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Shondee Superstar

Lashonda Lester

Stand Up! Records · 2019 · 50 min

A posthumous set from a comic with an unforgettable voice.

Watch on Stand Up! Records(opens in a new tab)

Lashonda Lester was on the verge of breakout success in the national comedy scene when she passed away from kidney failure in 2017, just a year after becoming the first Black comedian to win the Funniest Person in Austin competition. Released posthumously by Stand Up! Records, this release compiles three performances recorded at Austin’s Velveeta Room between 2016 and 2017. The performance captures her self-assured, fast-talking delivery, pulling stories directly from her highly unusual life history.

Lester shares anecdotes from her previous lives as a Detroit professional wrestling manager and a brief, accidental stint as a pimp, which she claims she stumbled into while trying to apply for a different job. She contrasts her upbringing in Detroit, which she calls the “Murder Mitten”, with her life in Austin, alongside jokes about chronic illness, the absurdities of the medical system, and teaching high schoolers. The material is unsentimental and direct, punctuated by her distinct voice and complete lack of self-pity as she describes her daily dialysis treatments.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Defending a love of McDonald's and having a bad medication reaction

    Unapologetically rebuking critics of fast food before recounting an episode of unwanted empathy while visiting McDonald's high on Ambien.

  2. Child of the '80s fear of Russia

    Explaining that Russians should never be trifled with because anyone willing to wait 14 hours in line for butterless porridge has nothing to lose.

  3. Pimp Story

    A graphic and detailed biographical account of how she previously worked as a madam and wrestling promoter in Detroit.

  4. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    I Just Need to Get Famous closer

    A humorous look at her ambition and determination to achieve fame in the entertainment world.

How it plays

Tone
Warm, cathartic, fearless, relatable, and darkly comic without wallowing in suffering.
On stage
Disarmingly laid-back, holding court like a close friend, sharp, confident, and unapologetic.
Pace
Conversational momentum comfortable with pauses and silence, building patiently to devastating punchlines and rapid bursts of detail.
About
health struggles and kidney failure, dialysis and pharmaceutical drugs, shitty jobs and pimping, fast food, geopolitics and Russia, dating and nightlife in Austin

What the critics said

Universally praised by critics as a superb, touching, and razor-sharp showcase of her storytelling genius and comedic timing, highlighting the tragedy of her untimely death.

In the room: Deeply engaged and laughing in agreement with her commanding, witty presence.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: pastemagazine.com, en.wikipedia.org, watch.plex.tv, theseriouscomedysite.com, austinchronicle.com.

Backstory

Lester was battling severe chronic kidney disease requiring dialysis four times a week while writing and recording material, tragically passing away on April 6, 2017, weeks before her scheduled Comedy Central taping.

Details

Released
Taped
The Velveeta Room, Austin
Runtime
50 min
Where
Stand Up! Records
Director
Dustin Svehlak
Topics

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