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“I’ve learned how to crochet, how to sew, and I bake a lot. Literally, my day is me homesteading,” comedian Julia Corral, host of Kickstand Comedy in the Park and erstwhile WW Funniest Five’r, says with a laugh. “I’m a tradwife now. I know, it’s controversial.”
She jokes, but like others in the nightlife field, Corral’s days are mostly spent in calm preparation for the massive expenditure of energy that hosting and performing as one of the city’s premier comics requires. Her calendar is booked; nearly every night of the week, Corral can be found performing, teaching or producing a show somewhere in Portland. She not only leads the consistently sold-out Intro to Stand Up classes at Kickstand Comedy but also hosts its massive Friday night Comedy in the Park summer event series. On top of that, Corral co-hosts the femme, POC and LGBTQIA–forward free comedy show Sorry Not Sorry every second Saturday at Leikam Brewing; hosts Cooch Street, Helium Comedy Club’s quarterly all-woman showcase; and is currently producing Bruja-ja, a Latinx showcase, at Brujos Brewing. All things considered, Corral is inarguably one of the most familiar faces in Portland comedy.
Others might find the demands exhausting, but because Corral essentially spends her days grounding herself (insulated by her pets and husband), she’s able to balance her gigs with admirable grace.
“A big part of what’s going on is that I’m 21 months sober,” Corral says. “I feel like a completely different person, so every day, pre-show, I feel the need to create. That’s where I’m at right now. I just made focaccia bread for the first time!”
Corral’s pre- and post-show rituals alike are influenced by her sobriety. With a strong handle on her nightly workload (“I’m very type A,” she says. “I’m a Sagittarius, I’m a workhorse.”), she’s able to spend her afternoons perfecting her domestic arts. And rather than after-party cocktails, Corral typically celebrates her gigs with fat scoops of late-night ice cream.
“We have so many indie ice-cream shops, and I have such a sweet tooth. I’ll go by myself, or I’ll make my husband take me to a drive-thru, or I’ll show up at somebody’s show and be like, ‘You wanna go get ice cream?’” Corral says. “And most people do.”
Here’s how Julia Corral spends a day in Portland:
Wake and Bake (and Walk the Dogs): Corral’s day begins with her pets. “At 8 am, my dog wants me up,” Corral says, “so I take my dog on a walk. Then I kind of just figure out what I need to do. Then I go for another walk with my dog, and then I have to pet each of my cats for 30 minutes.”
After a walk around her Mount Tabor neighborhood, Corral might settle into her kitchen. (“I’ve been making bread, canning, and every three days I pickle red onions,” she says.) Or she might use her free time to explore the city. Corral gushes over her love of Portland, confessing she finds it as captivating today as when she arrived from Orange County 15 years ago. She maintains the affectionate lens of a devoted transplant, and as such can often be found at cultural events, attending zookeeper talks, strolling through a local museum, or attending a hot new restaurant’s opening night. “I’m big on farmers markets, and cherries are coming into season,” she says. “So I bought some cherries and I tried to make cherry Irish soda bread.”
“It wasn’t that good,” Corral confesses, “but it was visually stunning.”
She does maintain one reservation, though. “I love spending my time giving back to this city and enjoying all aspects of it,” Corral continues. “But I will not swim in the Willamette.”
Get to the Show: “I’ve been hosting Comedy in the Park since year two,” Corral says, “but it’s exploded. Now I can look at the park and I can see 2,000 people. There’s 3,000. I’m like a surveyor now.”
Indeed, now in its fifth year, Kickstand’s free shows at Laurelhurst Park draw thousands of audience members, growing exponentially in popularity since their 2021 launch.
Corral’s involvement runs deeper than hosting and performing. She’s booking as well, and uses that opportunity to challenge Portland’s homogenous reputation. “I try to have at least two BIPOCs and two women in the lineup so we have a real representation of who Portland is.”
Comedy in the Park takes place every Friday, but tonight, Corral’s over at Kickstand Comedy’s home base (1006 SE Hawthorne Blvd., kickstandcomedy.org), where she’s hosting the graduating group of her stand-up class’s first showcase. She teaches this class every six weeks, and both the class and the crowd are sold out. Before the house lights dim and Corral steps behind the mic, she flits to the green room to last-minute coach her students. Peals of laughter erupt from the small group. Corral affirms her students, then returns to the stage area and confidently begins the show.
“Let’s give it up for your graduating class! Stand-up is much harder than it looks,” Corral says, smiling broadly into the crowd. “And most of you couldn’t do it.”
The jab is especially poignant considering Corall’s own introduction to the craft. “I always wanted to do comedy,” she says. “Six or seven years ago I made a New Year’s resolution to read a hundred books, and I did it, and it was awful, and I’ve never read since. But I wanted to keep the resolution thing going, so I signed up for a class at Helium. After that, I kind of just took off.”
“I’m big into manifesting,” she adds. “A year and a half ago, I saw a picture of an older man on the side of a TriMet bus and I thought, ‘That’s what I want. I want my face on the TriMet.’ The next day I got a text from my girlfriend—she’s an artist—saying she was commissioned by TriMet to paint a mural for Women’s History Month.” Corral pulls out a pic proof on her phone. “My picture got to be on the Portland bus for a year.”
Grab a Celebratory Ice Cream: Many of the ice-cream joints in Portland are open late, making them easy for Corral to hit up post-show. For example, Ice Queen (2012 SE 11th Ave., icequeenyouscream.com), where Corral took us for a couple of rare pre-show treats, closes at 10:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
“I’m Mexican, so obviously paletas are really precious and important to me,” Corral says as she gazes over the selection of handmade fresh fruit ice pops at the vegan paletería. “I love getting these,” she says, selecting an Oatchata paleta drizzled with fudge and nuts and a strawberry paleta with chamoy and tajin. “But my favorite ice cream is whatever ice cream I’m eating at that moment.”
That said, Corral goes on to endorse Kate’s (plant-based) Ice Cream as well as Nico’s Ice Cream. “Cheese & Crack has, like, insane soft serve,” she adds dreamily.
“It’s such a treat. We have so many indie ice cream shops, it makes me feel like I’m a part of the Portland economy, and that’s really important to me,” she says.
SEE IT: Julia Corral hosts Kickstand Comedy in the Park at Laurelhurst Park, Southeast César E. Chávez Boulevard and Stark Street. 6 pm every Friday, June 6–Sept. 5. Free.