Humanities
She Who Laughs Last
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Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: what do you get when you cross a flair for humor with Judaic studies, comparative literature, and creative writing?
A career in comedy, of course.
It’s no joke—Lauren Greenhall ’12 (Judaic studies, comparative literature) has produced shows for the New York Comedy Festival, a massive five-day celebration in the Big Apple. She’s worked for Comedy Central’s Comedy Underground with Dave Attell.
And her latest gig? Working with Neil Patrick Harris for NBC’s Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, a modernized variety show that played off the Emmy and Tony Award–winning performer’s myriad skills.
Greenhall—now a video producer for The Huffington Post—would be the first to admit that her career path has been somewhat, to use her word, “scattered.” But it’s easy to see how the liberal arts ties it all together.
“People associate being a liberal arts major with someone who’s lazy or unemployable,” Greenhall said. “The longer I’m in production, it seems like some of the people come from (broadcast backgrounds) but the majority of them are people who are just obsessed with ideas.”
Greenhall’s experience in comparative literature was all about ideas, she said—as in, how far can you stretch one before it breaks? Could she make a credible argument that, say, Lawrence of Arabia was really a commentary on sexual repression in
the 1960s?
“(Comparative literature) is a great exercise in thinking outside of the box,” Greenhall said. “You learn how to think creatively.”
In her creative writing classes, Greenhall learned that “done is better than perfect”—that even if you aren’t quite ready to share your work, sometimes it’s better to put it out into the world and see what happens. “‘Perfect’ may never come,” she said, “and you only truly get better at anything through constant hard work and grinding.”
Greenhall practiced team dynamics in Judaic studies. In a biblical Hebrew course, for example, students work as a team to read and translate a text they’ve never seen before. They look up words in the lexicon, break each word down to its root, and consider the whole of the verses, asking, “Is that really what that verse means?”
“You’re really pushing against people and people are really helping you with your ideas,” Greenhall said. “How do you communicate that something isn’t working? How does someone communicate that to you? How do you ‘workshop’ an idea?
“In my career, and in any career that focuses on teamwork and collaboration, having this background helps tremendously.”
Working with Harris was a high-water mark of sorts for Greenhall’s nascent career. Her job, in part, was to rehearse with the actor-comedian to get his own creative juices flowing. Playing the role of potential show participants, Greenhall would flub a line or act oddly, she said, to try to throw Harris off his game.
“You would mess up a word on purpose or curse or do weird things, but he is just so quick on his toes,” Greenhall said. “His improv abilities are insane.”
Greenhall also has a video interview with Seahawks football coach Pete Carroll to her credit, no small thing for this proud Seattleite. She focused on Carroll’s inspiring approach to success in all areas of life, not just on the gridiron.
The hits just keep coming—literally.
One of Greenhall’s latest projects for The Huffington Post was a Thanksgiving special: she produced a video on a vegan farm that celebrates by cooking up a huge meal for its turkeys—rather than cooking the turkeys themselves. At last glance, the video had been viewed more than 6.4 million times.
“I never thought my claim to Internet fame would involve a band of turkeys,” Greenhall said. “But I’m pretty happy about it.”
—Matt Cooper