Courtney Pauroso

COURTNEY PAUROSO is an L.A. based actress, writer, and comedian and known for her one woman “sexy clown” shows — GUTTERPLUM and VANESSA 5000, both of which had sell out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 and 2023. She wrote on and appeared in the comedic short series Two Pink Doors for FX, and can also been seen on Jackass Forever, Reno 911, The Prank Panel, Key & Peele, Like and Subscribe, The Opening Act, and the indie feature Dogleg. She is an alum of the Groundlings Sunday Company and Washington D.C. based physical theater company Synetic Theater.

After sold-out runs at Edinburgh Fringe 2023 & Soho Theater London, Vanessa 5000 returns to LA

GET TICKETS HERE for Oct 25 & 26 at the Elysian Theater

Directed by Corey Podell

Photos by Jill Petracek

In VANESSA 5000 you play a sex robot who appears to discover not only the horrors of being a woman, but also the existential horrors of being a sentient being. What is Vanessa's arc? What does she realize about herself?

I’m having such a hard time answering this question! And ultimately I’ve decided . . . it’s just not that kind of show, haha. It is an absurdist sex robot demonstration throughout which a transformation occurs, but it’s meant to be a bit mysterious. I don’t think it’s about what people might assume it’s about, but I’m also fine if people end up getting different things from it. I hope it works on multiple levels. Personally, I love being a woman. And I think of Vanessa as a femme fatale. Perhaps in moments she represents larger ideas, like “the seductive/destructive power of technology”, but also I’m just a humble clown so the performance of the “character” is ultimately just me, pretending to be a sex robot, in a stupid way that’s fun for me and for the audience. Sorry to be cryptic, but don’t want to spoil anything!

What do you and Vanessa teach us about gender, sex, pleasure, technology and the future?

I hope I don’t teach my audience anything! I’d much rather delight, mystify, seduce, enrage, or terrify them. Anything but teach. I’m sure my thoughts/feelings/opinions on all of those things inform what I’m doing on some level, and perhaps provoke the audience to have their own thoughts/feelings/opinions, but I never want the audience to walk away feeling like “And now I know exactly what Courtney thinks about that.” I promise, you don’t.

Your performance sounds intensely physical (I heard you do a backwards somersault in six inch heels!) What's a fun physical moment that tends to get a big reaction from audiences?

The alleged backwards somersault is actually a round off, and they’re seven inch heels! But close enough. So that’s one. I also do lots of stupid butt stuff.

What's after Vanessa 5000? What do you hope to write, create or work on next? Is there anything, creatively, you haven't had a chance to try that you'd love to explore?

I’d love the chance to explore motherhood, so I’d love to create a human baby, but I’ll probably have to write a screenplay or something in the meantime since I’m truly starting from scratch on that one. If you have any leads on a man who has good-smelling body odor, doesn’t suck, is brave, and might be interested in and worthy of impregnating me and loving me for eternity, let me know. I might be open to alternative methods eventually, but the man who loves me way seems nice if I can pull it off. And other than that . . . yeah I think it’d be cool to make a film that’s totally different in tone and style than my live shows. We’ll see what happens.

Are there any upcoming shows, events, performances you're really looking forward to seeing? Anything your friends or peers are doing that you recommend we check out?

Julia Masli is undeniable. There’s a reason her show (titled HA HA HA HA HA HA HA) blew up at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. I think what she’s doing is truly radical and profound ritualistic witch magic stuff, and yet it’s so hilarious and effortless and accessible. She is a true clown. If you ever get a chance to see her perform, run don’t walk. Another artist who really intrigues and delights me is my friend Kira Nova. She currently teaches psychedelic clown classes in L.A. and does individual artistic counseling, and has made solo shows in an art world context that I’ve only been able to see clips of, but they look so rad. I can’t wait to see what she makes next. And Claire Woolner! She is just riveting onstage, so raw and intense and funny, and I love watching her lose her shit during her show “A Retrospection.” Also Beth Stelling is simply one of the best stand-ups in the biz, and her new Netflix special “If You Didn’t Want Me Then” is perfect.