Finding the Funny with Comedian Dena Blizzard

Comedian Dena Blizzard was a mom of one with another on the way when she was given her chance to wow the crowd at a well known comedy club in Atlantic City. It was the first big step that launched her career in stand-up comedy and led to her  working on network tv, performing around the world and hosting online shows with a brand that has grown to more than half a million followers on social media. Encouraging people to find the funny even when circumstances are less than, Dena shares her journey in the entertainment business, how she handled situations like death, divorce, and empty nest syndrome in the public eye, and why the connection with her community is so real. 

Thanks for checking out the podcast! If you like what you hear, I would love for you to leave a review to help others find the show ... and please be sure to subscribe to the podcast to hear more conversations like the one you heard today. For more information on upcoming episodes and new content, you can check out my website. Thanks for your support!

Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Dena Blizzard: So basically if I have jammed every life stressor into just the past nine months. And I don't think there is a way to hide that successfully, and I don't know that I'd want to. So, I felt like, and I still feel like, that there are people who are experiencing any one of those, if not multiple, maybe even things that are worse than our journey. And so I feel like humor has been the way that we have survived for so long.

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Hey, it's Michelle. Welcome to Conversations. I'm excited to introduce you to some new guests in the coming months. But in the meantime, this conversation is from the vault. She's a successful comedian, show host, and entrepreneur who has worked behind the scenes and in front of the camera on network television.

But if you ask her about her most important role, that would be mom. Her name is Dena Blizzard, but she goes by One Funny Mother. It's a moniker she turned into a lifestyle brand that shines a [00:01:00] spotlight on wine, women, and laughter, and has amassed more than half a million social media followers.

In addition to performing stand up in clubs across the country, her on stage show, I Love You, Get Away From Me, is now touring with three generations of comedic talent, as Dena's mother and Dena's son both perform in the show. Dena was funny long before she found success in the industry. I know this because, full disclaimer, we've been friends for decades, having competed years ago in Miss New Jersey, a title she went on to carry into the Miss America pageant, where she competed against 49 contestants and proudly says she placed in the top fifty. 

Hope you enjoy my 2022 conversation with One Funny Mother, Dena Blizzard. 

Dena Blizzard: The ocean, Michelle, the ocean breeze is coming in, so I'm officially on vacation, so it's hard to hear you over the ocean breeze, I'm sorry, Michelle. I've been working for 300 days straight and I've just got here catching me on my first day of vacation.

This is the first day. I might be drunk.

Michelle Dawn Mooney: [00:02:00] This is your first day of vacation. I did not know that. I feel so honored.

Dena Blizzard: It is.

Michelle Dawn Mooney: I feel so honored. You're doing a big day. You're at the top of my list. Wow. Very, very honored. So here's the deal. If you don't know who Dena is, where have you been? Because you're all over the place.

Well, obviously disclaimer, because we go way back. I was trying to actually calculate how long we've known each other. No, do you want me to say it

 No.

 I don't want to know. It just means they're so old. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Well, no, we met when we were, we met when we were three and we've known each other for almost 29 years.

So it's 29 years. 

Dena Blizzard: No, it's like 20.

Michelle Dawn Mooney: It's like 29. 

You are ruining vacation. 

No, no, no, no, no. We met when we were three. So it completely makes sense. Do the math people. Oh my gosh. We're so old. We're so we go, we go way back because we actually it was Miss [00:03:00] New Jersey that we met. Dena is a former Miss New Jersey, for those of you who don't know.

Thank you. That's very applause worthy. You are just a rock star. I'm not saying that just because you're my friend. You, you decided you were, teaching biology. You're super smart. She's super smart. She plays the piano. She's the full, well rounded, accomplished, all around, and you had a family and all of a sudden you want to become a comedian.

So tell people who don't know your story. How that happened 

Dena Blizzard: so long ago now Michelle, I don't know if I can remember it But yeah, I did all that and I was turning 30 and I had always wanted to try stand up You know, we would always be cracking up backstage doing something But I you know, I was kind of funny by accident but being funny on purpose was very daunting.

So I got a comedy class for my 30th birthday, and it was in Philadelphia at the comedy cabaret I And I took the class [00:04:00] and then at the end of the class, they picked a couple of people to like start working the weekends as like the seater girl. Like come have your seat. And then in exchange for doing that, I would get five minutes of stage time.

And then I started working the weekends and it was very much a hobby for a long time. But I had, I had two kids and then I had my third, but by the time I was about three years in a friend of mine called and said, I got you a guest spot at the comedy stop in Atlantic City, which is a huge club because they have a club here in Atlantic City.

They had one in Vegas and one in Laughlin, Nevada. And I was nine months pregnant. And I was so glad he didn't call me like anytime before that, because I would have been so nervous. He's like, it's tonight. So just come down. And so I went down. I guess it was funny, but then the back of the mic fell off and I was so pregnant and I couldn't pick up the mic.

It was just the ending was awful. But I guess it was good enough and I got into that club. And then from [00:05:00] there got into New York and started touring you know, different clubs and, and then that was the, that was the beginning. And then it's been a very long, sordid career that has led to off Broadway and now touring with My Name Is Not Mom with two other ladies from the internet.

So, yeah. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: So you, you, have been so big on social media on Facebook, half a million followers on Facebook and YouTube and all the social platforms. You have several videos that have gone viral. What was it for you that you thought like, I need to do more. I want to do something with video and short form context of entertainment.

What was the thought process there? 

Dena Blizzard: Yeah, I think I was bored. And the first videos are awful. Most of them I've taken down and now we just laugh at them privately. I think the first big video that we did that went viral, which had 75, 000 views, which was a lot for us at the time, Was a music video we did when we put it out

we're like, is it funny? It's like a little funny I don't know. It's not our best one, but we'll put it out and [00:06:00] those are the ones that have gone viral so that was probably the biggest video we had shot at the time But I feel like it was like two more years, before chardonnay go and chardonnay go Just went nuts.

It's when Pokemon Go came out and we decided to make a version where we said moms can find a glass of wine in their neighborhood if they use a special app. Do you know there's an app for moms called Chardonnay Go? Donna! Donna! You found more Chardonnay! Let's go! Chardonnay Go! What are you doing? I'm playing Chardonnay Go.

No you're not! This is my Chardonnay! It's so loud! No! Come tomorrow! It's so weird! It's so weird! Crazy, so it ended up having about 23 million views in about two weeks. And it was the first time we ever did Facebook Live. The whole video was probably about three and a half minutes. And in that three and a half minutes, only 33 people watched it.

And then those 33 people then [00:07:00] sent it out. And so it was amazing to me, the power of social media. And I remember I was walking around the block to go to like the neighbor's pool. And I think when I left my house, it had like 200, 000 views and by the time I walked around the block and got to the pool, it had 300, 000 views.

And I was like, this can't be right. Something's wrong with this. And then I was at Home Depot that night and we had like 500, 000 views. And, we were going to buy flooring. And, my mom was like, well, do you want to get the oak or do you want to get the, , the walnut.

I was like, I don't know, but now it's at 600, 000. And like, it just, in the, in the time that we were there and even when we were there, we were checking out and somebody was like, aren't you that drunk lady? That's just running through the, I was like, yeah, I've known as the drunk lady. And then when I did the back to school rant at Target, that's when it, [00:08:00] that's, and that one has like 150 million views.

And that one started out and we were like, Hey, do you think it'll be as big as Chardonnay go, I'm like, I don't know maybe and it It went crazy. Oh, you wanted some pencils and you're going to teach my kids. I'll get you some pencils. I'll get you pencil sharpener. I'm going to kill my own kids. I don't know how these teachers do it.

So this is my public service announcement. Stop you complaining. Go out and get your stupid supplies. Now you need to get them some stuff for their house and you need to hug a teacher on the first day of school. That's it. That's all I wanted to say. Go hug a teacher. So it was kind of wonderful to be able to go from being in a comedy club with like 200 people, and that's very unique and lovely, to being able to put videos out that reach so many people in so many different countries.

Yeah, you really start to see how powerful humor is. The pandemic really, Changed a lot of stuff for us. I started making one video a day at the very [00:09:00] beginning of the pandemic. And we did that for a hundred days. I would say 95 percent of them were funny. And even when things weren't funny and like a good handful were not funny and just me very frustrated. I might've said I was going to steal somebody's trash can if they made fun of teachers one more time and I might've got arrested, whatever. But then then we were down here at the shore and my kids, it was summer and my kids were sleeping late and so I had nobody to talk to.

So I started going live. And, that started our morning show. So we have a morning show every morning live on Facebook and we get people from all over the world that watch it. So I think there's like 25, 000 people that watch it every morning. It's real dumb, real stupid, but you do see the power of, social media and connecting and you know, just feeling like you're, you're not alone.

It really taught me that. you know, social media can really bring people together in a way when people really needed it. And you know, everybody's got their things that they've been dealing with. So I [00:10:00] think it's been really a positive thing for us. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: You're very real with your community because you really have built a community.

And I think that's why, obviously, you're very talented. I'm not just saying that because you're my friend, but you're very real. You really know how to connect with people and you care and I know your heart and I know that it's it's genuine and you just you could never be fake. So what they see. is, is what they get.

Like it's, it's genuine. Yeah. Good or bad. But talk to me about that because you put some very private and personal things out there with relationships, with family, with struggles that you've had. And, you know, we talk about the balance because you talk about find the funny, that's one of your lines. It's so important, I think, in, in this day and age.

So, so tell me about that because you go out there every day, every morning, pretty much. Yeah. Regardless of what's going on in your life. So. How has that been and what has been the response that you've seen from your community with that? 

Dena Blizzard: Yeah well, [00:11:00] I will say that this won't go down as my favorite year of my life.

I Have said before like if if relationships in your life weren't good before the pandemic They definitely didn't get better during the pandemic. So just in the past year I'm separated now and, , we lost my dad in November. And so just trying to negotiate all of that in terms of family, , come September, I will be an empty nester.

So basically if I have jammed every life stressor into just the past nine months. And I don't think there is a way to hide that successfully, and I don't know that I'd want to. So, I felt like, and I still feel like, that there are people who are experiencing any one of those, if not multiple, maybe even things that are worse.

than our journey. And so I feel like humor has been the way that we have survived for so long. And this has now been my [00:12:00] greatest test. And a lot of people will say like with all of that, even with my dad. So my dad was actually diagnosed around this time last year with mesothelioma. And so he passed in November and it was, it was awful.

And so many people are going through similar journeys and people would say, you know, don't feel like you have to come on and, and be happy and be something that you're not feeling. It was just as much for me as it was for the people that were watching, like it gave me a reason to get up and it gave me a reason to find something to be joyful about, even when seemingly nothing is quite joyful.

So I feel like, you know, whether it's. been our journey with anxiety and depression and kind of that whole thing with our family or just the recent events. I feel like it's important that those are talked about. It's important that we learn different ways to cope and some days I cope better than others.

Tipsy Tuesday can go off the rails real quick on a Tuesday with some bourbon. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Think one person [00:13:00] 60 seconds to change your mind. When she was four years old, Alexandra Alex Scott held her first First childhood cancer fundraiser, a lemonade stand in her front yard. She raised more than $2,000 for her hospital where she was being treated for neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer she was diagnosed with shortly before her first birthday.

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Dena Blizzard: But I have gotten [00:14:00] so many letters from people, and when I do get to meet them in person, and they'll say, you know, you really got me through. I don't, I don't know that I always, you know, Can understand it or appreciate it. But so many people will say like, you, you give me a reason to smile in the morning and it might be the only time I smile all day, which is lovely.

You know, it's nice to have people say that I have my people that do the same for me. It's so funny to me. Cause I'll find somebody on the internet. I was like, Oh my God, this person's so funny. I love them. And it's the only way I can understand how people may feel when they watch me. Cause to me, it's just us being us.

So we don't really think about it, but it's been great. It's been a lovely community. And we actually just did our first trip. We did a trip. Well, it's our second show. First, we took a trip to a dump furniture store in Massachusetts. Because why not? We got a whole, like 80 drunk ladies on a bus and drove to Massachusetts to visit a furniture store.

It's a long story, but then we just did another trip. Called Bourbon and the Big House, where we went to [00:15:00] Shawshank prison, because why not, Michelle? And then got on a bus and took a four hour tour to Bourbon country and had a great time. Along this journey of creating One Funny Mother, we have an off Broadway show that we tour.

And that show, I wrote, I don't know, 15 years ago. All about going from being single with no kids, being married with three kids in less than five years. And there is a very big part of that story that is about finding your people, finding your village and finding other moms that get you and how important that is.

And that the moms and the friends that you make during that time of your life are most likely the friends you have for the rest of your life, because it's so important to have that support system. When your kids are young and you don't really know what you're doing and you're trying to figure it out.

And it's a great story and I'm super proud of it. But now I'm, I'm coming towards the opposite end of the spectrum, right? Where, your kids are flying the coop and maybe you're separated, maybe you're divorced, maybe you're still married and hopefully it's great. Maybe it's not great. I don't know, but 

I'm starting [00:16:00] to see that same emphasis, you know, finding your village. It's been something that's come from the pandemic that was very surprising to me because, prior to that, a lot of what we did was just videos, these funny videos, but because of the pandemic, it was less of that and it was more about getting to know the people all over the world.

It's a very weird life, but I feel very blessed. And I feel like I am where I'm supposed to be in some way. Weird way at a job that nobody ever knew existed before. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: And clearly you are a source of strength for so many people. I mean, you have so many followers and I see the comments because I try to tune in when I can.

But you mentioned community, we brought that up, we've coined the phrase a few times, how much of what you give them do you feel in return? 

Dena Blizzard: Yeah, no, it's been lovely. So one day I made a joke, there's a girl named Gabby who lives in Maryland. And I made a joke one day about people getting together in Maryland.

And I said, well, Gabby is the chapter president, [00:17:00] the OFF chapter president. And it was a joke. And somebody was like, she was like, I'll be the president. I'll start a chapter. And so they started making these chapters. I think there's like 40 chapters, one funny mother chapters around the world now. Some of them have like 150, 200 members and, and now they get together and they go to lunch.

Somebody just had a pool party in Rhode Island. Like, I don't, I don't have anything to do with them, but they're, they get together and what they have in common is just watching this crazy Italian lady from New Jersey, which is just so weird. I don't know how they explain it to people. It's kind of taken on a life of its own in that way, which I love.

But I think the, the most beautiful time was when my dad was sick and, , people started sending cards, to my mom and my dad. And so there were so many of them on the shelves. And, and every time I would give them to her, I would start to open the card. And she's like, no, no, no, I got to, I got to cut off the address.

And I was like, what for? She goes, I tape it on the inside of the card. I was [00:18:00] like, all right, old people, I don't, whatever, fine. So we started taping it to the inside of the card, whatever. Well, they just kept coming. I mean, like I said, he was diagnosed in the summer. He passed in early November. So it's probably five months.

And they kept coming, and we started putting them like around the house, on the fireplace, or whatever. And, And there was just so many and she was like, well, I have to display all of them. So then she started taking them to her wall and she did one whole wall and got to the end of the wall. And I was like, all right, well, the other ones we'll just put in a box.

She goes, no, we're going to do another wall. And literally the whole wall was just taped cards from top to bottom. She, she taped it so that. You know, wherever he walked, wherever he looked, there were these beautiful pictures and cards and lovely messages. And, after he passed, we got even more cards. And I kept, you know, I was like, okay, so now I gotta keep her busy.

And so I kept calling her, I was like, hey, I was thinking we could go do this. I was thinking we could go to lunch. And she just kept saying, no, I was like, what could you possibly be doing? I'm working on my [00:19:00] cards. So every day she would take a couple off the wall. She'd go to the address and she'd get the address.

She'd write a personal thank you note to every single person that was on that wall, those walls over the course. I think she just finished it, but you know, it was just. It's just an awful time and just a lovely way where you just got, you know, beautiful notes from people all over the world. And so, you know.

That's beautiful.

Michelle Dawn Mooney: That's beautiful. I mean, obviously, knowing your dad, knowing your mom, and knowing how much that must have meant to her, and to you, and the fact that people love your mom. So let's just take a little She's got her 

Dena Blizzard: own fan base, Michelle, her own fan base. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Let's take a right turn and talk about Di.

She has, built a community within a community, and she's become such an integral part of. Of what you do. That's the word 

Dena Blizzard: you use, Michelle. That's the word you use integral. Yeah, 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: I would say that. I would say that. Maybe at the deepest level of integration. So [00:20:00] 

Dena Blizzard: I remember it was so funny when she started, when she first took off.

And so she'd be in some videos. And I remember it. I was still doing stand up. This was pre pandemic. And, , and I went to a gig, I was hired to go somewhere and I, I showed up. They're like, Oh my gosh, we're so excited. You're here. And they were doing this and I was like, what are you, what are you doing?

They're like, what is your, is your mom? Or is she coming? I was like, my mom doesn't come to work with me. Oh, she's not. She's not. Oh, we would have loved to have had her. I was like, yeah, I'm not going to tell her that. So people want to see my mom on tour. But yeah, no, she's hilarious and she's she's loving it.

You know, she, she, , we do, we do a show called Wala Cooking with Di. It's spelled W A L A. It is because we would, we would do Christmas cookies going into Christmas every year. Like Italian cookies, and we'd bake them live. And she would have to write them all out. And our graphics guy was like, I don't, I don't know that I understand this bottom part [00:21:00] that she wrote.

And I was like, what does it say? He goes, he just says, And then wala, it's done. What does that mean? I go, oh, she probably means voila. Like, voila, it's done. He's like, but it's not spelled W A L A. I go, it's not. It's not the French version. It's the Italian version of voila. So I call her and I was like, hey, by the way, when you're making these recipes, I need you to spell stuff right.

Jeff noticed that you spelled voila with a W. She goes, who's gonna spell voila with a V? It's WALA. I go, it's not WALA. It's voila. She goes, who gonna spell it with a V? It's always a W. I go, it's not. It's not a W. It's actually not even a word. You made the word up. It's not a word. It's a fake word. She goes, it's WALA.

So that's the name of her show. So twice a month for our, our supporter side, we cook with Di 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: and now she has there is the WALA. I believe is, is there a shirt? Is there an apron? 

Dena Blizzard: There's a, there's an apron, Michelle. There's a lot of, a lot of swag. She has her own mug [00:22:00] called Dirty Sugar. That's her, that's her stripper name.

She also has a shirt called Dirty Sugar. She came over to my house when I was gone, and she was replacing the sugar in my canister. And when I got home, It was full, the sugar container, but on the top of the sugar canister was a plastic bag filled with sugar. And I said, what is this plastic bag for?

She's like, oh, that was the old sugar. I took that out before I put the new sugar in. And I said, what makes it old? Why don't you just, I'm just going to pour it in. She goes, no, no, no, no. You can't mix the old sugar with the new sugar. I go, why not? It's just sugar. It's just sugar that was at the bottom. It was new before you made it old.

She goes, it's dirty. It's dirty sugar and you should just throw it away. I didn't want to throw it away. But it's Dirty Sugar. And I was like, there's no such thing as Dirty Sugar. That's what I said. It was gonna be a stripper name. And then it just took off Michelle. So that is her name. If you 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: want to hear all of the fabulousness of Di and that integral part that she plays in Dena's life, of course, you can [00:23:00] check out her morning show.

They can find you One Funny Mother Dena Blizzard on all social media platforms pretty much right? 

Dena Blizzard: Everywhere. Yeah, every everywhere. And you're gonna find a lot of stuff you didn't want to see. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Oh, no, it's all good. Don't forget, there is a lot of merchandise here. We're talking about some funny things with Diana.

We have the Wala cooking show. We have a bourbon babe t shirt. And I want to talk about this briefly because you really have become a bourbon babe. 

Dena Blizzard: Connoisseur, Michelle. Connoisseur, I like to say. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: So what is it about bourbon that makes everything better? 

Dena Blizzard: It's how it burns your inside slowly. It just goes down and burns.

I just love it. I had like some gig in Lexington, Kentucky a couple years ago, and everything down there is bourbon, everything. And so on my way out, I bought like a little jar of bourbon. Jar glass bottle of bourbon and I drank all of it and I was like, I think I [00:24:00] love it. So now I'm slowly trying to turn all of my girlfriends into bourbon drinkers. It's it's a process, you know. You gotta have somebody walk you through it because if you do it wrong ... Somebody had said, I had three glasses of bourbon.

I was like, nobody should ever have three glasses of bourbon, ever. It's not, it's not like wine. It's like, Oh, I drank the whole bottle. Don't do that. You'll die. So it's my newest thing, Shell because I'm, I'm also gluten free. So there's a lot of things I can't drink. So it kind of narrows it down.

Makes sense. So, yeah. So I'll have to take you out for a bourbon one day. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Yes, I would love it. Is there anything specific you want to talk about that you're working on that you're excited about that may be in the in the pipeline or just going to keep it a mystery?

Dena Blizzard: No, keep it a mystery. It's a mystery 

to me, Michelle.

So let's keep it a mystery to everybody. 

Michelle Dawn Mooney: Thanks for listening to this episode of conversations. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love for you to leave a review. And be sure to subscribe so you can hear more conversations like the one you heard today. Thanks again for listening and remember one [00:25:00] person can make a difference and that difference maker could be you.

We'll see you soon.