Covid might halt our everyday lives, thou shalt not halt our laughter. 

DNA, who legally changed his name in the ’80s, is the owner and creator of DNA’s Comedy Lab in downtown Santa Cruz. He grew up on the East Coast with a love for comedy saying, “comedians were one of the best things on TV.” DNA started his comedy journey when he was eight years old and would perform shows for family and friends. 

As the years went on he found himself working with musicians, such as E-40, “hosting like 3,000 shows” all over Northern California before realizing his heart wasn’t with the musicians but with performing “uncensored,” “powerful,” and something “that’s real,” which are the main aspects of comedy. 

DNA didn’t fully understand how to get into comedy. It “seemed like the circus, where you had to run away.” But that wouldn’t stop him. When DNA moved to Santa Cruz 15 years ago he instantly started putting on weekly comedy shows and “hanging out with Bay Area comedians,” that is when DNA “found his tribe.”

After 14 years of performing at the Blue Lagoon club in downtown Santa Cruz, he felt like it was time for the next step. DNA said, “getting my own building was a dream,” and in March 2019 that dream came true. In the first year of DNA’s comedy lab, he had “288 performances, where it was more than a comedy club, it was a community center.” 

People of all sorts would gather to watch comedy shows, famous authors, and even children’s programs. DNA said it “brought together people for all sorts of reasons and Santa Cruz hadn’t really had that before.”

But then on the week of the Comedy Lab’s one-year anniversary, the pandemic hit, causing California to “outlaw against live shows.” That didn’t stop DNA, who started putting on four virtual shows a week and was the first comedy club in California to have a virtual show. 

The four shows which are every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, are going on through the DNA Comedy Lab Facebook page and DNA Comedy Lab website. Wednesday is a virtual open mic, Thursday is a storytelling show, and weekends are specialty shows. DNA is also pushing for drive-in comedy shows this spring. 

Comedy which “is like the last vestige of unadulterated content out there. What you see on stage is what’s happening,” and is so necessary especially in this time of “war on the truth,” said DNA. Something just feels right about listening to a comedian tell jokes, the whole world needs to laugh and “heal their mental health.”