We all could use more laughter right now. Kellee talks with Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, an award-winning stand-up comedian, storyteller and writer. She shares her journey as a stand-up comedian and how we can better flex our funny bone. If you want to learn what it takes to be a stand-up comedian, this is the episode for you. 

Dhaya's debute album DHAYATRIBE debuted #2 on iTunes. She received the Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award (previously awarded to Samantha Bee, Wanda Sykes and Mark Russell) for her stand-up. Comedy Central Asia crowned her the Grand Prize Winner of “The Ultimate Comedy Challenge” filmed in Singapore. Bay Area PBS affiliate KQED named her one of the twenty “Women to Watch,” a series celebrating women artists, creatives and makers who are pushing boundaries. She has performed across Asia in Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. She has also been invited to perform at some of the top festivals in the US including Bridgetown Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, The Boston Comedy Festival, Limestone Comedy Festival, and Laugh Your Asheville Off. She is the sole subject of the documentary “NerdCool” which premiered at the LA Comedy Festival.

As a television host, Dhaya helmed the inaugural season of the Emmy award-winning series High School Quiz Show on PBS’s WGBH. She is a frequent comedic storyteller on NPR’s Snap Judgment. She currently serves as the host of San Francisco’s monthly Moth. Prior to her endeavors in the entertainment business, Dhaya was a venture capitalist, management consultant, and two-time MIT graduate.