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Katie: I'm actually an extremely serious person, which accidentally comes across as funny

We're talking nineties dad bums. You know what I'm talking about. You know, these nineties Dad bums.

these super baggy balloon pants. I don't know how the physics work to make them stay balloony

there are literally women in white catsuits dancing in front of fireworks on the side of the ski run.

I'm going to the beach. See you later. Losers.

If you're a single woman, get your ass to St. Anton immediately. It is a sea of men. It is a sea of men.

I'm all over the place,

Paddy: oh man, my, cheeks hurt a lot. I signed you up for a 90 minute window and, we're gonna need to go past that because we have gotten pretty chatty.

Katie: Oh yeah. No, I don't have therapy till four.

MUSIC

PADDY INTRO VO:

In astronomy, there's a phenomenon where [00:01:00] a star will sometimes exceed the speed of its own galaxy to such an extent--think two to three times the speed of the sun--that it ejects from its galctic center, sometimes by way of a supernova explosion, and zips out into space at a mindboggling speed on a new trajectory.

Scientists call this cosmic glitter rocket a hypervelocity star, but you could just as easily call it Katie Burrell.

PAUSE

Like you heard in the cold open, Katie is a star that burns so brilliantly, and with such speedy intensity, that when you talk with her, ya just gotta hold on as best you can and take in all the sparkly lights, because you have in fact just boarded the cosmic glitter rocket.

Katie hails from Canada and gets paid to ski and mountain bike, but she's not a pro—she prefers the term "leisure athlete," which I immediately stole from [00:02:00] her and starting using myself. She is also a gifted comedian who's parlayed a robust Instagram channel full of hilarious skewering of outdoor stereotypes into a career as an actor, writer, and director. Her first film, the ski comedy"Weak Layers," premeired in 2023 and is the latest installment in the beloved ski romp genre. While her comedic career is remarkable - and one of the reasons she'll be on a panel at �����ԹϺ��� Festival on May 31 and June 1 in Denver chatting about humor in the outdoors -- Katie Burrell is no one trick pony.

She's actually a creative chameleon, as evidenced by her recent dramatic turn in a short film called "Bardo," in which she stars as a daughter coming home to deal with the death of her mother.

I wanted to know how a life outdoors — and a life spent pointing out the comedy inherent in our outdoorsy pursuits — [00:03:00] perpared her for that career curve ball. What I learned is that comedy in the outdoors isn't just for laughs -- it's how we understand our friends, our partners, and even ourselves.

MUSIC

Paddy: First things first, burnt toast. What is your last humbling and or hilarious moment outside

Katie: It was actually just the other day at Whistler, and I had like massive social anxiety about it after, because, I got really scared going into West Cirque, which is this entrance into the bowl,

anyone that's listening to this that from Whistler might think that's understandable or might be like, oh, it's not that bad. It was just so milky white out there that day that, I like side stepped down. What is probably not a sidestep, like, it's probably just like a slide in thing, sidestep down it and then tighten my boots up as tight as they go in that sidestep.

Then I made a few turns, realized the boots were too tight, loosened the boots. At this point, I look up and there's like, I wanna say eight to 10 people standing at the top of [00:04:00] this.

Paddy: Were you like, sorry, I'm just uh, boot buckle thing. Boot buckle

Katie: I was like, fuck you guys. I don't care. I'm not, y'all can wait. Y'all can wait. Like, this is my life on the line. Like I was in a state, . And I had just for the first time this whole season worn my custom leisure athlete kit that I'm like sort of prototyping , it's an all black kit, so I'm like thinking I'm in incognito, but then it like says leisure athlete, so anyone who like has seen anything that I've done in that vein of things would be like, oh, that's Katie Burrell.

Like, it's not subtle. , it's like a flag being like, let's chat. So I'm in possibly the worst mood of, the last 37 years and I make a few turns down through this like milk bag. And then of course, like the cutest girl ever in her ski instructor kit with like three girls behind her like skis up to me and is like, oh my God, are you Katie Burrell?

. I go, yep. Like, [00:05:00] what's your point? Like what's your point? I was like thinking, she was like trying to come for me. She was literally just trying to be like, friendly and say hi. kind of , catches her off guard , and then I was like, oh my God.

Recalibrate, recalibrate as fast as possible. Be nice, be nice. yes, hi. What's up? What's up? And then she goes this is Katie Burrell, she's a really fun, , creator and athlete. And I was like, not athlete. Not athlete.

Like they had just watched me sidestep. This was supposed to be a succinct story I recognized, but they had watched me sidestep down an obvious entrance. That's probably not challenging . And then yeah, watch me having like a basic meltdown

it was just not a good look overall for the brand. ,

Paddy: So the last humbling, hilarious moment outside is you being super freaked out on something very mellow and then talking to strangers in a pretty prickly way.

Katie: yeah, that was a much more succinct way of putting it.

Paddy: Alright, let's get into it.

MUSIC IN THE CLEAR FOR A [00:06:00] BEAT

do you remember the first time you made someone laugh?

And let me give you an example here, I was probably like five years old and I'm sitting at the butcher block table in the kitchen that I grew up in with my two older brothers. And I stand up on the, stool and I say, let us say grace.

And I put my arms out like Jesus on the crucifix, and I just yelled Grace. Now this is not a funny joke, but my brothers were caught so off guard by this behavior that they like spat oatmeal out of their nose. And I had never made them laugh before. And I was like, this is the thing. Sign me up for the rest of my life.

This is the best thing ever. Do you have a memory of like, I made someone laugh as a small kid.

Katie: Not as a small kid, , and it's, maybe not laugh, and maybe it's a bit more , serious, but I re I remember the first time that I had social currency. As a result [00:07:00] of telling a compelling story. So I was raised at dinner parties.

, I'm an only child, so I was like always rolling to the dinner parties, either at our house or at others. And my parents' friends told these dramatic stories and if someone was telling their story at the table, it was like all eyes on them. And so I would sit and I would listen to the various stories and I can remember how great they seemed to have everyone crying with laughter, like around this story.

And then when I was 14 or 15, I was fortunate enough to spend a month in France and then had a very sort of comedy of errors return from this trip. And, I told the story to like a group of my parents' friends.

And so it was like I was mature enough to command the adult's attention in this like 20 minute retelling of this dramatic travel day and had these adults all like cry laughing. And then for the rest of that summer, my parents would go, Katie, Katie. [00:08:00] Tell the wine story, oh, you've gotta hear this, you've gotta hear this.

Tell the wine story. And that wine story became the story that I, could do on command. It got better and better every time I did it. And then the following year I hosted the school-wide, like talent show. and I did the wine story as kind of like my first early standup bit, I guess like at age 16,

Paddy: what's the wine story? Or is it, is it, is it like an hour and a half long?

Katie: it's like an hour and a half. It's like its own podcast. Yeah. It's, it's like, it's at this point, are you kidding me? I've been refining this story for 20 years

Paddy: tune in next time we talk to Katie Burrell for the wine story.

PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE

Was it the feeling that you were chasing? Is that the reason that it became your first bit?

Katie: It was the social currency. And it's interesting because when I like lose my way, , when I'm like working on things or whatever, and I am trying to remember what it's all for, it comes back to [00:09:00] the feeling of entertaining people. Like, it comes back to the feeling of making people feel good.

That's why I am here. That's why I have the career I have. That's why I'm pursuing what I'm pursuing. That's why I care about what I care about. that's why I walked out of the LSAT, , prep course that I was in, and I was like, this isn't gonna give me that feeling ever. Also like, I think as a young kid, my mom tells me I was very sensitive.

I was very serious. I. And then I got bullied. And then When I was able to sort of like shift gears almost and start using the sensitivity and using the seriousness in a way that was like a vulnerability, it became almost a mechanism for me to get people on my side.

And it was usually by way of making them laugh. And then that became a bit of a not superpower, but like defense mechanism that

Paddy: It's armor.

Katie: You know what I armor?

Paddy: Well, I grew up similarly, you know, I was, very sensitive, like felt feelings very big [00:10:00] as a little kid and felt, , not clicked into like the cool kids, you know, I went to a small Catholic school and my first growth spurt was east and west, not north and south.

So I got very chunky, in sixth, seventh grade. And a little Catholic school was not a good place to get chunky.

Katie: It's not good to get chunky in any school in the 90s.

Paddy: Right. But I was using humor right? , as a way of controlling a social situation , I'm either gonna make fun of myself or do something goofy in order to like, get you on my side. and then it somehow shifted and twisted into like a, oh, actually like. Making someone laugh, even if I'm just, , ordering a cup of coffee is like a superpower and, the best part of my day. So I'm gonna continue to try to do that as much as possible. Is that similar?

Katie: Yeah, it's really similar. I can't remember the like, earliest kind of iterations of it. 'cause when I think about myself as like a, third grader, I was doing like Shania Twain lip syncs to any man of mine. I wasn't like [00:11:00] doing hilarious sketches, you know

Paddy: That is, but like, do you realize like that, if that is like a scene in a film, that is hilarious.

Katie: Very funny. Very funny. But I was so serious.

I've always been serious. But it's, it's unfortunately been funny. That's the like central sort of curse of my existence, you know? It's like a bit tragic actually.

It's a tragic comedy in motion

PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE

Paddy: When did you realize then that your observational humor about the outdoors was clicking with people?

Katie: well, I think that was just a sort of like combination of interests I had done standup for many years and I don't love doing standup sometimes, like, I think the sensitive side of me is doesn't adore, like, putting your personal life to shame, like every five nights a week for strangers.

Like, you know what I mean? And like being a comedic actor was more interesting to me as a result.

And, I was working [00:12:00] nine to fives always to sort of pay for my life while I was developing my own projects on the side. And, the nine to five at the time was in the heli skiing business and I was skiing and biking a lot in my free time. That's what I enjoy doing, I think. I think sometimes I feel like I've been socialized into liking it.

But anyway, uh, that's another conversation. Um,

Paddy: That is my follow up question.

Katie: do you like this? Do you actually like this? Yeah. Yeah. it was, , it was just sort of a perfect storm. I started making jokes about doing these sports and what I didn't sort of put together is the fact that like, okay, so like in an improv show, for example, like the nature of an improv show, you're creating inside jokes with you and the audience in the moment.

And that's why the laughs sometimes are so much more intense when you're watching an improv show, because as an audience member, you feel like you built the joke with the cast. It's like it happens in the moment and it's so much funnier. It's like. Laughing with a friend like you, you [00:13:00] laugh harder with a friend than you do maybe watching a standup bit.

When you watch a standup special, you're laughing at the sort of like cleverness of it or the commentary of it, whereas like when you have like an inside joke with a friend feeling, it's like that cry laughter.

when I started putting out just jokes for what were my friends like in Revelstoke,, I was like, wait, the whole bike community is gonna feel like this is an inside joke.

Oh, like I can scale this as an inside joke bit to any community that is centered around, a sport or a thing. And so then it was like allowing me to, you know, take my own sort of like desires into my own hands, creating content that allowed me to be a comedic actor, on my own.

And also create that kind of like inside joke. Factor for these communities that I had an , insight into because of my own interests.

Paddy: A lot of your humor focuses [00:14:00] on gender and relationship dynamics, like the battle of the sexes, intimate relationships.

These are kind of these classic sources of material for comics. But what, in your opinion, happens specifically within those dynamics on the mountains? On the trails that is unique, that is funny, and also has the ability to build that inside joke with the outdoor audience

Katie: When we're developing content, we'll often say to like, the partners that we're working with, or like even internally as a team, like developing it, we're like, what's the thing that will make people go, oh my God, so me, this is me. This is me. Because we're all sort of like self-centered, just by nature.

I'm not trying to fault anyone, but it's like you want to find something that's relatable to you out in the world to validate you and so when we're creating these jokes or writing these jokes, sometimes we'll say things that was like, oh, this is actually like not correct for me.

It doesn't feel real or resonate with me at all, but I know. That [00:15:00] so many people feel this way as a result of being like plugged into the community at large. Like I can say it and be the vehicle for people to find the relatability factor, whatever it is. But there has to be some sort of mathematical equation that's like, X x's activity, plus Y is partner equals, Z is, uh, shittiness.

And then the, the like twos, like the little numbers above, like the, exponential thing is like survivalism and ability to be vulnerable. So that, that's the mathematical formula for what happens with our doing activities with our partners when there's like survival at hand,

Paddy: Gimme something that you think happens out on the trail that is inherently hilarious

Katie: Everything becomes your partner's fault, who's ever in front needs to accept responsibility that everything going on for the person behind them is their fault and they have to be able to hold that space.

They have to, if you are going to be the person that goes [00:16:00] in front, you also have to understand that you are going to be the container for the person that's behind you to go through anything that they need to go through. 'cause it's all gonna be your fault. Because there's something about being behind that is just sort of triggering. And there's this sort of, this inherent comparison that happens to the person in the front. And as that gap sort of widens, that comparison becomes more dramatic, which becomes increasingly triggering, which

Paddy: if it's on like the uphill, and then if it's on the downhill and you're skiing and you like hit a rock or something, you're like, well, the rock that I hit wasn't placed there over a millennia ago. It was placed there by my partner who has taken me on this stupid trail.

Katie: But more so. More so it's Where the hell are you when I hit the rock?

Where Since when are you going to X Games that you need to ski so fast and so far ahead of me to make it to Cortina 2026 that you cannot be back here. Making sure that the actual person in your life is okay.

It doesn't really [00:17:00] matter what kind of a relationship it is or what gender it is, it's actually just the person that's better and who's ever more comfortable in the space is the antagonist by nature.

Paddy: Listen, , when I see something like this of yours, , I feel it so much in my heart and in the center of my being because my wife is frustratingly athletic. Uphill, anything crushes me.

I feel like a newborn giraffe every time we go up. I was like, I've never used legs before bahaha. I see it either from like her perspective through you when you're the expert talking to the person who,, is not the expert.

Or when you play the novice

Katie: yeah, yeah. I'm dying to make like an infomercial about e-bikes as like relationship savers. If you're the more advanced cyclist, I'd almost state that there's an argument for you and your partner that's less good at biking to split the cost of the E-bike

Paddy: Oh, [00:18:00] yeah.

Katie: so that you guys can do it together in a very comfortable, safe, friendly way.

'cause e-bikes are actually a game changer, for people that are just not as fast. And it's also like how you like me now, were you getting anything out of that? Were you getting something out of me being so much slower than you? Did you need that? Did you need that?

Because here I am, right on your ass with the e-bike.

PAUSE PAUSE

Paddy: , in the bits that you're creating, , are you pulling from your personal life or are you just noticing things about the culture in general

Katie: It is sort of a combination of all of the above. In the same way that you would write a standup bit and like pull from your own life, but use more, maybe some more universal themes, to like connect with an audience. It's the same thing when you're doing like sketch characters or comedy bits for, , content.

Like I could remember one of my best friends, Lauren, 15 years ago, had this boyfriend who was a tugboat captain and she was like so taken with him over the summer

Paddy: I'm sorry. That's just funny.

Katie: Boat.

Paddy: [00:19:00] In

Katie: No, it was legit, legit hot. Blue collar man. Where are you at? We love you Anyway, uh, he was super legit. Like, that's a hot

Paddy: I'm sorry.

Katie: You're laugh,

Paddy: I'm sorry. I have

Katie: are a podcast host. You are a podcast host. You cannot laugh at a tug boat captain.

Paddy: No, it was like, man, he was so hot. He had the hottest job. What was it? Tugboat captain. I was like, this is not a real phrase, and,

Katie: welcome to Canadian women. Welcome to Canadian women. We're like, get outta here with your Ashton Hall fitness influencers. Give me a tugboat captain. Like,

Paddy: oh my God, he smells like sea salt and a diesel engine. I love this man.

Katie: he smelled like six figures in the busy season, sir. He smelled like four months off every winter. He smelled like knowing how to fix your engine. Anyway, [00:20:00] so

Paddy: who calls themselves a serious person, I'm cry laughing right now. Sorry. Okay. Please tell me about this super hot tugboat man.

Katie: okay, so super hot tug boat man until the opening day of the season when he couldn't keep up with her and it was like. Happened to be this like really sick opening season in Revelstoke where it was like pow. And I mean this is like, you know, 15 years ago before climate change or no, sorry, not to ruin the podcast, but yeah, yeah.

Um, yeah, gen Z could never, sorry guys. Yeah. I didn't have social media until I was 18 and I've skied real pow so yeah. I'm not gonna cinch my pants. Um,

Paddy: Oh my god.

Katie: my pants 'cause I have really lived anyway. Um, so after she towed him along the cat track, she realized like it was just not gonna work out.

He was snowboarding, just skiing. And Revelstoke, as you know, is a very, , sort of horizontal mountain despite the marketing they've done [00:21:00] quite successfully, anyway, a lot of traversing. So she was towing him along one of their infamous cat tracks and recognized in that moment that it was not gonna work out as a relationship. . He was slowing her down and she needed, to not be slowed down.

So that like lodged in my memory as , just funny reason to break up with someone like that was sort of the beginning of the end. Another great friend of mine, her partner's like a ver, he's like a mountain man.

He's a serious mountain man. He's a career ski patroller career, forecaster career, like, you know, snow scientist. Like you trust this man with your life out there. And she had an actual meltdown out in ski touring with him and screamed across the valley, just be my boyfriend. 'cause he was giving her the, like, this is the understanding, here's the science. This is why logically you're not in danger. This is why it's okay , and she just screams at him, just be my boyfriend. And so[00:22:00]

Paddy: with your facts and come to me with feelings.

Katie: Yeah, there's all these like sort of moments that have like accumulated over time. I was very good friends with my boyfriend until he was my boyfriend

and we would go biking and he biked so slowly and it was like so nice. Like we would just bike, we were friends, we would bike. So it was like, I would, he could keep up the whole time. And he is a very good biker. Very good biker. So it was sort of weird to me that he'd ever wanna bike with me.

And go the speed that he went. But I was like, maybe I'm faster than I realize I am. Well then we slept together and all of a sudden Mr. Fucking Crank Works shows up and tail whips off the side of Dusty Beaver, the green trail. Like it's just,

he is like 300 feet ahead of me every day we go, I'm like out here biking alone again, just 'cause we've slept. And I was just like noticing myself after literally one time livid with this person

Paddy: yeah.

Katie: as opposed to one week prior where I was like, doo doo doo like [00:23:00] in a totally different state of being. It was like as soon as sex is involved, the activation of your behavior changes dramatically.

Paddy: You think it would be opposite

Katie: yeah,

Paddy: and what's, I guess the lesson there is like

Katie: Don't have sex

Paddy: Don't have sex, period. Period. Like, if you wanna keep up with the person that you are attracted to on the trail, do not sleep with them.

Katie: This is very real. I think we have just hacked something here.

PADDY VO:

More insights into what makes outdoor folks tick and how best to harness the emotions therein from Katie Burrell after the break.

MIDROLL MIDROLL MIDROLL MODROLL

Paddy: Even the funniest, most off the wall slapstick characters, are based, at least in part, in reality like for example, jim Carrey's Stanley Ipkiss from the Mask is a professionally and romantically frustrated guy who feels too afraid to stand up for his needs. Kristen Wig's, Annie Walker from Bridesmaids is a [00:24:00] desperately lonely and lost person, terrified that her friends are leaving her those emotions.

Set up all of the hilarious and completely over the top moments in those films. In your work, how do you balance the serious emotions with the hilarity? How do you turn and manage that dial?

Katie: That is such an excellent question, and I think you've just explained my personality that I was trying to communicate to you earlier in the conversation back to me

Paddy: This is great. , now I'm going to, invoice you.

Katie: Yes. Thank you. I'll cancel therapy

Paddy: skip therapy.

Katie: , seriousness is the funniest thing in the world.

Whether it's waiting for Guffman and they're putting on a community play to a slapstick comedy like, , will Ferrell, the Figure Skating Blades of Glory kind of a

Paddy: Yes. Yeah,

Katie: It's the parts of ourselves that we. Cover up in our day-to-day life [00:25:00] your identity, your ego, your career, your sense of self, and what comedy does is it just lets people be seen caring about stuff it's like listening to a comedian tell a story about themselves. Is them explaining to you how much they care about something that you also care about, but you would never admit to caring about.

you don't see a Lot of like, moderation being hilarious, you know what I mean?

You don't see like a well balanced, a well adjusted person being hilarious, like

Paddy: Do you think then that is one of the reasons why your comedy works so well is because like , we the outdoor community, live really extreme lives?

Katie:  The outdoor world , takes itself quite seriously, right? It's all about performance and results and who's who and epic things, right?

Paddy: Yes

Katie: That is comedy writing itself,

Caring that much about your position in the world based on something other [00:26:00] than survival or going out and making survival harder for yourself.

It's the equivalent of a dad playing flag football with his kids at a Thanksgiving barbecue and spiking the ball and it hitting a six year old in the face

that's the beauty of satire is it's, it's literally just taking the same actions, the same desires, the same events, and like tilting it slightly.

One of the first pieces of content that I did that got any attention was in 2020 when I did me solo

I literally just took the plot line of free solo, but just made it me trying to go get popcorn from the kitchen when you watch free solo, it's so serious.

And I, free solo blew my mind when I saw it in theaters. I forgot my shoes. I had to take my shoes off. My feet were sweating so hard and I forgot my shoes and I forgot I lost my wallet that day. Like I was shook, shook us shook by that movie. yeah, You just. Crank it up a little bit and it's all of a sudden funny again.

Paddy: In your use of the things that you notice or taking things from your own personal life were you also drawing upon your ski town [00:27:00] experience for weak layers? Like how much of that character is you?

Katie: Oh, so much, I think actually, like a more unhealed version of me. , with Cleo, I could like be shitty, be selfish, put myself in these situations that were maybe a bit, , self, , emulating or, caring so much about an outcome, within the culture of skiing and ski industry. Like in my real life, I would never let myself be so. Desperate or vulnerable or care so much

PAUSE PAUSE

The best stories are the ones you've lived and the ones you can tell from your specific and unique point of view.

And so my specific and unique point of view, I lived working in marketing in heli skiing. I also worked as a house girl in heli skiing.

I worked as a bartender I worked as a community manager . I worked as a copywriter. I worked as a, you know, a person running events. Like I worked as a slinging beer at ski movies. Like I [00:28:00] saw it from the outside in, and so when I started creating weak layers it was like that outside in view, the three girls at the center of weak layers are outsiders of the ski industry. They are core skiers. They're obsessed with skiing. They know who the big dogs are, but they're on the outside. And that was my experience,

doing comedy from that sort of outside element, , just by nature the, you're like a delegate of the people, you know what I mean?

PAUSE PAUSE

I felt personally like an underdog . Figuring out how to use my voice and speak up for what I thought was correct or trust My instincts were right in so many different scenarios anywhere from like as non uh, life-threatening as a marketing decision to like me literally being like, yeah, you guys can't go that fast or Leave me in the back country 'cause I'm gonna die.

Like, if you know what I mean? Like,

Paddy: Yeah.

Katie: I love to tell this story now like 10 years later, but the literal Solomon Pro team left me in the back country. They were going so fast, like [00:29:00] showing off to each other and I was like the new community manager and I was so far behind them, that I couldn't even see them anymore.

And I was just in the backcountry by myself

Paddy: you terrified?

Katie: and terrified. And then, but then I went into like, worst case scenario, you literally turn around and snowplow down this goddamn skin track until you get back to the parking lot. and then I heard them through the bushes and I like Bush whacked and popped out and they were like, sessioning a cliff band,.

And I was like, cool guys. Like I'm really stoked that you guys know how to do three sixties and that's so awesome. But like, how sick would it not be if I had just died over here by myself? Later that night at the Village Idiot, there was like a party and one of them literally came up to me and was like, so yeah, us like leaving you back there was like really bad. And I was like, yeah,

literally like, oh, it's no, don't worry about it.

Don't worry about it. It's totally cool because I was like 26 and actually was like mortified at the fact that I couldn't keep up. Now smash cut however many years later, and I'm like making 20 people wait for me to sidestep into West Cirque, you know, anyway.

to, To answer your [00:30:00] question about weak layers, I think that there was a lot of that energy where I was like, felt, not heard, not seen, not, , marketed to and so there was a lot of not bitterness, but , that sort of like underdog element of bitterness that when you do satire and comedy that's punching up like the big dogs, the legacy guys.

Like that's who's gonna be the butt of the jokes.

Paddy: Are you proxy for the rest of us who are not the big dogs, whether in like an individual physical pursuit or at a larger industry level?

Katie: Am I the Bernie Sanders of ski comedy?

Paddy: Yeah. Are you, are you the Bernie Sanders of ski comedy?

Katie: Yeah. I got my big mittens on sitting cross leg, arms crossed.

Paddy: I am here to, once again ask you to laugh at me. Well, thank you. Thank you,

Katie: yeah, if I was gonna represent any element or any party [00:31:00] within the ski industry, it would be the weekend warriors? Hell yes. , let's acknowledge them ' that's where the leisure athlete and all this sort of like let's speak to the people who ski as a hobby and a pastime and a recreationalist

PAUSE PAUSE

Paddy: I love Bardo. Bardo is a short film about grief and death, and your character, Steph, is this buzzing orb of regret and grief and anger and sadness.

How did you deploy your comedy chops, your ability to notice the quirky, goofy, funny things about life, to draw out this like gritty emotional role.

Katie: That was one of the, if not the most challenging, acting experiences in my life.

PAUSE

in the case of Steph, the comedy was found in the inability to acknowledge the self-loathing and regret, and then also just the absurdity of having a woman in your house, , leading your mother into the [00:32:00] afterlife by way of a three day bardo, which is , the Buddhist tradition of the body on dry ice in the house while the spirit leaves to the afterlife,

For someone like Steph who was so mad at herself that she hadn't been there and hadn't understood the severity of the situation, to hear this woman trying to tell her that everything was okay and placate and. Make light of or make beautiful. And like, she was just like, you sound like a, an appropriate idiot, but really she's just mad at herself

Paddy: Right,

Katie: I got a very good piece of performance advice prior to that shoot. , that had to do with there being the first place you wanna go as an actor to convey what might be the emotion that, would make the most sense to someone watching it so they can like really come along with you and basically using your emotionality to push against that.

So if the first place you wanna go is anger, push against that and see where you land. if the place that's makes the most sense to go is to cry, push against that and see [00:33:00] where you go. In the final scene for example, where she feels like her mother comes back and says goodbye by way of sending her a rainbow.

When I first read the script, that was what made me cry. And on the day when we shot it, tears were running down my face and it was making me laugh

Paddy: What that sounds like in this acting advice is, it sounds like the same type of a reaction that you're having you're dropping in, in this cloud in Revelstoke, where you're pushing against the embarrassment, and it's coming out as anger.

You're pushing against being like, oh my God, I have such a fear of being recognized and looking stupid. I'm going to affront that by being kind of prickly. So are you drawing upon these like outdoorsy experiences to get into these push and pull emotions of dramatic roles?

Katie: I mean, I think that would be excellent for the outside podcast, wouldn't it? But I think if we could really tee that up and close this loop. But I think[00:34:00]

Paddy: Oh my God. Really? I thought I just came up with such an astute observation you not think that you were just nodding along the whole time I was saying that, where you just like, oh, I'm gonna pull the rug out from underneath him so hard.

Katie: see, I told you I'm a bit mean.

Paddy: Yeah. There it is. This is great. I'm gonna, I am going to think about this for the next three decades.

Katie: my legacy, I think more than anything What going outside gives you is a deepened emotionality, honestly, your experiences are intensified. Being outside with people skiing in the back country, mountain, biking, running, whatever it is, you become bonded for life. So I think in a sense, like there's a deeper range of emotion that being in the outdoors, like allows you to access. It does help me as an actor, as a performer, because there is, there's [00:35:00] more to draw from

Paddy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Katie: there's more to draw from than I would ever be able to draw from if my life involved going to the mall. I do love the mall and I have been known to do a public cry.

You know, I love a good public cry, but if my life, wasn't so full of the experiences that I've had as a result of being a part of the outdoor community, I don't know that I would've accessed so much. In myself. I think that there's just like, the highs, the highs are higher and the lowers or lower , with the element of the outdoors. And there's a real, crossover there when it comes to like a, a career in a creative space.

whether it's the Hollywood category or the content creator category, or the comedian category or writer category, like the highs are high when you're being celebrated for your work, and, the same thing happens when you're at the bottom of a, like the bottom of a skin track feels the same, like level of low as. I'm doing this for you. I'm, I'm creating a mountain metaphor for you and in this podcast, but I'm gonna let everyone finish it on their own 'cause I know you can.

[00:36:00] I don't have to do it. I have to be so cheesy to do the skin track metaphor. You can do it on your own. Listeners, listeners, blessed listeners, do the Skin Track metaphor on your

Paddy: Oh,

Katie: is active listening. This is active listening.

Paddy: Katie. Thank you.

Katie: PAUSE PAUSE PAUSE

Paddy: It is time now for the final ramble. One piece of gear you cannot live without.

Katie: Heated socks,

Paddy: That is a thing that I have not heard yet.

Nice. I like it. Best outdoor snack.

Katie: meat and cheese.

Paddy: That is a thing. I have heard a lot of different forms of pocket charcuterie

Katie: basically just being able to rail. Gas station snacks and eat like a long haul trucker, , and justify it because you're walking uphill all day

Paddy: It's my favorite part of going outside.

What is your hottest outdoor hot take?

Katie: The Natural Selection Ski event in Alaska to tease to wait to watch [00:37:00] it for a month is driving me bananas.

I have never, been so excited to watch something in skiing ever except for maybe the free World tour, 'cause I'm the free World tour number one fan. But you get to just watch that live while it's happening. This Natural Selection Alaska Ski event. I know it's happened. It's like knowing the Bachelor has happened and that this couple is hiding out somewhere in the world and they're going to Coachella in costume and everyone that was on the Bachelor knows who ends up together.

That is what's currently happening with Natural Selection Ski. They all know who won. They all know who threw down what happened, who crashed the dramas, the events of that event. It's gonna be the craziest skiing we've ever seen and we have to wait till April 17th to see it. I literally DMed Natural Selection Ski today.

I'm like, I cannot believe you're making us wait for a month to see this

Paddy: You know, you're serious as being how much you're clapping, . You are fired up.

Katie: hot. Take Red Bull. You could figure out how to get this live to us in the iv. [00:38:00] We need the natural selection ski event IV'd into us from

Paddy: folks who are listening. you can't see this, but there is waving above the head. There is tapping of arm veins, there is snapping. Katie's sweating. She ripped a pillow in half of her mouth. It is. This is incredible.

Katie: I am feral, I am feral to

Paddy: She is foaming at the mouth folks.

Katie: I just wanna see what happened. I wanna see what happened.

Paddy: dude, that feral, guttural growl is how we are ending. Oh my God. Talking about a surprise from Kate Burrell.

Katie: Yeah, I'm like, I don't care about skiing, but also gimme natural selection. Ski in Alaska right now. Immediately.

Paddy: OUTRO VO:

Katie Burrell is...well, she's hilarious. Find out what she is up to and what she is producing, writing, direcintg, and / or starring in by follwoing her on Instagram at Katie Burrell TV.

Aaaaand it just so happens that Katie will be at this [00:39:00] year's �����ԹϺ��� Fest, chitchatting about comedy and the outdoors on an extremely interesting panel which will be proctored by yours truly. The �����ԹϺ��� Festival is a-happenin' in Denver on May 31 and June 1. Check out the deets of the rad music lineup, stellar speakers, and all the outdoor fun, and buy your tickets at The �����ԹϺ��� Festival DOT com. I'll see ya there!

And to our dear sweet audience memebers, that's you, do you enjoy what is pouring through your speakers and/or headphones, have an idea for a guest, want to send us a digitized message in a bottle? Well, you can. Email us guest nominations and your thoughts to �����ԹϺ��� Podcast At �����ԹϺ��� Inc Dot Com. Because we are making this daggone show to make your ears and your heart feel good.

The �����ԹϺ��� Podcast is hosted and produced by me, Paddy O'Connell. But you can call me [00:40:00] PaddyO. Storytelling support provided by Micah "I pretend I am even though I am not related to JJ and Gracie" Abrams. Music and Sound Design by Robbie Carver. And booking and research by Maren Larsen.

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