01/26/2006
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition)

By JASON COLLINGTON 

World Scene Writer

"Photo courtesy of the Tulsa World."

Local comedian goes from comedy club waitress to the national stage 

Laugh Track
Susan Dale would like to add a new word to the dictionary: red trash.

"I'm biracial," the 40-year-old Tulsa comedian likes to tell her audiences. 

"I'm half redneck and half white trash." 
Telling stories of her red-trash family isn't just getting laughs in 
Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but now Dale is booked for two appearances at 

the Las Vegas Comedy Festival, which this week showcases rising stars 

Dale performs Thursday and Friday. 

Comedy is something Dale always wanted to do, going back to the day 
when she was 20, sitting on the front row of a comedy club. 
A comic on stage, who wasn't doing well, started heckling her. 
"So I started heckling back," Dale said. "The audience was laughing. 
Afterward, the club owner asked me, 'Why aren't you doing comedy?' " 
At the time, Dale lacked the confidence and was too busy. She had 
earned a degree in dance from Kansas State University and performed with a 
civic dancing group. She started a retail business selling dance supplies. 
She also recognized that comedy was a tough world and most comics were 

filthy. 

"That's wasn't me," she said. "That was not my upbringing." 
Seven years ago, while still running her business, Dale started waiting 
tables at the Tulsa Comedy Club. 
"I thought it was great," she said. "I was heckling people at my 
tables. My boss then said I should do comedy." 
But Dale still didn't feel the time was right. Then almost two years 
ago, she sold her business. Finally, she thought she would give comedy a 
try. 
Her husband, 9-year-old daughter and the rest of her family agreed -- 
it was time to start making fun of them in front of strangers. 
Although her family is at the center of her comedy, Dale doesn't mind 
talking about the time she was arrested (for having a suspended license) 
or what she likes to do when she's in Las Vegas(a city version of cow 
tipping). 
She's also sticking to her upbringing -- her act is clean with no 
cussing or sex-fueled material. Her influences include clean comics Ellen 
DeGeneres, Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. 
It took a year before she earned her first paycheck. So in addition to 
concentrating on her act, Dale holds down two jobs to help pay the 
bills. She sells shoes at Dillard's and waits tables at Abuelos Mexican 
Restaurant.. 
She's heading to Las Vegas with her act and a finished sitcom script 
she co-wrote called "My Life in the Frying Pan." 
"You know, the shape of Oklahoma is like a deep-dish pan, but I'm 
shallow, so it's a frying pan," she said. "Even though my family is based 
out of Manhattan, Kan., I've lived here 11 years and I classify myself as 
a Tulsan. I based it in Broken Arrow." 
Her hope is to have the show filmed there. 
"My father told me if I ever make it, and I don't do something for my 
hometown, don't come home," she said. "That's what it's all about. There 
is so much talent here." 
When she appears in Vegas, she hopes to prove that someone "blond, 
dyslexic and suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder" can keep the crowds 
laughing. 
"I have always wanted to do this," she said. "I'm having the time of my 
life." 

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