Carolyn Busa Doesn't Care if You Laugh at Her: She Just Wants You to Laugh

When you're climbing the ladder on the Philly comedy scene, you take gigs where you can get them.

That's why Carolyn Busa recently found herself surrounded by kids several years younger than she, at a house party in Williamstown, Gloucester County. 

She was the opening act for a hardcore punk show. 

Busa, 25, never gets nervous onstage. But this show had her a little worried. 

No sweat, though. After her set, the kids were quoting bits from her act for the rest of the night. 

On Saturday, Aug. 6, Busa will test her material in front of a less-intimidating audience: a hometown crowd at  on Haddon Avenue. 

Starting at 8 p.m. she'll perform along with a half-dozen other Philadelphia-area comedy acts. The other performers are Mary Radzinski, Jim Grammond, Billy Bob Thompson, Blake Wexler and two local comedians. Admission is free. 

Busa is a 2004 graduate of Collingswood High School, where she was a "theater kid." (But much cooler than the kids on "Glee." Or maybe not.)

Her father, an industrial engineer, and her mother, a teacher, aren't particularly funny people, she said. So she didn't get the itch to perform standup until her junior year at Rowan University in 2007. She and a friend jumped onstage at a campus coffeehouse. Busa did eight minutes of material. She killed. 

Her next gig, at a South Jersey comedy club, was a reality check. Crickets ....

"It was a real crowd, paying customers," she said during a recent interview at Grooveground. 

During the interview, Busa wore funky glasses, an owl-print dress, and a Liberty Bell pendant on a silver chain around her neck. She comes off as an urban hipster - but without the annoying air of detached irony. 

Following her first flop at the South Jersey club, she regrouped and started writing more material. She honed her act at open-mike nights in South Jersey and Philadelphia, and landed opening spots at shows by friends she'd made on the Philadelphia comedy circuit. 

One of those friends is Radzinski, who's on Saturday's bill. 

"I admire her because she's daring," Radzinski, 32, said of Busa. "She's smart and she's edgy. She's not afraid to talk about anything - nothing is off limits to her. She's always writing and it's fresh and it's quirky."

Some of Busa's recent material includes a painful admission about her inept bowling skills, and bit about eating in transit ("The best is the breakfast-sandwiches when you're driving. Man, if you take one bite of those, Bam! Crotch omelette.")

In March, Busa and Radzinski started "Laughs on Fairmount!" a Monday open-mike night at the Urban Saloon in Philadelphia. The weekly event draws decent crowds, even in the summer, when most people are headed to the Jersey Shore. 

And this past May, Busa traveled to Austin, Texas to perform at the "Ladies Are Funny Festival!" 

Busa's day gig is in the marketing department at a small publishing house in Philadelphia. 

It's a good job, she said. But still, a girl can dream. 

She's always thinking, always writing, always groping for the next rung on the ladder. 

"I always get scared I'm going to look back a year from now," she said, "and I'll still be in this spot."

To visit Busa's website, go here.