When Venting Pays Off

Nina G is a stand-up comic. In fact, she bills herself as San Francisco’s favorite (and only) female stuttering comedian. Nina grew up laughing at Steve Martin in reruns of Saturday Night Live and finding comfort in Howard Stern’s pull-no-punches humor. But she swept her dream of performing aside, obtained a doctorate in psychology, and became a professor and counselor for students with disabilities. Years later, an acquaintance invited her to an open-mic night and she stepped up herself, finally diving into comedy. Nina is still a teacher and advocate, but her time onstage brings her both joy and relief.

How did you change when you became a comedian?

I made a deal with myself shortly before I started doing comedy that when a heckler said something rude about my stuttering, I would say something at that moment. The reason was that I’d always replay interactions over and over in my head when I went to bed. I’d think, I should have said this; I should have said that. A lot of mental energy went into what I should have said.

When you stutter, you’re interrupted all the time. I’ve also gotten some bizarre comments. People have said to me, “You stutter because you have the wrong kinds of orgasms.” People have said to me, “You’re such an inspiration. If I talked like you, I wouldn’t talk at all!” It’s like, yeah, that’s not really a compliment. Now I spend less mental energy fixated on these interactions. I can take them into a creative space instead.

Once I was giving a professional presentation about disability awareness and a woman in the middle of the room rolled her eyes every time I stuttered. That week I was stuttering a ton, especially on Ds—and this presentation was about dyslexia and disability. I was pissed off, so the next week I brought it onstage and integrated it into a joke: “You know, I stutter, but I’m not blind—I can see you doing that!”