Do you feel like you sometimes… can't feel anything? It’s easy to get so caught up in the woes of the world and the woes of our selves, that it’s… well, numbing. And we can’t have that, now can we? CAKE & VIOLENCE is a food fetish fever dream of a solo show brought to you by writer & New Yorker cartoonist, Great Job Nat. Watch her deliver a bunch of monologues whilst smashing a big ol’ cake, all in an effort to get you to FEEL something. It's comedic. It's dramatic. It's about not only reconnecting to your body, but to every body.

WEDS OCT 4 @ DYNASTY TYPEWRITER

GET TICKETS HERE

Natalie Badillo-Griffen is an LA-based screenwriter, New Yorker cartoonist, performer, and stand-up comic who grew up in a large Mexican-American family in the Bay Area, CA. She attended Stanford University where she majored in mechanical engineering (as all comedy writers do) and won a (very impressive wow) NCAA National Soccer Championship, earning her a Super-Bowl-sized ring that is now her dad’s most prized possession.

In the past year, Nat’s hosted stand-up for sold-out crowds at the Jane Hotel in NYC and Jam in the Van in LA, debuted her one woman show Cake & Violence to 5-star acclaim at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and performed with comedy greats including Reggie Watts, Melissa Villaseñor, Theo Von, and Mark Normand. She wrote and directed a short film starring Emile Hirsch to premiere in next year’s festival circuit, has a few screenwriting projects that have recently continued development post-strike (hooray!) and is developing a podcast Great Job Pod! that begins this fall. Her one woman show Cake & Violence has become her main focus for the rest of this year—after three shows in LA, she’s bringing it to New York’s Littlefield Theater this November.

Gabriella Wall (Director of Cake & Violence) is a British born talent & literary manager at LBI Entertainment. Her early career was spent working on films sets, before she landed the job as Rick Yorn's assistant. During that time, she learned the importance of thinking long-term. Currently, she manages an array of actors, writers and directors, and specializes in sourcing high-end literary material. More recently, she began producing various projects across theatre, film, and television. Gabriella resides in Los Feliz, LA.

How did you meet each other, and what made you want to work together? What is something you appreciate about one another that makes you good collaborators?

Nat: Unbelievably, we met each other on stage. I performed my solo show Cake & Violence for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022 and Gabby was in the audience.

Gabriella: I was there with my mum, on the hunt for creativity and I stumbled into Cake and Violence. How could you jump on a title like that?

Nat: Every show there's an audience cake-smashing participation portion and Gabby volunteered (that brave little soul!).

Gabriella: I tend to be shy but felt compelled to raise my hand and go up on stage to smash a cupcake. That was the sign; I felt an urge to participate.

Nat: So, we smashed a bunch of cupcakes together in front of an audience of Scottish strangers. Then we got coffee the next day. Perhaps the best way to start a friendship.

Gabriella: I felt comfortable in Nat's presence; she has a fantastic ability to make people feel something. So, I knew then I wanted to bring it to LA and collaborate.

Who and what were some of your creative influences, growing up? What were you like as kids and teenagers? Does any of that show up in your work now? Do your childhoods still impact you, creatively?

Gabriella: Mine would be Penny Lane, Britney Spears, and Joan Didion. But Nat will be able to talk about the show and her childhood.

Nat: Britney Spears, wow. Can't sleep on Britney. "Slave 4 U" was my sexual awakening.

As a kid, I read a lot of books and I watched a lot of stand-up comedy on Comcast On-Demand. Remember On-Demand? Back in my day, young whippersnappers, we didn't have TikTok. We 13 year olds had to get our comedy through TiVo, or whatever. It was a strange combo, reading and stand-up, but both taught me how to tell a story. Reading gave me the language and comedy gave me the cadence. As a kid, I was intense and introverted and dark and weird and athletic. I'm picturing a goth kid on a soccer field, which isn't entirely inaccurate. I didn't wear only black clothes, but I was a real' haunted house on the inside. I used to write twisted little stories and I was convinced I was destined to be the next Stephen King (the first Stephen Queen? sorry). Finding comedy in my early 20s really brought some much-needed levity to an otherwise pretty intense life. Playing sports from age 3 on made me way too competitive and mean and hard on myself— I eventually played soccer at Stanford, which I don't say as a brag, but more to explain that I was that disciplined and crazy. We won a National Championship my sophomore year. I say that as a brag.

My upbringing absolutely affects my work now; it's the foundation. I make jokes about all of it, as it's my way of coping.

In the trailer for Cake & Violence, you (Nat) describe not being able to feel anything unless it involves cake or violence. (For you both) What do you think is so cathartic about these two things? Why do we need them so badly? How has everything in our lives, including the internet, impacted our relationship to carnal, physical human experiences?

Nat: Oooh, I love this question and I'll try to keep my answer to less than a 350 page novel. Cake is the ultimate pleasure and violence is the ultimate pain and both are (in the context of the show and much of my life) "forbidden," which makes me want them more. I've always been an extremist when it comes to emotions and I blame being a high level athlete and just a naturally emotional kid—I live for life's peaks and valleys, ultimate euphoria and deep, delicious sadness. There's nothing like crying; I find some of my best poetry in puddles of tears. Now, in my largely computer-based life, I miss the full-body rush before soccer games and I ache to feel more present, especially in my body. The internet is such a domineering force, it keeps us hunched, staring at endless pictures that we can't smell, taste, touch.

After performing the show at Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, how did it change? Has anything transformed since your performances last summer? And where is Cake & Violence going next?

Nat: Oh yeah, it's changed a lot. I'm a screenwriter who's used to the permanency of writing for the screen—you turn in a script, you shoot it, you're done. But a live show kind of grows with you over the years. I do more stand up than I did then, so it's funnier (at least I think so). And I'm more comfortable getting out of my skin so it's a bit louder and bloodier than it was (don't worry, the blood's fake y'all).

After the October 4th show in LA at the Dynasty Typewriter, we're off to New York for a one-off performance and then we'll be looking to put it up in one of the major theater cities (either LA, NY, London) for a longer run of performances. I'm brewing on a pilot and/or a book of essays based on the project as well, so who knows? Cake could be re-molded into a future form.

What are you working on after this?

Nat: More stand-up comedy and a movie script! Per my darkly comedic sensibility, I'm writing a feature about two dead siblings that I'll be funding next year. It's a project I've always wanted to make with my younger brother. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be taking the festival route with it.

And now that the WGA and AMPTP have FINALLY AGREED ON A DEAL (thank heaven almighty), I'll be back to writing for TV. I'm too superstitious to plug any of those projects yet, but here's hoping in a year or two's time you'll see a series out there with my name on it.

As for Gabby and I, I'm stoked to work with her to continue this new performance bug. I came to that after writing, but now I'm excited to add that to my creative repertoire. I want to keep crafting that acting skill, both for stage and screen.

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

Nat: My friend Gabe Gibbs has a show called Silly Songs Sad Songs that I love, and another friend Dylan Adler has his solo show Hit that Track which made me cry laughing. A show that Gabby's seen and I'm desperate to see is KATE by Kate Berlant. I don't know her, but I admire her a lot. Not, like, in a creepy way,. Don't worry, Kate. I'm normal. Despite having a cake-smashing-one-woman show. Anyway...

Gabriella: For anyone passing through London, THE EFFECT at the National Theatre was directed by one of my favourite clients, Jamie Lloyd. He’s renowned for minimalism and expressionism, so actors love working with him. This one stars Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell – a bonus! I particularly love that Jamie advocates for accessible theater, especially to young people. That resonates with me, because I find the creative youth fascinating. For example, FETISHIZE ME, a short film by Jessamine Bell, is riveting. The screenwriters that I’m most excited about are Ming Pfeiffer and Sara-Ella Ozbek. Their writing style is seductive, cutting-edge and takes an astute stance on feminism – both exude a natural "cool factor" in their work.