Episode 243 (Transcript): Embracing Your Journey | A Conversation with Whitney Call

Episode Transcript

Many thanks to listener Rachel Cousin for her work in transcribing this episode!

This episode can be found on any podcast app or can be listened to here on our website as well. All the notes and resources we cited in the episode are found at this link as well:

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WC: Our bodies were very objectified. Being on a church show that – ‘cause honestly we were the first of our kind on BYU TV. It was Conference and the quilting show and scripture round table until we came on. That’s really what it was, you know? And then they were actually starting to do more entertainment and it’s been through different variations, but imagine being the battering ram for all of Mormon culture. It was very weird.

SH: Hello, I’m Susan Hinkley.

CW: And I am Cynthia Winward.

SH: And this is At Last She Said It. We are women of faith discussing complicated things and the title of today’s episode is Embracing Your Journey, A Conversation with Whitney Call.

Hello Whitney.

WC: Hello. Thanks for having me here. I’m so excited.

CW: Welcome.

SH: We’re so excited to have you.

I’m pretty sure that you might need no introduction for many of our listeners, but in case there’s anyone who’s been living under a rock, would you mind just giving us a really brief introduction before we jump into the meat of the conversation? Just something to help our listeners know a little bit more about you.

WC: Yeah. I am a writer and comedian. I worked for nine seasons as a writer and actor on Studio C, which was a sketch comedy show. And yeah, I was there for six years. We started our little comedy troupe from college. We started the show at BYU TV. And then in 2018, a bunch of us left ‘cause we wanted to make more things and we started JK Studios.

And yeah, most of the time I am trying to – actually, my everyday looks very boring. I’m mostly just writing things that no one will see, or it lasts for two minutes and then it’s done, ‘cause that’s what sketch is. But yeah screenplay writing, story writing. I love storytelling and I guess sometimes I have to act it out in order to get it out there.

[laughter]

SH: Oh that’s great. That’s a great introduction and I have a feeling this is gonna be an entertaining conversation.

WC: I hope so.

CW: Yes, please.

SH: We’re thrilled to have you here. I think Cynthia’s gonna take us through the discussion today, so let’s get to it.

CW: Let’s just go ahead and jump in a little bit with our first question, how it started. Give us a quick snapshot or memorable experiences that shaped your LDS life.

WC: Yeah. So I was born in Portland, Oregon, and I think that really shaped my life growing up, ‘cause Portland, it was not where my parents wanted to live, but, for work purposes, that’s kind of where I grew up. And so it was a really interesting kind of duality dissonance that was going on in my childhood, where I had kind of this bubble of a home that my parents were trying to make for us by being examples. I grew up in the church, and yet also on the outside you had culturally what almost feels like the opposite of church experience.