WANT TO GET IN TOUCH? You can email kellidunham@gmail.com or text 215.964.1963
I have a Substack, the Second Helping Gazette and publish a few times a month with resources on helping helping professionals, well, help. This is a great way to stay in touch! There’s a hilarious practical podcast coming this summer! Subscribe free here.
Want to book me for other trauma informed, kind comic reasons? You can look around the rest of my site for other presentations, workshops, and leadership humor coaching, and also find me on LinkedIn.
Finally, this fall I’m opening up an ongoing virtual group called Making It Better. This will be a practical fun supportive space where folks in the helping professions (including a fair number of nurses, it’s looking like) can focus on ways our creative pursuits can help sustain our work. Whether you have a creative outlet (writing? improv? painting? music? synchronized drawing?) that you left behind or need to find one, each meeting we’ll have a discussion, spend some time generating new work and have fun. We’ll also have an (optional but very supportive) virtual performance each quarter so you can invite your coworkers…or your family or your teenage kids, if you’d really to annoy them. You can fill out a short (promise-three questions and one of them is your name) interest indication form here so I can send you an email in the fall with more information.
If you’d like to ask an anonymous question to go into the post event notes or ask a slightly less anonymous question I’ll answer in an email, fill out this google form.
Current slides below but check back within 48 hours of the presentation for a print friendly summary. This is 147 pages of brightly colored everything, the very opposite of print friendly.
You can email kellidunham@gmail.com or text 215.964.1963
I have a Substack, the Second Helping Gazette and publish a few times a month with resources on helping helping professionals, well, help. This is a great way to stay in touch! Subscribe free here.
My live show Second Helping: Two Dead Lovers, Dead Funny will be streaming on May 18th at 4 pm. Very reasonable tickets here.
Want to book me for other trauma informed, kind comic reasons? You can look around the rest of my site for other presentations, workshops, and leadership humor coaching, and also find me on LinkedIn.
Thanks so much for everyone who has been supportive of this long long long long process of creating Second Helping including:
Beth Lapides (see producer info, below)
Everyone present on Pudding Day
All the folks who loved Heather and Cheryl
Bryn Kelly
Genne Murphy
Jill Uhlfelder
Caveat NYC (with a special thanks to Anne Houston for above and beyond call of duty)
Stacy Bias
Turan Ali
Queer Diary/Bechdel Theater
Gillian Wilson
Diva Magazine
Catherine Murray BBC4
Amraine Rasool, Carol Purcell & Sally Magnusson, Lynda-Marie at BBC Scotland
Barbara Carrellas and Kate Bornstein
Fringe festivals that hosted Second Helping virtually during lockdown: Pittsburgh, Bright Light
Barbara Buckley
Jude Treder-Wolff-Second Stage
Matilda Davis
Brian Snyder
CC Blooms
PBH Free Fringe
Justin Allardyce/ Friends at The End in Scotland
MSP Rona McKay
Rebecca Tulley
Robin Bady/Badyhouse
Michele Carlo/Word
Kevin Allison/Risk
Michele Jalowski and the Moth
ABOUT THE AMAZING PRODUCER-BETH LAPIDES
Beth Lapides is the creator, host and producer of the long running, critically acclaimed, genre shifting UnCabaret, Amazon, Comedy Central, Comedy World Radio etc. She’sthe creatrix of its spin-off shows Say The Word and The Other Network. Her original audiobook ”So You Need To Decide” was on Vulture’s Best Comedy Books of the Year. She hosted a daily show on Comedy World Radio. She’s been featured on Sex and The City, The History of Comedy on CNN, MTV, Time, NPR etc. Her latest solo show, It’s A Lot is in development. She is a comedy and creativity coach and speaker at places like The Erma Bombeck Institute, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and her own Infinite Creator coaching. She’s the recipient of several NEA grants and a graduate of Brown University.
ABOUT OUR AMAZING OPENER-BETH TONER
Beth Toner is a nurse, writer, erstwhile theatre major, and nerd who still hasn’t figured out what she wants to be when she grows up. She has spent the last 30 years of her life writing stuff for other people. For the last five, she’s been intermittently obsessed with returning to the stage in community theatre. Now, she’s writing — and performing — for herself. When she’s not working her day job or volunteering at the local free clinic, you can find her trying to decide which crochet project to start (and not finish) next or trekking doggedly up and down hills in a trail race while the younger, faster folks greet her with “good job!” and “on your left!” She’s currently writing Disaster Girl, her one-woman show, which is kind of about her obsession with the Titanic and tornadoes, but also about her family.
Thanks for your interest in VIP tickets! In addition to supporting the message of Second Helping, Kelli is putting away money to do a Florida Youngfolks Comedy/Storytelling Tour. The state of Florida has made it illegal to use state money to pay for diversity initiatives. Which means all the state college system LGBT centers have shut down and many youth centers as well. And then the anti-trans bills keep coming, each one more ridiculous than the one before. Anyway. You know how Florida is. (Kelli went to a small Christian High School in Florida where “homosexual activity” was grounds for immediate explosion. She’s feeling worried about Florida youth right now, among other things)
We’re excited to offer the following VIP tickets! When you’ve decided which one you want, tell us with this form.
VIP ENJOY 40 (IRL ONLY) SPECIAL VIP SEATING, HOMEMADE RUM BALLS OR HOMEMADE BEEF JERKY, YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF KELLI’S ANGRY TEES. INDICATE HERE
VIP AFFIRM $60 (IRL OR VIRTUAL) SPECIAL RESERVED SEAT (THAT PART IS IRL ONLY) HOMEMADE RUM BALLS OR BEEF JERKY, YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF KELLI’S ANGRY TEES AND GET THIS…KELLI WILL MAKE YOU A SET OF 12 FUNNY/EARNEST LAMINATED AFFIRMATION CARDS CREATED JUST FOR YOU. START THE PROCESS TO BUY HERE
VIP ESTEEM $100 (IRL OR VIRTUAL) SPECIAL RESERVED SEAT (THAT PART IS IRL ONLY) HOMEMADE RUM BALLS OR BEEF JERKY, YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF KELLI’S ANGRY TEES AND GET THIS…HAVEN’T YOU ALWAYS WANTED A TROPHY FOR SOMETHING YOU DO, THAT YOU’RE GREAT AT, BUT HAS BEEN UN-NOTICED? OR TO HONOR A FRIEND OR PARTNER OR OTHER PERSON IN YOUR LIFE IN THIS WAY? EXAMPLES: BEST METAMOUR, BEST CAT-SITTER, KINDEST TATTOO ARTIST, ETC. OR KEEP ONE IN YOUR BAG TO HAND TO SOMEONE FOR BEST SPRINT FOR THE SUBWAY. KELLI WILL DESIGN AND MAKE THE TROPHY OF YOUR DREAMS! ORDER HERE
VIP ACTIVITY $150 (IRL OR VIRTUAL) SPECIAL RESERVED SEAT (IRL ONLY), A SNACK PACK OF TASTY TREATS, A TEE SHIRT OF YOUR CHOICE FROM KELLI’S ANGRY TEES AND KELLI WILL CREATE A 20 PAGE COLORING /ACTIVITY BOOK ABOUT YOU AND YOUR SPECIAL INTEREST. C’MON YOU ALL KNOW Y’ALL HAVE SPECIAL INTERESTS. FOR EXAMPLE, DO YOU HAVE NEW SPORT YOU’VE TAKEN UP, OR A FAMILY THING YOU’RE NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO? DO YOU LOVE TRAINS OR THREESOMES OR THE GOLDEN GIRLS? WE’VE INCLUDED SOME RECENTLY COLORING SHEETS KELLI MADE FOR A FRIEND GOING THROUGH BREAKUP, AND YOU CAN SEE HOW A BOOK LOOKS PUT TOGETHER KELLI’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HOLIDAYS WITH YOUR FAMILY. START THE PROCESS OF THIS AMAZING VALUE HERE.
Considering booking Kelli to present Laughter At The End Of Life, either virtually or IRL?
Kelli put together a small excerpt of a virtual LAEL as an unlisted YouTube link, check it out here.
Need to convince a committee that booking Kelli is a good idea? We have a printable one sheet just for that purpose:
AND-after each presentation of Laughter At The End Of Life, Kelli prepares a handout/non-cheat sheet (because using humor is definitely not cheating) for the organization, with references and resources as well as relevant content take-aways and a few surprises created just for that organization. This was prepared for the Minnesota HPNA, and Kelli created a hospice nurse Mad Lib to add to their handout.
HI and thanks for coming here! I appreciate your help getting the word out about SECOND HELPING and all the other workshops and presentations I offer.
You know, so this new show called SECOND HELPING is a hilarious and surprisingly hopeful journey through grief, death and exploding knee replacements and –most importantly and overall–the importance of learning how to ask for and accept help.
And so here I am, taking my own advice and asking for help. Even though it makes me feel a little bit funny and this all is getting kinda meta. Could you please help spread the word about this show and my other work? I get nearly all of my bookings from referrals because people are justifiably afraid of comedians being loose cannons. Starting in July, I will have a lot more freedom to travel for presentations which I’m super excited about but I could use your assistance filling up my schedule.
SECOND HELPING especially feels really personal to me, and it’s also a culmination in many ways of my work up to this point. Plus, not being able to ask for help has made my life SO MUCH HARDER for absolutely no good reason. I really want to pass along this message of interdependence, mutual aid and letting people help you!
How can you let folks know about what I do and why they should book me?
Option 1
The best and easiest way to refer folks to me is send ’em right here. Well, not right here, this page, but my website in general. You can direct them more specifically to the relevant page where there are completed evals, tons of testimonials and more information about what I can offer:
PLEASE NOTE: ALL my presentations are CEU-ready with ready-to-go learning objectives and relevant citations to peer-reviewed literature. .
Option 2
If you want to send a stand-alone email I’ve pasted some potential options for language below. Or of course you can write your own. I promise I’m not trying to micro-manage y’all, just trying to make it easier.
Option 3
Pressed for time but still have a booking idea? I made a google form that will take you less than three minutes to fill out!
As an embarrassingly small token of my thanks, if I successfully book a show/presentation because of your referral I have an EP called Pass the Jokes Folks, it’s a collection of comedic storytelling I’ve done over the years and will not be available ANYWHERE except as a part of this special promotion. Oh and also you’ll be able to pick from one item from all the designs I’ve created on my TeePublic shop which includes not just (as you’d expect) tee shirts, but also coffee cups, mouse pads, aprons and waaaaay more.
Okay, thanks so so so so much!
AND HERE’S SOME POSSIBLE EMAIL LANGUAGE (AGAIN, NOT TRYING TO MICROMANAGE, JUST WANT TO MAKE IT EASY)
INTRO TO KELLI AND SECOND HELPING
This is my friend Kelli Dunham. I know her from [insert here], she’s an amazing [performer, trauma-informed comedian, presenter, friend, storyteller, soul, nurse, skateboarder, educator, macrame artist] and she has a new show called Second Helping which is a hilarious comedic storytelling presentation about grief, death, exploding knee replacements, and most importantly learning how to accept help. Kelli will be doing a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe this August and is looking for more bookings for the rest of 2023 and 2024, especially college, healthcare facilities and conferences, and nonprofit organizations.
DOES THE PERSON NEED MORE CONVINCING?
Kelli’s work is very personal, and yes, funny, and also gently practical. SECOND HELPING even has a workshop on the nuts and bolts of asking for assistance and finding ways to build mutual aid into our communities and lives. This is such an important issue and this is such an entertaining and unique way to communicate about it.
SOCIAL PROOF THAT KELLI IS NOT A LOOSE CANNON
Kelli has been designing health and wellness-related workshops and presentations using harm reduction and trauma-informed principles since 2009. Kelli has presented at the Five College Gender and Sexuality Conference, Citibank, Colorado State University Health Care System, American Publishers Association, American Association of Vocational Rehab Counselors State Conference, Amnesty International), Firefly Writing Conference, St Francis Women’s Health Conference, Nursing Conventionality Unlimited, PA State Maternal Child Health Home Visitors Association , the National Association of Victims in Corrections, The Oklahoma State Child Abuse Prevention Conference, Pennsylvania State Home Visitors Conference, the Nurse-Family Partnership Annual Convening and many many more, as well as more than a hundred collges and schools.
Kelli was nominated as a 2105 White House Champion of Change for her work as the co-founder and producer of Queer Memoir, NYC’s longest-running LGBT storytelling event.
WHY YOU’RE REACHING OUT
I thought of you because [you have a college connections, you have a connection at a nursing conference, you are the president of a bank, you recently set a world’s record for pogo sticking]
And thought you might be interested in Kelli’s [SECOND HELPING, presentations for healthcare providers, workshops for college students, writing workshops etc etc]
But also if you’re interesting in purchasing some ANGRY QUEER TEES (and some that aren’t as angry) all profits from tee shirts this summer will go to support the Breakfast Club at the school where Kelli works! These designs and many more! Check them out!
