THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509080243
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Several weeks ago, in a sermon delivered after my niece's christening, the minister talked about finding one's special gift and then passing it on.
Just a few days later, in a telephone conversation with comedian/teacher T. Marni Vos from her home in Lincoln, Neb., she talked about that very thing.
Vos found her special gift about 12 years ago. It's making people laugh, both in comedy clubs and in business.
Her company, Laughters Echo, conducts humor workshops for major corporations such as 3M, Xerox and Hewlett Packard. The 45-minute to three-hour workshops stress happiness as a choice.
``People who are always complaining, ragging and nagging,'' Vos says, ``have a bad habit, a negative choice. They have a way of draining other people, robbing you of your humor.''
Vos, who holds degrees in English, theater and speech, says humor in the workplace leads to more creativity, which in turn leads to higher productivity, less employee turnover and fewer sick days.
Her philosophy is simple: It's more important to have fun than to be funny.
``Stress is not an event, it is how you choose to perceive an event,'' she says. ``The flip side is humor, joy, laughter, a celebration of life.''
But make no mistake, T. Marni Vos is funny. And in a clean sort of way. That's by choice.
``My humor is about being good to yourself,'' she says. ``It's also clean, which is a lot more imaginative than foul humor.''
Vos considers herself a student of comedy.
``I observe things,'' Vos says.
An early idol was Carol Burnett. She never missed a show.
``Her show was really the original `Saturday Night Live,' Vos says. ``Think about it. She did sketches. She had a guest host. And it played on Saturday.''
Her routines focus on her childhood (which was good, by the way) and her days as a schoolteacher. All of her material is original, except, she says, ``for the stuff I steal.''
Vos has appeared on a number of TV programs, including Comedy Central's ``Stand Up, Stand Up'' and ``A Night at the Improv.'' One of her recent appearances was on the Lifetime network's ``Girls' Night Out.''
It was a memorable show. The program was filmed during a driving snowstorm in New York City. Most of the ``by invitation only'' audience didn't show, and Vos, who was eighth on the 10-person bill, played to the stagehands and crew. And she found humor in that.
``The crew loved the wine and cheese,'' Vos says.
But more important than that, Vos was really funny that night.
So funny, in fact, that she was invited to enter the ``San Francisco Comedy Competition,'' a male bastion of standup comedy. Vos became one of only six women to place in the 500-person comedic competition. Marsha Warfield, Paula Poundstone and Ellen DeGeneres also placed, and all three have gone on to star in TV series.
Among Vos' other credits is a 30-minute performance piece she wrote called ``Saturday Mourning.'' The plot centers on two older women who go funeral shopping. Although the comedy is darker than her usual stuff, the concept is the same.
``It's darkly powerful,'' she says. ``Some dark humor is offensive; it reinforces stereotypes. But that show is different. It's more about learning to appreciate differences. One thing that helps me is to look at every person and realize that everyone is somebody's baby.''
Vos has been approached about other TV projects, which she is considering. But for now Vos is conducting her workshops and traveling coast to coast making people laugh. She made her choice long ago, and now she is passing on her gift.
``I'm surprised that I still get to do this,'' Vos says. ``I have a great job. I hear laughter all the time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Comedian/teacher T. Marni Vos conducts humor workshops for major
corporations such as 3M, Xerox and Hewlett Packard.
Graphic
WHO & WHAT
Who: T. Marni Vos, with Mark Matusof.
Where: Comedy Club at The Carolinian, Milepost 10 1/2 on the
Beach Road.
When: Sept. 11-16.
For more information: 441-0293.
by CNB