New Comedian Success Story
It really makes me feel good when people succeed in the stand-up comedy arena.
I want to introduce you to a new comedian who is blazing the stand-up comedy trail in Austin, Texas.
Her name is Lashonda Lester and here is an email I got from her…
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Hi Steve,
My name is Lashonda Lester and I recently purchased some of your ebooks. I’m one of those people that had a really hard time “writing jokes”. I tried out a couple of books, but, naw they weren’t saying what I needed to hear.
In October 2008, I won my first stand-up comedy competition after being absent from the stage almost 8 years. I needed an easier way to prepare my act and found an article you wrote a while ago about what advice NOT to take.
I’m currently competing in the Funniest Person In Austin contest for the first time and I bought the Fast Start Guide to help me prepare and followed your advice exactly as you described it.
Happy to announce that Monday night, I advanced to the semi-finals in May!
Thank you sooo much for the stellar information and resources! I WILL be buying more of your products!
Lashonda Lester
Austin, TX
P.S. I counted 8-10 laughs per minute and I had a 7 minute set
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All I can say Lashonda is…
Thank you for your kind words and…
Don’t stop! Grab all the gusto you can. Or as said in the more colloquial vernacular…
You go girl!
So my question is this to everyone else:
What’s stopping YOU from dominating the stand-up comedy stage?
I will have another success story for you soon from an Australian lad named Mark Gladman who just took the plunge into full time, headlining comedy work after starting in 2005…
So stay tuned.
And get off your butt and go for your dreams!
Cheers,
Steve Roye
The Professor of Funny for Money
P.S. It took all of 13 minutes to grab the #1 position in Google for the term Lashonda Lester comedy with this blog post. So if you have a stand-up comedy success story, you might want to tell me about it. :-)
About the Author/Founder of The Stand-up Comedy Professional
Steve Roye is the author of the Killer Stand-up Comedy System and author of the content made available in the Comedy Pro Membership Program available on this site. Over the past decade, Steve has established himself as a leading, globally recognized expert in the field of stand-up comedy material development, delivery and entertainment business strategies for comedy entertainers as well as speaking professionals.
For more information about Steve, please check out the About The Author section on this site.

PS I got to this article by googling “Comedy Contests Texas” and it was first.
I’ve been thinking about getting your course and put it off. I will be getting it now. Why? Because I saw Lashonda’s set.
It’s nice to see how this ‘unknown’ in the Austin scene caused so much of a stir in the Austin stand-up community. I will be at her show May 11th, with bells on. Let’s hope next year I can do as well
Belinda
Hey Steve,
With the likes of Lashonda and, I am sure we will hear, others going great guns, we may have to go ahead with that get together for your “Alumni” that you and me and Plint and Peck and a few others talked about a couple of years ago…
Congratulations Lashonda – just be sure you let us know how you get on in May. Enjoy the comedy competition ride, but be careful: I am not sure what the rules for comedy comps in your area are, don’t be surprised if you disqualify yourself (as I did) from future competitions because you are earning too much from your comedy!
Cheers and Peace,
Mark G