Cultivate Your Voice
Giving her audience permission to laugh when things get dark, heavy or difficult is just one facet of local comic Aleda Windels’ goals as a stand-up — and now a few years into her comedy journey, she’s finding new ways to express herself, while encouraging others to eschew their fear of doing the same.
“No. 1, I just want them to have fun and be entertained,” Windels said of her sets. “I’ve had people come up to me, for example, in Aberdeen, I had this lady come up to me and say, ‘I’m so glad you guys came — I didn’t think it was okay to think this way, and then you guys got up and said it on stage, and I feel good about that.’
“To help people feel less alone — to help them, especially women, feel empowered. I hear women say, ‘I could never do that,’ and I just respond, ‘Come do an open mic!’ I’ve really been trying to encourage more women to have a voice in this community.”
And that motivation has brought the Minnesota native beyond the borders of South Dakota, having toured her act as far and wide as California, Utah and Colorado. She just this past summer toured with some other local comics as part of the Prairie Madness all-female troupe and recently found herself performing in Loveland, Colo.
“I’m a little absurd,” Windels said of her style of comedy. “I’m trying to put more activism into my comedy — to talk about difficult topics in a fun way. I talk about LGBTQ rights and abortion on stage — difficult subjects made a little more light-hearted so they can be more easily communicated and absorbed better.”
When it comes down to it, the comic’s sights are set on helping to offer a little bit of hope through humor, no matter the sensitivity of the subject matter.
“I just love making people laugh,” she said. “I think the world we live in right now can be very depressing and feel a little hopeless at times. People are frustrated, and the reason they’re coming to a comedy show is to hopefully have some fun. If you haven’t done stand-up, it’s not an experience you’ve maybe had, but making a room full of people laugh kind of gives you a boost. You feel really good after you do something like that, because you know you made their day a little better.”
This penchant for brightening others’ days has landed the relative newcomer to the scene in the good graces of her community, being honored as only the second woman in Sioux Falls to win the Larry Brinkman Award, a trophy given monthly and voted upon by peers, culminating with a comedy tournament at the end of the year. “That was probably one of my biggest wins as a comedian,” she said. “That was a pretty big deal for me.”
On the way to her comedy career, Windels found herself in all manner of performing arts as a youth, a choir and band kid from the jump, growing up in Sebeka, Minn., a town of about 700 people.
But it wasn’t until a fated dare from a date one night brought her to the craft of comedy.
“I was in St. Cloud, Minn., for work training — I’m a licensed treatment coordinator,” she said. “I went out with a gentleman from St. Cloud on a Tuesday night, and I was making him laugh the whole night. He told me the next night there was an open mic and I should go, so I did. It went pretty well.
“Growing up I was kind of always the class clown. I don’t know if I just liked the attention or what — I was just kind of a silly kid. I’ve always watched and listened to a lot of stand-up — I was always interested in it. It’s one of those things where you don’t know if you’re any good at it until you try it. After that first night, I just kind of got hooked.”
As she navigates her third year as a stand-up, Windels is digging in deep to keep nurturing her personal voice as a comedian.
“In the beginning, I was just kind of like, ‘Ooh, this is silly, so I’m going to say it,’ and now I’m going on my third year doing stand-up and am trying to cultivate a more personal voice. I want to talk about issues that I believe in, but, at the same time, not making it so serious that it’s not fun. Just bringing my personal worldview, which is a little different than a lot of people I’ve met in South Dakota.”
On the horizon for the booked-and-busy comic is a gig as emcee for Sioux City Pride this summer, as well as collaborating with local burlesque and performance troupe VeauxDevil Cabaret throughout its upcoming season.
“Sioux City gave me my first paid gig, so I’m really excited to play Sioux City Pride and to emcee for VeauxDevil this year. I’m really proud to represent the ‘B’ in ‘LGBTQ+ community’ and really do a good job for them.”
She also hopes to get an event off the ground in partnership with fellow local entertainers to raise funds and awareness for women’s reproductive rights. “It’s something we’re very passionate about and excited to get going.”