Hangin’ with Lisa Valentine Clark
Lisa is one of the most positive and vibrant human beings you’ll ever meet. She has been such a delight to talk to. Lisa and I have run in similar circles without working together too many times, but hopefully that’ll change! Years ago, she started the long-form comedy troupe The Thrillionaires. After incredible success with that, she went on to act in hilarious movies and commercials. She bedazzles everyone as the frazzled mom in the viral Chatbooks videos. When her now late husband, Christopher Clark, was diagnosed with ALS, she took a step back from the limelight to be with family and create awesome memories together. Wherever she goes, Lisa exudes incredible joy and positivity. It’s infectious. Such a blast chatting with her!
Who Is Lisa Valentine Clark?
Lisa Valentine Clark is a writer, actress, comedian, and host of “The Lisa Show” on BYU Radio. She always wanted to be an actor. When Lisa was little, she loved to play dress-up. She’s always been a people-watcher, so she loves to practice doing impressions of people. In college she used to do impressions of characters from “Days of Our Lives” to make her roommates laugh. She says it’s been an interesting work career thus far that she could have in no way predicted.
Family Life
Lisa and her husband Christopher Clark met in 1993 as BYU undergrads performing in a biblical-themed English Society play called “Mysteries: The Creation.” In 2001 he decided to go full-throttle with drama by enrolling in an MFA program in directing Shakespeare at the University of Exeter in England. Lisa’s reaction was classic: “Yes, and …” She told Chris to do it. Off they went to England right after 9/11, into what turned out to be the coldest, loneliest winter of Lisa’s life, home alone with two boys age three and under.
Lisa and Chris are the parents of five children and live in Provo, Utah. They had five kids in 10 years, so their time had to be managed carefully. “Every play, every performance, every job opportunity, we talked about it together with each other before we would say yes or say no to it,” says Lisa.
When Chris was diagnosed with ALS at age 43, she took a step back from the limelight to be with family and create awesome memories together. Christopher passed away in June 2020. ALS is a progressive motor-neuron disease that slowly kills off the cells that control voluntary muscle movement, robbing sufferers like Chris of the ability to drive a car or eat their favorite dinner or crack a joke or hug their kids. Chris was her strength through it all.
You may also find it interesting to know that Lisa is the older sister of James Valentine, lead guitarist for Grammy-winning Maroon 5.
Work Life
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University, where she was part of the sketch/comedy troupe The Garrens from 1995 to 2000. Years ago, she started the long-form comedy troupe The Thrillionaires. She has also written a book about parenting. After incredible success with that, she went on to act in hilarious movies and commercials. She is the writer, producer, and actress on the film “Once I Was a Beehive,” a host of the TV show “Random Acts” and stars in the BYUtv production “Show Offs.” She bedazzles everyone as the frazzled mom in the viral Chatbooks videos. (Best line: “Motherhood goes by too fast. I haven’t slept more than four hours in 12 years.”) Today, along with her role on “Show Offs,” she has her own BYUradio morning talk program, called “The Lisa Show.”
Her favorite role she ever played is obviously the Chatbooks Real Mom. However, she says tied for first would definitely be Carrie Carrington from “Once I Was a Beehive.” She felt like she was playing her sister, Gina, right down to the oversized J. Crew necklace. These days, instead of trying to bend her career to what other people want, or what she thinks they want, Lisa is getting more confident at saying, “You know, I have some experience with that.”
Her motto is, put it out there and you’ll find your audience.
Interests
She loves to laugh and enjoy life, and her kids make her laugh the hardest. She feels like there is a need to make people laugh and put good work out there and that there is value in that. A quote that Lisa lives by is “lowering the bar and being awesome.” It motivates her to not worry about what everyone else is doing and to follow her own path.
She’s busy enjoying her life and doing her thing and is having a lot of fun doing it. She’s also strongly connected to her faith. She would call herself a super-Mormony mom, as she goes to two hours of church and everything. She’s truly dedicated to writing as well. She writes early in the morning, late at night, and in the middle of the day. She also loves to exercise and read novels in her free time.
Lisa Valentine Clark Podcast Transcription
Charan: What’s going on, guys. This is Charan Prabhakar with Lemonades sound podcast, and I’m here with Lisa Valentine Clark, which is very, very exciting because man, I have seen Lisa through all my social feeds for years and years and years. It’s been unbelievable.
Lisa: I’m so sorry.
Charan: No-
Lisa: I’ll leave you alone.
Charan: … It’s been a blessing. Truly a blessing in my life. My eyes have been full of joy and you know what? Here’s the interesting thing. I think I knew of you because we have a lot of mutual friends.
Lisa: Yes we do.
Charan: Like Maclain Nelson, Will Rubio. Maclain Nelson and I, we went to high school together.
Lisa: Oh, that’s right.
Charan: So, I’ve known Maclain for years and years. I’ve known Will since like 2003 or 2004. So, we’ve been friends for a long time. So, I’ve known of you through those circles, even though we haven’t hung out, hung out, but did you do The Thrillionaires, or did you do any of those things?
Lisa: Yes, I’m one of the founders, one of The Thrillionaires.
Charan: You’re one of the founders of The Thrillionaires?
Lisa: Yeah. So, we started it-
Charan: That’s amazing.
Lisa: … A hundred years ago or maybe 15, 16, 17, and-
Charan: Perfect.
Lisa: So, that’s how we connect with those guys.
Charan: And it was funny because Julia Jolley then, you should know as well-
Lisa: Who I love.
Charan: … Who is a dear friend of mine. So, I knew of you and I knew of your work and of course I knew of Chris as well, but what was interesting was time had passed. I moved to LA and a friend of mine, A. Todd Smith, who’s a dear friend of mine.
Lisa: Who is an incredible director.
Charan: Incredible director. Was telling me about… Because I was producing a lot of his content and while I was in California, he told me about this company called Chatbooks. I’m like, “Awesome. I don’t even know what this is, but sounds awesome. I’m glad you’re going to be directing a commercial.” And then you got that spot for Chatbooks. Right?
Lisa: Yeah.
Charan: So, that was the first time really I think I saw you on video since that one time I met you. And I remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, she is so funny.” This is unbelievable. And here’s the thing, I don’t know what it is, but I just find women comedians so amazing. I love it. I love it because you have such great sensibilities.
Charan: I think it’s like for whatever reason, I feel like male comedians versus female comedians, there’s just a specialness I just love and love to see. So, I was just so happy to see you doing your thing. And I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is great.” And at the same time, Jaclyn Hales, Jaclyn, who’s a good friend of mine was telling me all about you. And she’s like, “Oh my gosh, Lisa is so great. She’s the best.”
Lisa: Jaclyn is so great.
Charan: Yeah. So, I was just so amazed and of course A. Todd did more of those spots. So, I started seeing more of those things and you just blew up. I was so happy and thrilled, but yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on the Lemonade Stand Podcast. This is amazing.
Lisa: Thanks for having me. I’m happy to be here.
Lisa Valentine Clark Talks About Getting into Filming and Acting
Charan: Of course. Well, the Lemonade Stand Podcast is all about the creative journey. Because we all have a lemonade stand story. When we were kids, we might’ve had our own lemonade stand or we may have said, “All right, I want to get into acting. I want to do this.” And that was my story. So, how did you get into filming and acting? Were you younger or did you get into it much later in life?
Lisa: Well, I did community stuff or school plays and that kind of stuff, and performing in show choirs and swing choirs all through junior high and high school and that kind of stuff.
Charan: Did you grow up In Utah?
Lisa: No, I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the Midwest.
Charan: Completely different than Utah.
Lisa: Yeah.
Charan: That’s amazing.
Lisa: Midwest, totally different. Came out for school. And then I auditioned for The Garrens Comedy Troupe at BYU, where I went to college, and got into that and super just immersed myself into improv and improvisation, loved that. Then started having a family, like you do, and having different creative pursuits. I think I performed with The Garrens until I was really pregnant with my second son. And then it was like, “I’m tired.” And also my husband and I moved to England for a while.
Charan: I did not know that.
Lisa: Yeah. So, that he could go to graduate school. We lived over there. And then when we came home, I wanted to get into something like that. And that’s when some friends and I started The Thrillionaires, which was long-form-
Charan: That’s amazing.
Lisa: … Improvisation in different styles. Just as like one of the passions in my life still to this day.
Charan: Did Matt Mattson do that as well?
Lisa: Yes.
Charan: He would do that. Okay. Yeah. I’m having like recollections of all these friends of mine. Yeah.
Lisa: Yeah. Maclain Nelson and myself and Hailey Smith and Brett Merritt and Jake Suazo.
Charan: Love Jake.
Lisa: Yeah. And Matt was there and we just had a really good time.
Charan: Oh my gosh. It’s so great. I feel like I’ve met all of them now and it’s just awesome. You guys are talented. I remember going to some of your shows and I was so impressed and so intimidated, but seriously, because I love comedy, but I’ve never really done improv. I’ve never really done those things and to be so focused that you can come up with songs on the spot.
Lisa: So fun.
Charan: So fun. It’s so unbelievable. So, did comedy just speak to you? Did you just think, “Yeah, this is my jam.”
Lisa: I don’t know. You mean like growing up?
Charan: Sure.
Lisa: I mean, I think when I was younger, my dad was really funny and I was always trying hard to make my brothers and sisters laugh. I had funny friends growing up. Always wanted to make them laugh and did dumb impressions and sketches and always felt like I was a little goofy and a little awkward, not very sophisticated or graceful of a woman was I, especially growing up. So, I feel like I just leaned into that. Then when I found improv and I was like, “Oh, people do this.” And then make us… It just sounded familiar and it sounded fun. It sounded like the faces that I would make in the mirror or the voices that I would try out.
Charan: I love that you said it sounded familiar. I actually love that you just said that because it’s like, I don’t know, from even like… I don’t know, spiritual sense, if you want to call it like that. Sometimes I feel like the things that feel familiar to us that feel like, “Yeah, this just feels like this is me. This is where I belong. This is what I needed to do.” It’s awesome.
Lisa: Well, it was the people I wanted to be around too, to be honest. When you’re just playing around and doing improv, making up a song or a scene with your friends and they’re making you laugh so hard, you’re just like, “What? Is there anything better?”
Charan: No, I know.
Lisa: There’s nothing better. That’s all I want to do.
Charan: I completely resonate with you. I remember in high school. So, we just said that Maclain and I, we all went to high school together. Maclain always credits this, but he says his first theatrical release was his homemade movie that he made in high school of me. He released it at the Tempe auditorium. And he’s like, “That was your first theatrical release. I got your career going.” And I’m like, “Thanks, man.”
Lisa: That sounds like Maclain.
Charan: Yeah. That sounds like what he would say.
Lisa: That’s so great.
Charan: No, it was really great because I had the same experience, except mine was all with making movies. So, I would make these homemade movies in high school edit VCR to VCR. Just so old school. But man, we had so much fun. Just crying, laughing, and nobody else would laugh except for us. We just thought we were so funny.
Charan: I remember in high school, a friend of mine after high school passed away from an accident, but that same friend was the one that I would make memories with. And suddenly those videos that we were making, which we thought were just so funny and silly, ended up being completely precious. Incredible memories. And I knew if I could do that, somehow make that my life and make money doing that. That would be the dream.
Lisa: It’s the dream.
Lisa Valentine Clark Talks About Chatbooks
Charan: That would be the dream. So, I love that you do that. And I love that you’re continuing to do that. Continuing to create content, that’s a blessing people’s lives. So with Chatbooks, did you know what was going to happen with that? Because that thing exploded, I feel.
Lisa: We had so much fun doing it. When I got on set, the script was so great, and the concept was so great, and A. Todd was so great that I trusted him. And I was like, “What are we going to do?” And when you meet somebody, too, that you trust, that the director is going to make it look good, then you’re like, “Oh, well, then, we’re going to play. Then I’ll trust you. You trust me, we got this.”
Charan: Absolutely.
Lisa: I very quickly learned that on set that it was going to be… Collaboration was welcome, which is great, because sometimes if the scene is not working or it’s not hitting the right tone and you can be like, “Well, let’s just try this; let’s try this” and then you can have that freedom to improv a little bit within the realm. That’s really exciting to me as an actor. So, I was invested in it. They were invested in it and we had just sort of this agreement for collaboration. Which just really let a lot of fun, unexpected things happen, which is delightful to see. But I didn’t realize that it was going to create a whole-
Charan: A whole thing.
Lisa: … Thing.
Charan: Right. Yeah. It’s interesting because he taught us that way. He’s very, very flexible and the stuff I’ve done with him it has just been insane. It is. It’s just like, we’re constantly playing. Constantly making flexible choices. And I love the fact that they also got Gavin Bentley in it.
Lisa: Yeah, he’s so funny. He got to play my commercial husband.
Charan: Commercial husband. Right. And Gavin and I have known each other since second grade.
Lisa: Oh wow.
Charan: It’s been crazy. So, it’s just very funny to see how all of these things have come together, but let’s talk a little bit post-Chatbooks. Where did your career go from there? Because I feel like everyone started to know who you were after that.
Lisa: After Chatbooks? Well, Chatbooks came at a really interesting time in my life. It was just recently after my husband had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. So, actually I was taking a step back from my career just as it was blowing up. To be able to care for him and to become a caregiver and focus on my family. So, at that time I was one of the hosts of “Random Acts” on BYUtv. So, I actually stepped down from that and said, “Listen, I can’t travel. I got to stay really, really close to home.” Which was great that I had the opportunity to do that and to help my husband transition from working full-time and directing full-time.
Lisa: I could help him and assist him with that. We didn’t know how fast that was going to progress, but as it progressed and he went on permanent disability in that, I was approached to do the radio show,”The Lisa Show” at BYU Radio, which I hadn’t really considered before. It was really great. And so that opportunity came at just the perfect time. So, I jumped on that and it gave me this flexibility to be really close to home but still support my family and have the right work schedule so, that I could take care of Christopher during the day.
Lisa Valentine Clark Talks About ALS
Charan: Now I’m pretty unfamiliar with the disease. Are you open to talking a little bit about it and everything like that. So, would you mind telling me a little bit about what the initial stages were like and how it evolved and progressed?
Lisa: So, ALS is a neurological disease and no known cause. There’s no treatment or cure. And so everybody who gets it dies from it. And the average life span is two to five years from diagnosis. My husband lived for four-and-a-half years with it, which is considered long. So, initially, it was dragging his leg. We had just-
Charan: So, basically it’s just like your body starts getting paralyzed in the sense.
Lisa: Yeah. So, it blocks and they’re not sure why or how, but it’s very similar. They think the connection with, like, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and ALS — these mysterious neurological brain diseases — once they unlock one, they hope to unlock all of them, but it interferes with your brain telling your nerves what to do. The signal. So, your nerves just kind of they short out. And then your muscles, because they’re getting no-
Charan: They’re getting no exercise.
Lisa: … Messages. And messages even to be able to move, then they die. So, he had a bunch of Fasciculations is what they call them. So, it looks like his muscles would be spasming nonstop. Started in his legs, then moved to his arms and hands then to his voice, and then ultimately to his lungs, there’s no rate of progression.
Lisa: Some people, it starts in their voice or their hands, other people, it starts in their leg. There’s no way to track it. There’s no way to anticipate the rate of decline or the area or anything like that. So, it’s just this really awful disease. I call it the worst. Where they just say, “Good luck. What can we do to help?” But there’s nothing they can do. So, when I filmed Chatbooks, that week we were having devastating news and it was like, “Go on set and be funny.” Yeah. Okay, great. Okay. Let’s learn how to compartmentalize switch, you just have to do anyway, but it was really great to be able to laugh when you need it. As such, I took a step back as offers are coming in. Which is so bizarre for other national projects so whatever. I got to take care of my family, and I’m glad I have the flexibility to do that.
Charan: Well, it’s so interesting because things like this really help you realize, okay, what is important in life? Right?
Lisa: Yeah. And what are you here for. At the end of your life, what do you want to have it say? Because we were looking at that specifically for Chris, who’s also very creative and produced a lot of plays. In fact, when he passed, he was in pre-production for other plays and he was writing other plays. He was still maintaining his creativity throughout the entire process, even when he couldn’t move or speak, which is a huge testament to him and the kind of man he was.
Charan: We did a movie together. We did “We Love You, Sally Carmichael,” I believe. It was just interesting to sit and chat with him a little bit. It’s crazy to think how incredible our bodies are. And yet, if one little thing goes wrong or just turns off everything unravels. I don’t know. It makes me realize sometimes we’re like, “Oh, we want to control our lives. You want to do this. We want to do that.” I’m like, “Do you even realize how little control you have in life?”
Charan: If your heart stops beating, you’re gone. If your lungs stops breathing, you’re gone. Any number of things could happen that could potentially just take you out. Right? And a friend of mine recently just passed away that Maclain and I knew. His name is Colin Kartchner.
Lisa: Oh, yeah.
Charan: Do you know Colin?
Lisa: I did.
Charan: Yeah. He was also a high school buddy of ours and perfectly healthy. Perfectly fine and everything. And then the day that he passed, he was actually visiting a friend of mine, Jed Ivie. I don’t know if you know. Jed, he’s a director friend of mine. And Jed was telling me, he said “Colin was fine that day. Completely fine. And then a couple hours later…”
Lisa: It’s so devastating for his family. And so yeah, my heart goes out to them.
Charan: It’s such a sudden shock. In your instance, when you saw the future, in a sense, of what was going to happen, how did you prepare for that emotionally and be the happy, awesome Lisa, but also find time to mourn and grieve and take care of yourself?
Lisa: I’m still working through that. So, it’s interesting to look back, but Christopher had such a good attitude, so it was a lot easier when he was alive to just take his lead as he would just allow himself to mourn. He had a really good therapist that was like, “I’m just going to allow it for 15 minutes a day and then get on with the day.” And he tried really hard not to worry about, “Oh, now I can’t walk, Oh, I can’t drive. I can’t play the piano.” All those things. Instead, he would try focus on what he could do. Oh, well, I can still write, I can still be with my family. I can still work. I can still… whatever it is.
Lisa: So, he tried to focus on what he did. I think that takes a lot of mental focus, which is hard, especially when you’re grieving and everything seems cloudy, but I do also feel like it is possible to feel a lot of emotions at the same time. And that you’re not just one thing. You don’t feel just one thing at the same time.
Charan: Yeah.
Lisa: I’ve just seen that time and time again. And also I think the goodness of people. I really feel like God sent a lot of people to our lives to show us how to do it and to get things done that we couldn’t do. I feel like there’s such a connection between creatively, like, what Chris and I like to do. He liked to direct theater and so had to work with a lot of people in the collaboration. Choreographers and lighting designers and costume designers and actors and musicians.
Lisa: Then I like to do more film projects and improv, and that’s collaborating with another team as well. And I feel like our lives are a collaboration. We like to think that we’re just by ourselves just experiencing our life by ourselves, but so few things are experienced on our own and we affect each other. I think more than maybe I gave credit for earlier. So, I feel like the grieving process for little things and for big things was made good and bad but with people.
Charan: Well, it’s interesting because the whole adage “it takes a village to raise a child,” right?
Lisa: But mostly a mom.
Charan: But mostly a mom. It takes mostly small village to raise a child.
Lisa: Well, who’s doing the laundry, putting those little shoes on?
Charan: Yeah it depends. [crosstalk 00:19:37] I got you. I got you. It’s really interesting because it was cool to see, like you’re saying, how people kind of stepped up in a sense in your own lives and came in and showed forth that extra bit of love and compassion and whatnot. I think that’s what makes it so beautiful, right? I was in India, probably, back in 2012 when this happened, but I’ve got tons of family there still. I was born in India, but I grew up in Provo, which is a culture shock in and of itself. But when I went back to India in 2012, I was visiting cousins and family and all that stuff. And I asked my one cousin, I said, “Okay, dude, if you could pick anywhere in the world to live anywhere you want, where would you go?” And without even blinking an eye, he’s like “Puducherry,” which is the hometown that he was in.
Charan: I’m like, “No, no, no, here let me rephrase the question so you get it.-
Lisa: “I don’t think you understand.”
Charan: “Let me rephrase the question: the whole world, buddy.” And he’s like, “No, I’d pick Puducherry.” And I said, “Why would you pick Puducherry?” And he said, “Because I’m never alone here.” And I’m like, “Wow, what an insightful comment.” And he just said like, “Look, I’ve got my family here. I’ve got my friends here. And we always… We’re loving each other. We’re supporting each other. We’re caring each other through tough challenges or whatnot.” I remember even when I was there during that time, when I was visiting them all day, celebrated everything. It was so amazing. Someone lost a tooth. Great. We’re going to celebrate that. Someone did this, we’re celebrate that. And this is one day I remember this one evening.
Charan: They said, “Okay, Charan, big, big news.” But the way they did it with their accents, it was so funny. They’re like, “Charan, okay, very big news. There is a new restaurant. We are going to introduce you.” I’m like “Great, cool.” He’s like, “Very new, came into town. You will love it. You will love it, Charan.” I’m like, “What is that? Tell me?” “They call it, it’s called Pizza Hut.” I’m like, “Wait, what?” And they’re like, “Yes, we will tell you all about pizzas.” So, I’m like, “Okay. Oh no, it’s great. Thanks. Sounds good.”
Lisa: That’s amazing.
Charan: It’s the best. They were just so excited to introduce to me what toppings are and how you can put them on pizzas. They’re my age too.
Lisa: But the level of joy is something to be admired. Yes.
Charan: Completely. It’s like the same thing-
Lisa: The things we take for granted
Charan: The things we take for granted. Here in America, I think, as kids we just grew up swimming. They don’t. And so what was interesting was when I was back there, I said, “Guys, we’ve been at home all the time. We should do something physical. Just like energy to get some exercise going.” Like, “Charan, yes, of course. Let’s take a walk on the beach.” I’m like “Well, that’s nice. A walk is nice. It’s great. But anything else?” “Oh, Charan, TT, Charan.” I’m like “What’s TT?” He’s like “Table tennis.” and I’m like, “Okay, well, table tennis is great; anything more?” And then we finally landed on swimming and they were so funny because they had no idea how to swim. So, I was teaching them how to swim. Which was just the most hilarious experience of my life. I would go towards the deep end and they’re like, “Charan, no, no, no, no, the shallow water.” And the deep end was five feet deep.
Charan: That was the end. I guess that was as deep as it went. But I’m telling you that’s the level of purity and that joy and that sense of community that you get. But I don’t know. I just feel like I think like you exude so much joy in the world that it just makes me happy that you felt like people came around and collaborated and helped you guys out during a very, very tough transition in life.
Lisa: Yeah. Absolutely.
Charan: So, I guess as things had progressed and you kept going on, how were you guys just able to stay the course, knowing what was going to happen?
Lisa: I mean, there was no denying it, because every day that he woke up was the best it was ever going be. The next day we knew it would get a little worse and a little worse every day. We tried to prepare, but you don’t know a timetable. So, that makes it kind of difficult.
Charan: Sure.
Lisa: Also not trying to live in the future and trying to live in the present became very, very important. And trying to enjoy as many ordinary days as you can and not have them be so high-intense, life-and-death days, is a gift.
Charan: How many kids do you have?
Lisa: We have five.
Charan: Five. How old is the oldest?
Lisa: The oldest is 22.
Charan: What? 22 no way.
Lisa: He’ll be 23 this spring
Charan: There’s no way. I don’t believe it. The math doesn’t compute.
Lisa: Thank you. And our youngest just turned 13.
Charan: 13?
Lisa: Mm-hmm{affirmative} So five in 10 years.
Charan: Five in 10 years. Wow. So, how did they deal with everything?
Lisa: Oh, they’re rock stars. They have the same sort of temperament as their father in the sense that they’re very sweet and loving but not overly sentimental. And they’re quick to humor and quick to just be there. They helped out, because all hands on deck to help Dad, from scratching his nose and rubbing his feet and helping him in and out of his wheelchair and getting him dressed for the day and all those kinds of things and feeding him for a while and working the feeding tube and the whole thing. They got really used to it and kind of followed their Dad’s lead, which was to joke about it and to make funny memories and watch movies together and make funny videos together and enjoy theater and books and all the great things of life.
Charan: You know what? That’s so great, because it just seems like your family just knows how to be alive. I think that-
Lisa: No we don’t take it for granted.
Charan: And that’s the thing, it’s like, so many people walk around and they don’t have life in them, I feel. And it’s so sad when I see that, because I’m like, man, there’s so much joy out that we can still have and so much life to live. It’s just so interesting when you’re able to see those experiences and think, “Okay, you know what? We’re going to make the best of this and we’re going to have the best time. And we’re going to create great humor out of it. It’s just going to be awesome.” So, I love the fact that humor has played such a great role in your life. It’s unbelievable.
Lisa Valentine Clark Talks About Her “The Lisa Show”
Charan: So, let’s talk a little bit about your radio show now.
Lisa: Sure.
Charan: So, tell me the premise of it. What are you doing on it? And what’s it all about?
Lisa: So, on “The Lisa Show” on BYU Radio, you can download the BYUtv Radio app. You can find “The Lisa Show.” I hope you subscribe.
Charan: I will. I absolutely will.
Lisa: It’s also on SiriusXM channel 143 or locally at 107.9. It’s a two-hour morning show that has new original content Mondays through Fridays, and then we replay it. So, it goes four hours. We have some really great, entertaining, inspirational, informative guests come on and share the best of the best, right? So everything from ways to strengthen the relationships in your lives. We highlight charities that are doing wonderful things and have a really great inspirational stories. We laugh and talk about things that are on the top of everyone’s mind. Whether you have kids or not, whether you’re male or female, but just so want to live a better life and we help you do it.
Lisa: So, I have a co-host Richie T., Richie Steadman. We have been really fortunate just to have some really incredible people come on. He will talk to us and laugh with us and make your day a little bit brighter. And what’s great about the podcast is that I find that most people download the podcast and just listen to it when they’re driving their kids around or when they’re going to work or when they’re gardening or whatever. It’s just a real positive way to look realistically at the world but then say, “Okay, how can I make it a little bit better? Or my little corner of the world, just a little bit better?”
Charan: You know, it’s great. Especially because… Did you guys keep doing the show during the pandemic?
Lisa: Oh yeah, absolutely. Richie got COVID. I was exposed, like, three times, which means that I had to stay at home for two weeks and didn’t get it. But then anyway, we’ve recorded from home. We’ve recorded from BYU Broadcasting. We’ve made it work, but we’ve created original content ever since the beginning. And it’s been really great to work on it.
Charan: Oh man. That’s so great. I think that what makes it so great is especially when you’re facing a very, very uncertain world to provide a little bit more hope. To give a little bit more peace-
Lisa: We hope so.
Charan: … And comfort. I think it’s awesome. I think it’s so needed. I always like… My big thing when I came back to Utah, because I was in LA for 10 years— I had a great, great go at it. I was doing some really cool shows. It was awesome, popular, whatever. But in my heart I was like, “But I’m not really sharing the positivity that I want to share.” And I always had that. It was so interesting, because when I made the decision to leave LA, my agents were like, “Are you insane? Your career is just taking off.”
Charan: And I’m like, “I know, but sometimes I feel like I’m going up the wrong ladder. I feel like I’m doing not the right thing. I mean, yes, these TV shows are great, but how is it really making a positive impact on people’s lives?” And I could not answer that question. So, I came back with the full intent of like, “I want to create TV shows here and I want to create movies here.” And just that alone has made me feel a lot more fulfilled and hopeful. I think you’re right. It’s like we can’t influence every single person, but if we can just influence a little bit and share a little bit more light into the world, I think that’s just an awesome thing.
Lisa Valentine Clark Talks About Joy
Charan: So, right now, what would you say is your source of joy?
Lisa: My kids.
Charan: Your kids.
Lisa: I think my kids. Watching them and seeing them succeed and learn something new or laugh or doing something that really fulfills them. Watching them grow up to me is just like a huge source of joy. Got a lot of satisfaction out of that. Absolutely.
Charan: That’s amazing. What would you say is the greatest lesson that you’ve learned that you could impart to the world right now?
Lisa: Wow.
Charan: That’s a big one.
Lisa: That’s a huge one. I think that life is all about relationships that we have with people and that we have an opportunity to put out love and to make other people feel loved on this earth. And I think that’s why we’re here.
Charan: What you just said is like… I feel like the core of my own life. My own way.
Lisa: Oh, good.
Charan: But I just feel that. The way I look at it is, I’ve always been a spiritual person, but my family grew up Hindu. I was Hindu and then I was introduced to Christianity much later in life. But the thing that I’ve learned for myself is feeling that love of God for you. There’s just nothing that compares to that. Anytime I’ve tasted that and I felt that it’s like, I would want nothing more than to keep sharing that love in whatever way I can. For me it’s like, “Hey, I want to make comedic movies or things like that.” But as long as it can keep sharing that same message of love. I think that would make me so satisfied and it would make me come alive and hopefully will make other people come alive. So, I think that’s just awesome.
Lisa Valentine Clark’s Advice to Her Younger Self
Charan: Well, okay. Final question. If you were to go back in time and talk to your younger self, okay, the one that’s in Nebraska doing community theater and doing all these things, what advice would you give that person?
Lisa: Oh, I would be so gentle and kind to her. I would just say, “Don’t worry about anything dumb.” And it’s all pretty dumb. Just keep that good attitude and that enthusiasm and zest for life as long as you can. It will take you to great places. Don’t worry.
Charan: Oh man, I love that. That’s so great. It’s such good advice, because a lot of the people that listen to this podcast are young folks, and that’s who we’re trying to help empower and let them know, “Hey, you know what? It’s okay. Believe in yourself and develop your talents and don’t be afraid of the future. I think there’s some great things in store and we can create our future right now.” So, well, thanks so much, Lisa-
Lisa: Thank you for having me.
Charan: … I really appreciate you being on the podcast. Okay. Take care. You too.
Charan: Thanks so much for listening to the Lemonade Stand Podcast and we hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use to be alerted when we release new episodes. We’d also love to hear your feedback and the reviews. And if you or someone you know has an awesome lemonade stand story, please reach out to us on social media and let us know. Thanks so much and have a great day.