Kate Banford Rightfully Misses Facebook Events

Despite living in these frankly precedented times, we are fully existing in the future. And a futuristic lifestyle calls for a modern approach to our traditional “Follow Friday” column. We at Vulture have pivoted from our Luddite ways, opting for a more interactive digital angle on what was once mere text on a web page. We want you to get to know our favorite up-and-coming comics, writers, and generally funny social-media presences face-to-face (or at least screen-to-screen). So we hope you enjoy our new and improved Instagram Live–based version of “Follow Friday.”

This week, I sat down with the casually inspirational Kate Banford (the Elysian, Good Good Comedy Theater, raising money to make the incredibly silly short film she co-wrote, Three Banks) for a chat about accidental careers, hummingbirds, and upstate New York. She told us the story behind opening her first comedy venue one $500-rent-per-week at a time, waxed nostalgic on the cultural phenomenon that was Facebook events, and ranked all the comics who have performed at the Elysian from worst to best (just kidding, she rudely refused to). She also gave some extremely prescient advice on how to juggle doing … well, everything: “Go to therapy. [Laughs.] I will also say this: While sometimes it feels like everything is happening so fast while you’re doing all these different things — this is advice that I’m giving to someone else but that I’m also trying to take for myself constantly — it’s important to slow down, step back, and reflect. Because you’ll never move forward if you don’t.”

You can find Kate on Twitter at @kbanf and on Instagram at @katebanford.