Mollie Gross is serious about comedy. Her standup routine brings healing humor to military spouses, she said.
"One comment that I get the most that means the most," she said from her Los Angeles home, "is ‘Thank you for making me laugh instead of making me cry.’ "
A Marine wife — her husband, Jon, is now active reserve — Mollie says, "Once a Marine, always a Marine. That’s how my husband and I are."
That’s not all she is. "When my husband met me, I was a comedian and an actress," she said. Mollie scaled back her career to focus on her new role: military wife.
After four years and two deployments, Jon left active duty, and they moved to L.A., where Mollie pursued her dream of being a comedian. It didn’t take long to realize where her heart was.
During a performance at a Hollywood club about a year ago, she said she asked herself, "What am I doing? These people are drunk, and they don’t care."
"There’s a bunch of women right now … on Camp Pendleton," she recalled thinking. "I bet there’s a deployment going on."
"I changed my entire direction. I redid my entire act and started contacting bases," she said. Now she performs comedy about military life for military spouses.
"I’ll go anywhere," she said of her touring plans.
For installations she can’t visit, her comedy CD debuts in December. Her book, based on her life and comedy, is due out next year, she said, and a television project is in the works.
Mollie said reaction to her military comedy is: "Finally … someone is acknowledging the craziness of this lifestyle."
Some spouses need cheering up during deployment, she said. Others struggle with reunions.
"When they come back from war or deployment, they’re going to be different, and you’re going to be different," Mollie said. "You’re going to have to rely on those vows that you took before God to get you through that."
"That’s a serious message and an important message that I’m also trying to do throughout the comedy," she said. "When they come back, that’s the hardest part … I had to find out the hard way."
Deployments, acronyms, rank consciousness, even post-traumatic stress disorder, all are fodder for Mollie’s act.
"Don’t take your husband’s word on PTSD," she tells audiences. "You need to get the facts. For instance, taking out the trash is not going to bring out flashbacks."
"Other people in the world can say ‘That’s horrible; that’s a serious thing,’ but if we don’t laugh about it, if we can’t, then what?" she asked.
"The way I’ve always coped in my life," she said, "is to take a situation and … turn it into a really funny story."
Not everyone is amused. Mollie said some are offended by her language or subject matter.
"At Parris Island, somebody walked out," she said. "A person at Pendleton walked out. One out of two hundred isn’t bad."
"I’m a Christian, but don’t get me wrong; I say things in my act that are wild. No kids are allowed in my shows. It’s an adult show, and we’re all married."
She sets her own standards. "I know where that line is," she said, "and I don’t cross it."
"I think Jesus had a really good sense of humor," said Mollie. "I think he gave me a gift and a talent. My job is to take that gift and talent to be used as an instrument for his will in my life.
"I think that nothing is more healing than laughter."
See more about Mollie and her act on the Spouse Calls blog.
Terri Barnes is a military wife and mother of three. She lives and writes in Germany. Contact her at spousecalls@stripes.com and see the Spouse Calls blog at http:/blogs.stripes.com/blogs/spousecalls.