Meet Abigoliah – the yoga comic! What, did you think yoga wasn’t funny? Hold onto your egos.
When it comes to stand-up comedians, yoga teacher doesn’t immediately come to mind as a day job, but for Abigoliah Schamaun, standing on stage in front of a sweaty, demanding sometimes raucous crowd is the norm – and then she goes to teach Bikram! Born in Ohio and enlightened on the avenues of NYC, Abigoliah (a-bee-go-LIE-uh) is just your regular 24 year old self-affirming/deprecating, stereotype blasting, doughnut-eating, foul-mouthed yogi comic. And we think she’s hilarious!
There’s something about the paradox of non-judgment, building that confidence in self practice, and then throwing that Self to a pack of captious wolves hungry for a good laugh, ready to tear down the pillars of enlightenment and self acceptance that makes us think, good thing she does yoga! Ha.
And things can get raunchy. We won’t ruin any punchlines, but Abs does not shy away from candid accounts of yoga competitions, shatting livers, eating disorders, or anal sex. You’ll have to watch the video. Just like 105 degree yoga, this is not for the faint of heart.
“When I’m not teaching yoga or doing comedy I usually find myself giving head, and why not?”
If you’re curious whether her yoga students and teachers have been to her shows, that is a positive! So has her mom. Don’t worry though, most of the comedy doesn’t grace the Bikram stage. Though, we have to admit, we might attempt Bikram more often if it did!
Ms. Abigoliah has been practicing yoga for over six years and teaching Bikram for just over two, which is now her full-time job. Believe it or not she only just started the stand-up routine in June 2009 and has already been performing across the city (Comix, Gotham Comedy Club), and even abroad at London and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. She was recently invited to bring her hour-long stand-up show, “Fabulous Abs,” to the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the Melbourne Comedy Festival in Australia.
See Abigoliah: NY-ers if you’re looking for a fun evening full of ‘hilarious and solicitous entertainment’ come on out and help Abs bring her “Abs” tour down under:
Fundraiser for the trip on December 9th @ 8:30pm
At Don’t Tell Mamas, 343 W 46th St btwn 8th & 9th Ave.
There will be a raffle and auction!
For more about Abigoliah and her adventures in yogi stand-up check out her website www.abigoliah.com
You can also help her out by going to her kickstarter campaign page
photo by Jessica Guyette
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Earlier…
I think Deepak Chopra should be featured in any section entitled “Yoga Ha -Ha”, because the man is a hoot – without even trying to be funny.
We in India laugh our asses off at that pompous old fraud DC.
DC is trying to give Hinduism a “New-Age” twist. How do you give a “New Age” twist to an ancient wisdom that is more than 5000 years old ?
But, I’ll still take DC anyday over the thousands of American Yoga-con-artists popping up and setting up shop, all over the US, with their fancy Yoga Studios and all.
Because, Americans, if you are not VEGETARIAN, there’s just no point in continuing to do yoga – because eating meat and the practice of Yoga just do NOT go together. Yoga is all about trying to reach a higher plane, and killing animals and devouring their flesh will NOT take you to a higher plane.