At the beginning of January this year, a Bulgarian lady was “crowned” Best Chicago Producer of 2023 at The 2023 Gazellies: Annual Comedy Awards Show – the annual stand-up comedy awards of the Chicago magazine The Comedy Gazelle. And before we go any further in the spirit of the American dream come true, we should perhaps just say that stand-up comedy is really popular in the US, with a number of Hollywood actors starting their careers from the stages of stand-up comedy clubs. And that the heart of this industry is in the windy city, Chicago.

Our story begins in the Bulgarian seaside city of Varna where Julia Tony Stoyanova was born. In her early teens, she had an interest in theatre and, as she herself admits, the next step was to apply to the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts. She was accepted, and in 2016 she graduated acting and puppet theatre. Exactly one week after her graduation, she made the fateful decision to emigrate to the US in search of a brighter future.

“I have always been inspired and interested in American culture with all the films and stories in my childhood. And so I left. Of course, there is a huge difference between going somewhere for a few months and moving there for life. And somehow the American dream starts to slip between your fingers when you move here. I am absolutely certain that anyone who has moved to another country will understand – the first few years are just years in which you have to survive.”

Julia admits that when she went to America she hadn’t even heard of stand-up, for the simple reason that it was unknown in Bulgaria. In 2019, a friend “acquainted” her with stand-up comedy and told her there was a school in Chicago that was very famous for its improvisational theatre.

“At the time my English was a bit “questionable” and I really wanted to make it better. And, after three years, I was really starting to miss the stage. I wanted to combine things and that is how I found myself on the stage of the The Second City school.”

As fate would have it, in 2021, she met an American producer who was impressed by the fact she was foreign, coming from a different culture, and he suggested they organize a comedy show together.  At the time Julia was working as a bar tender, and she suggested to her employer that they do the show at the bar where she was working. He agreed, they cleared up a spare room and did the show. It was so successful that it was followed by another, and then a third show.

“And so there came the moment when the owner came up to me and said: I like what you’re doing. I like having new clients, why don’t we just turn the bar into a comedy club? I agreed, and now we are business partners. Our Red Room Comedy Club is growing more and more popular in Chicago. I am proud to say that in the space of two years and a half we have had more than 400 American comics on out stage.”

And so, Julia Tony Stoyanova became the first holder of the award in the new category - Best Chicago Producer in the history of the awards of The Comedy Gazelle, and the only foreigner in the final four. She says she has no idea why and how she was chosen in the face of such fierce competition, but that she is thankful and happy.

Julia was handed the prize by someone very important to her – James Webb, whom she describes as a very close friend, but most of all as her comedy mentor.

The secret of a good comedian is to have an interesting life and to be a good story teller. “It all has to come from the heart,” says Julia Tony Stoyanova.

“Laughter is definitely what has helped me out of difficult times. Times when I have wondered why I ever left Bulgaria, why I have to fight so hard. And somehow it all vanishes when you go up on the stage to tell a story, when you make people laugh, then your own problems no longer seem so massive or so terrible. You go home with a smile and you are ready to do it all over again the next day.”

And the award gave her the key to a door she longed to open most – the door to the Bulgarian community in Chicago, numbering approximately 250,000.

“I have only worked with Americans so far and when I received the prize the Bulgarian community in Chicago woke up. Many Bulgarians came to congratulate me and bought tickets for my shows. People in Bulgaria heard about me. So that this award opened the door to the Bulgarian community and I am very happy to have, at long last, reached out to the hearts of Bulgarians.” Julia says.

Translated and posted by Milna Daynova

Photos courtesy of Julia Tony Stoyanova