Lizzie Allan is a brilliant and charismatic comedian, therapist, blogger, and speaker who helps individuals find the funny in the not-so-fun parts of their lives. Lizzie successfully combines therapy with stand-up comedy and is the creator of Hilarapy, her own unique brand of therapeutic comedy.
Connect with Guest:
Inside of this episode:
↣ What it means to make friends with your shame.
↣ Why Ego and Trauma usually go hand in hand.
↣ An honest conversation around addiction and recovery.
↣ The importance of gratitude in your journey.
↣ How to heal the trauma and limiting beliefs that have been getting in your way through laughter.
Mentioned In The Episode:
📚 : Celestine Prophecy, Celestine Prophecy Experiential Guide, The Secret, A New Earth, The Power of Now, Stillness Speaks
👈 Watch Lizzie’s TedX on Transforming Your Shame into Comedy
☝️ Check out Lizzie’s Vision Board! ☝️
👇 Addiction and Legalization in Canada 👇
Interview with Lizzie Allan:
**This text has been revised and edited.
Calla: We want to know who is Lizzie Allen?
Lizzie Allan: Okay, well, you know, these big questions, this Wow, who is Lizzie Allan? And I mean, that's going to bring up philosophical answers, isn't it? So how do you answer that question?
Calla: Wherever we want to go with that. It's like I'm not kidding when I say it's so casual. Like, who are you today? Like, how's it going?
Lizzie Allan: Oh, is it's actually going really well. I've just booked myself onto the Hoffman Process. It is a seven-day therapeutic retreat. And it's been going for 60 years. It covers the spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical marriage of a person. It's a seven-day intensive. And I've been really feeling the after-effects of COVID, you know, the sort of fatigue that COVID fatigue of all that kind of, you know, we've been going "It'll pass soon, It'll pass soon." And now we're starting to be able to go out without our masks on and things like that. I'm kind of realizing that the last 16 months has been so challenging. And I'm only just taking a break from like, hitting it really hard at work, you know, coming from being outward facing doing in-person stuff and LIVE shows and things that we had planned to suddenly quick we're online, how can we support people online, and it was so much work so many different, you know, spending a load of time and energy going down one route, and then suddenly realizing that it was kind of didn't work, right. So just having a break now and realizing that I need to do some more therapy on myself. I think we all do, right? We all need to keep working on ourselves. So an introduction to me, I am a comedy therapist, I do comedy, as a comedian. I create sketches and stand-up shows, and we're working on a three-woman show at the moment. Have you come across Kareena and Ellen, who are my friends? We've been doing comedy for the last few years here. We're doing a three-woman show which is a kind of therapeutic and comedic, look at the trauma, what we struggle with today, where it comes from, and then it ultimately pushes through that fear and reclaims our power.
Leanne: Now, Are those the ladies that you do the YouTube videos with?
Lizzie Allan: Yes.
Leanne: I watched your rap this morning, and I sent it over to Calla. It's very rare because it talks about serious things and real-life issues, but you all made it hilarious. It's daring because those are, you know, serious subjects. And I guess that's the whole Hilarapy concept is, you know, you take the scary stuff, the traumatic stuff, and you make it more bearable by adding the humor. And I think that's just genius.
Lizzie Allan: Well, yeah, I mean, I mean, not well, yes, it is genius. I don't mind if I say so. Yes, no. But comedy, ultimately, is, has been doing that for centuries, hasn't it? It's a great way to look at serious subjects in a not-so-serious way and provide that kind of break from the tension. Because ultimately, that's what a joke does, you build up the tension with the setup, and then you break it with the punch line. And life is very tense. When we get too serious, we build up a lot of tension. We live in a fear-based society where we're constantly bombarded with bad news and things to be worried about. And, you know, we have to break that tension. And we do that in lots of ways, don't we? Humor is one of the ways that we as humans kind of get to go. Okay, it's not that bad. You know, at least we're laughing together. That's something right. Yeah. Yeah.
Leanne: I can't tell you how many times I turned on The Office in the past year. It's carried me through.
Lizzie Allan: Oh, I'm such a fan of The Office. It's so good. And you know, I found during COVID is the Golden Girls. Every single night, I watch an episode, and I fall asleep with it in my ears playing. I'm on my fourth round of all seven seasons.
Calla: Who's your favorite Golden Girl?
Lizzie Allan: What blows my mind? Is that they are all equally amazing. And I switch between them. So sometimes I'm all about Sofia, sometimes I'm all about Blanche. Their timing, their presence, you know, their ingenuity to be different and to own their power as older people and you know, and to cover some of the subjects that they did at that time. It's massive.
Calla: Was there a moment where you thought, I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life?
Lizzie Allan: I think I was probably about eight when I first saw the French and Saunders sketch show on TV. And there were two women there like that. Did you ever see Absolutely Fabulous?
Calla: Ab-Fab, yeah!
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, that's Jennifer Saunders. She's one half of a sketch team, French and Saunders. They ran the most successful sketch show for six seasons that started in the 80s. They're still brilliant today. I saw them having so much fun. I just said to myself; I want to do that job. I want that job. That was the first time that I realized that comedy was everything to me. Through my own journey of mental health, addiction, family trauma, and all that stuff that I don't think anyone escapes. I had to go through my fear and blockages and shame and everything to say, " I'm worthy of following my dreams, I'm worthy of, of the attention or standing up and being seen," you know, because success can be really scary, right? People want to shoot you down, and you have to be able to kind of go, "Well, that's their stuff," right? And that that says more about them than me. It's about kind of finding your way. I've always worked with people, I've always had a passion for people as well. So during my 20s, I began working, doing health care, home care, like going and visiting little old ladies in their homes and helping them get dressed and give them food. I've always just been fascinated with them and kind of want to know more, so that's kind of how it started working with people. Then I moved into youth work, and then I sort of just talked my way into Youth Offending Team and the Intervention Service, and so I started to sort of move around children's homes and children's play, And then that was just too much for my sort of young, sort of my mid-20s. I just couldn't handle it. I was a functioning addict. So apart from when I have my, you know, when I was 19, and I mentioned in my TED talk that I, you know, ended up in a psychiatric ward. I believed I was Jesus reincarnated, and all of those crazy things that come along with drugs, psychosis, and spiritual awakening.
I had to get my life together, and I was functioning. So I was getting really good jobs. But I kept smoking cannabis because I had this addiction to it. And yet it made me really unwell. So I was there working in, like, police station. I had a key to custody when I was on Youth Offending Team. And I'd have to be the appropriate adult to other kids if their parents weren't available. And they'd be like this. You can't smoke cannabis, you know, like anti-cannabis posters might be like, gosh, you know, I'm living this double life. So the kids would say, Do you smoke dope?
Calla: Yeah. Right, you want to be honest, but you also have to do the right thing. That's a conflicting thing for me that I've been navigating as well. Is it right? Is it helpful? Is it not? That's a big topic. That's hard.
Lizzie Allan: Tell me more about what you mean by that.
Calla: Oh, I'm an addict.
Lizzie: I'm interviewing you.
Calla: I don't want to make this about me. This is about you today. Let's see. I didn't find it until I was in my 30s. I never had it growing up. It was never anything like that. It actually was a thing that I used to get out of myself. But instead, it brought me to everything I wasn't dealing with. So it's been a tool for me. But I've also abused it.
Lizzie Allan: Mm-hmm.
Calla: So that's, I mean, that's why I'm saying I understand that.
Lizzie Allan: Addiction is chronic. And, you know, there are good addictions and bad addictions. Acceptable and unacceptable. And then a lot, a lot of that is, is kind of wrong, right? So it's like what difference if, I mean, we're just like, Okay, well, alcohol addiction is totally fine, because it's legal. But addiction to cannabis in England is illegal. So you start to get these kinds of societal pressures, then self-stigma and shame and things like that. But then there are all the addictions like social media, or, you know, like, work, exercise, you know, I mean, it's so socially acceptable to be an exercise addict, right?
Leanne: They are admired, you know, but their whole life revolves around their exact perfect diet and their workout schedule. And that's not an appropriate way to live or to advertise as you could look like this. But you have to give up everything you know.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah. It's the obsession, right? And the compulsion and control just like, swamps out everything, and it can cause problems in every area of your life relationships.
Leanne: How do you feel then about the legalization of cannabis in a lot of states?
Lizzie Allan: I think it's great. I think drugs should be legalized. I think, you know, being in control of people's choices is ultimately quite an outdated mode, right? Like, it's always like, a few people at the top deciding that they allow you to do something, and it's like, it doesn't stop people doing it. And it's a health crisis for so many people. So not necessarily cannabis, but cannabis has and does cause mental illness in many people, but not all people. And so, some people can use it sensibly, and some people will suffer through their use of it, or overuse of it, or abuse of it.
Leanne: Do you feel like that's a predisposition kind of issue?
Lizzie Allan: I don't know because I think we're all so different. And we're all rich tapestries, and some people kind of will go through something very crippling in their life and then become an addict as a response to that. Other people will kind of grow up with very addictive tendencies. You know, there's no kind of set rules. I think it's important that we do see each other as totally individual with even with medication. Doctors medicate people for all sorts of things, and some people respond to it, and some don't.
Calla: I feel the same way.
Leanne: Let's talk about philanthropy. How did your company come to be?
Lizzie Allan: It started as Addictive Comedy in England. I started a comedy night at a dry bar for people in recovery. Well, it wasn't for people in recovery. But it was set up by people in recovery and advertised around the community of people in recovery, in recovery through, you know, this, the 12 step programs, you get to know lots and lots of people. And I was living in Manchester, and I was at university, doing my comedy writing and performance. And a great friend who's hilarious, she said that we started it together. And it was successful. It was different from a comedy club vibe, where everyone's drinking, and nobody knows each other. And you're a bit scared if the comedian's going to rip you to shreds. And then, I finished university and started working for a charity, and I was out there in the community, helping build networks of support for people in recovery. And we were kind of catching people out of prison and introducing them to all these amazing people who are just living beyond the past and getting stuff done. And drug and alcohol service, my charity, I suggested that I could use comedy to help people talk about their experiences when I got the job. And so we got some funding from the drug and alcohol service and then started to teach this course in a hard-to-reach area, you know, which had a lot of drug and crime problems. And, you know, they paid for it all and, and then I took those performers, and I brought them to this lovely, safe space that we'd created addictive comedy nights. And we bust in a load of people from the outside towns and villages of Manchester and, and we all came together, and these people performed, but they were really held in this healthy environment and celebrated. It wasn't about how funny they were. It was just as soon as they got up on stage, and even if they're really shy and just sort of reading from the pavement, I remember them being celebrated because people saw into them. They knew that they'd been through something to get up here on the stage. That was like the first part of understanding the power of creating a safe environment for people to go through some of this stuff and be supported and then come out and talk about it. And then when I came over to Canada, which is where I wanted to progress with my career of creativity, and you know, whatever, just work more on my own dreams and visions. I met my comedy friends out here through recovery circles. You can really connect when you're in recovery. You can go anywhere in the world and just go to a 12 step meeting and make instant friends. You do you make, I mean, not straight away, right. But after coming to the same meetings, becoming familiar, and giving and receiving some sort of wisdom and support, you start to find awesome people. Some of the most interesting people are in recovery.
Calla: Almost All.
Lizzie Allan: Exactly.
Leanne: At the very least, they have a story, you know?
Lizzie Allan: Exactly. And they're living to tell the tale, which is really where it's at.
Calla: So that leads perfectly into when you found out you got your TEDx. Tell me about that.
Lizzie Allan: Well, somebody put me forward for it. We have an online membership program and, and this speaker, this guy who's already got a speaking company, he joined, wanted to be a bit more, access his humor a little bit more, and learn a little more about that. He's quite funny already. But, I mean, he didn't necessarily, I should say that he needed us. So he came and, you know, started to work on some of his more supportive elements. And he suggested he said, Hey, I'm emceeing this TEDx event. And this year, instead of just advertising it, we're asking people to apply. So he put in a good word for me. And he did some coaching. He ended up being my coach as well because you have a lot of coaching. And yeah, it was a great, great experience.
Leanne: In your talk, you talked about the stream of consciousness writing and how healing that was for you? Can you explain what that is?
Lizzie Allan: Absolutely. So we usually write with our left brain. We're quite logical. We don't necessarily write with our left brain. But we think a lot, you know, when we're trying to sort of communicate something, you know, with grammar and all of that stuff. So we want to bypass our logical brain and try to get underneath and do our right side creative brain. And it's a way of opening up our access to our own creativity. So what you do is you can set a timer for about 15 minutes. And you can just write, so write, write, write, don't stop to make sure you spelled something right, or if you don't spell it right, just keep going. Write it like a sort of maniac. If you can't think of anything, just write 'waiting, waiting, waiting.' And then you can just tell your pen to start writing. I have never had to write waiting once. Usually, it just comes, and you have to permit yourself. You have to give yourself... you have to say like, make sure it's safe, like say to yourself, look, no one has to read this, I can burn it afterward, if I want to, I don't even have to read it. I can allow myself to say whatever. So you can allow yourself to get out on the page, some really painful stuff. So I usually use it around a subject that has been causing me upset or shame or guilt or embarrassment. If I've got a strong emotional reaction to something, there's usually something funny there. So what I use is this stream of consciousness, and then afterward, you'll get a couple of light bulbs of absurdities. I'll give you this example.
While I was over in England three or four years ago, my cousin died. It was awful. He just had a farming accident and was killed very suddenly. And he's younger than me. So it was just tragic. And, at the time, my family, my sister just celebrated three years of recovery. And my mom just celebrated maybe three and a half or something. So she's a bit ahead of my sister. And but at the time, everyone was drinking. And we went to this funeral. And there were like, 1000 people there. And they ended up because it's a farming community. And he did quite a lot of charity work. And he's a very popular young man, but he's a massive drinker. Because, you know, English people aren't, it's acceptable. But I was in recovery, and I was alone. And I started just not to be able to kind of cope with it. So it was sort of upsetting to be so out of everybody else's way of celebrating him or commiserating it because out came the alcohol and everyone's drinking, and I was kind of alone with my pain and not really able to connect. So it was really horrible and confusing. And, you know, blah, blah, blah. And so I just did the stream of consciousness. And I wrote, and I wrote, and I wrote, and out of it, I managed to come home and write a comedy set about his death. And one of them, you know, that these absurd thoughts came into my head, I was in the middle of the funeral. And there's Ego thought popped up. Like, I wonder if I will have this many people at my funeral. You know, and then that can turn into jokes because you can take it further.
I wonder if I'll have it. You know, because you had a slideshow. I wonder if I'll have a slideshow of all the great things. But I mean, it gets ridiculous, doesn't it when you start to overthink it. The interesting thing was that after that show, this man came up to me at the end, and he said, "Thank you so much. My mum died two weeks ago, and that really helped me to process her death a bit more", you know, which was like, Wow, that's really cool.
Calla: How do you handle feedback like that? Because I have to assume that you get that quite often.
Lizzie Allan: Um, you have to assume it, do you?
Calla: I do.
Leanne: Here's more of that feedback.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, feedbacks Interesting, isn't it? What I've done is that I've done a fair amount of therapy of trainers out there and therapists here in Canada. And it was a very hands-on course where we had to go through our own trauma and pain and come out the other side as well in the first year, specifically because it would help us properly to understand the client and what they've been through. I used to deflect. I used just not be able to take it. That still rises in me sometimes as well. I mean, I'm sure you both know how hard it is to take compliments, right?
Because Are you too big-headed, you know, blah, blah, blah. But I've learned in recovery that it's quite arrogant not to take somebodies feedback or compliment, you know, positive compliment because you're actually saying to them, I don't believe you, you know, I don't, you're wrong, and blah, blah, blah. So it's much easier to think about taking a compliment that way when I think, well, this person is offering me a part of their heart. And I know when I offer someone a compliment, I mean it. And you know, and sometimes it's hard to pluck up the courage to give somebody a compliment. Because, like, sometimes I can put people on pedestals and think, oh, you're better than me. And if I walk up to you and go, Oh, you're so beautiful. And I just think of the world of you. So they'll go Oh, get away from me, peasant.
Leanne: I don't know. I think the accent makes it totally valid.
Calla: It's endearing. It's charming. You're good.
Lizzie Allan: Hilarious, you guys are hilarious.
Leanne: So, Hilarapy offers comedy workshops. What does that look like?
Lizzie Allan: So we do comedy courses, common therapeutic comedy courses, and workshops. And the workshops are like over one or two days. And we do a mixture of game playing and Shadow Work. And so it's a kind of, it's, there are therapeutic experiential processes that encourage more connection to self and others. So there's lots of game playing using improv games. And then some made-up games that marry improv and Shadow Work stuff.
Leanne: What is Shadow Work?
Lizzie: Shadow works is where you face those parts of yourself that you reject and kind of end up pulling them back. A great exercise that I use in my workshops is this and in the comedy courses as well. So the comedy therapy courses, just as a side note, end with a stand-up comedy performance, but the workshops are more deeply experiential and kind of, you know, like, less outcome. An example of Shadow Work would be. So we'd set up this cocktail party, and everyone would have a post-it note, and you have to think of something that you cannot stand, a quality or not quality like something you cannot stand in another person's behavior. So I hate arrogant people. For example, I cannot stand rude people or really victim-y people, right? So you pick the one that's got the most emotion for you like, and then you'd get a post-it note, and you write it on it, and you stick it on your forehead. And then you have to all outplay that, so you permit yourself to be totally arrogant or like a victim, poor me worried about me, you know, and you mingle with the other people, and they've all got their post-it notes, and everyone's behaving awfully. It's really good fun. Then you sit down together, and you talk about that. The whole point of that exercise, in a nutshell, is to realize that we're taught in our family systems that it's not okay to brag about how great you are. So you don't like arrogant people, right? So you rail against that thing that you weren't really allowed to do. But the problem is, is when we check out, we actually lose a part of ourselves there. When I was behaving arrogantly, I was kind of just, what qualities do you get from doing that? You know, you get what you want, right? And you're confident or something like that. So when you don't allow yourself to be really angry, you lose passion. Do you understand where I'm going with this?
Calla: It's almost like a self-worth type thing is the way I'm picking up on it. You know? When you act a certain way, like you said, with arrogance, you do you become more self-confident. When you feel entitled to have the feelings, you carry yourself a certain way to act a certain way. So in that shadow work, if that's what you were told is unacceptable behavior, you're going to shut that part of you down that says, "I'm worthy enough to go ahead and have good things or nice things or want things for myself." Correct?
Lizzie Allan: Yes. You're pulling back the part of yourself. You realize you can get something back. Anyway, it's a long story. That's quite hard.
Calla: It's a really cool exercise on projection.
Leanne: How did you come up with that?
Lizzie Allan: I did it in another workshop years ago. I mean, these are the things about the therapeutic processes. You either come across it because you went through somebody else's course or were taught it in your training. I did this course with Jamie Catto, a musician and a documentary maker, and a filmmaker. He is so inspiring. I've done a couple of courses with him a few years back, and he always says when he does his courses, if you like any of these things, use them in your own. So I do my own version of it. You know?
Leanne: Yeah.
Calla: Put your creative spin on it. I dig it.
Leanne: Do you find that as you progress through your healing, you're kind of like, worried maybe that like shit, I'm like, running out of material.
Lizzie Allan: No, no.
Leanne: Always work to be done.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, I mean, that's still big stuff about like, I'll tell you this story because we're friends now. I don't put this out on the internet because I'm not ready. But I've started doing it in certain circles. When I was about 27, I was over in Australia, and I kind of fell in love quickly. I was in a bit of a messy part of my life, you know, but running away still in, in sort of whatever. I fell in love quickly with this American woman who was absolutely amazing. And she was over in Australia doing a film course, and we collapsed into each other, and it was all very codependent. And you know, the cocooning and all that worse kind of scenario. So she went back to America, and I didn't have enough money to follow her and a couple of these friends that we've met, just Australian friends. They said, Well, why don't you do erotic massage?
Leanne: I like that that is their go-to.
Calla: How very Australian. I'm married to an Australian, so I can say that.
Lizzie Allan: Exactly. Because it's legal, right? So you've got all these like, it's not underground at all you can just show that's what I did for two months, and it was like you know hilarious because I am not really...
Calla: Stop! I'm not there yet. That's not like a quick, "So I did it..." What was going on to the point where that was suggested and to when you did it. There has to be a story there.
Lizzie Allan: There is a story there, and it's turned into the most hilarious bit of stand-up I've ever done!
Leanne: If you need to save it, we understand.
Lizzie Allan: No, I don't have to save it. It's fine. I mean, what I'm using as an example is something I'm not wholly ready for my immediate community to know about me. Because you know, I'm kind of like my mum. My mum knows. I mean, she's heard the set because the set was freaking brilliant. I can share the link with you if you want; it's a private link. I can give you the password. It is so funny. Honestly, it's because it's the absurdity of kind of not being that kind of set. You know, sex, you know?
Calla: It's hard to talk about!
Leanne: You can't even say sex.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah. I've got so many hang-ups around being a sexual being because, you know, that huge trauma.
Calla: Oh, yeah, big intimacy issues.
Lizzie Allan: Thank you for standing up. Me too. Me too. Right. Yeah, and then you swing the other way and end up Being a frickin sex worker. And it's like, what the hell? And you know, the funny thing was, I mean, I went home that day. And I said, Well, these two friends of ours, they said, I should go and work in, you know, just, you know, Wang lots of men are essentially and, and, you know, and I'm not sure what do you think she went? Yeah. All right.
Leanne: Once again, it still sounds classier with the accent. It's just something about it. So the first day on the job, was it better than you expected? As expected?
Lizzie Allan: You know, what the worst part about the job, which you would think would be actually getting naked and massaging a man?
Leanne: Yeah, or the cleanup?
Lizzie Allan: Oh, my God. Sorry, It's all coming back to me now. You think the worst part of it was you had to kind of go and introduce yourself with this fake name. And then I know I have this one name. But when I do my comedy show, I give a fake name. I give this name Chardonnay because it's hilarious. Right? Hi, I'm Chardonnay. You know, so Okay, go back back to the original point. The point is, is I've still got to work through some of that stuff. And so there's so much humor there when I'm ready to face it. And I'm kind of going to this Hoffman Process. I've done about 12 hours of pre-processing work, which is all these questions about growing up. And I've already got an insight into some of the things that I just haven't previously seen. Kareena came over yesterday, the third member of our group, and we just swapped stories of our 80s childhood all day. It was so funny, and these are the things we want to kind of explore in the show.
Leanne: Is she the brunette?
Lizzie Allan: Yes
Leanne: She gives me major Zoey additional vibes. Or
Lizzie Allan: Who is she? Who is that?
Lizzie Allan: Oh, yeah, I know her.
Leanne: I think it's like it's the hair in the eyes and the goofiness. It's a compliment to her.
Lizzie Allan: She's so talented. I mean, we're all just so kind of talented.
Calla: It's such a creative force seeing what you guys are doing. What's a typical day, like when you are in the office or at HQ? What does it look like when you guys are all around the table together?
Lizzie Allan: We go away on writing weekends, and we do a lot of kind of opening up with each other and sharing and having a cry and all of those things and that supportive side of things. But then we also were kind of getting into the flow now. So we're finding our own way of doing things, but it's a brilliant outcome, the costumes, and out come the ridiculousness, and then we're just like, yeah, yeah. And then, you know, I usually stand up and start striding about and saying how powerful we are. Do you know we could do anything? We could go anywhere! Were amazing, you know? And then they're like, "Yeah, all right, let's do it." And I'm like, "We can do it, guys. Honestly, we can go all the way!"
Leanne: That's the best part because you can tell you guys are having a blast. It shows through like you're thoroughly enjoying it, and it makes people who watch enjoy it.
Lizzie Allan: Absolutely. That's part, and that's kind of what I have majorly learned. The very best comedy shows that we've done live is when we are just enjoying it. So that's kind of one of the main things you have to say. And that's, that's where that's life, right? I always say this to my students, "It is not about what we get to at the end. It's about the quality of our journey." So I say that to my friends I make comedy with I say, "If this isn't fun, and we're not going to have a good time doing it, then there won't be any point doing it."
Leanne: It's literally what Calla tells me every day. That's Calla's motto.
Lizzie Allan: Then you've got it right.
Calla: Yeah. Well, thank you. We're trying. I know our vision here at HTC has changed a lot. I know you changed names from Addictive Comedy to Hilarapy. What else has evolved or changed the most from when you had this initial idea?
Lizzie Allan: I have changed the most. I used to runway all the time and move, you know, I'm quite adventurous. So I like to go on these solo trips and just go off to some random country and hang out for a while. I used to feel properly unlovable. And I didn't even know it was really my truth. But I just used to find the proof. Since doing my much deeper therapeutic work and challenging myself to do more with comedy, and therapeutic comedy, I'm in a relationship for over six years now.
Leanne: Whoa.
Lizzie Allan: I could never get past the two-year mark. So yeah, I mean, that's different about me. But, no, I'm here to stay. And I feel very comfortable and happy in my life. I just have the best time. I'm just so blessed. I'm good at attracting abundance.
Leanne: I see that you guys board behind you.
Lizzie Allan: Oh, that's my old vision board. Do you want to see my new one?
Calla: Yeah, yes. Oh, my gosh, share.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah. Give me one second, then.
Calla: It's so good. That's beautiful. Ask her what Lady Gaga is saying I need to know was.
Lizzie Allan: I have this dream of going onto the main stage at Glastonbury Festival, which is the pyramid stage. I just don't think I would be a headliner act because it's people like Beyonce and Dolly Parton and Coldplay and Lady Gaga. She's just getting me on as a friend. Right? So she's going, Hey, I'm welcoming Lizzie Allen to the stage as a friend. You know, just do me a favor, right? Because my dreams come true. It doesn't necessarily have to be her. It can be anyone. I'm not picky.
Leanne: What inspired you to make your vision boards?
Lizzie Allan: Because they helped me think and feel and know. Every time I look at it, I feel good. I'm like, yeah, it's happened already. You know, I'm good with that. If it doesn't happen. I'm good with it, too. Because I already feel like it's happened.
Leanne: Do you feel like a good amount of things that you put on there become manifested in your life?
Lizzie Allan: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I've got my comedy rap album on that because that came to me while I was in a psychiatric state. So we've already begun doing those comedy raps. When I meet some decent music producers like Dre or whoever else like, I quite like, Will.I.Am, he's a bit Poppy, right? Like he could get the crowd pumping. And then I just kind of want to put in my comedy flow into that. And a book as well, which is currently under construction. It is a "How To Hilarapy Guide." It's how you can read it and understand why and read some of the stories and stuff and also be able to set up your own group and do a kind of peer support comedy therapy group off your own back. Which is what I want to sort of empower people to do.
Calla: Yeah. Have you been enjoying the book writing process?
Lizzie Allan: Well, yes, actually, I have indeed been enjoying it. I've been getting some help with it—wink wink. Yeah, and I love it. I absolutely love it. The manuscript will be finished at the end of this month, and then we just have to work out how to launch it. Like how do you do all of that, but that's another day to think about that.
Leanne: Because you do improv, characters, and you do stand up, do you have a favorite type of comedy that speaks to you the most?
Lizzie Allan: I love the process of making stuff on film. So sketch comedy and music videos are fun to write. I like LIVE shows as well. They're really amazing and fun and brilliant because I love the live experience of bringing people in and creating that amazing collective joy.
Calla: Yeah, powerful energy.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah.
Calla: To know that you're at the center of that that has to do pretty cool. We talked a bit of Ego when we were talking about other things. Um, how do you deal with it? Because I know we all do, you know, or Leanne and I both do, we have to put ourselves in check sometimes. How do you work through that?
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, I mean, Ego is so sneaky, isn't it? It's like, we think of it as being arrogant and things like that. But it also comes in the form of self-depreciation and lack of self-worth, and things like that. So I continue to do the work, right. I mean, as a person in recovery, I can't really stay still. I've got to keep a connection with my higher power. That, for me, looks like writing in my diary. Who says diary? Why am I saying diary? Journal, like, Oh, my God.
Leanne: I say diary too if it makes you feel any better. But I haven't written in my diary since I was 12.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, exactly. I've been learning quite a lot from Science of the Mind. And I did a foundations training course in that, and that was really helpful. And are you familiar with Science Of The Mind?
Calla: No, tell us about it.
Lizzie Allan: You know, Louise Hay, "You Can Heal Your Life." Louise Hay was a practitioner and a minister from Science of the Mind. It's all of this law of attraction, what you put your mind to, and the physical and the intellect and the physical and the spiritual and the emotional, are all fit all one. And it's not religious. It's spiritual. There are centers for spiritual living all over the world that look at spiritual teachings. Whether they come from religion, or, you know, it could be Eckart Tolle, it could be anyone who's written anything about, you know...
Calla: Life and the human experiences?
Lizzie Allan: I mean, it's just the way the Science of the Mind, it's like, if you think the universe is a friendly place, you will get that confirmed to you because nothing exists except in your own head. So we create our whole reality by the thoughts that we think. The mistake that most of us in the West make when we're not in balance with our spirit is that we try to change everything outside of ourselves to feel better inside of ourselves.
Calla: Been There.
Lizzie: Yeah, well, haven't we all right, yeah. Still and still go there. Right. Still, go out to the shops to buy stuff instead of
Leanne: Now you've got Amazon, and you can just sit there and scroll.
Lizzie Allan: Absolutely. Oh, skip the dishes. Yeah, so yeah, Science of the Mind has taught me this amazing mind treatment, which is another fancy way of saying prayer. But I know that prayer, the word prayer, always people think of religions, and it's not. I even think of the words prayer and God, but I use them in my vocabulary because you can't really explain God. I mean, how can anyone have the authority on what God is right?
Calla: Did you grow up religious or spiritual?
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, so when I was growing up, my mom was not religious at all. I went to a Church of England school, but the Church of England is not that pushy. You know, like, it's not like Catholic. There's no sort of misery, doom, and gloom. It's just some kind of like songs of praise.
Leanne: That sounds kind of nice, actually.
Calla: That's how my husband grew up, and I grew up Catholic. So those two are just hilarious.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, I mean, they don't come out and then.
***CALL FROZE***
Lizzie Allan: Okay, sorry for the freezing. Well, where were we?
Calla: You said you grew up Church of England. How about your dad?
Lizzie Allan: Um, no, my dad was anti every authority known to man. My mum left him when I was two. And he was an addict. He actually, when he got past his divorce papers, realized what he'd lost, and he got into recovery and came back into our lives, and then we saw him on weekends. He's a really funny guy, and it was a lot of fun to have him back. He was just breaking every rule in the book on purpose and saying, mustn't follow the rules, carry on? which was interesting. But then the fascinating thing was when I was about 14, my mom had a breakdown, and she had kind of like, churned up all this kind of trauma from growing up with my grandpa, who was a schizophrenic doctor.
Leanne: WHOA.
Calla: Shit.
Lizzie Allan: Shit is right. Because everybody believes in a doctor.
Calla: I mean, there's your next skit, right?
Lizzie Allan: Oh, I've covered some of that. I've learned so much because I don't trust doctors. We don't trust doctors in our house, right? So I don't immediately trust the doctor when they say you should be on this medication. So I think there are other ways, so back to my point, my mom knew that she wasn't going to go down the doctor medical Western approach to getting well from this, you know, upset she was in that was quite big. So she bought all the books and did all the courses, and it was all meditation, and her bookshelf was full of animal wisdom. You know, Native American animal wisdom Louise Hay, Eckhart Tolle, The Celestine Prophecy, Patience with God, You Can Heal Your Life. I was upstairs smoking weed in my bedroom at like 15, and I've just come down and gotten the rune stones, cards, and astrology books. I was so fascinated with it, and I have been ever since. I've constantly been learning from all the teachers. When the internet came out, we had all the YouTube videos, so I'd go to sleep with the YouTube videos on Wayne Dyer, you know, you've got all those all the big hitters, and you and you go through phases with them, or I went through phases with them and learned a lot. Then I would move on to another teacher and learn a lot, go off and do a meditation course, go off and do an astrology course. So over time, my own interest and fascination, in everything that's explaining the power that is, explaining the energy that runs through us, they love the fear, or that the light in the dark, I started to talk about it with my friends and family and stuff like that. So it's a natural part of what I do at Hilarapy is spiritual as well.
Leanne: That is so cool to have an upbringing like that? I stumbled across The Celestine Prophecy from one of my friends about seven or eight years ago, and she lived by it. She was pretty 'Woo-Woo,' but she loved this book and gave it to me for my birthday. It comes with a guide, so you read a fictional story about a guy who l goes to South America and does all this stuff. It's like a progressive story, and he downloads these insights from the universe, every chapter. But every chapter comes with an experiential guide that teaches you how to apply it to your own life. It taught me about how my grandparents interacted. It gives people kind of four different titles. I'm getting way too far into this, but this is my jam. I forget the terms, but you're labeled a certain way, the way you handle conflict is is what you are. For example, you're an aggressor, or an interrogator, or a victim. And then there's like one other one, but that you kind of make you go backward like you are this way because your mom did this and your dad did this. And they're this way because their parents did this. It helps you like empathize more with the way you were brought up, I think.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, I discovered it and was blown away. It suddenly showed me a different way to see my life and myself and each other and energy. It covers energy, doesn't it? You can see energy if you want to. You can see people's, plants, energy, the stones, energy, it's all vibration, it introduces you to these bigger concepts of what reality is because we're very intellectual in the West if you can't see it, or touch it or taste it don't claim it's there. So we're only just now learning that t life is about vibration, and reality isn't necessarily everything that you think it is.
Leanne: I want to talk about your comedy for a little bit. I love listening to the Joe Rogan podcast and when he has other comedians on because I love hearing about what gave people the courage to get up on stage and tell jokes and just assume or hope that people will accept them and laugh like, what was your first time on stage like?
Lizzie Allan: Awful.
Leanne: Was it worse than your first day at the massage place?
Lizzie Allan: My first day doing the old massage job. That was really weird because this man just stared at me. Like, and when I spoke to him, he was really quiet. It was fine if people spoke back to me because it really normalized thing like, "Oh, how was the football today?" or whatever. I was just like, this is something out of a frickin horror movie right now.
Leanne: Were you scared?
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, I had a flash, right? I had a flash of, Oof, this could go wrong. I think there's even a panic button or something in the room. They know who this guy is, right? Oh, he has to show his ID and everything. So it wasn't underground, anyway, back to that. So yeah, that was one kind of performance that wasn't their first time on stage. I did a stand-up comedy course, just one I found in a newspaper when I was 25. I don't think it was that bad. I didn't write anything. I could never really write a joke because I just couldn't really get my head around it without any help. Like now I know I need to write with other people. It helps me to write with people, or at least bounce it with other people who write comedy that helps. So I ended up being the emcee. I just said a load of whatever came through my head, and it was okay. I winged it.
I mean, the first time I was on stage was that was okay, I guess. But there were some really awful times where I went, and I did like, beat the gong at you know, The Comedy Store? They have one in Manchester, and I did a beat; they're gone. But it's pretty grim. Right? They really want to chop your head off. It's like the gladiators of comedy, right? They want you to make throws, you know, you have to get up and do like, I don't five or 10 minutes.
Calla: It is really aggressive.
Lizzie Allan: Yes. And there are people in the audience, and then this guy's judging, and if people are like, "Boo, That's rubbish!", or whatever, they bang the gong, and you have to go off. It's like a competition. There's another comedy club called the Frog and Bucket, which is a famous one in Manchester. Anyway, so yeah, they have three frogs. So they give a picture of a frog to three people in the audience. And if three people hold it up and say you're fucking crap, you have to leave. It's really shameful and embarrassing.
Calla: Gosh, how do you even stay on your content? That would be so hard.
Lizzie Allan: I didn't have any content. That was the mistake I made. I just got up and just rambled. And it was like, the biggest mistake because I didn't know any better, I kind of wanted to get myself out there and do stuff. But I didn't know-how.
Calla: You immerse yourself in it, right?
Lizzie Allan: Yeah. And of course, I don't even want to go into that next subject.
Leanne: But how funny, though, that now you're mentoring and teaching other people how to create their own comedy out of what they've been through?
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, well, that's it, isn't it? If you go through the trauma of being terrible on stage, you can kind of work out what went wrong and how and why. So making those mistakes is part of it. But I also wanted to bring comedy out of that kind of emotionally violent atmosphere and bring it somewhere else. Because as you can tell, I'm quite vulnerable and open. So if I get up on stage in the wrong environment and start kind of, it almost felt like an excuse the pun prostituting myself, it felt like that, because it was like, I'm trying to get you to laugh at my stuff. You're going to go there, it's not very funny, or you're going to go, oh, yeah, that's really funny. But I feel really sad for you because you haven't dealt with it. Right? I see that a lot when I go to comedy clubs. I see people doing themselves a great disservice that they're actually in a lot of pain with how they live and how disconnected they feel from themselves and each other. And they end up sharing very, very vulnerable things. Because they're trying to find connection, and they're trying to find love and acceptance, and they're getting it through the laughter. But then it stops. And there's no, you know, there's no continuation for that. I had to discover the hard way that I don't need to be in those situations, that there's a better way for me. And, and so really, that's part of what I'm doing is opening up a space and saying, this is a different way of using comedy. And we, this is my house. And these are my house rules, and you guys are in a therapy session. So the audience is made aware. When we do our own shows, like me, Kareena and Ellen, if we do our own shows, we start we just go all out, we'll do like, you know, lip syncs, and
Calla: Well, the sisterhood is already there. You can just launch.
You have to bring other people into the experience when you're on stage and let them kind of be a part of it.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah, if I'm doing a student show, that's when we create that safe space. But you know, I mean, we have a choice here. We create our own safe space, actually, in our shows. So I'll just say that.
Leanne: When do those shows with the three of you start, or have they started already?
Lizzie Allan: We are still in the process of unfolding our COVID restrictions. So we're having a few problems with actual confirmation from theater spaces and things like that. But as soon as we can, you know, get into a space and not have all the COVID restrictions, which I think they're going to lift in September. We're writing it now, and that one, we want to tour as well, that's the kind of the Hilarapy Beast that we want to take over to England, partly because we want to write it off and just have a really good adventure in England together. But you know, as a kind of signature Hilarapy move, right? We take people on a journey of using theatrical techniques to take people into quite an emotional and raw place, take them out of it again, create huge opportunities to laugh, find joy, and then, and then ultimately, breakthrough. So it's kind of taking them through what you might go through in a group therapy process, or, you know, like a sort of retreat or something like that, but using mixed media. I did a one-woman show, and I pre-recorded myself playing my Ego. And then the whole back of the stage was like a cinema screen. And now and again, my entire, like I would cut my Ego would come in and say I just want to tell you, you're like shit, right? And I'd be like, Yes, thank you. I'm well aware. You know, and I'd have this kind of constant like bashing from my Ego.
Calla: That is me in my kitchen every day.
Leanne: Yeah, that is just real life.
Lizzie Allan: I've done this in a therapeutic process, right? I'd had an ego faceoff. It's a therapeutic process where you kind of sit in one chair and you say to your Ego, like, why do you put me down all the time, and then you get into your egos. Then you get into the other chair, and you say to yourself as your Ego you speak from your egos like because you are not good enough and I'm trying to help, you know, and you go back and forth, playing yourself and your Ego. And eventually, you realize that your Ego just tried trying to protect you. But it's living from a place of childhood, right? Ego steps up to help us in childhood as a strategy, and as adults, if we haven't faced it, we end up with a really abusive ego, and we have to reassign it. So, you know, can you help me out instead of bullying me all the time.
Leanne: Yeah, make me cower in a corner.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah.
Calla: What fuels you to want to continue to do this work? Not only just for yourself, but for other people?
Lizzie Allan: I don't know. I feel like I don't really have a choice. This keeps rolling forward. You know opportunities come; people bring me up.
Calla: You're in alignment.
Lizzie Allan: Yeah. It just came together, and All right, carry on. That's what it feels like. I mean, I'm passionate. I'm passionate about the evolution of the planet. The other day, I was invited onto an inclusion panel down at the down at Semiahmoo, native band land. And it was sort of a panel of nine people and then all these people from the community because we wanted to discuss, you know, all the difficulties that have been coming up recently with, you know, hate crime against Chinese people. And you know, the stuff that's happening with native people, everything, and I represented the LGBTQ. And we only had two minutes each, but I got there, and everyone was there. And we were in a gathering for the first time in freaking years. I was like this kid going, "what do you think" and the guy next to me was a psychiatrist, a Muslim psychiatrist. This is irrelevant that he's Muslim. That was why he was kind of talking about, yeah, but he was a shutdown person. He was sitting and didn't really want to engage too much with me. I'm looking around, and everyone's all doing the old prim and proper thing you do when you're in public. And I wanted to go, "Oh, my God, I'm so excited to be here." But it's not my show. So I can't do anything. So I was just sitting there, but I did have a chance to jump up and tell everyone that I was just happy. I'm just so frickin happy to be in this space with people, and I'm feeling it now. It's just like when we can access our love and joy and not have all that strategy and fear and Ego voice trying to keep us in a box and telling us to be careful and stay small and don't upset anyone and blah, blah, blah. It's so exciting being alive. Life is just so cool.
Leanne: Yeah. What was that gathering? What came of that?
Lizzie Allan: He was a friend of mine who's in politics. Where are you guys based, by the way
Calla: So we're the company's Dallas base, but I just moved to another state with my husband's job. So I'm currently an Ala-freakin-bama.
Lizzie Allan: Ah, so cool. When I come down that way, I'd love to meet up for a cup of tea with you. That'd be awesome.
Calla: Absolutely.
Lizzie: I'll make it a road trip.
Leanne: You just made Calla's entire week.
Calla: You have no idea. I knew I was supposed to talk to you today. I just didn't know why.
Lizzie Allan: Well, the thing I've discovered about Canada is that it's hugely good at community. I did not experience community to this level until I came here. And my partner is very active in the community. And she's on every single board in White Rock, and White Rock is quite a small city. She's on the Arts and Culture and The Packer and this, that and the other, and now she wants to run for Council. So I know lots of people because of all this networking that that that well, I guess that we all do. And I was invited on to it, and it's opened up the conversation, and this woman got up, and she's representative of the native community here. She just let us know how discriminated against native people are here and have been for such a long time and all the atrocities that are now coming to light with all these children that have been found. So you've got these mass graves of like 200 children being found all over Canada. But the thing is, is they haven't just been found right. It's just that we're just getting press coverage of it.
Calla: Yeah, it's been covered up.
Lizzie Allan: These people know, these children didn't come home. And they've gone to those schools, and they've done. I'm getting like the shivers of spirit. It's like, you know, they know. Now it's starting to come through, and people want to heal and bridge this gap between communities and stuff like that. So that's what it was. It's the beginning of more, but it's given me lots of ideas for what we could do. Comedy is great for that because you can let people know-how, what it's like being in your world without lecturing. And you can, you can bring so much empathy and connection and healing and peace and joy, with being able to communicate things through comedy. So you know, there's some room for movement there. And it's just getting to know more people.
Leanne: You're the woman for the job.
Lizzie Allan: I accept.
Calla: Well, we hope Oprah can get in contact with you just to move, move it even further, and write things off your vision board, for sure.
Lizzie Allan: For sure.
Calla: Thank you so much for coming and hanging out with us today, Lizzie. It was really cool and a dream. I have to tell you, your comedy is going to change the world and it already has in mind. So thank you.
Lizzie Allan: Thank you, Calla. I appreciate that. Of course, I accept.
Calla: Good, good. Well, we will be in touch, and we will talk with you very soon. Thank you so much.
Lizzie Allan: Absolutely, lovely to meet you both and see you again.