But Seriously, Take My Career...

"Munchers are good for you," says stand-up comic and actress Aisha Tyler '92 Is she plugging a new snack food? No, "muncher" is biz slang for a flop performance —a.k.a. "dying." But Tyler is no masochist. She draws a lot of creative energy from her audience's laughter. "Every time I get up there it's organic and it's new," she says. "It's like writing and producing and directing and starring in your own play. Yet it has a spontaneity to it. There's interaction with people."

Some of her material is political, such as this observation on gun legislation: "In Texas it's now legal to keep a gun in your workplace. I think that's so much more convenient. If you had to go home to gee your gun and come hack, maybe your boss might be in a meeting and you wouldn't want to disturb him." But mostly Tyler draws her act from her own Life—having been a dorky kid ("There's no better way to get your butt kicked at school than showing up at lunch with a whole-wheat-and-avocado sandwich"), being married, and being a 20-something black woman.

A recent escapee from a day job at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, Tyler nowhas a manager and is pursuing acting and comedy fulltime. She appeared as an imperiled nurse in J a nuary's big-screen action thriller Metro, with Eddie Murphy tod Michael Rapsport, tod she has taken her stand-up act to television, appearing on the TBS Nov Year's Day Comedy Cure special and NBC's Friday Nightvariety show. L.A. residents and visitors in need ofa comedty fix can catch one ofher frequent performances at the Laugh Factor}7.

Tyler