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Clean Contest Winner Helen Anderson - Conquering Perfectionism, How to Write Clean Jokes, + MORE
This episode of Hot Breath! features the winner of the February 2025 Clean Comedy Contest, Helen Anderson. Helen shares her experience crafting a brand-new 60-second comedy set, battling perfectionism, and embracing self-promotion. We dive into the writing process, the power of deadlines, and how clean comedy can open doors to more opportunities. Helen also talks about performing for 3,000 people at a corporate Christmas party and the lessons she has learned on her comedy journey.
Join this month's contest here: https://buy.stripe.com/aEU7tv9v08GHbfO28a
Follow Helen on social media here: https://www.instagram.com/helenandersoncomedy/
If you’re a comedian looking to sharpen your writing skills, gain confidence in your material, and take advantage of clean comedy gigs, this episode is packed with inspiration and actionable insights.
Key Takeaways
- The Power of Deadlines – Helen submitted her set just two minutes before the deadline, proving that pushing past perfectionism can lead to success.
- Writing Process – She used Scott Dikkers’ "Funny Filters" to refine her material and workshop it with other comics.
- Community Matters – Engaging in comedy groups and contests provides valuable feedback and motivation.
- The Value of Clean Comedy – Helen’s clean material helped her land a gig in front of 3,000 people, showing that “clean is green” in the comedy world.
- Self-Promotion is Key – Helen overcame her hesitation and actively promoted her contest entry—something all comics should embrace.
- Consistency Wins – Building a comedy career takes persistence, and setting small, regular writing goals can help comics stay on track.
Transcript
Ladies and gentlemen of the Clean Comedy Contest, we are bringing on this month's winner.
Speaker A:And if you want to compete in next month's contest, just go in the link in the show notes where you can join and compete to win a hundred dollars and an interview on Hot Breath, like today's winner.
Speaker A: to the Hot breath verse, the: Speaker B:Helen, thanks so much for holding this contest.
Speaker B:I, I feel like I'm winning the Oscar.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker A:That is the goal.
Speaker A:I really want to play it up and really give a fun platform for comics who put in the work.
Speaker A:It's a lot of work to write a new 60 second set in two weeks.
Speaker A:People on the surface it sounds like, oh, you just write new jokes in two weeks.
Speaker A:But to actually do it, see it all the way through, write the set, edit the set, record the set, upload the set, like, it's actually a lot.
Speaker A:So anytime people, I, I see people that just even finish the drill and like enter the contest all the way to submitting, I salute.
Speaker A:Because it's a lot of work.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And I submitted at the very last minute.
Speaker B:I think it was like two minutes before 5:00 Eastern Time.
Speaker B:And, and that's because, you know, I think a lot of comics, they struggle with perfectionism.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:So I kept thinking, I'm gonna think of something better.
Speaker B:And then finally I thought, no, I'm just gonna do it.
Speaker B:And I was at work when I recorded a Little Quiet.
Speaker B:I thought, I probably shouldn't be doing this at work.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:How do you, that's an interesting point though.
Speaker A:How do you deal with perfectionism?
Speaker A:How do you kind of overcome it and just do instead of think?
Speaker B:Well, something like this contest helps because it gives me a clear deadline.
Speaker B:And so this forces me to, you know, plow through, hit send, and then see what happens.
Speaker A:And we see the results of that in you winning and my wife, we watch all the contests together.
Speaker A:And yeah, yours was definitely one that stood out of just the see through line.
Speaker A:I mean, there's so many lines in your set of take us through.
Speaker A:Like, you get the theme of love.
Speaker A:This contest theme of this month is love.
Speaker A:So kind of where do you start?
Speaker A:And then how do you start to develop material that's ready to post?
Speaker A:Because it's a great set.
Speaker B:Oh, thank you.
Speaker B:And I'll tell you, one of the lines I took out because I thought it might be too much is I was going to say I bought some sexy glasses at the naughty eyeglasses store at the mall.
Speaker B:Victoria's Secret.
Speaker B:That might be pushing puns a little too much.
Speaker B:But anyway, you.
Speaker B:Maybe not.
Speaker B:Maybe I should have kept it in.
Speaker B:But you gave us some writing prompts, actually, and that's what this came from.
Speaker B:So on the first day, you gave us writing prompts, and one of the prompts was, what's something kind of unusual that you love?
Speaker B:And I made a list of, like, four or five things, and one of them is, I do.
Speaker B:I just love it when my husband puts his reading glasses on.
Speaker B:It's attracting me from the very beginning.
Speaker B:And he doesn't always wear glasses like I do.
Speaker B:And so I think that's important because then it leaves something to the imagination.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So he only has them on occasionally.
Speaker B:Anyway, so I wrote.
Speaker B:I try to write like 30 minutes or more a day, and it only happens maybe four or five times a week, but I just kind of wrote a few paragraphs expanding on that, and then the next day revisited it and tried to pick out the kernels of a good joke.
Speaker B:And I apply something called the funny filters from Scott Dickers.
Speaker B:Are you familiar with Scott Dickers?
Speaker B:That helps me a lot, because then I'll take a nugget of an idea and apply the funny filters like wordplay or, you know, exaggeration and things like that.
Speaker A:Oh, that's great.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I've had Scott on the show a few times.
Speaker A:Yeah, he's a great resource for writing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So I'm just curious, how much did you write versus how much did you, like, keep.
Speaker A:To edit it down to 60 seconds is a challenge in itself.
Speaker B:I probably wrote, like, a page of ideas, most of which wasn't funny.
Speaker B:And then I think I probably pulled out six to eight jokes with a setup and a punchline and narrowed it down to, I think, four or five.
Speaker B:I did run it through.
Speaker B:I think it's good practice.
Speaker B:I don't always get to do this, but I vetted it with another group that I am a part of, and I think I changed one or two things based on their suggestions, and that helped.
Speaker A:Great.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that's what I loved in.
Speaker A:In the contest, like, Facebook group, as well as people would post and, like, share ideas and stuff as they were developing.
Speaker A:So I liked.
Speaker A:I'm glad it's also.
Speaker A:It has a community feel.
Speaker A:It is a competition, but it's still collaborative, which I really.
Speaker A:I really love about this contest as well.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I've enjoyed being part of the Facebook group for this specific contest too.
Speaker B:There's a great, great camaraderie and supportive feeling.
Speaker B:And also, I appreciate Scott and Sandy.
Speaker B:They were very supportive, including leading up to this final.
Speaker B:And Sandy, you know, Sandy's impressive.
Speaker B:She's one of the regular winners of the daily contest jump contest on your Facebook page.
Speaker B:So I knew the competition was tough.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, it was good.
Speaker A:I liked.
Speaker A:I was excited to see Sandy in the finals for the reason of, like, she does this contest a lot as well, and she's.
Speaker A:She could sometimes go on the line of like, oh, is this dirty?
Speaker A:So to challenge people to write clean and then to see her be like, okay, I can do clean also, and that make it to the finals.
Speaker A:I just love seeing comics, like, evolve and develop in real time like that, because I.
Speaker A:I feel like every comic can be clean if they just understand how to do it.
Speaker A:I feel like every comic can learn the skill of right clean, you know, if they're not naturally clean.
Speaker A:Because it's just super valuable to be able to have clean jokes when an event asks you to be clean and you can say yes to it and actually get paid.
Speaker B:That's what I hear.
Speaker B:I've heard people say clean is green.
Speaker B:Is that the phrase?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm still new in the my comedy journey, and I'm just starting to get paid gigs here and there, but I am hopeful that having a lot of clean material will eventually lead to a lot more opportunities.
Speaker B:That's what I've heard.
Speaker A:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker A:And comedy is a marathon as well.
Speaker A:I want people to realize that.
Speaker A:That it's like, oh, I have a clean set.
Speaker A:Where's.
Speaker A:Where's my Netflix special?
Speaker A:Or whatever.
Speaker A:Like, it is still a marathon.
Speaker A:But throughout my career, I've had just random events come up of, like, a company potluck where you're literally standing in a conference room just telling jokes at, like, noon.
Speaker A:But those kind of events that pop up randomly early in your career, like, those could pay more than 50 other little shows that you do around.
Speaker A:And all shows in stage time are valuable, but also it feels good when you can just say yes to that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:Oh, for sure.
Speaker B:This is a little bit of a story.
Speaker B:I hope you have the time for it.
Speaker B:But when I first started to do stand up at my work, Nate Bargazzi was coming for our Christmas party.
Speaker B:He was the going to be the entertainment.
Speaker B:And so I reached out to the organizers and said, hey, does he need an opener?
Speaker B:And I was just half joking because I didn't think they'd say yes.
Speaker B:And they said no.
Speaker B:But the word started getting out that I did Stand up comedy.
Speaker B:So the following year, I actually got to perform for my company at our Christmas party.
Speaker B:And so I got to perform in a basketball arena with like over 3,000 people and eight minutes.
Speaker B:It was clean, but it did really well.
Speaker B:And it was a huge shot in the arm for continuing to do this.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:What company do you work for?
Speaker B:Can.
Speaker B:I work for an essential oil company in Utah?
Speaker A:Jeez.
Speaker B:Doterra, if you know Doterra.
Speaker B:Doterra, yeah, Doterra.
Speaker A:Oh, your Christmas party is in an arena.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:So, yeah.
Speaker A:Well, I know a clean comedian who does Christmas parties if you need one.
Speaker A:I can.
Speaker A:We can discuss it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Can I open for you?
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker A:Please.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:That'll help sell it.
Speaker A:Like, he said I could open for him, guys.
Speaker A:So we should really do.
Speaker A:We should have Joel come out to the Christmas party.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's.
Speaker A:That's such a cool story, though.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:3,000 people at a Christmas party.
Speaker A:That's incredible.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it helped that I had the clean material already, you know.
Speaker A:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker A:So I must ask, what is your favorite joke of your set?
Speaker B:Oh, of the set in the.
Speaker B:The one I submitted for the competition.
Speaker A:The one you submitted?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:My favorite joke is the one at the end.
Speaker B:The love isn't blind, but it might require a prescription.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, There's.
Speaker A:Yeah, there's so many fun.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:It was just very well written.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I'm gonna steal all of that material.
Speaker A:That is.
Speaker A:That's really the point of this contest is I just steal everyone's material and then I'll talk about my husband and his glasses, and my wife will be like, what.
Speaker A:What is happening?
Speaker A:So you're based in Utah?
Speaker B:I'm in Utah, yes.
Speaker A:You're in Utah.
Speaker A:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:How long you been doing comedy?
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I took some classes four years ago, but it's just been in the last year that I've given it more attention.
Speaker B:I do it on the side.
Speaker B:I have a day job, a full time job, and I do it, you know, at nights and weekends.
Speaker B:And so I've just really been focused on that.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:Really putting more time into it this past year and developing a community and doing things like this.
Speaker B:And speaking of community, I want to say thank you to everyone who came to watch this and helped me promote it.
Speaker B:I really appreciate that.
Speaker A:Yeah, you had some peeps show out here and they were in the comments here and they had their own word plays as well, which was really funny.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know.
Speaker A:We had.
Speaker A:Mallory said.
Speaker A:Hilarious.
Speaker A:Helen.
Speaker B:Mallory's Hilarious too.
Speaker A:And SLC queen bee said funny as Helen.
Speaker A:So you got some good supportive people in there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they kept it clean, isn't that.
Speaker A:They did.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was, it was fun to see.
Speaker A:I love that in the, I love the chat interactions in these live streams as well as well.
Speaker A:Well, this is, this is so cool.
Speaker A:I'm so excited for you, Helen.
Speaker A:Seriously, the set was absolutely incredible.
Speaker A:I mean, I know you said you're kind of newer to comedy and still getting into it, but I mean I, based on that said, I feel like you do have a lot of good like just insights into writing and such and your voice.
Speaker A:So is there anything for advice you could share or insights that maybe doing this contest and developing this set kind of brought to your attention or just something that's kind of helped you continue to be consistent?
Speaker B:So yeah, I think it's important to give yourself little goals and to shake things up a little bit.
Speaker B:So like I said, I, I try to write regularly, but it's nice to do something like this.
Speaker B:Enter a contest to give me a, a slightly different objective and something to focus on and motive, new motivation for writing.
Speaker B:And also, yeah, it was a good reminder to not be too much of a perfectionist because like I said, I, I was, I didn't even share this in the Facebook group because I was so self conscious.
Speaker B:I thought, I'm not sure this is good.
Speaker A:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:So it's, it's important to remember that it's good to put it out there and our perception may not be valid.
Speaker B:And also the other thing is I think it's important to get comfortable with self promotion.
Speaker B:Self promotion is hard.
Speaker B:And yesterday I decided again I was feeling kind of self conscious about my entry.
Speaker B:I wasn't sure how good it was.
Speaker B:So it took a little leap of faith to promote the finale asking people to watch it.
Speaker B:So I reached out to family and friends and posted about on social media, as did Sandy and Scott.
Speaker B:And I'm glad they were, you know, pointing everyone this direction to the finale.
Speaker B:And I'm happy people turned out and invested the time to watch it.
Speaker A:How did you overcome that resistance to be like, okay, fine, I'm going to put myself out there.
Speaker B:I guess one thing is I just had to remind myself of other times when I thought something might not be good and yet, yet it turned out okay and just developing a tolerance for embarrassment if it wasn't good, you know, I, I had, I guess reminded myself that I can get comfortable with being embarrassed sometimes and, and I don't Always.
Speaker B:It doesn't always have to be great, so.
Speaker A:Yeah, it doesn't have to be great.
Speaker A:It almost.
Speaker A:It's like, I think there's something of, like, done is better than good or.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:What is it?
Speaker B:Something perfection is the enemy of good or something like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's basically.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Focusing on the.
Speaker A:The process instead of the outcome and kind of just creating from a sense of.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Enjoying what you're doing instead of what you may get from it.
Speaker A:In a sense, maybe.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Focusing on the journey.
Speaker B:In fact, I also am part of an accountability group, a group of comedy writers who once a week talk to each other about what they got done and what they're planning to do the next week.
Speaker B:And so for two weeks, I said, hey, I entered a com.
Speaker B:A clean comedy contest.
Speaker B:I'm working on that.
Speaker B:And then last week, I said, okay, I entered at the very last minute.
Speaker B:I'm not sure how it'll do, but I entered.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And so having that accountability group also kind of forced me to get over my reluctance or whatever and.
Speaker B:And just do it.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Last two minutes.
Speaker A:You squeezed it in at.
Speaker A:You said at the 5pm deadline, and you did it anyway.
Speaker A:And look at the.
Speaker A:Look at the results of getting out of our way can really help you go farther.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And I know there were so many other good entries.
Speaker B:I saw a lot of good ones in the Facebook group.
Speaker B:And just a shout out to everyone who entered.
Speaker B:There's a lot of talent there that.
Speaker B:That only increased my, you know, perfectionism.
Speaker B:But anyway, yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker B:There's.
Speaker B:There's a lot of great content in that group.
Speaker A:And Scott said that you have really good stuff on IG as well.
Speaker A:Have you been more consistent on social media and stuff?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I thank you, Scott, and thanks for letting me plug my Instagram page.
Speaker B:You can find me on.
Speaker B:@helenanderson comedy on Instagram.
Speaker B:So it's just been.
Speaker B:So I entered through my regular personal Facebook page because that's the one that's been following you.
Speaker B:Your.
Speaker B:Your page.
Speaker B:But yeah, on Instagram, I've kind of been building that over the past year, and I've been a little bit more consistent.
Speaker B:I'm still learning through trial and error, but like you said, it's the journey.
Speaker B:I'm not building a lot of followers quickly, but I am building community.
Speaker B:That's been really rewarding is to have people engage and building friendships and being able to support other people in the comedy world.
Speaker B:In my local comedy crowd, you know, giving them support and, and getting good feedback from them.
Speaker B:So, yeah.
Speaker B:HelenAnderson comedy.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:Yeah, I just followed you.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Yeah, very cool.
Speaker A:Yeah, you have some cool stuff on here.
Speaker A:A mom of four grown kids.
Speaker A:An attorney.
Speaker A:Yes, yes, My heavens.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah, an attorney for this.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:And I have a co worker who's on maternity leave right now too, and so I'm taking on a lot of her workload.
Speaker B:So that's made it a.
Speaker B:That's another reason why it kind of came to the down to the wire when I recorded and, and submitted.
Speaker B:But I'm all for maternity leave.
Speaker B:I think that's great.
Speaker B:All four babies.
Speaker A:So, yeah, my wife is currently on it and yeah, love loving it.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's great.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I just followed you and please, everyone follow Helen at Helen Anderson on Instagram.
Speaker A:Is there anything else that you would like to promote while you have the floor?
Speaker B:Helen Anderson, Comedy on Instagram.
Speaker B:And I, I have some, I have some shows coming up.
Speaker B:They're all here local.
Speaker B:So if you're local, you can see me in Ogden at the VFW in Ogden on next Saturday, March 7th.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:And then I have another show that's through something called the Do Kind collective on the 22nd and the details are on my Instagram page.
Speaker A:Yay.
Speaker A:Well, Helen Anderson, congratulations.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Give her the applause.
Speaker A:Sound effect, well deserved.
Speaker A:The set was absolutely hilarious.
Speaker A:So Hot Breath verse, go follow Helen on social media.
Speaker A:Go see her live if you're in the area and if you want to compete in March's contest, you can just go to the link in the show notes and sign up and maybe you will hear yourself on Hot Breath.
Speaker B:Thanks, Joel.
Speaker B:It's been an honor.
Speaker B:Thank you, everyone.
Speaker A:Have a good day.
Speaker A:Bye.
