Bonnie Reding

Comedy has taught Christine Stedman not to take life too seriously. In her 16 year career as a stand-up comedian, she has traveled all over the country performing in comedy clubs from Las Vegas to Atlantic City and many places in between. She garnered national exposure when she was a finalist on "The Search for the Funniest Mom in America" on the Nick at Nite network. This soon to be great-grandma began her comic career at a young age.

"I knew from the time I was about 12-13 that I wanted to make people laugh," Stedman said. "I'd watch comedians on TV and think 'I want to do that.' I knew from an early age that this was something that I wanted to do."

Stedman grew up in Granite City, but claims her success has rocketed her to "the big time-all the way to Caseyville."

Growing up, she honed her comedic skills on her teachers and fellow classmates.

"I worked on it in school, getting in trouble for trying to be funny instead of learning something," Stedman said. "I would say something to make everyone laugh, and then I would get in trouble. It was worth it for the laugh. My early stand-up was in classrooms."

It wasn't until she approached the age of 40, that she felt compelled to attempt her first stand-up routine. For a couple of months, she went to the comedy club that used to be in Collinsville, and watched amateur comics perform during open mic nights before she tried it herself.

"I really wasn't nervous. I was anxious to get up there and do it. I was going up with a lot of other beginners so it didn't scare me at all," Stedman said. "I finally went up on stage and did three minutes of material. The people afterwards said, 'you were really funny, but you weren't up there long enough!' That was all of the encouragement I needed."

Stedman prefers to perform her stand-up routine in comedy clubs instead of taking jobs to perform in bars or at private events. She considers her act "night club material" meant for adults. In comedy clubs, the patrons are there for a laugh, so Stedman doesn't get nervous performing for them. Anyone in the audience who may be thinking about heckling her during the show should think again.

"I can handle hecklers," she said. "There will be things that come out of my mouth that you would say 'I can't believe that grandmother just said that!' I am prepared. I think I am prepared for hecklers because I have had kids and grandkids. I'm ready for anything."

Even nerves of steel get rattled from time to time. Anyone who has ever been a little nervous speaking in public has heard the old adage-if you're nervous, picture the audience naked or in their underwear and that will make you feel less nervous. For Stedman, it turned out the opposite was true.

"The one time I was nervous was before I did a comedy show at a nudist resort," she said. "Now that will make you nervous, the whole audience was naked. Naturally, I asked if I had to be naked too, and it turned out if I was naked, as the entertainer, it would be considered erotic entertainment, and I said you haven't seen me naked or you would call it comedy!"

Through the nerves, Stedman was busy trying to picture the audience with their clothes ON.

"I was like please put something on you are distracting me! I was nervous then, but hey, even naked people have to laugh," she said.

The most difficult thing about being a comedian for Stedman, is all of the traveling. Many times, you are staying in what they call a "comedy condo" which is an apartment where you stay with the other comics you are working with at a comedy club. Stedman said that got old really fast.

"I feel like a truck driver hauling my jokes from town to town. Being away from family was tough but everybody was really supportive. My husband always really encouraged me to do this and I thought I was so lucky he wants me to go after my dreams and pursue my career and then I realized he just wanted me to go away," she joked

"Not really," she said. "I just accused him of that. We have been married almost 30 years and I swear that is what has kept us together."

Having such a strong relationship with her husband Mark, (whom she likes to refer to by his rap name, LayZee), has kept Stedman from going crazy. He has a great sense of humor, and together they are able to laugh even during difficult times.

In July, Mark was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma, terminal brain cancer. On the same day, he was also diagnosed as having a completely unrelated lung cancer. They found out the typical prognosis for this disease was six to 12 months.

"It might sound horrible, but this is how my husband, he has such a good sense of humor, and I dealt with it: I describe when the doctors were telling us about the cancer like a Billy Mays commercial, 'You have stage four glioblastoma of the brain, but WAIT, there's MORE! You also have LUNG cancer!' That's what we did to get through it, we said stuff like that. It was like lung cancer wasn't enough let's give him another one, a back-up cancer," she said.

On that day, their whole lives changed. She cancelled gigs. The idea of making an audience laugh seemed preposterous when she was crying everyday. After five or six weeks, she had a one-night gig scheduled. They could use the money, and her husband was able to go with her...so, she returned to the stage. She had no idea the impact doing that show would have on her.

"It was great. It was like I needed it. The audience was great, I had a great show, and then afterwards I felt so good-I realized I needed to keep doing this. I needed to keep making people laugh. I went from thinking I could never do it again, to thinking now I need this more than ever," she said.

During that 45 minute set, Stedman was able to take a break from a difficult time in her life. She was able to use her talent and make people laugh. That laughter did more than lift the spirits of those in attendance; it lifted Stedman's as well.

"The ironic thing is all of these years I have been doing this, I have had people come up to me after the show and hug me and tell me 'you don't know how bad I needed that' and it was really rewarding that I made that person's day better. Now that this has happened in my life, I thought who is going to do that for me? And I found out that it was me. I could do it for myself. It is an escape to a world of laughter. Afterwards, if I need to, I can go offstage and get back to my life and cry, or have a breakdown. But those 45 minutes on stage are like my therapy," she said.

Stedman said she loves being a comedian. She's doing what she always wanted to do with her life, and can't imagine finding any other job she would like more than comedy.

"This is who I am," she said. "To be able to do a job that you love and get paid for it-how many people get to do that? I realize how lucky I am that I get to do what I love to do. Making people laugh, that is the best thing ever!"

Through the ups and downs, Stedman said comedy has taught her an invaluable lesson.

"It has taught me to find the humor in everything, no matter how bad it gets," she said. "Sometimes people might be offended by that and think 'how could you laugh at such a thing?' But you have to! It has taught me how to laugh through good things and bad things. Comedy has taught me not to take life too seriously. Taking life too seriously? Where is that going to get ya?" Christine Stedman is easing back into the comedy scene, doing one-night appearances and weekend gigs. She occasionally appears on the morning radio show, The Bob & Tom Show, heard on KSHE, 94.7 FM. She will be appearing December 17th-19th at the recently reopened Comedy Etc. II, located in the Ramada Inn in Fairview Heights. Her web address is www.christinestedman.com.