11. Marina Orsag - Setting up the Croatian Comedy Scene, Producing 550 shows per year and using Comedy to Overcome Nationalism, Sexism and Homophobia

Marina has been doing comedy in Croatia since 2005 before Facebook and the Iphone and has over 3500 shows under her belt! She manages Studio Smijeha comedy club in Zagreb and produces around 550 shows a year in the Balkan region and Europe.   She is the first Female Croatian Comedian and mostly likely the first openly gay comedian in Eastern Europe, a true trailblazer and an full of Labrador Energy.  Myself and Marina did a show together in Slovenia and we had the chance to talked humour, producing shows and dealing with  - Building up the comedy scene in Croatia - Managing a comedy club and comedy crareer - Producing 550 show a year around Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia - Performing for an audience of over 1856 people - Using humour to overcome nationalistic tendencies - Risks you have to take when producing show and doing comedy - Political Banter in the Balkans - Sexism in the Balkans and dealing with is as a Female Comedian - Coming Out in Croatia and Serbia and the Importance of Honesty in Comedy - Laugh Quake Project - making the world laugh You can check out Marina on Instagram @marinaorsag Also be sure to check out the Studio Smijeha here  http://studiosmijeha.hr - this is also where you can find the pic of the large venue Marina spoke about.  On the next episode I speak with Hugleikur Dagsson Icelanding cartoonist and comedian be sure to check out the next episode :).