Exploring Cultural Identity and Humor with Japanese-American Stand Up Comedian Michelle MaliZAki!

0:00:15 - Paul Vato

Arigato.

0:00:16 - Michelle MaliZAki

Arigato.

0:00:20 - Paul Vato

Arigato, Mr. Paul Vato. Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Paul Vato and this is Paul Vato Presents, and today my very special guest is Michelle Malizaki. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. That's such a traditional Japanese name, isn't it? 

0:00:38 - Michelle MaliZAki

No, it's not.

0:00:40 - Paul Vato

Oh, my goodness, I thought it was. Well, welcome, Michelle. Thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with us today. Michelle is a brilliant stand-up comedian, a musical artist. She has recorded a few other podcasts. I first found out about her through my friend, Christina Blackburn, who has a great podcast called Story Worthy, and I was a guest of Christina's as well. So it's a great podcast. It's a lot of fun, a lot of industry people. So, Michelle, thank you so much for taking time to be here. We're live on Fireside, so welcome. 

0:01:12 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yay, thank you for having me on your show 100%. 

0:01:16 - Paul Vato

I'm so glad that you were able to do it. I have so many questions to ask Cultural differences, comedy and all that incredible background. Would you be kind enough to tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, where you live, maybe not your address, but where you live and where you've performed, and things like that. 

0:01:35 - Michelle MaliZAki

Okay, I am originally from Japan, but I just found out I'm not a Japanese person anymore because I become an American. And in Japan there are only two people, two kinds of people, two kinds of people, Japanese and non-Japanese. And I am neither. I'm a former Japanese. 

0:01:58 - Paul Vato

Interesting. Are they called? Is that Gaijin? Is that the right word or no? 

0:02:04 - Michelle MaliZAki

I'm not Gaijin, I'm just a former Japanese. 

0:02:09 - Paul Vato

Interesting. Interesting that because you became an American citizen, so you're no longer recognized as Japanese? 

0:02:23 - Michelle MaliZAki

The second I sworn in as like different foreign nationality, then my Japanese citizenship just evaporates. I didn't know that. 

0:02:28 - Paul Vato

Wow, and this is because of the Japanese government, not the US government? 

0:02:32 - Michelle MaliZAki

The American government that you have like multiple citizenships. 

0:02:37 - Paul Vato

That's what I thought, but I think at back there used to be a time where you could only have, if you were a US citizen. I thought you could only have a US passport, but I know that that's changed because I know people have multiple passports, so I don't know what changed. 

0:02:52 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, but with Japan, Japanese government you can't have dual citizenship, so that's one. So as soon as I sworn in as American, then no more Japanese. 

0:03:06 - Paul Vato

No more Japanese. 

0:03:07 - Michelle MaliZAki

No because all my jokes are about being Japanese. Oh no. 

0:03:13 - Paul Vato

Now you can't make any more Japanese jokes, they might get offended. 

0:03:17 - Michelle MaliZAki

Oh, no, what am I going to do? 

0:03:20 - Paul Vato

You got to rewrite your whole act. Maybe you could divorce your present husband and marry a Japanese guy, and then you could make Japanese jokes. 

0:03:32 - Michelle MaliZAki

I don't know. I'm still lost, since I found about this because I never belong to any group.

0:03:47 - Paul Vato

When did this happen? When did you find out that you were no longer Japanese? 

0:03:49 - Michelle MaliZAki

I just found out recently, but I didn't know that yeah because I became an American citizen a while back. 

0:03:57 - Paul Vato

Wow, wow, yeah, now you recently went to Japan, is that right? 

0:04:01 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, I just did, and I had to get a visa. 

0:04:06 - Paul Vato

Oh yeah, because you're not Japanese, Of course you have to get a. 

0:04:09 - Michelle MaliZAki

Japanese person. I had to apply for a visa and then they asked for a picture. So I sent my picture in and then they called me and said oh, your picture is too old, you have to send a current picture. How do they know that my face hasn't changed? It's the same person. 

0:04:33 - Paul Vato

And you look very young, so it doesn't matter when it was taken. Oh, it's the filter. 

0:04:38 - Michelle MaliZAki

I think it's like an automatic filter thing, because my room looks nice. 

0:04:44 - Paul Vato

Well, mine's not working? I don't think, because I look old, so I don't know what happened. 

0:04:50 - Michelle MaliZAki

I've never met you in person, so I don't know. 

0:04:54 - Paul Vato

I look even better in person, I think oh a lot of people do. 

0:04:59 - Michelle MaliZAki

You do Zoom shows and then you never meet those guys, girls, people in person. And then when you meet them you're like, oh my gosh, they are really nice looking. 

0:05:13 - Paul Vato

They're like stay off the Zoom. It makes you look ugly. 

0:05:19 - Michelle MaliZAki

I mean, I look the same, that's my cat, my cat's kind of famous for barging into internet shows, virtual shows. 

0:05:30 - Paul Vato

Very interesting. I love that. 

0:05:32 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, but she never talks to me during the day. 

0:05:35 - Paul Vato

No. 

0:05:36 - Michelle MaliZAki

No, it's just. When I'm talking to somebody else other than the cat, then she just hey guys. 

0:05:44 - Paul Vato

What's your cat's name? 

0:05:45 - Michelle MaliZAki

Mochi. 

0:05:47 - Paul Vato

Mochi. 

0:05:48 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, like the food mochi. I also have a dog named Pina. Like all my pets, are named after food items. 

0:06:00 - Paul Vato

I see that. Do you have any fish? I? 

0:06:02 - Michelle MaliZAki

don't eat them, it's just names. 

0:06:07 - Paul Vato

We're not going to go there. I don't think, right, maybe You're like, I'm Japanese, not Korean. Uh-oh, don't tell Bobby Lee. 

0:06:20 - Michelle MaliZAki

People didn't eat beef nor pork until 170 years ago. 

0:06:27 - Paul Vato

Was it strictly pescatarian or vegetarian or what? 

0:06:32 - Michelle MaliZAki

I think, I can't remember, because Japanese people believe in many different things, but one of the religions think that eating four-legged animals are not right. So still like because Japanese, the country, japan, the country was closed off Since 170, 75 years ago. So till then, when the foreigners came in, we did not eat four-legged animals. 

0:07:05 - Paul Vato

That is very. 

0:07:06 - Michelle MaliZAki

That was like so savage to eat like pork no, beef no. 

0:07:12 - Paul Vato

Interesting, interesting. So you can eat like chicken. Of course, chicken is perfect yeah two legs, yeah, two legs. When did you decide to come to the US? Because I know that you had an affinity, I think, for maybe American television. 

0:07:28 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah well, I came to America because I wanted to. Okay, my mom told me. Ever since I was in fifth grade, my mom told me to marry a white guy, because half white, half Asian kids are cute. 

0:07:45 - Paul Vato

That's true. 

0:07:47 - Michelle MaliZAki

I actually wanted to marry a British person I guess you can't marry two so you just won. But then America was closer than England, so I came here. 

0:08:01 - Paul Vato

Wonderful and did your dreams come true? Did you end up marrying a? 

0:08:04 - Michelle MaliZAki

white guy. Yeah, I ended up marrying a white guy from Ohio. 

0:08:10 - Paul Vato

That's as white as you can get. 

0:08:12 - Michelle MaliZAki

No, I didn't know. But Wisconsin is white or white people, I didn't know. 

0:08:19 - Paul Vato

That is true. I grew up in Chicago, well, in the suburbs in Illinois, which is right by Well, both Ohio and Wisconsin, and you're right, I think, wisconsin, you could have done a little bit better and found a white guy from Wisconsin. 

0:08:31 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, oh well, I didn't know. 

0:08:34 - Paul Vato

Next time. 

0:08:35 - Michelle MaliZAki

Next time? Yeah, Wisconsin ten years younger. That's on my list. 

0:08:42 - Paul Vato

Yeah, go to a youth group and maybe you can find a future husband. What does your husband think about you doing stand-up? Were you doing stand-up when you guys met, or how long have you been doing stand-up? No, no well. 

0:08:56 - Michelle MaliZAki

I actually used to do TV production for Japanese TV and I've done many different shows, like news about surrogate mothers, documentaries to sports news. But when I tell people that I was on sports news you might think, oh my gosh, why are you famous? My hand holding a microphone like this was famous right here, Just here, Not me. 

0:09:26 - Paul Vato

Right right, right right. 

0:09:31 - Michelle MaliZAki

I used to travel with the Yankees because they had a Japanese player and I get to go inside of the locker room after they take showers after the game. That was my job. What a job, what a job. 

0:09:48 - Paul Vato

Do you miss it? 

0:09:50 - Michelle MaliZAki

I don't know, it was fun. I mean, you go there. We used to rotate like two weeks at a time to follow and that was fun. And some baseball stadiums have better food than the others, like Arizona Diamondbacks, they have good food but Dodgers eh. 

0:10:12 - Paul Vato

Maybe that's a show. We should do a show where we go to different parks and try their food. 

0:10:20 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, the San Diego Padres have good food at the concession stand. 

0:10:25 - Speaker 4

Yeah. 

0:10:26 - Michelle MaliZAki

And also Boston Red Sox. They have good food. They got Chowders, of course. Boston, yeah, but it's kind of like baseball season is kind of hot and then you eat Chowders, but it's so good. 

0:10:41 - Paul Vato

Wonderful. Did you have to pay for your own food, or was it a budget? 

0:10:46 - Michelle MaliZAki

Well, actually at the press level they have press food and you eat some of those and then you go downstairs and eat more food. 

0:10:55 - Paul Vato

I would love to do that job, except for going to the men's showers, but you seem to enjoy that. 

0:11:00 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, yeah, of course I do. 

0:11:04 - Paul Vato

They're like you can leave now. You're like I'm not done yet I got to interview more players. 

0:11:09 - Michelle MaliZAki

I'm not done yet. 

0:11:09 - Paul Vato

Oh, so how long have you been doing stand-up comedy? 

0:11:13 - Michelle MaliZAki

I've been doing it for like five years. Before that I used to do improv, I had a midlife crisis and I took some improv classes at the parking wreck and then that led me to the second city and I was just taking a class at a time and I ended up finishing the conservatory program In improv. You have and I had so much fun, but you have to have team to perform. You know it's easy to form a team, but it's hard to maintain a team. 

0:11:49 - Paul Vato

Oh, I know, I studied improv. 

0:11:52 - Michelle MaliZAki

After a while people are not excited to practice anymore. I go, I have to pay 40 bucks for the session and I don't know, and so I started to perform by myself. I was singing and stuff and I had no idea about stand-up comedy. I didn't know at all. It's like I live here forever in America but I didn't know stand-up comedy existed like five years ago. 

0:12:22 - Paul Vato

Wow, because it's not that big in Japan. Is that right? 

0:12:27 - Michelle MaliZAki

It's becoming like very recently, but it's in Japan. Comedy style is usually two people doing skits, so it's very different. And stand-up comedy, I don't know, I just love it. 

0:12:43 - Paul Vato

And you're very good at it. I've seen some of your sets. They're wonderful, and I love talk to you about Second City. Was that in Los Angeles where you studied? Yes, that's where. I studied Hollywood. Hollywood, yeah, of course, Of course. Did you ever do anything at Upright Citizens Brigade or Improv? 

0:13:02 - Michelle MaliZAki

I also took classes at UCB and I did shows at iOS and I also took an improv class before, like way before, when I was pregnant Like seven months pregnant and I'm like, at the gas-ware groundings, Sure yeah, but I was too pregnant so I'm like I can't do this. 

0:13:30 - Paul Vato

How long ago was this? How old are your kids? 

0:13:33 - Michelle MaliZAki

My kids are 16 and they're 12. 

0:13:37 - Paul Vato

Do you like improv better or stand-up better? 

0:13:41 - Michelle MaliZAki

I like improv. I love improv. I really love improvised music like musicals. But that one is really hard to practice because you have to have somebody who could play piano or keyboard and then you have to get a group of people who's willing to make fun of themselves. Yeah, I like musical improv the most. 

0:14:07 - Paul Vato

You had a song go viral, didn't you? Did you have a famous song about napping? 

0:14:14 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, I had a nap time by Napster. It's an official song for National Napping Day. 

0:14:25 - Paul Vato

When is National Napping Day? 

0:14:27 - Michelle MaliZAki

That's the day after the daylight saving time starts. You lose an hour the day before, so you get to take a nap the next day. 

0:14:38 - Paul Vato

I didn't know that that's great. So your song is the official song for National Napping Day. 

0:14:43 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yes, Actually, you know what happened. So I wrote a song called Nap Time by Napster and then I found out there's a National Napping Day and I tracked down the guy who found it the day and I sent him email. I'm like I have a perfect song for National Napping Day. Can it be an official song? And he's like sure, Yay. 

0:15:08 - Paul Vato

Yay, that's fantastic. Can people download it or can they find it somewhere? 

0:15:13 - Michelle MaliZAki

You could download it, or you could find it on YouTube or iTunes or all those places. 

0:15:19 - Paul Vato

I've seen it. I think it's funny, I think it's great and congratulations on having such a viral song. That's fantastic. 

0:15:27 - Michelle MaliZAki

Well, actually my TikTok went viral. 

0:15:30 - Paul Vato

Really, where can people? 

0:15:32 - Michelle MaliZAki

I got 4.6 million views. 

0:15:34 - Paul Vato

That's a lot. 

0:15:35 - Michelle MaliZAki

That is a lot yeah yeah, yeah, I did not talk or I did not show my face, then it went viral. So that's what I should Just hands. 

0:15:45 - Paul Vato

Just hands. Nobody wants to see your face. Just hands, no just. 

0:15:50 - Michelle MaliZAki

I should do a video about me washing dishes or I don't know clipping nails. 

0:15:57 - Paul Vato

I had a question about your last name. You capitalized the Z. Is that for a particular reason? Why do you capitalize the Z in your last name? I'm just curious, oh it's Marizaki Marizaki. 

0:16:09 - Michelle MaliZAki

Okay, that's good. But it's not Actually this is not a Japanese last name. You know, if it's Japanese last name, there shouldn't be L, it should be R. 

0:16:22 - Paul Vato

Marizaki. 

0:16:24 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, Marizaki, my, I'm married to a guy named Maden Zach and I used to go to audition as Michelle Malinzak and people didn't buy it like you know who's this lady, so I just Japanese-ified it from Malinzak to Marizaki. 

0:16:43 - Paul Vato

That's really funny. That okay, Cause I was interested and I almost Googled it Cause I was like I don't think it's Japanese, but it kind of sounds Japanese, Like it could be Japanese. That's brilliant that you did that. So what's your husband's last name? Malinzak. Where is your husband's family from? 

0:17:03 - Michelle MaliZAki

I think they are originally from Czechoslovakia. Okay, yeah, yeah, malinzak means coal miner. 

0:17:14 - Paul Vato

I like, I like Zaki. 

0:17:19 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, so I guess that means coal miner, coal miner Instead of coal miner. 

0:17:25 - Paul Vato

Did you know English when you moved to the USA? 

0:17:29 - Michelle MaliZAki

Well, I actually went to a school called what? Temple University, japan the temple in Pittsburgh has a branch in Tokyo and I met there for a year and my teacher taught us English like, oh my God, for sure, for sure, get me, mr Spoon. 

0:17:56 - Paul Vato

Was this in the 80s? 

0:17:58 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, yeah, in the 80s and my yeah, my teacher was gay, which was like we thought he was flamboyant because he's an American, but he was overly flamboyant because he was I don't know he's he still is gay. 

0:18:15 - Paul Vato

Probably probably still is Now. I heard a funny story that when you used to watch television shows when you're growing up, you thought that all these actors actually spoke Japanese. 

0:18:29 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm like, oh my gosh, I used to watch Little House on Prairie every every Saturday at 5 pm. I'm like, oh my gosh, those actors. They speak pretty good Japanese for you know a white people, but it's little off. But I was like really impressed and then, like later on it turned out it was a voiceover. I didn't know that. 

0:18:59 - Paul Vato

No wonder you came to America. You're like I'm going to be a star. I already speak Japanese. 

0:19:03 - Michelle MaliZAki

I know I speak better Japanese. 

0:19:08 - Paul Vato

I didn't realize how different Japan is because it's so long, how different the maybe different cultures of Japan, depending on whether you're from the north or the south or the middle. I mean, there's just so much territory to cover. 

0:19:26 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, people look a little bit different from the people from the north and the south, from the south. You know, I think you could totally blend in in south Me, okay, yeah. 

0:19:38 - Paul Vato

I have an Asian spirit. You know I love all things Asian and you know I studied Taekwondo, which I know is Korean, and I love sushi. But I did my DNA and I have zero Asian. I was very sad because, you know, I have an epic candle fold, so people think I'm Polynesian or, but that's interesting to think that I could be like from the south of Japan. 

0:20:03 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, northern Japanese people tend to be like I don't know, they look a little bit different and then, like middle part is a little bit different, and then also we dress differently. Like people from Tokyo wear more monotonous, like black, gray, navy, blue kind of muted outfit. But people from Osaka they are loud, like checkered plaid red. Are you from Osaka? Yeah, people from Osaka, they are loud and they talk loud. 

0:20:38 - Paul Vato

Where were you born? 

0:20:39 - Michelle MaliZAki

I was born in Yamaguchi but I was raised in Tokyo so I'm from like the middle part of like Tokyo area Interesting. So if you spot a Japanese person in town he could be from Osaka, because you spotted him because he was talking loudly. 

0:21:02 - Paul Vato

Like in America, when we're on vacation talking loud yeah. 

0:21:08 - Michelle MaliZAki

Well, I went to Italy on an American tour during Christmas, like many years ago, and, oh my gosh, some of the people came from Texas and they were e-hying in Italy. Oh, my God. Like what I've never seen anybody e-hying in America, but in Italy there are, like American people e-hying. 

0:21:33 - Paul Vato

That's ridiculous. 

0:21:34 - Michelle MaliZAki

And then, like they wanted us to all sing Christmas Carol on the bus, tour, bus. Oh my God, I don't know any songs. 

0:21:44 - Paul Vato

Of course, yeah, of course. When did you go to Italy? 

0:21:48 - Michelle MaliZAki

That was like 20 years ago. Okay, yeah, almost 20 years ago. 

0:21:52 - Paul Vato

What other Asian countries have you been to? 

0:21:55 - Michelle MaliZAki

I've never been to any other Asian countries, just Japan. 

0:22:00 - Speaker 4

And. 

0:22:00 - Michelle MaliZAki

I've never, even been to Okinawa, which is supposed to be part of Japan, which is Japan, but it's like cheaper to come to Los Angeles than going to Okinawa. 

0:22:12 - Paul Vato

Wow, why is that? That's great. 

0:22:15 - Michelle MaliZAki

I think there are more flights coming this way than that way. 

0:22:19 - Paul Vato

Oh yeah, that makes sense. What other places have you visited that you like? Not necessarily, you know, not in Asia, but you said Italy. Have you been to France or Spain or any other places? 

0:22:30 - Michelle MaliZAki

Scotland. I want to go to Glasgow again, and Edinburgh was nice, london was nice. I've been to England. 

0:22:39 - Paul Vato

Did you go to Edinburgh for the comedy festival? Because you know right now-. 

0:22:44 - Michelle MaliZAki

I went there after the festival season. Okay, so all those guys wearing quilts and like so windy, I'm like, oh my God. 

0:22:58 - Paul Vato

I mean, you're used to seeing all these penises when you were in the sports in the locker room, So-. 

0:23:04 - Michelle MaliZAki

Oh, for free, and I got paid. See, you know, some people pay to see those and I got paid to see those. 

0:23:15 - Paul Vato

That's brilliant. You're gonna. You made a lot of money, that's good. 

0:23:19 - Michelle MaliZAki

I did, I did. I even remodeled my windows in a house, missed that matsui money. It was the matsui the Godzilla, the guy outfielder from Japan, that we were covering, and I spent all my matsui money on those expensive bay window. 

0:23:42 - Paul Vato

Good for you. Good for you. Were you guys just doing a story on him, or were you always just interviewing him for Japanese television? What were you doing? 

0:23:50 - Michelle MaliZAki

We were always interviewing for Japanese television. 

0:23:54 - Paul Vato

Oh, wonderful. 

0:23:55 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, it's great. Like best game experience I've ever had was in Minnesota, the Twin City Minnesota. 

0:24:02 - Speaker 4

Saints. 

0:24:02 - Michelle MaliZAki

Saints. It's an independence league and their mascot is a pig named Hamlet. And then he or she, the pig, brings out the first ball on the field and then you have the first pitch, and I had so much fun there. 

0:24:20 - Paul Vato

When was this? How long ago was this? When are you doing this? 

0:24:24 - Michelle MaliZAki

Maybe like 10 years ago. 

0:24:25 - Paul Vato

That's awesome. I mean, I know that baseball is very popular in Japan, so they must have been very proud of this guy that was from. 

0:24:34 - Michelle MaliZAki

Japan, Now Otani. I know there's gotta be a lot of Otani money going, but I didn't get called in. 

0:24:43 - Paul Vato

Sorry to hear that that's okay. I mean you still have your hands. 

0:24:47 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, I still have my beautiful hands. 

0:24:50 - Paul Vato

So when was the first time that you stepped on stage by yourself to do stand-up? 

0:24:55 - Michelle MaliZAki

It was 2017, in March, and I was just like talking and singing. I had no idea what the stand-up comedy was. They were like three months in. I was going to open mics and then I saw this girl doing jokes after jokes and I'm like that's brilliant. You know what's that called? And somebody told me that stand-up comedy. I'm like what I mean? I've watched Seinfeld before the TV show and he was supposed to be a stand-up comedian, but I had no idea that's what he was doing at the end of the show. I always thought that was weird, that he's talking in the darkness and then you hear the laugh track. I thought that was like American TV thing, like laugh track. 

0:25:46 - Paul Vato

Ha ha, ha, ha ha ha, oh, that's so good, that's so good. Did you take any stand-up classes or did you just? You know, I know that I'm in high. 

0:25:55 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, I've taken like many classes. I'm like little obsessive personality. I guess I took many classes. I took the one at the. I researched on the internet and then I found one that sounds great so I took it and it was the worst class ever. And then I took one at the second city. 

0:26:20 - Paul Vato

That was really good a stand-up class, stand-up comedy oh. 

0:26:25 - Michelle MaliZAki

Also taking classes in New York. 

0:26:28 - Paul Vato

I'm going to. When we talk offline, I'll ask you who was the bad one, because I'd like to. You know, I'd like to do that also. I've done stand-up a few times, but I'm an improviser, I'm more about sketch and improv and all that, but I'd still like to do stand-up, but I don't want to go to a bad. 

0:26:44 - Michelle MaliZAki

I know, I know it was like it was one of the more, more expensive classes. 

0:26:49 - Paul Vato

That's too bad. Was it a male or female instructor? 

0:26:52 - Michelle MaliZAki

No, and then at the beginning of the class they were like I don't know 12 people in a class. And then, like at the end of the class, they were like three left people just left. 

0:27:05 - Paul Vato

That's not good. That's not good. Well, I'm glad that you stuck with it and you've, you know, polished your set. Where do you normally perform? Is there, you know the? Which comedy club do you normally perform at? 

0:27:19 - Michelle MaliZAki

I don't know. I was doing a lot of zoom shows during the pandemic and Before that I was like all over, and now I'm trying to find a home venue Because I was doing some shows at the canyon club by my house but it didn't really work out. It was just too huge about 400 capacity Room. That was way too big. I need something smaller to do shows. 

0:27:48 - Paul Vato

I Interviewed the founders. There's this app called a live show. A Live spelled it all in one word show and you can actually do it from home, where you get like three minutes but you get to practice, you can work out your material. But then there's people in the audience, kind of like here, but their mics are open so they can clap, they can give you points, you can hear them laugh. It was built pretty much during the pandemic to help Standup comedians that want to do stand up from home. So if you want I'll send you the link. I Last year. It's a. 

0:28:24 - Michelle MaliZAki

It's a great app Sounds great and. 

0:28:27 - Paul Vato

Yeah. 

0:28:27 - Michelle MaliZAki

I also do like flappers. I've done like I've done. Oh, I just did. I just won the golden ticket Comedy store, so I did a three minute spot. Congratulations. 

0:28:43 - Paul Vato

Course, of course. How did you meet Christine Blackburn? 

0:28:48 - Michelle MaliZAki

I met her at the show, at her show for the storytelling show at the flappers. 

0:28:54 - Paul Vato

Oh yeah, of course. Of course that makes sense. Have you done her show yet? 

0:28:58 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yes, she helped me do her show and then I did Hollywood Friends show and she was my co-creator For the show. Oh, that's right. I wanted to ask you about that. 

0:29:09 - Paul Vato

Yeah, you guys, you guys co-creator the show. Tell me, tell me a little bit about that show. 

0:29:13 - Michelle MaliZAki

Oh. So it was a four women Storytelling show. I don't know, it was the best project I've ever done and it was four women. We talked about how we got to LA and how we love it and we all had a turn in our story, like we came out. You know, the LA made us a real woman. I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to make it like a oh, it's an inspiring show, but it was an inspiring show. I. 

0:29:49 - Paul Vato

Love it. What's the name of the show? 

0:29:51 - Michelle MaliZAki

Oh, it's. How did you get the LA? 

0:29:53 - Paul Vato

How did you get to LA? That's brilliant. Well, I'm glad you work with her. Just you know she's very talented as well, so good job, bravo, kudos, kudos. What's next for Michelle? What else are you working on? Do you have a TV show? Do you have more music? What? What are you working on? 

0:30:10 - Michelle MaliZAki

I wrote a song called bagel because my daughter likes K-pop and she likes the. A group called twice and they had a song called Donut and my daughter's like oh, mom, you should write a song about donuts. I wrote a song called bagel. Jewish donuts yeah, perfect yeah and I had so much fun, so I'm gonna write another song, and I just need a little inspiration to write a song. I want to be a great stand-up comedian, but also one of my dreams is to be a one-hit wonder. 

0:30:50 - Paul Vato

Wait, wait, wait, backup. You're dreaming about being a one-hit wonder. You don't want more than one hit, just one, I just want one. 

0:30:58 - Michelle MaliZAki

I'm not a musician, I. 

0:31:02 - Paul Vato

Love that. If I can help you make that, that's, that's. 

0:31:06 - Michelle MaliZAki

Even I was like, okay, how do I become a one-hit wonder? And I'm like, okay, maybe I need to know Basic of music writing. So I was taking a music theory class music theory one At the community college by my house. But they don't offer music theory to this coming semester. So I'm really upset. But I'm going back in spring to take the music theory to and then I will become the one-hit wonder. 

0:31:34 - Paul Vato

How about writing a song called Churro or churros? Churros are like Mexican donuts, but they're long yeah yeah, oh ho, a crispy and sweet Cinnabar you know wow you know, yeah, there's your song. They got Bob's got donuts, you got churros Mochi. There you go. Yeah, your cat or the food. 

0:32:09 - Michelle MaliZAki

My boss. Oh, maybe just one. 

0:32:12 - Paul Vato

Hmm, I'm gonna eat mochi Cats like no, no, no. You have such an interesting story. I could continue talking to you forever, but I know that you're busy, so I just want to say thank you so much for sharing your life with us. Oh, it is my absolute pleasure and I can't wait to see what else you do, what other songs you write, and anything that I can do to help. You know, by all means, please reach out. It's such a pleasure to meet you. 

0:32:42 - Michelle MaliZAki

Thank you, it's so nice to meet you. If you need a member for your improv team, cool. 

0:32:49 - Paul Vato

I Will. When you mentioned that that it's so hard to keep improv teams together, you're so right. I put together one in Chicago 25 years ago and they're still going. So there are. Every now and then you'll find a team that'll stick together, but normally, you're right, they last Three months six months, maybe a year, and then they're gonna eat. 

0:33:10 - Michelle MaliZAki

That I love and we were together for like over a year and a half and then it's just. 

0:33:19 - Paul Vato

A long time. 

0:33:20 - Michelle MaliZAki

I couldn't find anybody else like that, so I Hear you. 

0:33:28 - Paul Vato

I feel your pain. Well, folks, we've come to the end of the show. I would really want to ask you guys to head on over to Apple podcast Also Spotify and give home about the presents I like. Give us a follow. That will really help us out. If you're so inclined, we have a patreon. For for $3 a month you can get all this great entertainment. That would be wonderful. That would also be very helpful, and please head on over to Michelle's Instagram and follow her there, and people follow you on Instagram or tiktok. 

0:34:03 - Michelle MaliZAki

Yeah, that'd be great, and malizaki malizaki. 

0:34:12 - Ocean Tree Creative

Post production is done with care by Bryan at Ocean Tree Creative. OTC handles podcast post production and coaching, as well as social media video for podcasters and small business. Check the show notes for his link or hit him up on social media at Ocean Tree Creative or OceanTreeCreative@Gmail.com.