As part of We Own The Laughs.com’s Comedian of the Day, have a few laughs and get to know comedian Cristina Morandi. The Sarasota, FL native shares some of her favorite moments in stand-up comedy and explains how she always owns the laughs.
Name: Cristina Morandi
Hometown: Tamarac FL/Sarasota FL
Instagram/Twitter/Tik-Tok: @morandi_laugh
Years in Comedy: 2
Haven’t we seen you somewhere before: You haven’t yet! Unless you got drunk and stumbled into a random club in Shibuya while on vacation in Japan!
Favorite Comedy Album: Anything Jim Breuer
Favorite Comedy Special: Anything Jim Breuer or Wanda Sykes
Favorite Comedy Movie: Some Like It Hot
Favorite Comedy TV Show: I Love Lucy
Favorite Comedic Character: Literally anything Jim Carrey gets his hands on.
Favorite City to Perform In: Tokyo – preferably after eating some ridiculously amazing food plus everyone in Japan is polite and laughs at all of your jokes even if they aren’t funny.
Favorite Topics to Joke About: Marriage, ailments, AI, life after a hysterectomy, breaking your toe, Uncle Fester, Motzart’s whisky dick, Popeye, and Hialeah.
Favorite Comedy Club: Tokyo Comedy Bar. I went on vacation and left with a group of amazing friends I wasn’t expecting.
How did you discover your passion for comedy:
My grandmothers died around the same time, and I loved them both even though they hated each other. I felt the world go dim for the whole family, but instead of sitting in the dark, I chose to shine brighter than ever before for them. Especially my Abuela Marina, who was a schizophrenic pianist who died horribly. Trying to live and laugh and play music as their legacy..
What do you remember most about your first time performing stand-up comedy:
I made fun of rich people in front of rich people and they hated it. My second mic was with my entire funeral party at my grandmother’s funeral. My family hated the set. I loved it. The comedians said I had balls. I’ve been trying to make my family laugh ever since but they still just randomly shout out “Frijoles”!
How would you describe your comedic style:
I’m a dyslexic comedian who plays violin, married twice, spent 15 years in Tech/AI, and is raising two kids under 5 years old. My style is LOCA.
I’ll play my violin, I’ll go on the floor, I’ll serenade and go out to the audience. I also love playing with my voice and embodying different personalities.
Describe your process for comedic writing:
No different than writing music or building a chair. I write down something as big as a hysterectomy, someone dying, or as little as breaking my toe, and those topics become motifs. Then I build melodies from the motif, and one day, my brain figures out how to put the melodies together as well as the music. Then, I practice the music over and over and over again and figure out when I want to talk vs. play. Vs hold the mic vs hold the violin.
Then I think about how it all relates to other people and write in crowd work, and I work on my facial expressions.
It may seem silly only stage but it’s a highly choreographed dance to say the least.
Describe the comedy scene in your area:
Sarasota is a hot spot for headliners and up-and-coming comics from the Tampa Bay Area.
How do you judge success in the world of comedy:
Laughs…it’s gotta be laughs…when people let you in and are open to thinking and feeling seen and heard, I know I’m going down the right path. Nothing else matters without that.
Who are some of your comedic peers that you enjoy watching perform or inspire you personally and professionally:
Andrew Goodone AKA Sir Andrew from Australia. Also, Steve Espinoza, Evans Musoka (he literally does 90 minutes of new material every month) Mikki, Ku Eugente (first person to introduce me to comedy), Raul Hernandez, Lorena Benedetto, Gray West, Akari, Yurie Collins, Nick Giasullo, and Barbie
What’s been your most memorable moment in comedy:
Having brunch with Josh Blue and my entire family. My four-year-old daughter is coming up with jokes for the legendary Josh Blue.
What have you learned most from your failures in comedy:
Work harder. Really know your violin runs as if you were born playing them.
How do people react toward you when they realize that you can make people laugh:
Women are usually intrigued and supportive. Men can be so weird, especially other comics that didn’t realize I was a comic to begin with.
Describe building a career in stand-up comedy:
It’s a process, and I’m still in the thick of it, to say the least! But every now and then, something surprising happens, and like anything, you have to take full advantage of the opportunity and go big – even if it means playing a violin solo in the middle of your set.
If you could change one thing in the world of comedy, what would it be:
How to pay the performers and the staff better. Also Dick jokes…there are too many dick jokes. I have a son, so I’ve technically made a dick from scratch and I still don’t get the obsession with dick jokes.
Best advice you’ve ever received from a comedian:
“F*cking breathe” – Steve Espinoza (@estevecomedy)
If you were releasing a comedy special this week, what would it be called:
“Can I tag my ex-boyfriend’s in this?”
Funniest encounter you’ve ever had with a celebrity:
All I can say is that there was a time I used to make Ron Jeremy laugh, and there’s another time I ended up in Fat Joe’s music video – even though I didn’t know the lyrics.
Weirdest place you’ve ever performed any form of comedy:
My friend’s serious Bridal Shower. I thought of a joke while buying her a last-minute gift on my way to the event. It was a super classy event and my mother in law was present but I still decided to do an impromptu set that mentioned my husband’s ass play – yes in front of my mother in law.
All of the women were laughing so hard that some fell on the floor. One woman even asked my mother-in-law if I was going to become a professional comedian, and my mother-in-law said ABSOLUTELY NOT without hesitation.
A Cristina Morandi Fun Fact:
I’m the world’s worst skydiver who is still alive. I spent my 20s driving the largest environmental monitoring initiative in history, costing over 65 billion dollars in total. My favorite place in the world I’ve ever visited is Madagascar, although I wish it were 20 degrees cooler and I never found King Julien’s dance party.
These are all true.
Where would you like your laughs to take you:
Making many, many, many people (mothers, wives, people stuck in the corporate rat race, neurodivergents, and people with hidden disabilities) feel seen and heard and get a break from the day with a laugh.
What would you tell a potential comedian if they ask you how they can own the laughs:
Write a different set every time you go up on stage the first six months. Write for 7 minutes, then chop it in half. Perform the 3.5 minutes within 5 minutes connecting with the audience. Perfection is for Itzhak Perlman and classical musicians. Write – don’t perfect your performances – and don’t fit in. Feel it, own it, be uncomfortable.
What are your thoughts on the future of comedy:
We are going to become an industry of editors instead of creators that people rely too much on.
1. Data-driven jokes/jokes based on trends.
2. AI is used too much as a crutch because people stop living their lives or get lazy.
I’ve given birth twice without an epidural, I’ve almost died multiple times, I’ve watched my newborn premature child struggle and heart flatline over and over again but still survive…and that’s where the core is, the fire, the inspiration. That’s what it’s all about, and I hope that we don’t lose the human experience to love and lose and give birth and fight because if we lose living in all of its good and bad, we lose love. We lose comedy.
If you could write an episode for ONE classic TV sitcom, which show would it be:
It wouldn’t be a sitcom; it would be a Love is Blind reality show where HALF of the eligible bachelors/bachelorettes behind the wall are not real people BUT AI that you’re talking to.
The people who pick AI are met with a dildo at the reveal.
The people who pick real people get engaged like the real show. And my ex-boyfriends, of course, would be part of this and get humiliated, and handed a dildo ideally.
If you could choose ONE comedy club and THREE comedians to perform with on your perfect comedy show, how would it go:
It wouldn’t be a club it would be a Benihana so that I could have hibachi while literally any 3 female comedians – who wanted to vent about their husbands or their bad days or the bullshit they have to deal with could come and vent and break shit on stage if they wanted to and eat lots of hibachi if they needed to.
Everyone would wear whatever they wanted and smoke whatever they wanted and cry whenever they wanted.
I have respect for every woman up there, especially mothers. This is impossible!
What’s next for you:
Touring in Japan and the Philippines, All Female Empowerment showcase in Miami April 12, shows in Miami/Florida/All over Texas/ LA.
Launching a local Sarasota comedy/violin/variety special inspired by Moulin Rouge meets Southern Rock. I’m also opening for Josh Blue and other headliners throughout the year and performing on violin with Cowboy Diplomacy while in Texas.
Checkout morandicomedy.com for more information.
Why should a person always laugh at life:
Because as us Cubans know – La vida es un Carnavale!
Follow Cristina Morandi’s comedic journey on these social media websites:
Instagram/Twitter: Cristina Morandi
