Late Bloomer Energy: Finding Your Voice & Uncorking Your Dreams with Jeannine Luby

(upbeat music) - Hey everyone and welcome back on Kalimantigni as your host and today, we are welcoming Janine Lumi, who is a Sam Canadian and a podcast of a funny, wine girl Janine and owner of Laugh to Live. Laugh to Live actually. You're welcome to Nordic's page, Janine. We're super excited to have you on today. - Thanks so much. I love what you're doing, by the way. I just think this is awesome. So thanks for the invite. - Absolutely, thanks so much. And like, I know you've been doing funny, wine gojini for a while now, but if people are not like kind of familiar or just started to kind of get into it, it's almost more about that. I get how would you kind of describe it? - Yeah, so funny, wine girl is kind of like a moniker. I guess it's like my name for standup comedy. I came up with it a little over two years ago, actually right before, I guess during or in the midst of the pandemic, it's so hard to tell timeframes these days, but I always liked wine and I've been doing standup comedy and improv comedy throughout the years, over 20 years. And I got to a point where I wanted to produce my own shows and have them, I'd like to empower women as much as possible and promote women. So I got to a point where I wanted to run my own shows, produce them and have female comedians and have it for a female audience. And I focused on places that women like. So wineries, different places like that. And I was doing that for a while. And then just these past few years, I decided to brand it more or less with funny, wine girl. And then that kind of led me to creating my podcast uncorked with funny, wine girl about, gosh, it was two years ago this May since I've been doing that. - Ooh, it's amazing. Like when powering women like your mission, when you started like your podcast, because I know for me, like my mission is really from this show and my other podcast organization is to really power women. So like I kind of curious and see how kind of that mission kind of started. - Yeah, so honestly, I had been doing comedy and I like wine. And I kind of like got this idea that maybe the podcast would be related to wine or wine themed. And I got the name uncorked, but I liked the name or I wanted the name to mean not just about wine, but opening up, meaning uncorking and revealing things from ourselves. And the more I thought about it, I wanted it to be women, because I'm someone who's been involved in the community for a long time doing things for women with women. And I just think we need to do more of that. So I thought, you know what, most of my guests, I've had males on occasionally and I joke that they're the token males, no disrespect. But I like to have a different woman on each week and not just Northease PA, but people from across the state and Pittsburgh, upstate New York City, wherever I meet people or if I run into them through comedy, online, to Facebook, whatever, I like to have them on every week. And the thing is, it's funny, we're not so much talking about wine, occasionally we'll mention like what we like to drink, but really it's not about wine. And so maybe that's my bad for naming it that, but I still really believe in the idea of promoting women and just having them share. So that idea of uncorking some stories that they want to share. - Oh, definitely. I know like when people hear the name, they think like it's probably all based on wine, probably. And they're like, you probably get that out of time. They're like, oh, I thought this was a podcast about wine for the year, which is like, I mean, the show doesn't, like even if it's in his name, a show doesn't have to be about wine. Of course, it can pick up occasionally, but sometimes it's like, you can bring up different conversations maybe about wine, but not like, oh, I thought it's grabbing, but it doesn't have to be, it's like the top tierier of a mission. - Yeah, yeah. And it's, I mean, they're like I said, sometimes I'll talk about wine, but I feel like, so my background, my degree is in journalism and I have a master's in communication. So I've always felt comfortable talking with people, interviewing them. Although I don't like to consider my podcasts interviews, I call them conversations because I like to go in with an idea in my head of what I want to talk about in certain highlights, but I like it on, you know, just kind of unwind or uncork as we're talking. And, you know, as the listeners get to know more about my guest as I'm getting to know it as well at the same time. And it's turned out to be a lot of very serious topics and it's funny because some of the episodes, it's me being silly and laughing and being funny with different guests, but they're more serious ones than funny actually. So I don't know, I might be losing people who like that, but then I've been told by other people, they rather like silly. They don't want, I had one girl tell me, I don't want to have to think too much. She's like, I don't want to have to think too much. So if your podcast is too serious, I don't think I want to listen to it, but I'm not worried about that because you can't be everything for everybody. - Yeah, that's for sure. He's like, I know a lot of people, like they would rather maybe like the funny side of the series say whatever you talk about, like the porn topics, like a powering woman or like different things are having a community from being raised and living here in Northeast Asia, is that like when you would bring up these topics, people would rather like your goofy side, funny side than what's serious side. Because like when you hear someone being jokingly funny, and all these things, it just like makes people want to make jokes like that. And so when you hear the serious part, they're like, what is going on? Like why is this being so serious? But then like for me personally, I'd rather bold than this one for some reason. Like it's just like I'd rather be serious at one point than be funny to next. So it is like I'm like in the middle, but I know for everyone, it's much different. And you prefer one or that or another. - Yeah, well, and I think that's unfortunately kind of indicative of what goes on in our society these days and you see it on like social media. We have extremes and people forget, like those are the loudest voices. But I hope that people don't forget that there's more moderation than there is extremism. So it's just that they're the loudest voices. But you're right, people, and I understand people want to laugh, which is great. I mean, I do that through my business. I promote laughter, laugh to live. So people want to laugh, sometimes people have so much seriousness in their own lives. They don't want to hear about serious topics. So I get that, but at the same time, we need to be talking about things like this week's episode on my podcast coming out is about a woman who lost her father to suicide because of mental illness. And these are topics we need to talk about to remove stigma so that people feel safe and that they get the help that they need. So there's a place for everything. Hopefully people will just give it a chance and listen every now and again to the serious message because we do need to be informed to learn to understand about what other people are going through. Yeah, that's definitely because when we covered those topics like whether it's like month of haul, we're leading the suicide or like the impact of COVID-19 over the last three years on like how impacted is there? There's some topics like that that you've been through. And like when we talk about these topics, it does end to stigma for that topic, but also can help other people that are going through the same things. And when I discuss these topics, I'm at a podcast with people whether it's a professional or talk about their experiences or not, but like when we talk about these topics, it's oftentimes very emotional for them, but also very emotional for me. Because like when I talk about mental health, I'm person that I grew up anxiety and depression. And so like when I talk about this, I know I'm always paying for a lot of people when I say like, like mental health was hard for me to talk about years ago, but I'm probably fine talking about now, but it also is very hard to talk about even though I'm fine with talking about that. - Yeah, well it's like when we talk about these discussions, it does of course, it's very hard to talk about, but it's also very important to talk about the gay emotions out there and to connect to other people that are going through the exact same thing. - Absolutely. And it's a lot like, and I'll just pull in a little bit about my background with stand up humor. And I share this a lot just like humor can be empowering and so can talking about things can be empowering because oftentimes we're afraid to talk about things 'cause we're afraid to be judged or not accepted or we're just uncomfortable because it's not something that's making us feel good, right? So, but if we talk about them, we kind of then we don't, we have power and we, you know, whether it's the illness or whatever doesn't have power over us. And that's what, you know, stand up comedy and humor can do for people because a lot of comedians are actually quite serious people. They're not goofy people. They're serious people who've had, I mean, some famous comedians, they've been through sexual abuse. They've had alcoholic parents and the way that they can empower themselves and release some of the pain is through their stand up comedy. - Yeah, because I know like a lot of comedians was the same way, like Kevin Hart, I am Sandler, I'm serious more of a comedian or just an actor. But when you go through those comedians, like was to say, Kevin Hart, for example, like he's a famous actor, a lot of people know him from his acting work. And I know like what, like a lot of comedians do, like to bring up these past experience they've been through, whatever it's like sexual abuse or entertainment business, because I know entertainment business is very hectic. And it's like when they bring up those things, they like to joke about it. But then inside they're like, well, that's how I now joke to me, but it is so other people. - Yeah, and what's funny is it's a very interesting, before we talked about extremism, it's a very interesting time when people say, you can't say that. And it's not a matter of really what someone else should decide what you should talk about, especially as comedians. I mean, the idea of someone being a comedian is they're trying to create laughter, right? And some of the topics if people understand what's that tire is, they're trying to raise your awareness while making you laugh. So some people could be offended by a joke or not like it. But that's okay, you can just not see that person again, or listen to their stand up. You don't have to condemn them or say they can't talk about it. You know, I mean, for me, I'm getting older, I'm talking about my health. My parents are getting older and we're talking about preparing wills and doing all kinds of serious things, but I make a joke about it 'cause we went to get their wills done and then we went for ice cream. And it's like there's something kind of like ironic about that, but that's what I'm going through where I'm at in my life. And some people might not appreciate it if they just lost a parent or whatever, but maybe if they hadn't, they might laugh. So you really have to kind of say, when we're going to see a comedian kind of think about, they don't know you sitting in the audience, they don't know your specific problems. So, you know, if you don't like the joke, that's okay. But, you know, everyone uses comedy and humor for what they're going through. And a lot of times it is relatable. - Mm-hmm. And I know with like your podcast, you oftentimes say like people should laugh and drink wine at the same time. - I know, I saw it all like, what are you saying? Why is that? Why should people like laugh and drink wine at the same time? - I think I kind of, I put that out there as, again, as kind of like a humorous kind of a joke. When I promote my ladies' comedy nights and I might even mention it in the podcast too, only for the sake of I don't want anyone choking. So it's really kind of meant as, you know, not serious advice. I mean, you know, a lot of the shows I do are with women in wineries. And, you know, if they're drinking their wine and they start to laugh, I just don't want them to choke. - So that's it, like just be safe, drink your wine and then once you've swallowed it, then you can laugh. - Yeah, that makes total sense. Once I sound like, okay, like that's hilarious. But I'm also very curious to see why we can't drink in one life. Because I, like, trust me, would drink your water and laugh at it at the same time. Like that's not fun. But like what topics do you kind of typically cover or discuss on the show? I know you said you cover mental health, do you, like, cover anything's like comedy? Like what do you kind of typically discuss on doing episodes? - Yeah, so, you know, there was a time when I was trying to do different themes based on what was going on that month. But that can be challenging. So I really, it depends on if I meet someone new and I like what they're doing. If they're interesting, like one of my friends is a romance author and she writes romance. And I actually proofread and edit her book. So I've had her on talking about her romance novel and how she, you know, she traveled to Italy in England for writers, retreats and workshops. And I've had women on who are training for marathons. I've had other entrepreneurs on and talking about how they got their business through the pandemic, how they got it through COVID because it was a really challenging time. So really it runs the gamut. I have had many fellow comedians on women that I've had on. And it turns out, you know, we talk about the comedy, but like again, one of my recent episodes was a woman that I met through comedy. She's a great person and she shared too about her bipolar disorder. So we talk about, and you know, how she's helping take care of an elderly mother, all of that, you know, you kind of have to laugh or you cry sometimes, so kind of things. So we talk about that. But there are, there's absolutely lighthearted topics. Last week, we talked about kind of more serious but self-defense for especially young women going back to college. That's an important topic. But coming up in a few weeks, I'm interviewing someone who does standardized patient work. That's something I do at the local medical college. So we pretend to be patients. We get paid to do that while students learn from us. So that one, I think people will find it interesting, but it also, it allows a lot of opportunities for laughs too because there's been a lot of humorous things that have happened with the medical students throughout the years. - Yeah, the hospital is a million of them. Like I definitely need those in absent with it. Well, it's really, but like first of all, with comedy, like how did you kind of find your passion or kind of gains comedy? Like, like when did you kind of realize that you want to pursue kind of a career, one other say a free of field, but they do comedy in general. - Yeah, yeah, 'cause I won't ever try and tell anybody that it's a career. I mean, you have to, you have to work your butt off, which honestly, I'm just doing it more for fun and making a few dollars. But when I was younger, I always joke, I don't know if I was, if I'm an introverted extrovert or an extroverted introvert, because I was actually an incredibly shy kid. I was smart, but I was a kid that wouldn't really want to speak up. I never made noise in class. I was the one that the nuns would have sit in front of the class to watch to make sure no one misbehaved, because I was the one who was like misgoody two shoes. And I was very shy, but I used to like to write. So that's when I thought, wow, I'd love to do something with comedy someday or something funny. I went to Penn State. I had never really been involved in too many extracurricular activities other than the school newspaper. And when I got home, I came back home to Scranton because I do love living here. I saw an improv group on the spot improv and it's been many years, over 20 years, so they're no longer active. But I saw them and I thought, well, it's not standup comedy, but it's still a pathway that I can use. I did improv for several years, and then I finally tried standup. My friend lived in Houston, so I tried standup comedy and opened my night out there, because I thought if I stink, if nobody laughs, nobody has to know in Scranton or Northeast PA, but it turned out it went really well. I came home and I've been doing it on and off ever since. And it's just a great outlet to express yourself and just deal with, as Judy Carter, who's another comedian who wrote a book, she talks about our pain points. Those things that cause us pain and frustration in life are the great, there's a gold mine there for us to write comedy from. Because again, it can be serious, it can cause us pain, but what are we gonna do? Are we gonna cry about it? Are we gonna curse all day about it? We have to find a way to make light of it so that we have power over it. So comedy, for me, it's just, it's a great outlet and sometimes you can even get a message across. I love when I am performing, talking about aging as a woman, I'm about to turn 52 next weekend. Women at a certain age, they don't want it like for years, it's been like you don't talk about women aging and that's gotta change because you know, you can't just become, oh, you're obsolete after 35 or 40. It's like, you can't do that. So I kind of use it also as a platform to educate or to kind of advocate for women. Yeah, that's seriously awesome. Usually I know like a lot of people in terms of entertainment-wise, like wasn't say like woman in a family, like if I know like I heard a bunch of stories whether it's from a podcast or like, like reading through Google, like news outlets, that like people, especially a woman over 40, don't get as much movie roles or like, it rolls in general after they turn 40 because of how like how old they are, which is absolutely insane. And like when you speak up about those topics or it's like not getting as much roles after you turn 40, for example, like when you talk about that, like the civic problem, now how's it gonna bring more awareness to me? Like, oh, like I'm probably 45 years old and I have like gotten like three roles in the last like three years since that turn 40. So it's like, it's does bring a lot of stigma for people, especially women that are over 40 because like when you're like used to probably work every weekend, much of money and getting a bunch of roles, but then after you turn 40 and probably had kids, you didn't get a bunch of roles as much as you can use to. So it's like when you get that like problem, it does bring a lot of stigma and it causes a lot of like, not many problems, but just like you know, it's working as much as you want to, like feed your family and do things you want and generally do and stuff like that. And like, like, especially when we go to PSU, like my family's PSU fans, of course, they are especially if you live in Northeast PA, you have to be a PSU fan. So like, that's my alum. - Yeah, so my family went to PSU. So it's kind of, you know, I kind of have to go there. But it's like, what PSU, like PSU is really a great, like journalism communications program. Like if anyone's like looking to go into a communications journalism, anything related, go to PSU. That's all I'm saying. But do you have like any upcoming, like comedy games or anything like that? - Yeah, so I would say first, I would just give a plug to my uncorked with Funny Wine Girl podcast is on Spotify and Apple and they can find it in other places. But please check that out every Thursday. I release a new episode every Thursday morning. And as far as comedy October 12th, I will be at the Mountain View Vineyard and it's a winery in Stroudsburg. It's another ladies night and there's a comedians, two comedians coming up from Philadelphia, two other female comedians and myself. So it's gonna be a great night. And then November 9th in Pitston at the LBC Distillery. That's a nice tiny, I shouldn't say tiny, but it's a nice intimate, cozy atmosphere. So that one seats about 25. So I would encourage women if they want to go to that to check that out. I have the link for that. So it's a nice night to have a cocktail and enjoy some comedians myself and two other comedians as well. So I'm super excited about that. And you know, I mean, I add things every now and again, but right now those are the two that I've got coming up October and November. - Oh, perfect. Everyone go check it out. That seems to stay still at your fun time. And lastly, before we head out, how can people kind of like book you or try to find more information about you and about your work? - Yeah, so they can check out my website, funnywinegirl.com or they can just follow me on Instagram and Facebook. Funnywinegirl.genene. And just feel free to reach out, message me. I also do laughter yoga, laugh to live. It's for wellness sake. So you can always book me. But as far as ladies nights of comedy, if you're looking to do something for your organization or for a group of women, maybe you have a business that caters to women, give me a call or an email. And I'd be happy to organize something. It would be a lot of fun. - Perfect. Everyone go check her out. And thank you so much, Janie, for coming on and taking a time to come on. I'd appreciate so much. And I'm sure a lot of us would definitely check you out. I know your work is absolutely amazing. So I really appreciate you coming on together this time. And thank you everyone for listening to this new episode. And I'll catch you guys hopefully sometime soon and new episode. Thank you so much, Gengy Meen. - Thank you so much. (upbeat music)