessibility in venues you’ve performed at? How have you dealt with that?
Most venues, and frankly most places, are not wheelchair accessible, but you make it work. It can be frustrating because instead of thinking about my performance or going over my material, I need to figure out how I’m going to get on stage or inside the venue. I’ve had to crawl up and down flights of stairs and trust that the people offering to help carry me in my wheelchair won’t drop me or hurt themselves. I’ve performed in rooms over capacity on my knees and fallen off postage stamp sized stages in my wheelchair. Anything for stage time, right?
More frustrating than inaccessible spaces, is when a venue won’t even let you perform. The first time I went to New York to do comedy I booked a show at The Pit, but they refused to let me perform because their space was inaccessible and they were concerned about liability.
Navigating the need for accessibility when you’re disabled can be really tricky. When you’re starting out, you’re just trying to keep your head down, get funny, and pay your dues. You’re thankful to get any spots at all, even if it’s behind a dumpster (a real show in LA). So when you add the physical hurdle of literal stage and venue access it gets complicated. You want stage time, but you also don’t want venues and bookers to think you’re difficult or hard to work with. And when disabled people ask for access they are often treated like they’re the problem.
As my resume grows and I become more secure with my place in comedy, I’ve also become more comfortable requesting accessible accommodations from venues. If I’m performing on a popular show or opening for a big name I will ask the producer or their team to confirm accessibility with the venue and request ramps if necessary. The venue wants to make the producers and headliners happy because they’re bringing in ticket sales, so they are more likely to treat my accessibility needs as a priority.
- What are the main factors contributing to the continued inaccessibility of venues for performers?
You should ask the venues.
The best thing non-disabled people can do to support disabled comics, outside of buying our merchandise and consuming our media, is to ask venues to make their spaces accessible.
- What are some of your comedy goals, both short-term and long-term?
I want to do late night. That’s my big short-term goal. It’s on my vision board.
I just finished my first job in a writer’s room. It was a challenging and learning experience, but also a ton of fun. I really enjoyed it and would love to work in a writer’s room again. Ideally create, write and star in my own show -- Mindy Kaling it. The great thing about working in entertainment is that you don’t have to commit to just one thing. You can be a comedian and explore acting, writing, animation, music, fashion, food, whatever. I’m doing this for the rest of my life, so I’m open to evolving creatively and exploring new opportunities.
Find Danielle Perez’s upcoming shows on her website and follow her on Twitter at @DivaDelux
