Hustler of The Week: Erin Gigglechick Bennett

In honor of The Comedy Point’s 2 year anniversary, we will spotlight a person or group of people that are pursuing their dreams and passions through running their own business. This week we are honored to feature Erin “Gigglechick,” Bennett of Gigglechick Interactive & GigglechickOpenMics.com. 

Well, I went to college and became an Industrial Designer… I wound up being the hardware designer (buckles/snaps/etc) for Nine West Accessories. I was there for almost a year when they let me go the day before my anniversary (when I would’ve received benefits & 401k). Two weeks prior to getting the boot, I had made the move from the Jersey Shore to Jersey City. So there I was, out of work and desperate. In the NY Times there was an advert for a web designer gig that was one block away from where I now lived. I interviewed there. I didn’t know how to design websites – this is back in 1997 when web stuff was pretty new. The design firm that interviewed me worked out of their apartment and they had a deaf cat named Honky. For some reason I pretended I knew cat sign language and had a conversation with him. They hired me on the spot… I also fibbed that I knew how to design sites, so, I  taught myself how to code HTML and that’s when I began my life as a web designer.

Fast forward 2 years, 1999 for those who are horrible at math, I took a How to Write & Perform Stand Up Comedy class at the New School with Scott Blakeman as my instructor.  At the time, I was dating this guy – we’ll call Fatty Pack – for a year and a half. On October 22, we broke up, so I was roaming the streets of the city somewhat distraught and I popped into Gotham and caught a show. I remember it was Dan Naturman, Jim Gaffigan and Mitch Fatel. I became smitten with Gaffigan’s comedy at that moment.

On November 6th, 1999, I took the stage at Stand Up NY for the first time ever. I performed for a couple of years, then I had to move back down to the shore to care for Gigglemom in 2003. I was working in NYC as a web designer still at the time. (I also was running my Gigglechick.com blog and the Gigglechick’s Semi-World Famous Open Mic List.)

During the summer of  2005, the NY Improv needed their website redone and I also had to do the website for TheIndustryRoom.com for Rich Brooks. He emailed me in November off the cuff to see if I wanted to go to see Jim Gaffigan on Letterman because he couldn’t go. Yes. The next thing I know, Jim emailed me with confirmation info.

I know I am rambling, but, there’s a point.

I emailed Jim after the Late Show appearance and got the balls to ask him if he ever thought of having his website redesigned. He replied that he had a new special coming out in January of 2006 and yeah, he was interested in that.

Even though I had done the NYImprov’s website, when I got Jim Gaffigan to hire me as his web designer, THAT was when I combined my two loves – Design and Comedy.

After that, it was word of mouth… Tom Papa emailed me to have his site designed, then Maria Bamford — each time I received an email, I had to pinch myself. Granted, most of my friends and family weren’t “into” comedy like I was and they didn’t know who the hell I was talking about. But, I did. Then Dave Attell contacted me at the end of ’06 and I’ve been working for him since then. I’m just dropping names left and right. Here’s a whopper of one… Steven Wright hired me as well. Now, if you don’t think I was tongue-tied whilst on the phone with him, you have another thing coming. I revere these people.  A few months before Richard Jeni died, he and I were in “talks” about re-doing his website. He would call with his wonderful voice and yell “HELLOOOOOO GIGGLECHICK, IT’S JENI!” he was such a great guy… then I didn’t hear from him after the end of November. That shook me to the core when he took his life. I also was hired by Lisa Lampanelli – which was a kick because I used to take a Saturday morning class from her at Stand Up NY back in 2000.

One thing that has been cool is I haven’t had to advertise at all – which is amazing to me. It was just a comic telephone game. Through Jim, I met Jordan Rubin who then spoke with Norm MacDonald who had me do stuff for his old MySpace (remember that?) and Twitter stuff. Pretty soon, Jeff Garlin hired me and then last year, Whitney Cummings. I also had to redesign Tom Papa’s website. I am not just some “big name comedian” website designer. I’ve done sites for all kinds. Right now I am in the process of designing a site for Stu McCallister ( http://www.stumccallister.com ) from Grand Rapids — I’m hoping that once I design his site, the Gigglechick Touch will work its magic! (okay, that sounded cocky.)

I’ve been pretty darned blessed with how things have evolved. Part of me thinks that if I hadn’t pretended to know Cat Sign Language, none of this would’ve happened.

Yes. I was commuting 2 hours in and 2 hours out of NYC in 2005-2006 when I was designing the Fashion Bug and Lane Bryant websites… then getting home around 10pm only to crank stuff out for Gaffigan’s site and email blasts.

Gigglemom was becoming more and more ill, so I wound up having to find a “day job” that was closer to home and it was with a small design firm about 20 minutes from me. I was there for about 6 months when I realized “Hell, I can totally start my own company full time.” So, on October 3rd, 2006, I quit the local gig, bit the bullet and GigglechickInteractive.com was an honest to God, full time company.

I’m sure I had crazy days, but, the one that stands out to me is quite recent. It was December 4th, 2011. That was the day that Gigglemom passed away (after 8 years of my being her caregiver).

It was also the start of the last week that Dave’s Old Porn was airing on Showtime. Attell told me not to worry about working that week, but, not for nothing, Dave has been extraordinary to me over the years. It was the 8th episode of Season One of the show and I wanted to make sure the site was updated with photos and video. What more could I do? Gigglemom was at the funeral parlor and the only thing that kind of was keeping me sane was work. Let me reiterate that Dave didn’t want me working – it’s not like he made me do this. I just needed to. I find it calming to work, especially when it’s for a client that is just an awesome person.

I digress. Yeah. In a nutshell, the day my mother died was pretty crazy.

Both. Don’t get me wrong, I could very easily just lay there in a hammock with a pineapple filled with some sort of rum drink for the rest of my days…. but, I need to create and also get the pats on the back. If I win the lottery, there’s a chance that I would still do web design and do it for free just so comedians don’t have crappy looking websites.

SEE: Lottery, Hammock & Rum Drink — if not, I am not sure… The technology is changing all the time. Who knows, maybe I could see myself getting the gumption up to produce or manage… and have an army of designers working for me.

It did for a while because of caring for Gigglemom (who was dying of COPD, Emphysema, Congestive Heart Failure and an Ileostomy) — I had to be here at home to help her pretty much 24/7 for the past 3 years out of 8.

Now that she’s passed away, I can move. I’ve been toying with moving back to the city… I’ve been writing again and might also have the itch to get back onstage. Right now, the world is my oyster and I don’t want to shuck it up. hahahahahaha — okay, I probably won’t go back onstage yet.

I work from home. I find when the condo has had a Hoarder-esque feel to it, my productivity is not so great. So, the more I’m decluttering, the more the webby goodness happens.

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Giggle Chick Open Mic Listing: http://gigglechickopenmics.com/.

Check out business website: http://www.GiggleChickInteractive.com