Variety show Nellie & Elise’s Clown Closet unpacks the awkward hilarity of Y2K girlhood August 19 at The Black Box

Nellie & Elise’s Clown Closet // courtesy Nellie Maple and Elise Poehling

Comedians Nellie Maple and Elise Poehling invite guests to laugh and cry in their goofy, Y2K variety show Nellie & Elise’s Clown Closet on August 19.

Hosted by The Black Box, the production highlights the quirky and awkward experiences of girlhood in adult humor.

The onstage closet props showcase the ideal girls Maple and Poehling dreamed to be. With a door covered in cotton candy pinks and blues, Poehling displays her Lizzie McGuire Barbie fusion aesthetic. Maple reveals her inner Avril Lavigne with a closet decorated in skulls and Sharpie drawings. During the show, The Black Box bar offers drinks “Nellie” and “Elise” reflecting their personalities. The bar provides the base alcohol but keeps the drink flavor a secret. 

Even though the two gals are different, they play mermaids and even sing songs about coping with the unpleasantness of their existence. Other times, Maple and Poehling’s characters show their personality differences through diary entries about a crush. To keep their playtime interesting, a new friend (guest star) visits the girls for each themed show.

The Clown Closet themes and skits continually change, but they revolve around creating a space for everyone to reminisce–or cringe–at the children they once were. 

The Pitch: What are some of those uncomfortable or creepy things about being a girl in the 2000s?

Maple: There are definitely large chunks that come from being very uncomfortable in that young teen body. We do a lot with fake orthodontia, which immediately puts me back in that place. M​​y mouth just remembers how I used to talk. It mentally becomes creepy. A lot of creepiness also comes from that inherent weirdness of liking your crush. It’s about things that little girls and young people talk about to their best friends in private. It’s the silly, weird, sometimes disgusting, and uncomfortable things that people bond over during that time. 

Poehling: It’s taken to an absurd level because it’s funny. It’s weird, but it’s hilarious. No matter what your experiences, whether you’re a girl, you’re non-binary, or you’re a boy, we all have these feelings. However, I think as women growing up, it’s super concentrated because we’re allowed to feel those feelings, and we are confused by them, but we’re not allowed to express them necessarily, so we remember them very strongly.

Maple: It’s a lot of planning with very adult feelings of being in love or exploring these hormonal feelings in a way children don’t know how to explore. So it just gets really uncomfy and weird, in a very safe and funny way. 

How does the show create a safe space or outlet for other people to relate to?

Maple: We have a little safe, and during pre-show the first act intermission, people write secrets on little pieces of paper, and they put it in the safe. And then at the end of the show, we open up the safe and we read them all and laugh together. It’s created this beautiful opportunity for people just to get silly. 

Poehling: We also play Mad Libs and have the audience write down nouns, adjectives, and verbs and put them in baskets. Later on, we sing a song with all of their words. There’s paper and pens on their tables, so they can give us a secret or can throw in words for Mad Libs at any point before the second act.

Maple: We want people to feel comfortable doing it on their own time. They should be able to think about something or even consider ‘maybe I shouldn’t share this, maybe I want to get a feel for the show.’ And once they realize, ‘these girls are up there being terribly embarrassing,’ then they say, ‘I can share my secret, it’s no big deal.’

How do you find and select guest artists for the show? 

Maple: We began by thinking about what friend we wanted to get up and have fun with us. As we found our flow, we realized it could be a music spot, improv game, or whatever our guests’ strength is. We’ve been looking around the community for people to extend an invitation and come hang out with us on the stage

Poehling: We also think about the theme as well when we’re looking for our guests. Everyone we’ve picked so far, we’ve thought, ‘this person will be great doing this sketch,’ and we would write for a specific night or upcoming one. 

What do you hope people gain from ‘Clown Closet?’

Maple: I hope that you feel a little more free to be you, which is definitely the overall point. More than that, I hope that it inspires somebody to create something. This is our passion project. It’s been nice to have a space where all of these weird, zany, brainy children’s ideas can go on to explore who we are as artists, comedians, and people, and feed our inner child. It’s truly so soul-healing. I hope they’re inspired to love their inner child. 

Hang out and share secrets with Maple and Poehling during Clown Closet Serves Country at The Black Box on August 19. Showtime starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $15. Wear hats and boots to serve count(ry) with the gals.