Before working in comedy, Bee specialized in programming for Alzheimer's and dementia residents. After the death of one of her residents, Bee was asked to speak at the resident’s funeral on behalf of the company. Bee's speech, filled with humor, was well-received. Soon after, residents in hospice or in end-of-life care would ask in advance that she speak at their funerals.
“They would send me to all of these huge congregations,” Bee says, “and I had a preacher tell me after my set, ‘You murdered it up here, you killed the stage.’ And I was like, ‘I don't think you can say that with an open casket up here.’”
From this point, Bee began to pursue comedy full-time. The man she was dating told her that he didn’t believe women were funny. Bee immediately broke up with him but found herself distraught. To lift her spirits, her father took her to the now-closed Dallas Comedy House, where she performed at open mic nights. The audience loved her stories about geriatrics and her work in the nursing home, further fueling her inspiration to pursue comedy full time.
Bee received the ultimate sign one weekend when she was visiting a friend in San Diego. She performed at a comedy club open mic, where, once again, her material killed. So much so that the day before her flight back to Dallas, she was asked by the San Diego venue to perform two more shows.
One of Bee’s favorite stories is about the time she took a patient to Hooters shortly before his death.
“I asked my favorite resident what he wanted to do before he died, and I'm thinking he's going to [ask for a] Dallas Cowboys game or like the Plano Balloon Festival,” says Bee. “No, he goes, ‘I want to go to Hooters,' so I rounded up all the residents and we went to Hooters, and a waitress gave him a lap dance and sang. He ended up passing away the next day, and I spoke at his funeral, and everyone was laughing because they found out I took them to Hooters.”
Bee has been working on Laugh After Death for “about nine months.” In the one-woman show, directed by Lauren Davis and produced by Moondance Theatre’s David Benedict, Bee will take on a multitude of characters. Besides sharing heartfelt stories about her favorite patients, she will touch on what she’s learned through raising her son with autism.
“It's very funny. It's very moving. It's very heartfelt. It's educational, but it's also very personable,” says Bee of her show. “It's my story, and I'm hoping I don't cry like a blubbering idiot on stage. But if I do, it's going to be very honest.”
Ahead of the show, Bee says she feels nervous, just as she does before all of her performances. But to her, this is a clear indicator that she’s going to, for lack of better words, kill it.
"I had a preacher tell me after my set, ‘You murdered it up here, you killed the stage.’ And I was like, ‘I don't think you can say that with an open casket up here.’” – Dani Bee
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“The day that I'm not nervous, or that I don't feel that the task is daunting, is the day I'll retire,” says Bee. “Because I think nerves are what drive you to be your very best and what help you have that excitement and that adrenaline and those endorphins. And that's something that we love, as performers. We love getting on stage and showcasing that art form. And I am nervous to be by myself.”
In addition to delivering laughs, Bee hopes to bring attention to issues faced by the elderly and people with disabilities. She also hopes her stories encourage people to become involved in the community and give back to others.
“I hope that they open up their mind, and their heart, and their eyes and their ears to people with Alzheimer's and dementia, because I think they are a forgotten group of people,” Bee says. “I also want people to learn something about autism, because I feel like that is such a foggy area, and people either smile and don't say hi to my son, or they look away and pretend not to notice him. Maybe it's because they don't know how to address them or they don't know what's appropriate, or they don't know what they don't know, and so I'd like to share a little bit of my world. That way I can bring awareness to that whole population. My goal is to shed light on everything I learned.”
Though the show may be humorous, Bee emphasizes that Laugh After Death aims not to distract from or dismiss the subjects of the show by way of comedy, but rather to provide comfort and awareness and to remind viewers that it’s OK to experience moments of joy while grieving.
“I'm not making light or making fun of them,” she says. “I'm shedding light and making fun of the situations that I experienced. because they are very funny. And I'm letting people know that it's OK to laugh. It's OK to cry. Death is inevitable, but I want people to know that laughter is the best medicine, and it's OK to laugh after death.”
Laugh After Death will kick off at 8 p.m., Dec. 16, and 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 17, at Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.
