The Waging Peace Podcast

A Comedian's Guide to Making Art + Making Change

• Diana Oestreich • Season 2 • Episode 16

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Rita Brent blends comedy and advocacy, using her platform to address serious societal issues while promoting joy and connection. Through her journey from childhood musician to stand-up comedian, Rita emphasizes the importance of vulnerability, community support, and compassion in navigating life's challenges.

• Exploring the evolution from music to comedy 
• The significance of personal experiences in comedy 
• Balancing humor with advocacy through songs 
• Addressing critics and embracing authenticity 

About Rita:

Rita Brent is an award-winning comedian, musician, and military veteran. She grew up in Jackson, MS where she played music in Baptist churches alongside her mother. By 18, she joined the Army National Guard where she served as a drummer in the 41st Army Band, ending her time in service as a sergeant. She began her radio broadcasting career at WJSU 88.5 FM, and later spent six years at Mississippi Public Broadcasting as a host and producer. In 2013, she made a big leap into standup comedy. Nine years later, she has appeared on Comedy Central, truTV, Epix TV, LOL Network, Circle TV, CNN, and more. She wrote for the 73rd Primetime EMMY Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, The People's Choice Awards, and Stand Out: An LGBTQ Celebration on Netflix. In 2023, she became a first-time Writers Guild Awards Nominee in two categories. When she’s not on the road as a standup comedian, she’s an up and coming music performance artist. She’s a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

How to find Rita:

  • Instagram: @ritabrentcomedy  
  • YouTube: @RitaBrentComedy    
  • Facebook: Rita Brent Comedy    
  • Website: https://www.ritabrent.com/


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Diana Oestreich:

all right all right well, so if her name is miss hazel, is she kind of like the boss in your house?

Rita Brent:

no, it's just not miss hazel, it's just hazel moon that's gonna be like.

Diana Oestreich:

That's a.

Rita Brent:

That's a fancy name she would like to think she's the boss, but she is not well, I've got my dog outside the door too, because I'm like what is it?

Diana Oestreich:

you lay around like you're dead all day. Yep, that's what they do until something starts that's what they do.

Rita Brent:

How's it going?

Diana Oestreich:

it is going well. Thank you for coming on the waging peace podcast. You're welcome. You're so welcome man, you for the listeners who don't. You've got a signature style with your hat.

Rita Brent:

Yes, typically, if I have a hat on, that means that my hair is not freshly cut. But we'll just roll with it being my signature. I'm down with that.

Diana Oestreich:

It's a podcast. I feel like nobody gets to know what we're looking like right now, Rita.

Rita Brent:

Right, we both have on very cool hats.

Diana Oestreich:

And also when you don't want to do your hair, it looks like you tried. Right. There you go. Well, I am super excited to have you on. And for people who don't know, rita Brent is a clean comedian, musician and military veteran from Jackson, Mississippi. During her childhood she developed musical skill sets in talent shows in Southern Baptist churches, performing as a drummer and a singer alongside her mother, a Baptist minister. She joined the 41st Army National Guard Band at age 18, where she served for nine years and ended her time in service as a sergeant. Rita, check you out. Where are you at for everybody. Rita, check you out.

Rita Brent:

Where are you at for everybody Mississippi.

Diana Oestreich:

Mississippi.

Rita Brent:

Hometown, born and raised, spent a little time in New York during the pandemic and just was not a good place to quarantine. So came back to Mississippi, spent the last two years in Atlanta and just now getting back home. So it's been great so far. So it's been great so far.

Diana Oestreich:

It is really fun to get to talk to somebody who is home basing in Mississippi, I feel like most people, they head to the coast.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, that's probably a nice flag. That we wave in the south is our Gulf Coast flag. It's pretty swanky down there, so I visit the Gulf Coast quite often.

Diana Oestreich:

Nice space lovely place, Beautiful. Well, just as a way for listeners to get to know a little bit more about you, I always love to ask people when you walk into a room, what are the invisible life experiences that really shaped you, that give you like the lens that you do your art through and your work through?

Rita Brent:

like the lens that you do your art through and your work through, probably just the people. I think if you are conscious and self-aware enough of your surroundings, you can see art in everything, and for me, as a comedian, my radar is always on. So even if I'm at a fast food restaurant, the way the woman is treating me at the counter, that could be material. Or I'm looking at the person who is possibly stressed and I'm thinking, ah, you know, they might've been working here for a long time, I'm just going to slide them a tip. So people for me, most of my inspiration comes from people and that's where a lot of my experiences come from and sometimes where my material comes from.

Diana Oestreich:

And when did you know? Because you know how kids are funny and everybody's like you're funny. You can be a comedian, but you really did grow up to be a comedian. How'd you know?

Rita Brent:

Yeah, that was not my answer. When I was young, when folks were like what do you want to be when you grow up? I wanted to be a police officer. I don't think many people know that, but I wanted to be a police officer. That's before I understood the relationship between Black people and police officers and so I don't know. Maybe I should have is controversial these days.

Rita Brent:

So music has always been a part of my life. I started playing the drums when I was eight and I credit my mother for thrusting me into the entertainment industry. Well, we started a church and I wouldn't say that it's entertainment in the church, but it kind of is you know, the choir singing, they may be dancing, and that's where I was introduced to music and I guess I was the funny person in all of my environments. So I played basketball, I was in the band. If you ask most of the people I was in those groups with, they will say Rita was the funny person. But at no point did I think I'm going to be a stand-up comedian. That's different. Being funny around friends and in a band hall is one thing, but being in front of thousands of folks who don't know you, trying to get a laugh out of them, that's. That's completely different that is terrifying yes, every time it's still terrifying.

Rita Brent:

I've hundreds thousands of shows and I'm still terrified every time I do it.

Diana Oestreich:

I think that's wild. You are doing something that I think a lot of people want to do deep down, like who doesn't want to walk on stage and have people clap and think you're so funny? But few people ever have the guts to put themselves out there and want to connect with people with comedy.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, and it's a. It's a fear of failure too, because what if you go out there and they don't laugh and they don't clap? And then you have to deal with that. Now you're questioning your self-worth Like am I funny? You know, now you're questioning everything if it doesn't go as planned. But that's just a part of life. Every show is not going to be a 10 out of 10. Sometimes a show is a six out of 10 or a seven out of 10, but you need those so you can keep striving for the 10 out of 10.

Rita Brent:

So when did you decide that you were going to walk on that stage and give it a go. It was 2013. I was at this comedy show locally in Jackson, mississippi, and I was just going to hang out and there were comedians there that night and I thought, oh, I didn't really know we had comedians in Jackson because, you know, mississippi is known for its music and its musicians and literary stuff. But there were comedians there that night and while I was sitting in the audience I started getting butterflies and the hair on my arms raised and I decided in my head that day I was like I'm going to go to the organizer and ask him can I get on stage next week? And the next week I did. I had written some jokes and they were awful, but I did get a few laughs and it was enough to make me say, okay, if I really take this seriously and learn the craft and learn how to write, I think I have some potential, and that was in 2013.

Diana Oestreich:

And is that when you started writing, like considering the craft of writing more than?

Rita Brent:

music, yeah, yes, now, before then I had written music. I had written drum parts because I was a drum instructor for some drum lines. I had written some songs as well with a buddy of mine, a producer named Donovan. But as far as writing comedy, yeah, that was the first time where I realized I could write, based on my experience. Is my voice. It's not a cover. If you're doing a cover of somebody jokes, you're stealing. So I was like, ok, well, this will give me a voice. So, yeah, I'm going to write. And people always ask me do you have writers? And the answer is no.

Diana Oestreich:

To date I don't have anybody that has written for me, but I'm not opposed to it now racism, by crafting a truthful narrative that centers Black dignity, and by planting your feet on the stage and throwing joy at people's faces and making them laugh and remember. So you've written a song called we Deserve to Be Alive, and also a fan favorite called Can you Rock Me Like a Pothole? Yeah, so break that down for us Like two very, very different things, but in my world I think they go together. So tell me about it.

Rita Brent:

Yes. So can you rock me like a pothole? Well, one thing I've learned is that music can be. It can be a form of protest, it can be a form of advocacy. So in Jackson Mississippi, my hometown, we're kind of known for potholes, and so one evening I was driving through the city and I hit a pothole and it literally physically rocked my body. It rocked my body and I said, huh, can you rock me like a pothole? This sounds like it'll be a good hook. So I hit my producer friend said. I said, hey, man, I need a good Southern soul track. He sent it to me.

Rita Brent:

I remember pulling over in the target parking lot and I wrote this song. And I wrote it as a joke. But I'm also very well aware that I can sing, and so when I dropped it people were like, wait a minute, is this a joke? It's jamming, it's a bop. And yeah, to date that song is my, my biggest. Everywhere I go people are singing Can you ride me like a pothole? All ages, even children, which I don't know if you can sing that song at school, but the kids do know it. There's no cursing in it, but it's suggestive.

Diana Oestreich:

I'll say that say that and you know, from mississippi to minnesota, where I'm at right now, we are just kissing the border with canada, so we are on the opposite sides of the country and yet the pothole situation like universal uniter like there we go people are like every year we call a pothole season but really it's when everybody going to talk about the potholes for like months.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, all over the world people are like in the comments. Well, this is my theme song for my city and you know, I've been to Africa, I've been all kind of places and potholes are everywhere. So you're correct, they are definitely universal, it's not just exclusive to one place. But usually people are pretty upset about potholes because they're tearing up folks' cars, and so it was my way once again of injecting humor and just kind of lightening the topic a little bit, and I think I did. But yeah, people still don't get upset when they hit a pothole and messes up their car. Luckily that hasn't happened to me yet.

Diana Oestreich:

It is an anthem. I feel like it is a uniter where people are like yes, you know.

Rita Brent:

Thank you.

Diana Oestreich:

So you wrote Can you Rock Me Like a Pothole? And then you also wrote a song called we Deserve to Be Alive. How do you know when to write songs about justice and when to write songs about joy?

Rita Brent:

That's a great question. I think the beauty of music is you can write what you want when you feel inspired to. So the time that I wrote I Deserve to Be Alive. I'm almost certain it was the Philando Castile situation, where he was shot by a cop at a traffic stop.

Diana Oestreich:

In Minnesota.

Rita Brent:

Yes, and I think his kid was in the car, it was. It was just traumatic. And you know, you look on social media and everybody's fussing, everybody's venting, everybody's ranting. But I think music makes ideas a little more digestible. So my reason for writing the song was, yeah, to protest, protest, to make the statement that I deserve to be alive, we all deserve to be alive, but I just I always think that things are more digestible through comedy and music.

Rita Brent:

And yeah, that's a serious, it's the most serious song I've ever written. And of course it didn't go viral like can you rock me? Like a pothole, but it's still in my catalog and when people are listening to my music, that song will pop up and they'll think, oh okay, so she's more than a comedian, but you still get to hear my convictions in that song, and so that's important to me as an artist to not just be limited to goofy material. I want people to know that I'm an advocate, I'm an activist, and so that can come in many forms and I want people to get adjusted to that, this idea that I can be more than a comedian or more than an athlete.

Diana Oestreich:

Do you feel like that has been the box for?

Rita Brent:

you? Yeah, oh yeah. But I also think the quality of the work makes a difference. If you're telling LeBron James to shut up and dribble, you know, if LeBron only scored two points, people may feel different, but he's arguably a goat of the game. So when LeBron speaks about something like racism, people listen and people listen. So for me, yes, releasing music and comedy that is of high quality, I think it helps me get out of that box and it helps people respect and see me in a different light. And some people don't like it. I've gotten comments like that oh, just stick to comedy. And well, you can't tell me what to do. It's my artistry, it's my art.

Diana Oestreich:

You can't tell me what to do, but you can unfollow and you can follow somebody who agrees with your point of view, but and I hear from artists often really anybody I feel like who is putting something out there.

Diana Oestreich:

The first thing often a lot of us will talk about is the criticism sure but if you were gonna put percentages on it, like, do you feel like the critics really are a lot when you put out something like your song, we deserve to be alive like, do you feel like those are pretty few and far between or it'll just always be there, no matter what you're doing'll be there, but they're smaller than the people who are with you.

Rita Brent:

Absolutely. And you mentioned percentages on YouTube. It actually shows you you have this many percentages of likes and this many percentage of dislikes. Mine is always in the 90s of likes to dislikes.

Rita Brent:

So if we're weighing this numerically, yeah, the critics are very few and far in between. But, as most artists will let you know, the critics they're the ones that get to you the most. You'll see 500 good comments and then that one comment that is calling you out of your name or criticizing you in a way that is just so egregious and aggressive that you want to respond to it. But I've grown from that, fortunately, because I used to go back and forth with people in the comments and now I just block people. I don't even let that energy get in my spirit because it was for a minute and I found myself a little angry and emotionally disturbed and then I thought about it. I'm like these are strangers, they don't know me, I don't know them, so I'm not going to give them any power or any fuel to continue harassing or whatever. So, yeah, if you look at it in a wide scheme, the critics are very few and far in between.

Diana Oestreich:

Thank you for just talking about how you are going through it, Because I think when people look out nobody, I wouldn't ever think you have critics, I wouldn't ever think that you know. So it looks breezy, lemon squeezy on Rita Brent's page. So thank you for being vulnerable and saying it did take a ding and it was taking from you.

Rita Brent:

Oh, yeah, I mean some of the things that I've seen. Oh my gosh, when I did the Kamala song, oh my gosh, man, people were screenshotting me, calling me a coon, all kind of things, and sometimes it's people in your own community and you're like eesh. Now, that kind of hurts the most when it's people who look like you but they say all skin folk, all skin folk and I can't focus. So I learned that the hard way when I did the Kamala Harris song. But yeah, I still meant what I said. I was inspired by her running and I think it is historic what she has done and what she continues to do. So you, you have to learn to stand by your artistry. Sometimes you may make a mistake and you can go back and say I don't feel like that anymore. But yeah, not with the Kamala song. I still stand by it.

Diana Oestreich:

She's a badass Got the hands up. Kamala, Kamala.

Rita Brent:

Yeah.

Diana Oestreich:

You know, I think it was this anthem that allowed people to get hyped and to see that this is historic and to join in, no matter what they look like.

Rita Brent:

Right.

Diana Oestreich:

To say what she's doing is for everybody, like we're all moving forward just by her standing there.

Rita Brent:

Absolutely, and I think that's the big point. People got a little too specific with their accusations and speculation, but what you just stated, that was the big point and I think I'll repost it too. It's been a while, it's been a couple of years.

Diana Oestreich:

Do it, do that. So you are from the South, you're an army veteran and a queer Black woman with a bucket load of faith. So what are people missing about what it's like for you to live in all those places?

Rita Brent:

This is probably not going to be the answer that you're expecting, but I think people are missing the ease of the freedom of it all. If you list everything Black, queer, former church girl if you list all those things you're like, oh man, she must be going through it. And of course, there's some serious discriminatory practices happening that are absolutely unacceptable. Once I freed myself of all the labels and things like that, the freedom that I feel is just wonderful. At this point I'm not defined by any of those things. I'm not necessarily a people say a gay comedian.

Rita Brent:

No, I'm just a comedian, you know so when you walk in your purpose and you are self-actualized, you don't let any labels belittle you or affect how you move. And so I'm operating in an ease that I didn't always think was possible, because you think when you come out of the closet you're going to be alienated by the church folks. That didn't happen and, truthfully, any skin that I shed was dead skin anyway, so I don't miss those people.

Diana Oestreich:

I love what you said about how it didn't change the places that you move, Because I think that's one that a lot of folks were like. I know those folks are not going to like this part of just who I am and then you just avoid so that you don't get rejected by them. But that hasn't been true for you, especially with the church. I just saw that you headlined a pastor's birthday party. It looked like a blast, Rita.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, I mean I'm churchy, my mother's a minister. I played drums in church my entire life, so that's my community. I still love God. God still loves me and nobody's going to make me believe otherwise. And so I'm just glad that some churches just look at my heart and not a label, because that's what matters, it's the heart and it's the humanity of us all. I think that's what we're overlooking. So if you look through that lens, then yeah, I'm just Rita. There's no other strings attached.

Diana Oestreich:

Yes, rita, I think it's powerful for people who do feel marginalized to see you moving with a lot of freedom and a lot of joy in all these places, because I think it makes your world smaller when you feel rejected by certain folks, but you have refused to allow that to be the definer for you.

Diana Oestreich:

That's right, unapologetically so. If you had a magic wand that you could wave and make people take action, as far as advocacy or activism, what's the one action step? If you had a wand, you could just make everybody do it. What's that one thing you wish we would all do?

Rita Brent:

more of Share information. That is a big one, because when I'm thinking about what most people are stressed about, it's money. It's money and it's emotional stability. So you mentioned the word vulnerable earlier. If I can be vulnerable and tell people that, hey, I don't always feel 100 percent, I'm sharing information with you that can help you and we can help each other. You're like, oh well, you don't either. Okay, Well, this is the type of therapy I use. This is how I got better mentally. Same for money stuff. A lot of people that I know in my life who are vexed or who are depressed. The root of it is not having money. So just sharing information. This is how you invest. This is how sharing information, this is how you invest. This is how you budget. This is how you save money. But I think if we were all just a little more vulnerable, whether it be financially or emotionally, I think it could help all of us be a little more stable.

Diana Oestreich:

And why do you think people don't share information?

Rita Brent:

It could be a number of things. When it comes to emotional and mental stuff, it's shame. There used to be a stigma among therapy. Folks didn't want folks to know that they were in therapy because it meant that you would get called crazy, you were going to a shrink and things like that. So for some people it's shame. It's easier to make people think that you have it all together and in terms of money, I think it's the fear of competition or being replaced. It's like well, if I tell you how to make money, then you'll take what I have and what I've built. So for folks that are more confident and realize that we are better together than just doing things alone, I think that's the thing, because if we could pool our money and buy an apartment complex, wouldn't that be more helpful?

Diana Oestreich:

Right, and in my one of my former lives I was a registered nurse and so in every place that I go, everybody that I know whatever, whoever the person you care about guaranteed access to medical care. I don't know a single person who isn't worried about a medical bill. Knows somebody who got sick and is worried that financially like the diagnosis is scary but how that's going to trickle down to their family I don't know anybody who isn't worried about it. I mean, it's money but it comes out of not having access to medical care that won't bankrupt you. And I feel like if we all came together and said, guess what? Nobody should go bankrupt because nobody chose to be born, nobody chooses what kind of body they get. So what if we just came together On just one thing If you care about veterans, kids, old people, young people, republicans, democrats Everybody needs healthcare and I think communally everybody's worried about it.

Rita Brent:

I think Right, and just to kind of extend that conversation, a lot of things are just rooted in privilege and elitism. You feel like if you help others, then they're taking something away from you. If we come up with a common sense gun law, then you have another portion of people who are saying, well, they're going to take our guns away law. Then you have another portion of people who are saying, well, they're going to take our guns away. And that's just not what it is. So we are not thinking in an egalitarian type way. It's like I want what I want, I want to keep my things, I want to keep my privilege. Some people value privilege more than anything and that sucks.

Diana Oestreich:

It does. And the science says it's bad for your mental health to not share and to not be connected in service to other people, something outside yourself, like we've even seen. The science says that if you participate in community, if you give what you have, if you serve people, you do better. And so that idea of people hoarding their privilege, hoarding what they got time, money, energy, smarts it's worse for us it doesn't even make no sense, rita.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, I mean. You have a large portion of folks in this world who have never had to serve, so they don't even know the power of it. They don't even know that once you serve, you'll get whatever you're serving back tenfold. Whatever you're giving, you'll get it back tenfold. A lot of people are just completely unfamiliar with the idea of serving because things have been given to them through privilege or by taken by force. So I don't even know how you teach a person to serve if it's an ideal that they don't even value or they've not been taught.

Diana Oestreich:

Or we somehow make it. You know how. We just make people do things and then you live into a new idea. But you had mentioned gun reform and we're both veterans.

Rita Brent:

Army yes.

Diana Oestreich:

Thank you for your service.

Rita Brent:

Let me serve.

Diana Oestreich:

So we're both veterans and I write as a peacemaker. I want to disrupt violence. I think violence is actually the problem and it's taking too many people's lives and we can do something about it Common sense gun reform and I wrote an article about using the military gun safety protocols as a way to say if the military uses these gun safety protocols, couldn't they be helpful if we use them as civilians? They're super basic, nothing crazy. And so I think the answers are here. We just have to get past the. If you have to have common sense gun laws, then that means I want to take your gun. We have to get past that. But I wrote this article and this is the only time that I've legit gotten hate emails was when I talk about gun reform and I'm a veteran, I've trained on guns, I've used them, I've done, I've served the country, and yet that is the one time that I've gotten hate mail when I dared to talk about the common good of implementing military standard gun protocols.

Rita Brent:

Then the question is why the obsession with guns? What is the root of the obsession with guns and this need to protect yourself? And to me it just goes back to a lack of humanity. If we were living among each other more peacefully, we wouldn't feel the need to walk around with freaking guns all the time. You have the power of life and death in your hands, in your holster. I have it in my car and I don't even want that power. I hope I never have to use my weapon and I don't even want that power. I hope I never have to use my weapon. But we cannot depend on humanity to save us. So if we had better humanity and we loved each other a little more and there was less racism, less sexism, less homophobia, we wouldn't need guns.

Diana Oestreich:

We wouldn't even need them, because there would be a mutual respect and desire for peace, you know, with us coexisting right, or even if we didn't, even if we took just one, one low hanging fruit that just said do no harm, if we committed that we were not going to harm each other, half of all the stuff that we have going on, would it still be a problem? It would be, but it wouldn't be a deadly problem.

Rita Brent:

Sure, and we're talking about gun reform. Well, we need mental health reform as well, because you say, do no harm. That's not limited to do no harm to others, it's do no harm to yourself. And if you're not getting adequate mental health care? And if you're not getting adequate mental health care, well, we see what the suicide rates are like in the military and among LGBTQ youth.

Diana Oestreich:

It's like we're looking at stuff on the surface and we're not looking at the and the soul how we treat each other Right and goes back to guaranteed medical access, because mental health care is health care. There we go A vast majority of Americans self-identified as Christians, which we have the Good Samaritan parable going on about taking on the responsibility for someone else's health care If someone is hurt, it's my job to get're going to make sure that you get taken care of. If you're sick, we'll just. We're not. Everybody has to live their own life, but allowing every single person to get the mental health care and the support that they need, that's only going to bring us up together, of which the military already does. So I think people love the military. Military has a lot of good things, but they absolutely take care of people when you're in. So I'm like, if you think the military is doing such a great job, then we could take a few tips on how to do better as far as giving everybody health care.

Rita Brent:

making sure people need glasses, they get glasses sure yeah, I didn't know I needed glasses until I served and I we were basic training and I couldn't see the target and I was like, is the target far away, or can I just not see it? So I got my first pair of glasses when I was in the army. That's when I realized that my eyesight was bad Right and I've been wearing glasses ever since.

Diana Oestreich:

Basic training was the first time that a lot of us had ever been to an eye doctor, ever been Some people's first time going to a dentist. First time I ever went to a foot doctor found out I had flat feet. My feet had been hurting since I was like 10 years old. My mom was always like, stop whining, Wow, and I got like inserts. I was like, wow, this is really awesome. Like what could we do if everybody who needed glasses and boots just got them? I'm like I think we could really rock.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, absolutely.

Diana Oestreich:

Well, one of the last questions I have for you is, just as Cornel West says, is what love looks like in public. So private love is great, but love in public is contagious. What do you hope will become contagious in public right now, as we head into a presidential election year?

Rita Brent:

Hmm, that's a good question. That's a great question. What do I hope will be contagious? I'm going to say, maybe grace, maybe grace. I hope grace will be more contagious.

Rita Brent:

Think politically, if you think about what people believe religiously. We were all brought up differently, different upbringings, different influences, whether it was your grandparents, whether it was what school you went to, and I don't think we ever think about that. We're just divided. There's a lot of dissension, and it's you're liberal, you believe this and I believe that. But if we could just get to the why of this, why do you think that way? If we could just listen to each other and and offer a little bit of grace, like, ok, I understand, this is how you think, but why? And now you listen to me in return, this is how I think and why. So grace for each other and why we believe in what we believe and hopefully we can listen to each other and learn a little bit. But also grace for those who are in leadership positions.

Rita Brent:

You know, I mentioned Kamala and some of the things I see on Twitter is like, well, she doesn't do anything and well, where is she and why isn't she here? What I'm like man. Y'all have no idea the amount of stress and pressure that politicians are under. Of course you know they get paid, they get perks it's some privilege in being a political leader but, man, we are not in that position. So we don't know what Kamala and Joe Biden and senators we don't know. And the justices we don't know what they're going through on a daily basis.

Rita Brent:

So, giving people grace as they just figure things out, and give yourself grace. I try to give myself a little grace in terms of not being burnt out with career stuff, because that's very challenging. You work so hard to make ends meet and to fulfill a purpose and sometimes you forget to live, sometimes you forget to just stop and smell the flowers. So, yeah, give yourself grace and give yourself your peers grace, folks that you work with. You just never know what somebody is going through. So, yeah, maybe if grace were a little bit more contagious we would be better off, but that's asking for a lot.

Diana Oestreich:

I think we need a t-shirt, because there is a little bit of man. We know what's coming. We're not new to this rodeo, and so I do think we need a T-shirt or something that says we are going to be graceful for each other. We know what's on the line, but we also know that we're still going to be each other's neighbors and families and friends four years from now, and our kids are watching us. So what do we want five years from now? Not just to win.

Diana Oestreich:

And I think putting grace out there for each other is always going to be a win.

Rita Brent:

Yeah, and I know that sounds a little soft to people, because probably on the other end of grace is accountability, so it's like where's that balance?

Diana Oestreich:

Well, there's Viktor Frankl, who wrote the book Man's Search for Meaning, and he survived four concentration camps. Four concentration camps and what he says is that america loves freedom. He's like yep, you've got the statue of liberty, we have liberty on one coast and he says that what america needs is a statue to responsibility on the other coast. And a friend gave me that book and said to read it because it's about suffering. And I was like I don't think you should give me this book right now, wait. But he does talk about grace for ourselves and for others, and he's big on forgiveness. But he also talks about our responsibility, not only to each other but to responding to what life is asking of us in the moment, in the hour.

Diana Oestreich:

And their life is a gift to ourselves first. So I'm going to take that word from you, rita, that grace, and giving it to ourselves and giving it to others and letting us live in the minute too Sure and not push too hard. So, as we wrap up, I have some rapid fire questions for you. Okay, so these come out. We play with them around our dinner table off and on, and I have teenagers, so you know it changes all the time, but I think you got this one, rita.

Rita Brent:

All right, let's do it.

Diana Oestreich:

All right, Number one. What's your purpose?

Rita Brent:

to serve.

Diana Oestreich:

How do you play?

Rita Brent:

on my computer.

Diana Oestreich:

What's your superpower? Love where can people find you and how can they support you and cheer on what you're doing?

Rita Brent:

My website is RitaBrentcom. That's R-I-T-A-B-R-E-N-Tcom. It has my schedule on there and some other things. You can keep up with me and on all social media that's Twitter, instagram, facebook, tiktok. I am Rita Brent Comedy and YouTube as well.

Diana Oestreich:

Are you doing threads now?

Rita Brent:

I did it for two days. So I have a page, but I've not put anything on it in two months. I can't take another social media site, I just can't.

Diana Oestreich:

So which social media do you do the most or that you enjoy the most?

Rita Brent:

Probably Instagram. I feel the least amount of pressure on Instagram, Facebook everybody's hella emotional on Facebook and it makes me sad. So I've just been unfollowing and unfriending people because I'm trying to really control my emotions and I don't want to look at a post on social media and now I feel the way that I didn't feel before I saw that post. So Instagram is probably the lightest.

Diana Oestreich:

Twitter is the messiest, so I'm on Instagram, the most Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here, rita, and for giving us your time and sharing with us a little bit of your art and how you see the world and your story.

Rita Brent:

Well, thank you so much for having me. I look forward to listening back to this. Thank you so much.

People on this episode

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Diana K Oestreich

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