Do This: See Comedian Chelsea Peretti At Just For Laughs

By Samantha Abernethy in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 11, 2013 10:00PM

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Comedian Chelsea Peretti is a writer, actor and stand-up comic performing four shows in Chicago this week with the Just For Laughs Festival.

Peretti has written for Parks & Rec, the Sarah Silverman Program and consulted on Portlandia. The early aughts viral-before-we-called-viral site BlackPeopleLoveUs.com is also among her writing credits. She also has a podcast called "Call Chelsea Peretti," in which strangers (and sometimes friends) call in to chat with her.

We did a Q&A with Peretti by email this week, in which she talks about how she got started and how her career has meandered through many comic pursuits and her role in upcoming sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Also, check out a sample video of her comedy below.

Peretti performs four shows at Stage 773 (The Pro) this week: June 13 at 8:30 p.m., June 14 at 8:30 p.m., June 15 at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Stage 773 is at 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets are on sale now.

Chicagoist: You're a stand-up, you've written for TV, you've acted — which came first? How did you get into entertainment, and what did you want to do when you started out?

CP: I actually did a lot of writing and acting pretty young. My mom used to be a teacher so she had me dictate stories to her before I could physically write and she would write them down. I acted in two plays at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco (A.C.T.) on the mainstage when I was in elementary school. I missed a lot of school. This is why I don't know geography or math. I also took classes at their young conservatory. In high school, for independent credit, I co-wrote and performed a play with two of my friends. In college I did improv, took playwriting and poetry classes, and did a one-woman show. Wow. I sound very Victorian.

C: You were a writer for Parks and Recreation, you've also done some acting, and now you've landed a role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine with Andy Samberg premiering this fall. Are you still focused on stand-up or are you focused on acting more?

CP: I'm real excited about Brooklyn Nine-Nine. We start shooting end of July. I have been doing a lot more acting lately and I'm really enjoying it again for the first time in years. Still love standup.

C: How did you get the idea for your podcast, "Call Chelsea Peretti"?

CP: I went through a time where I was responding a lot to people on twitter. I was having bizarre interactions with strangers on a daily basis that were exhilarating/terrifying/depressing. I've always been hit or miss with strangers socially. Interacting with people I don't know well kicks me into fight-or-flight mode. So I thought it would be a cool experiment to do a call-in show where I essentially paint myself into a corner with strangers. I get a lot of weird and apathetic callers but the nice part is some callers are fascinating and fun to talk to - we frequently wind up connecting and having great conversations. So the podcast is both affirming of the greatness of humanity and discouraging. It is nice to know I could potentially pursue my dream of being a shut-in and still have a version of human contact.

C: Why are you so mean to Pete Holmes? (See here, here and here.) How did the Peretti vs. Holmes dynamic start?

CP: It's like in the movie Hanna. Was Hanna "mean" to Cate Blanchett's character or was she an innocent girl fighting for her life? I actually don't fully remember but I think it applies. How about Game of Thrones? Is Khaleesi "mean" in your estimation? Or is she the first female Dothraki leader, a glorious queen leading her warriors. Etc. Think a little deeper bro. Life is way too real for the labels "nice" and "mean."