{"id":29154,"date":"2025-03-04T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/?p=29154"},"modified":"2025-03-04T10:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T16:51:43","slug":"the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/alumni-student-news\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\/","title":{"rendered":"The funny truth: English alum brings her comedy chops to \u201cThe Non-Fiction Show\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was just one off-hand comment, but it changed the course of Katie Visser\u2019s life forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Associate professor of English) Valerie Laken was my committee chair, and I was going through the thesis project process at 51ÁÔÆæ,\u201d Visser said. \u201cShe asked, \u2018Did you know that the stuff you\u2019re writing is coming off like it\u2019s supposed to be performed? Did you know that?\u2019 And I was like, no! I didn\u2019t! That changes everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more she thought about it, the more Visser liked the idea of writing for stage or television. She began to do her research. Where did screenwriters get their start? Where did they work? How could she get there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI basically cold-Googled the writers in the credits of the shows that I loved at the time,\u201d she said. \u201cAlmost all of them, unanimously, were trained up and came through the Chicago comedy scene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her new master\u2019s degree in hand, Visser went to Chicago to study comedy writing at the fabled Second City<\/a>. Then, she went to Los Angeles and found her calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going onstage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Katie Visser is a writer, performer, and filmmaker, but perhaps most importantly, she\u2019s the co-founder and co-host of a monthly variety hour called \u201cThe Non-Fiction Show<\/a>.\u201d The show is gaining popularity and features poets, essayists, storytellers, and a live musical act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
51ÁÔÆæ English alumna Katie Visser is a co-host of The Non-Fiction Show, a monthly variety hour featuring essayists, poets, and subject matter experts. Image courtesy of Katie Visser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then we have the segment that makes us different from other variety hours going on around town,\u201d Visser said. \u201cEach month, we have an expert. We find someone who is an expert in either a really niche industry or topic to, in an entertaining way, educate the audience and let them go home with some knowledge they didn\u2019t have before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Non-Fiction Show has featured astrologers, magicians from The Magic Castle, a professional wrestler, and even a Jim Henson puppeteer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visser said anyone can appear on the show, but the rule is in the name: Every piece performed must be nonfiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Co-host Julie Pearson and I) were seeing all of these variety hours in town where everybody was doing improv or was a character on stage,\u201d Visser said. \u201cWe want people to be their vulnerable selves on stage, and they are. They really show up, and the audience really responds to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trick is finding talented people. Visser and Pearson do their own booking and regularly haunt Los Angeles\u2019 arts showcases and open mic nights to scout performers. They recruit through word-of-mouth and host open calls to bring a variety of people onstage for the variety show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to booking, Visser and Pearson also handle all of the behind-the-scenes logistics: reserving venues, marketing, press, and everything else needed to make a show run smoothly. They both perform regularly as well. Their efforts have paid off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of comedy shows happening in LA, and I think we\u2019ve got a very specific niche. Our performers like working with us. We\u2019ve really hit a groove,\u201d Visser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working off stage<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While The Non-Fiction Show is enjoying success, Visser still has her own artistic dreams. In 2023, she completed her first short film, a lesbian romantic comedy called \u201cFlirting<\/a>,\u201d and is in the process of submitting the work to film festivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Katie Visser’s short film, “Flirting,” was made in 2023 and draws from her dating experiences. Image courtesy of Katie Visser.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(The film, Visser said, started as an assignment from her therapist, who asked Visser to address her anxiety around dating by writing a scene where two people flirt with each other. Visser completed the exercise and then realized she had the beginnings of a good script. \u201cI got no closer to my dating goals, but I did write a film and then make it,\u201d she joked.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s also worked in television as an assistant and in the writers\u2019 room for some television projects, as well as with a production company that made pitches to Amazon Studios. She\u2019s starting to follow in the footsteps of the writers she once Googled, though Visser laments that screenwriting is a tough industry to break into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, she has been growing her portfolio. Her work includes pilots for television shows and scripts that have placed well in screenwriting competitions. Her latest project draws on her work from The Non-Fiction Show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do comedy, comedy essays, and comedy nonfiction in the show. I\u2019ve been writing these pieces for a couple of years now, and I\u2019ve got a good half a manuscript\u2019s worth of essays that come from life,\u201d Visser said. She\u2019s working on turning that into a full manuscript. It\u2019s a reversal of Professor Laken\u2019s observation all those years ago, Visser added with a smile. This time, the pieces she wrote to perform are meant to be read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Katie Visser performs at The Non-Fiction Show. Photo by Andy Forsberg.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Midwestern roots<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Visser has firmly established herself in Los Angeles, but she\u2019s never forgotten her Midwestern roots. She grew up in Milwaukee and attended 51ÁÔÆæ because it was close to home. She\u2019s a two-time graduate, earning her bachelor\u2019s and then her master\u2019s degree in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe longer I was at 51ÁÔÆæ, and the more I focused on my major, the better an experience it was. It was incredible,\u201d Visser said. \u201cI loved the faculty. I had great professors and mentors the whole time. \u2026 Valerie Laken taught me how to write, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has advice for today\u2019s students: \u201cGravitate toward what you like and what\u2019s fun for you. Let it light you up and guide you because goals take forever to reach, and tons of it is deeply unglamorous. Do the stuff that you really love, which is fun for you and will carry you through all of that work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, you\u2019ll have something amazing to show for it. Visser is excited to be able to show her work, and one of her dreams is to someday take The Non-Fiction Show on the road and perform in the Midwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that happens, she said, UW-Milwaukee will definitely be a stop on the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was just one off-hand comment, but it changed the course of Katie Visser\u2019s life forever. \u201c(Associate professor of English) Valerie Laken was my committee chair, and I was going through the thesis project process at 51ÁÔÆæ,\u201d Visser said. \u201cShe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":785,"featured_media":29155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1848,1648,1956,1946],"tags":[1853],"class_list":["post-29154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-student-news","category-in-focus","category-in-focus-2025","category-in-focus-spotlight","tag-march"],"yoast_head":"\nLetters & Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/alumni-student-news\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The funny truth: English alum brings her comedy chops to \u201cThe Non-Fiction Show\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was just one off-hand comment, but it changed the course of Katie Visser\u2019s life forever. \u201c(Associate professor of English) Valerie Laken was my committee chair, and I was going through the thesis project process at 51ÁÔÆæ,\u201d Visser said. \u201cShe …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/in-focus\/alumni-student-news\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letters & Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-04T06:01:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-04T16:51:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/letters-science\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2025\/02\/Visser-performng.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Vickery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Vickery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/alumni-student-news\\\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/alumni-student-news\\\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Vickery\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79ba9316328e022fb78add26239f8453\"},\"headline\":\"The funny truth: English alum brings her comedy chops to \u201cThe Non-Fiction Show\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-04T06:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-04T16:51:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/alumni-student-news\\\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1073,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/alumni-student-news\\\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/255\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/Visser-performng.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"March\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni and Student News\",\"In Focus\",\"In Focus 2025\",\"In Focus Spotlight\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/alumni-student-news\\\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/letters-science\\\/in-focus\\\/alumni-student-news\\\/the-funny-truth-english-alum-brings-her-comedy-chops-to-the-non-fiction-show\\\/\",\"name\":\"The funny truth: English alum brings her comedy chops to \u201cThe Non-Fiction Show\u201d - 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