Lucia Whalen is a comedian who was born and raised in this area. She had a very well-rounded upbringing, putting her energy into sports, acting and comedy. She started doing standup at the age of 23. Her career has culminated in being the headliner at Zanies on Oct. 21.
Growing up, Lucia lived part-time with her father, Sam Whalen, and Amparo Castillo, in Forest Park. She also lived with her mother, Susanna Mlot, in Oak Park. Lucia attended Grace Lutheran in River Forest. She was funny but wasn’t wild like a class clown. She developed a more subtle sense of humor.
It helped that she came from a family of “insanely funny people.” Lucia has an easy laugh and her aunts and uncles cracked her up. She also drew inspiration from watching Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central. Her early influences included Gilda Radner and Amy Schumer.
Lucia honed her acting skills by playing lead roles in shows at Grace Lutheran. She also starred in summer theater. When she wasn’t acting, she played the violin at recitals. She even did some stand-up comedy as a kid.
At OPRF High School, she shifted her focus from the performing arts to the playing field, competing on the field hockey and lacrosse teams. She continued her athletic career at UIC, where her dad was the coach of the rowing team. Lucia rowed recreationally but found being a member of a team to be a huge commitment.
After studying English at UIC, Lucia attended the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She majored in Environmental Journalism and is currently using her degree to work for an environmental nonprofit.
During this time, she also took comedy classes at Second City. These courses didn’t explain how to pursue a career in comedy. “There’s no clear path to success,” she said, so she watched for open mic opportunities.
She later took the scary step of going onstage with her own material. She admits the bar was set pretty low for performers. “Everyone was bad,” she recalled, as the comedians entertained drunk people late at night. But it was great place to try out her material.
Lucia spent seven years doing open mics. She became calm and confident on stage. She is also a shameless storyteller who fills her notebooks with ideas, drawing humor from her own experiences, but she is not an observational comic.
She talks about her concepts of femininity and her humor has a feminist bent. She also connects with bigger issues, like the gender gap between men’s and women’s sports. She talks about having a reproductive disorder and her issues with health care.
Lucia performs about three times a week. She finds which material works the best. “It’s a magical process,” she said. When not performing, she’s writing new material, a discipline she has long practiced. She is also a cast member at the Lincoln Lodge, where she has many comedy-loving friends.
Lucia is “young in comedy years” so she considers it an honor to perform at Zanies. Headlining means spending an hour on stage; fortunately she has seven years of material to draw from.
Carving out a career in comedy can be difficult but Lucia loves what she’s doing.
She continues to grow as a comedian while maintaining a presence on social media. She has an Instagram, account @luciawhalen with 6,000 followers. She participates in podcasts and maintains a website luciawhalen.com.
Lucia hopes to perform at BABS Comedy Club some day because this is the area which shaped her.
