At age 11,

Alicia wrote her first joke. She won't repeat it here, as mother has requested, "Can you stop telling that joke about me already?"

At age 18,

Alicia stepped on stage at friend Eugene Mirman's open mic at Hampshire College. She heckled the audience by mistake, when they laughed at her best joke. And then asked, "Would you like to see my impressions?" "Sure!" they said. So she pulled out the porcelain impressions of her teeth from age five. She felt it went fantastic and knew this would be her life from now on.

She moved to San Francisco where she honed her craft for more years than she'd like to admit, sharing the stage with a ragtag bunch of misfit comedians from Ali Wong and Sheng Weng, to Arj Barker, Maria Bamford, and Marc Maron. She eventually made the rounds performing at Cobb's Comedy Club, The Punchline, The Improv.

In 2001,

Alicia bumped into fellow comedian Moshe Kasher at Burning Man where they both were doing standup at Center Camp. Moshe was funnier, maybe because Alicia was still reeling from getting dumped by Chicken John.

In 2003,

Alicia was writing and directing a comedy short at the Odeon in San Francisco starring Joe Klocek, Jasper Redd, Steve Mazan, Brian Mallow, Daniel Siefert, and Bill Santiago about how the comedic premises are a precious natural resource, and they’re running out.

In 2004,

inspired by Chicken’s Circus Ridickulous, Dattner (that’s what they called her at the time) started a comic punk rock circus called “The Latest Show on Earth”, and toured the country with circus partner Ben Turner. Acts like “The Emotional Escape Artist”, “The Self-Taming Lion Man” and “The Dance of the Third Wheel” delighted hipster audiences from Athens to Chicago to New Orleans to New York and 20 other cities.

In 2005,

at Burning Man, she held what she believes to be the first Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous meeting involving shirt-cocking. She felt it went fantastic and knew this would be her life from now on.

Since then,

Alicia has written a string of poignant and hilarious underrated comedy shows, performing them around the world, from Off Broadway to Bombay to Bali, Hollywood to London, all with three word titles: Latest Show (on) Earth, The Punch Line, Eat Pray Laugh, Oy of Sex, and One Life Stand. Finally she’s broken the streak this year with Are You Dressed for the Apocalypse?

She’s filmed these shows for comedy specials and released them to critical acclaim on Youtube. She’s won a slew of awards. Best Storyteller at the United Solo Festival in New York. Best of the Fringe in San Francisco (twice). Best of the Fringe in Hollywood. Solo Show of the Year from Theater Bay Area. Voted Best Comedian in both the SF Weekly and SF Bay Guardian.

After spending a bunch of time wandering in ashrams and Budda Bars of India, Bali, and Portugal, and Brazil, doing a little tantra, and becoming a “life coach”, she now thinks she’s qualified to dole out nondual transmissions and spontaneous awakenings of embodied liberation. (She is not.) (But that won’t stop her.)

Down here in Los Angeles,

she’s working on a semi-autobiographical TV show about all these misadventures.

She thinks about starting a podcast. (It would be very funny.) Imagine it now in your mind. That will be less work for her.

AWARDS

  • Voted “Best Comedian” -San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of the Bay Reader’s Poll
  • Voted “Best Comedian” -San Francisco Weekly Best of the Bay Reader’s Poll
  • Awarded “Top Five Solo Show of the Year” -Theatre Bay Area
  • Voted “Best Storyteller” -New York United Solo Festival
  • Voted “Best of the Fringe” -Hollywood Fringe Fest CAFE Arts
  • International #1 Bestselling Author, Amazon Kindle for her book “Getting Shit Done”
  • Awarded “TBA Recommended Show” -Theatre Bay Area
  • Awarded “Best of the Fringe” (twice) -San Francisco Fringe Fest
  • Awarded “Best Female Solo Show” -San Francisco Fringe Fest
  • Voted “Best Local Comedian” -East Bay Express
  • “Pick of the Week” -SF Chronicle Pink Section (multiple times)
  • “What’s Hot Pick of the Week” -ABC News in SF (multiple times)
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Reviews

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Alan Clements

“I love this woman. Pure real, heart to soul, above inward and beyond. She not only makes me laugh and cry, she brings me fact to face with emotions that liberate – not only fear, but love. She is not only an uber unique A List Comedian, she’s a spiritual rebel, courageously defying the insidious pretensions of the status quo, while offering everyone in her audience the priceless gift of accessing their own untamed beauty, freed of the cultism of fear and conformity.”

— Alan Clements, Spiritually Incorrect, author, activist, performing artist, former Buddhist monk, and one of the West’s foremost nonsectarian dharma teachers

Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros

“Her comedy is observational but not judgey, serious but light, political, environmental, irreverent and powerfully current.

She has that kind of relaxed physical calm that very few comedians have. She commands the room, she loves the audience and her humor is above all likable…no meanness, no ridicule, no pain. It’s a much harder skill to be intelligent and warm and engaging and funny. Alicia Dattner is the kind of funny you wish your best friend was. How else can I put this…she’s just really, and I mean really, funny.

I predict Alicia Dattner will be a huge star, a household name any minute now. Like she says, “catch her now before she ascends.”

— Samantha Simmonds-Ronceros, Los Angeles NoHo Arts District News

Adam Strauss

“One of the best solo shows I’ve ever seen.”

— Adam Strauss, acclaimed comedian and solo performer

marci-shimoff

“Alicia is hilarious and fabulous. She has a beautiful heart and soul.”

— Marci Shimoff, New York Times Bestselling Author, Happy for No Reason

new york times

“Recommended show!”
(3 weeks in a row)

— The New York Times

“I laughed till I cried. Brilliant writing and performing. She belongs on Letterman. Come see her so you can say you saw her before she was famous!”

— Marsha Stevens

“Unbelievably genius. Very helpful in many ways, especially spiritually. I was amazed at every single line – her timing, acting, nuanced humor, profound points, the FACES she makes! Easily as good as Eddie Izzard. (And I’m British.)”

— Katie Darling, Creator of InfiniteWave Healing

“Animated and graceful. By the end of 90 minutes of ‘Eat, Pray, Laugh!’ the house is full of laughter.”

— Theatrius

“Alicia poured herself and her comic soul into a very tight pair of jeans. She was as charming as she was alarming. I left feeling shocked, entertained, thoughtful and happy that I have had none of these problems – NOT!”

— Diana Prince, with Broadway Producer Stewart Lane

“Ultimately, laughter culminates in compassion rather than a mindless hangover. Dattner’s act is thoughtful, hilarious, and very brave. She reveals secrets of her desires, flaws and insecurities. That takes guts, and I admire Dattner her courage. Her comedy drives home a touching and beautiful message: to love and appreciate people because of their fears and insecurities. Amen!”

— Ken Kaisser, Theater is Easy

“Dattner is smart, funny, entertaining, talented and full of energy. Dealing with serious issues, can be funny and still be enlightening. The confluence of a great writer with a talented actor can bring out such depth.”

— Ray Morgovian, OffOffOnline

“Alicia’s honesty, charm, good writing and high energy make this one a winner.”

— Leslie DiLeo, Hi Drama

“I can’t believe you do that on stage. In front of people.”

— Alicia’s Parents

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Raised in an extremely liberal branch of Judaism known as an ashram (that’s a joke), Alicia’s spiritual roots – and propensity for poking fun at them – go deep. Alicia did her first standup set at 18 and graduated from Hampshire College with a degree in standup comedy and filmmaking.

Mentored by several talented comedians over the years, including W. Kamau Bell (CNN, FX), Eugene Mirman (Flight of the Conchords), and Bill Santiago (Comedy Central), she’s been rocking clubs like The Improv and Gotham Comedy Club, playing in San Francisco, New York, London, Hollywood, Honolulu, Bali, and Bombay.

She’s performed with Maria Bamford, Ali Wong, Moshe Kasher, Arj Barker, Kate Willett, and many more luminaries.

After a dozen years of doing standup, she’s been racking up awards for her humorous, insightful one-woman shows. The SF Guardian called her “Goofy, messy, and fun!” The LA Theater Review says she’s “Charming, likable, and funny!” Sold-out hit shows and extended runs have garnered her a number of awards.

Her shows include Are You Dressed for the Apocalypse?, One Life Stand, The Oy of Sex, Eat, Pray, Laugh!, The Punchline, and The Latest Show on Earth Circus. She’s also creator of The Spiritual Comedy Festival. Alicia wrote a parody of David Allen’s book Getting Things Done that became an international number-one best-selling book on Amazon. Check out Getting Shit Done here. Her show The Oy of Sex premiered Off-Broadway in New York at The Bridge Theater recently and was listed three weeks running in The New York Times Comedy Section. Her newest show, a new hour of standup comedy called One Life Stand, is now touring.

She leads storytelling and comedy workshops around the world, coaches international speaking clients 1-1, and directs solo shows. Check out Solo Showdown Solo Performance & Comedy Workshops here.

Alicia has appeared on NPR, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Express, The Lady Brain Show, J Magazine, BeliefNET, Elephant Journal, Elevate, Inspyr, Integral Yoga Magazine, The Mindful Word, Awaken.com, Taoish.com, and more.