It’s good to be home.

Back in LA… a day full of creative work and performance that satiates very different sides of myself —

Today, ‘Creativity in the Age of AI’ conference chock-full of studio executives.

Tonight, back home on the Improv stage — one of the places I wanted to work regularly so badly coming up in the LA comedy scene. I remember my first time on that main stage in 2015 like it was yesterday.

Time is a vortex. Today is a vortex.

I'm about to give a talk about creativity and AI collaboration. Who doesn’t love a funny keynote — actively proving the necessity of comedy from humans.

Then I'm going to get on stage and do the one thing AI can never do — be me, live, in real time.

Poetic? It’s not that deep…

Seems like the right kind of day. Literally two different sides of myself and my humor, wrapped into different bundles.

Event check-in begins in 18 mins. I’m sitting in my hotel bathrobe writing this in a luxurious, USC Trojan-adorned hotel bed. Sipping fine hotel diesel coffee.

LFG.

The Hustle

What’s interesting… I'm not nervous. About anything. Ever. Not anymore.

That’s simply because I've done the work. Any custom event or show I write for, I always deliver. So I trust myself now.

It also doesn’t hurt I made up for lost travel day sleep by sleeping 10 hours last night. And did I fall asleep to the Diddy documentary? Yes. For like 20 mins. And then I woke up and was like “Why the fuck are you watching this, Tash?” and shut the TV off and put on some sleep meditation voiced over by an Australian chick on YouTube. Why are Aussie voices always so soothing?

I know what I'm walking into. It's like being a surgeon who's done the same operation 572 times — at some point, you stop sweating and just... operate.

Ok, I’m not dense enough to compare comedy and public speaking to literally saving lives… but hey, I guess it can in an obscure sense. Or at least make people think. Which people need more of.

Conference room energy versus comedy club energy are wildly different animals. One requires slides and structure and making executives laugh unexpectedly. The other requires reading a drunk bachelorette party in the front row and pivoting when someone's phone goes off during your punchline.

Both are performance. Both require presence. Both, I've got handled.

Does that sound cocky? It shouldn’t if you know me at all.

But you know what's more exhausting than confidence? Pretending you don't know you're good at what you do.

The Chill

Rest isn't lazy. Rest is strategic.

I barely got two hours of it Sunday night after my show before taking a butt-ass early flight to LA. I also barely slept on my flight in. I thought someone kept farting on the plane near me… turns out it was the dude at the end of my row’s breath, which I realized when he turned to tell me they wanted my beverage order. Dear God I hope he has friends who love him. Someone’s gotta tell the man. …and it wasn’t gonna be me on two hours of sleep.

You can't show up fully if you're running on fumes and spite. Well, you CAN, but it's not sustainable. We all deserve better than that.

I took a bath last night. Tried to walk to a nearby CVS for bubble bath, caught some disheveled kid stealing a bag of Funyuns in his backpack, and gave him a slight wink and nod like I wasn’t gonna tell because A. I didn't feel like dealing with potential retaliation, and B. If someone’s stealing something under two dollars, their day is already bad. Why exacerbate it. CVS can take the hit. Sorry CVS.

Today's going to be chaos. Good chaos. The kind where you're moving between worlds and showing up as different versions of yourself — keynote brain, then stage brain. Structured with spontaneity, then spontaneous with thoughtful structure.

But all of it only works if you actually showed up for YOU first.

So yeah. Short but sweet today. Because I've got two stages to own and limited time to overthink it.

It’s now 8:03. And since I’m a Wisconsin girl, I get “ready” in like 12 minutes. Perfect timing.

LFG.

Upcoming Shows

I just locked my paperwork (mostly) to film my next special. Finally. Details rolling out soon.

I also locked Anchorage Alaska January 22nd. Save the date!

TED talk goes live on TED global platforms on December 23rd 1pm EST. SAVE THAT DATE TOO.

… and Jan 8 - 15 I’m going to Belize with a group of women to celebrate a birthday. First actual vacation “chill” since 2021. I’m always traveling, but always hustling when doing so. Open for suggestions on Belize adventures!

Love you all and cheers to the hustle + chill. We may be multiple versions of ourselves, but we’re still always us.

xx NPH