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Arts & Entertainment

Sandy Ehlers Stands Up for Hoboken

This up and coming comedian talks about how Hoboken helped shape her career, life and act.

She calls herself "brassy, sassy, classy and gassy," but this Hoboken native not only laughs at herself, but gets the audience to laugh with her. 

Though Sandy Ehlers, 49, has spent the last seven years in New York City perfecting her stand up comedy act, she considers herself a Hoboken girl at heart. 

"Hoboken is my home," said Ehlers. "The home of me, Frank Sinatra and Baseball." She continued, "I grew up watching Johnny Carson and when I was kid, I would cut out people's heads from the Sears catalogue, tape them to my wall of my living room and perform for them." 

Besides Carson, Ehlers sited Joy Behar, of ABC's The View, as one of her influences in the comedy world.

"She is one of my idols and I have had the opportunity to meet her and she is supportive and a real comics comic" said Ehlers.

Like Behar, Ehlers said she has been trying to transition her act from the stage to radio, while her audience follows her through the different media. 

"I have been working towards that as a goal," she said and explained, for instance, she discusses topics such as her weight.

"I have been able to lose weight and sometimes I'll gain it back, people can understand that and relate to that and it's real for them," she said.

"Your audience can and will follow you throughout your career, as you start off with them at a certain age, the follow you and the relationship builds and they can be a fan of yours for many decades as you both grow up and age together." 

Like Carson and Behar, both will laugh from personal experiences, and Ehlers explained that much of her act comes from her personal experience. 

"When my mother died, I was at the funeral grieving and crying and I said to my brother-in-law, 'Mickey she didn't even live to see me get married' to which he replied, 'Sandra, none of us are gonna live to see you get married'," said Ehlers.

That incident became a part of her act. 

"I wrote that joke exactly how it happened," said Ehlers. 

For now, Ehlers has been working in to the hospitality industry, but she gets work regularly. 

"Most of the time I perform, I perform at firehouses, VFWs, Elks Clubs, etc and I have a blue collar following as opposed to the country club circuit," she said.  

One of the reasons Ehlers said she enjoys comedy is because of the positive benefits it has.

"When I was in high school, I was a nerd and struggled to fit in, so I tried to make all types of friends," she said. "In trying to be accepted I decided to be funny and entertaining, and it worked so I then became a bit more popular and that made all the difference in the world."

She said her act becomes cathartic for people who are dealing with hard times because when you get to a certain age you realize that life isn't a bowl of cherries, sometimes it's the pits (quoting Erma Bombeck).

"I can be a voice for those that feel left out, angry, struggle with issues, dealing with the un-avoidable in life which is life itself death and with taxes" Ehlers said. "Both the audience and I can identify with each other, and that's how I have been able to gain fans because I treat people like we've known each other for years by opening up and telling them the story of me." 

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Fans can expect much more from the comedian in the future, Ehlers said.  

"I keep working," she said. "And I love the fact I can continue to pursue my dreams."

In the meantime, people can view Ehlers on You Tube and find her on Facebook. 

"I love to perform," she said. "I will keep performing because it's what I was put here on this earth for and thank god I found that out and can work towards that goal every day of my life."

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