Karp ’22 Brings Trust Issues (and Jokes) to Stage with One-Woman Show
On the advice of comedy goddess Amy Poehler, Ruby Karp first performed standup at 11 years old.
“I grew up at [Upright Citizens Brigade],” said Karp ’22, whose mother was friends with UCBers. “The comics would bring me up to do bits with me. I started when I was 7, when Poehler started her Smart Girls series, and interviewed me about feminism.”
Today the Comedic Arts major is a rising star in the comedy world, with her one-woman show I Don’t Trust Adults being performed at the Soho Playhouse in New York through May 3. She also was a digital content creator for the CBS TV show After Midnight, and starred as Gen Z Ruby on Roku’s The Charlie Puth Show.
Her show opened at the Soho Playhouse in New York City on March 28. It tells the story of six different adults who caused “failed child star Ruby Karp to be forever suspicious of adults.”
“It’s a very solid blend between a one-woman show in theater and standup. It’s like if a one-woman show were funny, less artistic, and more experimental,” joked Karp. “It is artistic, but I’m a comedienne. It’s the true story of my life.”
The referenced six people are real, and thankfully none of them are in Karp’s life nowadays.
As for being a failed child star, Karp is philosophical.
“A lot of people think of the term ‘child star’ for kids who actually succeeded. A lot of people don’t realize that being an actor as an adult, there are levels and scales,” said Karp. “Many child stars who exist don’t hit the mainstream in the same way [that] some adult actors [do]. It hits a lot harder when you’re a child.”
Karp said while she continued to go on auditions and perform comedy, her star didn’t shine as a child performer, so she also worked to be a child journalist, activist, and author.
Theater Kid Meets Standup Comedienne
Karp described her comedy as energetic and dark.
“It’s like a theater kid became a standup comedian, but not in a bad way. It’s that kind of energy – a bit chaotic,” said Karp.
She jokes about her parents getting divorced when she was 3, which she doesn’t remember.
“My mom loves [my bits]. She comes to every single show of mine. I make a lot of fun of my mom,” said Karp. “Ever since I was a kid, my mom said she wanted me to talk about her. We Karps, we love attention. A lot of comedy comes from personal stuff. I do a lot of material about theater school and being a theater kid.”
Karp said when she started doing standup as a kid, she didn’t have material, she’d just go on stage and say whatever came to her mind. Now she barely goes off script unless she’s riffing, and greatly appreciates the art of standup.
“With standup, so much of it is trial and error and getting really, really, really comfortable with not being good,” said Karp. “The nature of standup is you get feedback in real time, and that’s the only way to hone a joke. Getting comfortable with failure helped me a lot, and not being hard on myself, and trusting the process.”
Karp said Emerson College’s Comedic Arts program was a great testing ground.
“The nature of the student body of Emerson is great practice for the real entertainment industry. I think it really forced me to be really funny.” said Karp. “It gave me a thicker skin. At Emerson, you’re surrounded by people who think they’re really funny. It forces you to get more real about comedy.”
Karp said Visual & Media Arts affiliated faculty member Tripp Whetsell’s standup comedy class had a big impact on her.
“I learned so much from his [History of Comedy] class. It has reshaped how I view standup.” Learning that comedy has existed for centuries from Performing Arts Assistant Professor Matt McMahan’s Evolution of Comedy class blew her mind.
Karp was also a member of the comedy troupe SwoMo (aka Swollen Monkeys), and they hang out often. “We’re still in touch and will meet at someone’s apartment with the intent of doing improv.”
Turning Not Trusting Adults Into a Show
Karp is enjoying the six-week off-Broadway run of her show, and hopes other opportunities to perform it arise.
The evolution of the show began during college as a rant in Google docs, with no intention of it seeing daylight. Then she met producer Amy Boland in the summer of 2023, and got talking about the topics of her rants. Boland read it and said they should make it into a show.
They began putting it on at smaller venues like Pete’s Candy Store and Room 52 in New York, and then progressed to Joe’s Pub last summer. They sent the Joe’s Pub tape to the Soho Playhouse, and were offered a six-week run.
For aspiring comedians, Karp’s advice is that if you’re not going to post on social media, you’ve got to get on stage.
“The way to be a comedian is to do it. Do open mics to meet other standup comedians. Legitimacy is made up. Everything is perception,” said Karp. “Doing an open mic makes you a comedian.”
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