Zane Helberg: Comedian, Podcaster, and Entrepreneur
I got to sit down and interview a fellow comedian and friend, Zane Helberg, about his life, his comedy career, his goals, and his podcast. Quite the interesting life and read! Be sure to click the links at the bottom to follow him on all the things!
How long have you been doing comedy?
About 12 years. I always knew I wanted to do comedy, but wasn’t sure in what capacity until I started doing open mics. Then, I was hooked. I’ve been doing it non-stop ever since.
Where are you from, originally? Nobody is truly from LA, right?
Haha, right. I’m originally from Tucson, Arizona, but I’ve been living in Los Angeles since 2003.
What are your parents’ names and what did/do they do? Name/Age for your siblings too.
My Parents, Art and Lauri Helberg are both pretty normal middle class people. My mom Lauri is a hair stylist. She is originally from Kansas City and moved to Tucson in the late 1970s. My Dad is an RV salesman. He’s been doing that for over 50 years. He’s originally from Morro Bay, California. My parents met in 1980. They got married and had me in 1984 and my brother Cole in 1985. My Dad has 3 kids from previous marriages: Art Jr., Arlen, and Lee So, in total there are 5 of us. We all live in different parts of the country, but stay in contact. I love my family because they always show up for me. We all understand the value of having a strong family.
Where did you go to school?
I went to college at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood, Ca. It was a two-year intensive drama program. I had been doing theater since I was a little kid and getting accepted to such a prestigious drama school was a dream come true. It created a strong foundation for working on the stage. Being comfortable acting in character in front of large groups of people helped make the transition to stand up very easy. Even when I was a brand new comic and bombing all the time, I was comfortable in front of large audiences. I was my most nervous at open mics and in front of my friends. So much so, that at a lot of open mics I could hardly perform. I wanted my friends to think I was funny so badly that I psyched myself out.
What are some of the jobs you had and descriptions before standup?
Before stand up I had a bunch of different jobs in the food industry. I mostly worked at restaurants. My first job was as a dishwasher when i was 16. Over the next 16 years I did everything in the restaurant business from busboy, to cook, to server, bartender and manager. My last job ever before stand up was Director of Operations at a restaurant group with locations in 3 cities.
Along the way I did a couple different odd jobs. For about a year and a half I was a door to door steak salesman. I sold frozen steaks out of the back of a pickup truck to the San Fernando Valley (yes, it was legal). It was so much work and I burned out of that pretty quickly. When I was 19, I worked at a Bally Total Fitness as a salesman for a few months. In 2006, when I was 21, I broke my hand and couldn’t wait tables for a while so I worked as a videographer and an editor — I had learned those skills in high school. I shot and edited for fun mostly, but when I couldn’t hold plates and needed to take a break from the restaurant, I was able to find work shooting yoga videos and other little corporate promo videos. I never really liked the tedium of editing, but for some reason I was good at it. By 2008 I was bored to tears as a videographer and returned to the restaurant business; working at a sports bar in Hollywood.
How did you get interested in comedy? And specifically stand up comedy
I always loved Jerry Seinfel. As a kid, my family would wait all week to watch Seinfeld on TV and it was my childhood dream to be a stand-up comedian. I never thought that would be possible so I started doing theater because that was something that was available to children. After college, a buddy of mine took a stand-up comedy workshop. I heard it was a lot of fun so I signed up so I could do stand-up one time and knock it off my bucket list. I got addicted to it immediately and never stopped.
What is your comedic style?
I am still trying to figure out what my comedic style really is. I tell jokes and stories about my life. Some are fully true, and some are completely exaggerated. I try to talk about things that make me laugh and those things tend to come from experiences in my life that caused me some level of pain or embarrassment. I
When did you move to LA? What Prompted it?
I moved to Los Angeles August 4th 2003. I wanted to move to L.A. to become a famous actor like Tom Cruise. I saw the first Mission Impossible movie and thought that it would be great to be the next Ethan Hunt. Here we are almost 20 years later, I’ve basically given up acting and Tom Cruise is making the 7th Mission Impossible. Maybe i’ll get my chance in the next 20 years.
Describe your struggles with addiction briefly and how long have you been sober
I’ve had trouble with addiction since I was 16 years old. I started smoking weed and drinking and it quickly took over my life. From age 16 to 28 I struggled with being a black out drinker and a drug addict. I did a lot of different drugs and that behavior really was ruining my life.
I have been sober since November of 2012. I can’t stress enough how life changing it was for me to quit using drugs and alcohol. All of my success in my personal and professional life is due to the fact that i’m sober.
Have you been a guest on any podcasts?
Some of the podcasts i’ve been featured on are: Community Service w/ Craig Conant, A little advice, Bad Times / Good People, Mental Illness Happy Hour, Punch Drunk Sports, and Cash Daddies. Most recently I was on Glitchin with my wife, Adrienne Airhart.
What is “Laugh to Live” and how did it start?
Quote “A couple years ago in January 2017, I started a program called Laugh to Live, where I started bringing standup comedy shows into drug treatment facilities.” It grew from one show a week up to 25 shows a month. They’re usually in person, and I travel to the facility with one or two other comedians.
Have you done any film work?
Yes! You can see everything I’ve done on my IMDB page.
Do you have any podcasts or weekly shows?
My current podcast is called, “How to SEEM rich so people like you”. It can be found on Spotify, Itunes. In this show I describe in detail what I’m doing to further my career and I give tips on how to live a rich and famous lifestyle.
What’s next for you?
I’m going on the road for a few months before I start a family, so just really grinding and doing as many shows as possible.
Thank you, Zane Helberg, for this insightful interview! Follow Zane on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and on his podcast, How To Seem Rich So People Like You.
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