Comedian Alicia Dattner's playfully subversive press kits keep audiences rolling in the proverbial aisles. You are as likely to see her typing on a laptop at a comedy club as you are at a local café with a typewriter. Not surprisingly, she plies her trade from the capitol of unconventionality, San Francisco.
"It's a good starter city. Like a training bra," she notes.
Alicia Dattner has been promoting herself almost as long as she has been performing. Preceding her first comedy show at the tender age of 9, she designed a poster with fabricated quotes from top publications like The New York Times and Variety. She's been writing biographies and assembling press kits for herself ever since. Her sophomoric attempts at public relations were edgy and amusing. She once sent a signed photograph of herself to the Queen of England offering advice on a more jaunty way to tilt her crown. Response was tepid.
In college, Dattner became a whiz at Photoshop. She began experimenting with desktop publishing, but found the best results using self-serve print shops. "A very loyal and fastidious costumer" says Kinko's. "She always wants the edges just right. And she won't hesitate to make you print it again, even if it's almost closing time," Office Max raves.
When she's not updating her website or writing to fans on her mailing list, Dattner is hard at work with the thesaurus. She enjoys performing, but prefers expressing herself through the subtle nuances of a well-written blurb to the hype of live show.
Dattner often employs words to describe herself like, "clever", "unique", "irreverent", and "downright silly".
Dattner has thought of and written down funny things to say for The Tonight Show's Jay Leno, The Late Show's David Letterman, and (very funny things to say for) The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Dattner's future looks bright.
One tell-tale sign of her ascent: in late 2003, Dattner's best press kit, her smile, broke onto the cover of J Magazine with verve and style. Her publicity photographs often win compliments from colleagues who have headlined at San Francisco's Punchline and Hollywood's Laugh Factory. "You don't look fat at all. You look normal." declares Joe Klocek. "Wow, that sweater is sheer." exclaims Robert Hawkins. She's sent her most persuasive press kits, including biographies, resumes, 8 x 10 headshots, business cards, and postcards, all the way to Hollywood's Improv, Caroline's, and Catch a Rising Star.
When booked at one of these venues, she plans to use these credentials in her resume to get more bookings. Her upcoming animated TV show, a cross between Meet the Press and Crank Yankers, is in development with Yumfactory Licensing.
Alicia Dattner may be available for your next press event.