The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
She’s kind of a big deal
Cleveland radio host Mary Santora sees her stand-up album debut shoot up charts before release
Having a No. 1 comedy album is, naturally, a dream of many comics. Counted among them Clevelandbased comedian Mary Santora, who initially was just excited to release her debut comedy album, “Hillbilly Boujee,” on Feb. 26.
Self-deprecation and pragmatic expectations had tempered any such previous thoughts of the co-host of WMMS-FM 100.7’s “The Alan Cox Show.” That all changed in January, when the album not only went on No. 1 on Amazon’s preorder comedy album chart but also hit the No. 1 album on Amazon pre-order chart.
“That was insane,” said Santora, who grew up in Berea. “I was like, ‘Get out of here.’ I didn’t even believe it. It was No. 1 on the presale overall digital albums chart, so all genres of music and comedy and entertainment. It was very surreal. That was nuts.”
Something else Santora thought was nuts was recently learning SiriusXMComedy will be streaming all of the “Hillbilly Boujee” tracks across its three stations.
For nearly a decade, Santora has worked her way up through the comedy-club ranks. In addition to opening for the likes of Dave Attell, Tom Papa, Jen Kirkman and Kyle Kinane, the quick-witted comic has been thinking ahead to her comedy-album debut.
Recorded in December at Cleveland’s Hilarities 4th Street Theatre, “Hillbilly Boujee” is filled with stories about her family and love life, which includes a wedding that never happened.
“The album, basically, covers my childhood, growing up with divorced parents and kind of a rough upbringing,” Santora said. “Then I talk about calling off a wedding and dating after that with some comedy stories sprinkled in here and there, as well. It’s been a long time in the making.”
While Santora admitted the notion of recording a comedy album had been a consideration for a few years, it wasn’t until she received key advice from another comedian that took the pressure off and allowed the process to happen organically.
“I remember a conversation I had with a muchfurther-along and more-famous comedian, who was saying he waited to do anything until he was asked and there was a need for it,” Santora said. “I kind of felt the same way.
“I was waiting until the material was right. Then I was approached by Helium Comedy Records, which owns clubs around the country. I did a project for them last summer, and then a couple of months, later they approached me about doing an album. It moved forward from there.”
For many comedians, discovering comedy albums at a young age can be an empowering and validating experience that leads them on a joke-telling path. Santora is no different, citing two pivotal moments in her past that still her drive today.
“The first comedy album I ever listened to was Dane Cook’s ‘Harmful If Swallowed,’” Santora said. “I was in middle school, and I still probably to this day recite every word to every joke on that album. I loved it so much. It was just such a cool thing to experience, where you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, people can just tell jokes?’
“It was such a cool idea to me then. Then, maybe a year or two later, a friend of mine introduced me to Brian Regan DVD ‘I Walked on the Moon.’ I watched that over and over again. I never gave her the DVD back.”
It wouldn’t be until Santora was in college that she’d finally get the courage to give stand-up a try.
“It was a student standup comedy competition at the University of Toledo,” Santora said. “I started in front of 400 students. It wasn’t your typical going and bombing at a dive-bar situation.
“It was a great (first time). That’s kind of a failproof system where you’re put up in front of hundreds of your peers, so I was talking about college life to a college audience as a college student. All my friends were there. It was a really awesome experience.”
Now, nearly nine years to the day since that Glass City experience, Santora is releasing her first comedy album. While some comics would be thinking about climbing the next big mountain career-wise, she’s more interested in a return to normalcy.
“Man, I just want to get back on the road,” Santora said. “I just burned an hour that took me nine years to write, so I’m not looking to do anything crazy at the moment.
“I want to try to write some new material, hone it in comedy clubs and we can go from there.”