“The god mother of alternative comedy.”
— LA Times
“You need the alt comedy swami Beth Lapides.”
— LA Weekly
“Hysterical.”
— NPR
“"When I sign on a Story Studio client that needs a black-belt wordsmith and story coach, I bring Beth to the table."
— Emily Aiken - The Story Studio
Beth is the creator, host and executive producer of the legendary and revolutionary UnCabaret which she has shepherded through 25 + years of weekly live shows, TV, CD’s, streaming and touring.
UnCabaret has been called a ‘comedy be in’ by Rolling Stone. Vanity Fair said there's ‘Nothing cooler’. Variety called UnCab’s 25th anniversary show “a triumph!” and UnCabaret a ‘progressive comedy institution.’ The LA Times called Beth the ‘godmother of alternative comedy’. And Vulture says UnCabaret has ‘a magical life giving mystique and hilarious storytelling’.
Beth is the author of the critically acclaimed original audio book, So You Need To Decide, named one of Vulture’s best comedy books of 2022. Variety called it “a potentially life-changing treasure!” Published by Recorded Books. Available everywhere audiobooks are, on Amazon here!
Beth was profiled for her significance to stand-up comedy history on Vulture’s podcast Good One.
Her other recent and upcoming media appearances include interviews with and appearances on Lovett or Leave it!, Industry Standard with Barry Katz, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, The Jewish Journal, The Stephanie Miller Show, Keith and The Girl, Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend, Lady to Lady, The JV Club with Janet Varney, This Might Help with Matt Braunger, The Comic’s Comic Presents: Last Thing’s First, Abortion Access Front’s Feminist Buzzkills Live, and the SiriusXM shows Carlin’s Corner (hosted by Kelly Carlin), Sandra Bernhard’s Sandyland and Netflix is a Joke Radio.
She has been featured in or on NYT, Interview Magazine, People, The Today Show, Morning Edition, and Politically Incorrect,
Beth's hosting work extends to radio, where she her two shows “The Beth Lapides Experience” and “Radio UnCabaret” ran on Comedy World Radio. Her podcast "Life and Beth" features in depth conversation with iconic guests like Daniel Radcliff, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Cho, Lili Taylor, Justin Willman and Pablo Shrieber. It’s currently on hiatus but the archives are available for your listening pleasure at all the usual outlets including iTunes.
“She’s got a mic and she knows how to use it!”
- LA Times
For television Beth hosted UnCabaret for Comedy Central and ‘The Couch’, as a pilot, for MTV. She's appeared on various outlets including CNN, Comedy Central, NPR’s “All Things Considered” and ABC Radio's “Satellite Sisters”. And as a guest on "Politically Incorrect", ‘The Today Show’, ‘Women Aloud’ among others. She was featured in Makers "Women In Comedy" on PBS, on E!, The Stephanie Miler Show, The Treatment. She's a frequent guest on various podcasts on Earwolf, All Things Comedy etc. She's also developed for Oxygen, Disney and Warner Brothers.
She’s also created and hosted UnCabaret’s spin offs, ‘Say The Word’, (many of those stories are available on audible.com) the first of the new wave of storytelling shows, and the critically acclaimed Other Network Festival of UnAired Pilots which toured internationally.
WRITER
Beth is the author of the critically acclaimed and ground breaking original audiobook So You Need To Decide. It was on Vulture’s Best Comedy Books of 2022 list.
She wrote a cover story for the LA Weekly on the occasion of the UnCabaret;s 25th Anniversary show, and has written for O Magazine, Elle Décor, Premiere Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Premiere Magazine, and LA Yoga for whom she wrote a syndicated monthly column “My Other Car is A Yoga Mat”.
Her first book, Did I Wake You? Haiku For Modern Living, a critically acclaimed collection of haiku, was published by Soft Skull Press.
Her writing has also appeared in a number of anthologies including Premier's Guide to The Movies, and No Kidding.
SOLO SHOWS
Beth’s new show, It’s A Lot, will have its preview on May 3 at The Palm Springs Cultural Center. It comes on the heels of a series of shows including 100% Happy 88% of The Time, Globe-O-Mania, The Next Thing You Know, Beth of Both Worlds, Crash Course and Having Fun In The Dark. She’s been presented by venues like The London ICA, Boston’s ICA, The Kitchen, The 92St Y Tribeca, CalArts, LAPL, PS 122, Franklin Furnace among many others.
The Los Angeles Times called her 2012 show 100% Happy 88% of the Time, “uplifting!” In their review of The Good American Novel The Boston Globe said “everything she says is entertaining and hilarious.”
Get on Beth's newsletter for up to date info on shows, events, workshops and inspiration.
COACHING/TEACHING/MUSING
Beth’s The Infinite Creator program is a hotbed of creative breakthroughs and transformation, designed from her decades of teaching/coaching/musing writing, performance and creativity at venues like Second City, UCLA Extension, Writer's Bootcamp, The LA Gay and Lesbian Center, Skirball Cultural Center, The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Humber College and Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.
Her clients have gone on to publish books, write and direct film and TV, Netflix stand up specials, podcasts and more.
Get on Beth’s calendar for a free intro call to explore working with her.
SPEAKING
As a speaker Beth has appeared at Brown University, CSUN, The University of Iowa, A Place of Peace, The Pasadena Women's Club and more.
ACTING
As an actress Beth generally plays off-beat authority figures. She appeared notably in “Sex & The City” as the performance artist Marina Abromovitch as the way the Carrie meets Baryshnikov. Also you can catch a frame or two of her as the very first guest star in ‘Will & Grace”, as well as in Comedy Central promos with Don Rickles and in a number of indie films. Her first memorable role was The Cheshire Cat in a camp production.
AWARDS
Beth was awarded the University of Dayton’s Erma Bombeck Comedy Writer of the Month Award in March of 2023. She is also the recipient of multiple National Endowment of The Arts grants.
ALSO
Beth ran a campaign to make First Lady an elected position and her one of a kind books have been shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Library.