No I.D.
Comedian Jerome Davis hosts No I.D. Podcast — the show where real conversations meet raw comedy. Each episode dives deep with comedians, creators, and culture shifters, exploring everything from life and career to art, mental health, and surviving the grind — all with sharp humor and zero filter.
If you’re looking for real stories, unfiltered interviews, and laughs that hit different, this is your podcast. No scripts. No fluff. No I.D. required.
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No I.D.
Redefining Success: Art As Connection, Not Clout W/Kendra Louka
Ever felt the tug to rewrite your story? We sit down with writer–director Kendra Louka to trace how a biochem track, long drives past Virginia farmland, and a move to a slower English village evolved into a filmmaking voice shaped by character, community, and curiosity. Kendra opens up about giving herself permission to be imperfect, how a Facebook call for a 10-minute play cracked the door to theater, and why the right collaborators can turn a scary idea into a finished short that resonates.
We go deep on three films. Frizzy Friends uses a salon and a 48-hour challenge constraint to examine friendship drift and what still holds when life changes. No Grace brings a haunted listing to life with twisty psychology and an unreliable aura that keeps you guessing about memory and myth. Heart Strings drops dialogue entirely, letting a banjo, a dancer, and the ocean’s rhythm speak to the courage of returning after being ignored. Across these stories, Kendra favors intimate stakes, clear arcs, and visuals that make room for the audience to interpret without feeling lost.
We also zoom out to the creative ecosystem: festival circuits, the push–pull of streaming versus theaters, and the real cost of chasing reach while protecting the joy of making. We compare filmmaking’s iterative notes with stand-up’s brutal honesty—no cutting, no laugh tracks, just timing, breath, and crowd chemistry under the lights. Along the way we swap favorite character-driven films, talk AI anxiety and artistic purpose, and land on a simple metric for success: did the work create connection? If you’re building your voice or looking for a reason to start, this conversation feels like a green light.
Enjoy the episode? Subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a creative nudge, and leave a quick review so more storytellers can find us.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of us. I'm just kidding. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the No ID Podcast. It's I, your host, Rom Davis, and we're on a brand new season. We're stretching out a variety. I have right here writer, producer, director, filmmaker. I met her almost a year ago doing a WHRO story exchange. And I'm telling you right now, she's killing the game. The one and only, Kendra Luca. How you doing today?
SPEAKER_00:Hi, I'm so excited to be talking with you. Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Yes. Me and Kendra met at Push Theater.
SPEAKER_00:We did. Yeah. That was a really cool experience.
SPEAKER_01:It was. How did you like the event? Because you know, we are the ambassadors, like inaugural for the first event.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I'm I feel good about it. That was the first time, because normally I'm a writer or filmmaker, right? So I'm not the one presenting. And I gave myself allowance. I was like, look, it doesn't have to be perfect. Just get up there and speak your truth. And it was really well received. And I was so like fulfilling the like response that I had gotten from it. So yeah, it's scary being up there. I don't know how you do it behind the microphone. I need to pre-think it. I need to, yeah, like process my thoughts. But no, it's cool. I just don't know if I would do it again, is all.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know how we could do it again. We told our story the first time. What other story would be like, yeah, this is home too. Like, what would be our second?
SPEAKER_00:I'd have to think about that. Unless they change the theme too, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, unless they change the theme. I watched a couple of them and I was like, okay, that was dope. So how did you get the like how did that whole WHRO experience start? Were you like online and somebody reach out to you?
SPEAKER_00:Or it was on Facebook, actually, which is a how I find a lot of my opportunities, believe it or not, connecting with people. My first theater experience was through Facebook. I always want to like delete it, right? Because it can be such a like energy zap and it just wants to like draw you in and keep you there. But then I have these things where I see opportunities and I'm like, let me try that. Let me try this. And then I do it and then I'm happy. So Facebook is such a double-edged sword, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:It is. It is. Like I I had a friend reach out to me to do it, and I was like, Well, I can do it. And I don't know how many rewrites I went through. And I think when I finally present it, I didn't go off of nothing that I wrote.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. And when you do your stand-up, do you also write that?
SPEAKER_01:I write that heavily. Yeah. Yeah. So how did you get into filmmaking? Because you sent your your bio here and you went to North Estate for like exercised energy. You was like, you know what? I'm cool. I'm gonna go ahead and do film.
SPEAKER_00:How did that how did that even No Wild, right? I was taking really heavy chemistry type courses like biochem, organic. And I so I live in Pungo, which is about a 45-minute to an hour drive to Norfolk State. And in that drive, I would either be studying for my exams through like notes that I presented, like audio notes type thing, or listening back to notes of my professors or whatnot. But then like I would drive back home from taking these exams and like decompressing. So I listened to nothing, absolute silence. But out here is a lot of farmland and it's very, it like washes my brain looking at it, like the scenery and whatnot. And in that, I started coming up with like my own little stories, thinking of characters and scenarios. And this, like, it was almost like I wanted to counterbalance all the science stuff of my brain and dabble in the artistic realm of my brain. And so then I would get these like energy moments, like, oh, I need to write that down. And I'm sure everyone has that, right? Where they feel inspired or they're like, oh, that's a really great idea. Let's get that on paper. So it's just a matter of starting it right. So then I got my degree and I was on track to be a dietitian. And then the opportunity presented itself. So at that point, my two oldest were babies, like three and one. And we had an opportunity to move to England. So I was like, all right, I'll put the dietitian stuff away for while we're in England temporarily, about two, three years we were looking at, and went to England, and I kind of pulled back from the career track. And I was able to slow down because the culture there is very quaint, very simple, nothing like keeping up with the Joneses type, like toxic culture. And they were a really good community for me as a mother. They had like all these play groups and things, and I met other mothers who were just mothers, and I was like, oh, I kind of like this. And I walked around with my son, who was one, and and then more countryside and more being inspired and more like ideas came to me. So then I just started writing. And and we've come back in 2020. We came back, and I just kind of stuck with the writing. And I had my third child. And then after that, so 2021 is the year of yes for me. I was ready to like do things and like give myself more like room to be myself, not just mother. And I saw on Facebook Little Theater of Norfolk. They put a call out. They wanted a 10-minute play. And I was like, a play? I don't know how to write a play. Or it's just a one act, right? So it's just a scene basically. And they had a Zoom for this like play formatting, like how you would write it out, dialogue and whatnot. And so I joined in on that Zoom. And then I just like channeled character, I suppose, is a way I could best say it. And I was like writing and I submitted it. And I was like, you know what? Just submit and forget. Like, don't overthink it or whatever, don't dwell as we can do, you know. So then I did. And then they were like, hey, we like your one act. We'll go ahead and pr perform it. So I met with the director and the actors, and I was like, this is amazing. I love this. So I was initially writing novels and short stories. And so then I was like, I really like the medium of the theater and on screen. And so I went ahead and yeah, now I've just been like full-fledged into that world. So and the dietitian stuff, you know, I'm everyone's so worried with AI about taking writing jobs and stuff. But if I had been a dietitian, I would have been replaced already by AI because of like the food planning and the advice or whatever. So knowing that I kind of like dodged a bullet in that way of just like constantly like redefining myself or finding that like a good omen of like being on the journey where I like have purpose. I find that like I'm on that journey, which is really nice because so many times like we like, I don't know, it's just like you're an autopilot a little bit, just kind of like in the day-to-day thing, kind of accepting that that's how it is. When like I feel like all these like little hints start to come at us of like maybe you should do this or do that, or maybe this is for you instead. But we're so scared of like redefining ourselves. Thanks. But I'm constantly open to like, hmm, what else can I do? You know, I don't want to get locked into one thing. I like to to venture a little bit, you know?
SPEAKER_01:For sure. Like I'm glad you said the AI stuff, because that's actually how I do my workout plan is through AI. So AI is taking over. I like as a comedian, we fight memes, right? We fight memes. So we'll say a joke, and then next thing you know it's a meme, and we like, we can't tell the joke no more because somebody'll be like, oh, you stole that from a meme, but like, no, I've been telling this joke for a while. So like it's just a big pivot. Now, as far as like the film uh goes, right? Because you sent me three films, right? And I watched all three of them. And you have you had my girl Rona in there.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, love Rona.
SPEAKER_01:She's my girl.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I watched Frizzy Friends.
SPEAKER_00:Mmm. That was yeah. I had just turned 40 that week. And being the team leader for that 48 was my present to myself because I had only been a writer for other teams on these 48 projects. Have you done a 48 or have you heard? Do you know what these are?
SPEAKER_01:I do, I do, but I haven't done one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I two years ago did my first, and I really love the pressure cooker. So, so then Richmond was coming up, Richmond's 48 and that weekend of my birthday. So I was like, look, I'm gonna be team leader, I'm gonna do this. So, as scared as I was, I yeah, I rallied the troops. All my friends stepped up and I had crew and cast, and we shot Frizzy friends, which is really fun.
SPEAKER_01:What got me right? What was the guy? Was it Bruce that was the main, that like the main hair hairstylist in there? Was it Bruce?
SPEAKER_00:I don't remember his name, but yeah, well, the actor is Jake. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So like I'm watching, I'm watching it and I'm like, they like, is he's the best one out there? I'm like, is he about to we about to do like a you don't mess with the Zohan type type thing? And I'm watching the two friends go, you know, like you have the one bougie friend, right? The one that's like they're setting up Ronald for a blind date. She doesn't want to go on a blind date, and and she was like, oh, you wear mixed max socks, and they're like, Well, what kind of water you want to drink? She's like, Niagara Falls water for water from that. And Ron's like, tap water, give me some tap water. Like, it's it's crazy. But at the end, when they was, I guess she was trying to pay with a check, she said it probably might bounce. She said, Oh, it definitely will. She had pulled out two Mitch Max socks and they had five. So I'm just gonna interpret what I thought it was. It's two friends, right? Two friends, two different sides of the spectrum. One is like high class, high maintenance, all about doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, and you got another friend that's like, chill, it is what it is. I don't need the Niagara Falls water. I can get like a Dasani or something because it does the same thing. So when I saw like the two socks come out of the purse and they high fat with the two socks, I'm like, that's a perfect, like, I guess, metaphor for like even though it's mixed max socks, you could be mixed max friends and still have the same purpose. I don't maybe I'm reaching, but that's what I picked up on.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely it, yeah. The genre. So with the 48s, you draw the genres, you don't know what you're gonna have. So Friday night we selected it was a buddy film andor Fish Out of Water. And then Saturday we shot, Sunday we edited and submitted the film. It's about seven-minute film. And I wanted to draw on that relationship of the friend who you feel like you kind of grew apart. Like you've been friends for so long through so many phases of your life, where at the later end of the phases, you sometimes are like wondering, if I had met you now, would we be friends now? Sort of thing. And that like, I don't think it's played enough in movies or whatnot of like friendships like breaking up or kind of dissolving or or reconnecting and finding that like seed where you initially bonded on. And so I wanted to tap into that a little bit. Yeah, you definitely picked up on the mish smash sock metaphor with the friendship parallel.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, indeed. I was like, okay, because I was like, are we going with don't mess with the Zohan? Are we going more like barbershop? Are we going more like still Magnolias? I was like, okay, this has its own, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I actually enjoyed that one. Yeah, I've been telling I took, I was at work watching, so you guys see this posted. This is coming from the job. So obviously I was serious about watching this. I watched No Grace, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, another Rona as my main character. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Rona main character. And I guess to paint the picture is the guy is going, I guess he's going to do some repairs on the house. And he goes into the house, this lady's kind of like Stern, but she's trying to fix him some water, and they're talking, and she goes to another room, then a realtor comes in, and I think they had on the same outfit, if I'm not mistaken. And uh she's telling about the the she's a realtor, she's telling about the house as up for sale. There's like an open house, but it's haunted because the previous people, it was a murder suicide in there. The wife shot the husband in the head and then turned the gun onto herself, which was played by Ronald. So I'm like, this is like a ghost, it's like a psychological thing somewhat, right? Yeah. So that's what I was picking up on too about it. Because she like I was like, okay, it's a psychological thing. Like, is the ghost she or she could have faked her own death. We don't know. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00:Well, hey, that's a twist. I like that. Yeah, I so there's a local filmmaker, Christopher Abaya. He was doing horror showcase around Halloween. It was the 30th. And so at the Cinema Cafe here in Kemptsville, he wanted to present a collection of shorts that go with the theme for Halloween. So I hadn't made anything since the Frizzy Friends in July. So I was like, well, let's make another one. Let's get some crew together and cast and shoot another short. So I had written that one, and that was my first one that I actually directed as well. And yeah, it was really neat to see it on the big screen always. But I really enjoy storytelling. It's such a way of like, if stranger were to see my things, to like to have that, it's not, it's like an icebreaker to like connect with people. Do you find that with your stand-up? Is a it's like that, yeah, like everyone's vulnerable, everyone's open to receive, and it starts conversations. And I I really enjoy that part. That's art, right? That's art. That human, like universal language, in a way.
SPEAKER_01:It is, it is. Like if you like I said it on the stage, and I've said it like numerous times. Like prime example is uh the the It Welcome to Dairy, right? Highest rated show and max of this this year, right now. Like it was number one for eight weeks straight. We just want to see Pennywise terrorize these children for an hour every Sunday. And everybody had their own interpretation. I was like, you know how people are actually locked in to this one show and going online and talking about it. Like, even when you go to the movie theaters, like it doesn't matter the race, the background, the gender, or whatever views or whatever, everybody's in there to enjoy, see the emotion. It's been plenty of times I've gone to the movie theater, and we'll walk out of the movie theater, and we're like, man, what you think about that? And we just it's like a power. Random strangers, like, what did you think? And I think that's like that's one of the things I got, which goes back to Frizzy Friends, random, which is like everybody was connecting. So, and that's one of the things you did in your in your films. I got another film I was gonna ask about because I didn't get it so much.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, that's okay. Yeah, go on. Was it heart strings?
SPEAKER_01:Heart strings. It was no dialogue, no, right? No dialogue, it was music and dance, and I'm like, this is is this a creative love story or this like a bonnet through music? So I was and but y'all was on the ocean front for what it looked like.
SPEAKER_00:We were, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's this script DC event, and they put out a a short film challenge, five minutes or less, of no dialogue. And I I enjoy that approach because I'm also a playwright, and playwright is all dialogue. So it's more you have to lean in on the visuals and the music. And so that one to summarize is about a banjo player, banjoist. He he's playing at home and then he gears up to go play in public. So it's for the first time that he and he's playing on the ocean front outside street performer. And for me, that already makes me sweaty thinking about doing something like that. And and he doesn't fully know what he's looking for. He didn't put his guitar case out for money. He's just presenting his work to the world, basically. And as artists, that's what we do. We put our things out there, and and you don't know what kind of feedback you're gonna get, because there's some big critics out there. Yeah. The worst though is he's ignored. People are walking by and he kind of isn't sure what to make of that. And I think we're always challenged as artists to justify why we do what we do, or because it's it takes a lot of energy and time, and and there's so many other responsibilities of life, and you so then you're always like weighing out like how much do I need to do this, whereas I need to go to do my responsibilities as well. So it's like it can be really challenging to um find that balance, and then sometimes I'm like, God, I wish I just didn't have to write. Like that would make life so much easier if I didn't like have this, you know, calling or desire or whatever. And so our banjoist, he goes out to look out at the water, and just like life has a rhythm with waves and he recalibrates. And I've interpreted it as when you're in nature, there's no straight lines in nature. Life is gonna go like this, and the waves are gonna come and go, and birds are gonna build their nests. And our banjoist, he's just gonna play. So he goes back to the boardwalk and he plays again, and he plays a little bit freer, like like that's fine. I'm just gonna do what I need to do. And then the art the I had a quote in the beginning of the short film of something along the lines of true art inspires others. So as he's playing, he's about to put it away, and then a woman comes along and she's a dancer, and she she's no no, play. And so he plays and she dances. His music inspired her to tap into her art of dancing. And then at the end, they're connected, they see each other, and then he goes home excited to keep doing what he loves. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I just put up their creative love story, like two creators and fell in love.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, it could be music and dance story. And you know, that's the part to it. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Definitely. So who who were some of your biggest inspiration in the filmmaking industry?
SPEAKER_00:Right. My favorite, a lot of my favorite movies are very like a little odd. I like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Minds. That one really opened my eyes of like an alter reality, like fantasy type thing. And then there's a lot of plays that were adapted for screen that I enjoy. Very simple, subtle, and character-driven type stories. There was, was it Malcolm and Marie? Just two characters in a house, and they're they just come home from the Oscars, and she's his girlfriend, and she's not happy with him, and and off they. Go. I think it was Malcolm Marie. I'll have to look it up for sure. But anyhow, I yeah, Malcolm and Marie. And my latest favorite one right now is Problemista. And it's on Max. It's about to leave soon. But it's just very fun and creative. And so I wouldn't say there's any one person. I just enjoy the experience of like not leaving reality, but like a full arc, full like character arc. Where you go along with the character and they learn a lesson and they're forever changed from that experience. It's a really fun journey.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I liked one of my favorites. We're talking about off was Lars and the Real Girl.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I hadn't seen it. That's like the fake. She's like a doll though, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she's a fake doll. She's a fake doll. And Lars is just he goes through a lot. He's picked on, he's awkward, he's dealing with the loss of his parents, but he create he buys a sex doll and he treats her like the he create has a whole story for her. The town is a small town, like backing him up in this. And they're like going along with it. And the way that I'm just gonna explain is at the end, the doll they gave the doll a funeral, and I thought that was a metaphor for everything that happened.
unknown:What's the one I like?
SPEAKER_01:The whale with Brendan Frazier. My gosh.
SPEAKER_00:That one's powerful.
SPEAKER_01:That one was And Robot and Frank.
SPEAKER_00:Oh.
SPEAKER_01:See, yeah. I be I watch a lot of the stuff. The people like, What are you watching? I'm like, this is interesting. It was another one. It was a I forgot the guy's name, but it was uh he worked at a burger spot for like over 30 years, and he was training a new guy how to do the burgers. The guy just was on probation, and it was it was uh old versus new and it was real wild. I can't even think of the name right now, but yeah. Like I love those type of movies that you gotta sit them like like they have like a a 90% on rotten tomatoes. Right. But they never you never heard of them before. It's it's cool. It's cool. Like I'm trying to find Bronson, the the Charles Bronson one where Tom Hardy played him. Um that came out in 2008, but it wasn't released in the United States.
SPEAKER_00:So it's somewhat Yeah, well that's the annoying part about streaming right now, right? Like I miss Blockbuster and going to get the DVD. I I might even still have like little keychain membership. It's like vintage now. But yeah, because yeah, because you've tried to find a thing and you're like, who's streaming it? Who do I have to pay or how much do I have to rent for, whatever? I like the actual physical. I have a DVD player in my car, and so I play it for my kids when we go on like long road trouts.
SPEAKER_01:So like they had the uh the big argument about like Netflix buying was it Warner Brothers? Yeah, that was that's that's interesting. And then the CEO was like, nah, man, we're gonna keep films the way that they are, and I'm like, man, I think after COVID, every movie that you ever tried to see ended up on Netflix, to be honest with you. So it's like it's a double entendre. Like you kind of miss the thrill of going to the movie theater to get an experience and paying for the expensive snacks compared to you staying at home, pausing, texting on your phone, waiting for your Amazon package to come.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yeah, the softwatch, even where you're like doing laundry, playing games while you're listening to it kind of in the background, not even yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Not even, not even. Are there any actors that you would want to work with?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, like famous people.
SPEAKER_01:Famous people. Like they say, hey, Ken. Oh boy, such and such is on the line. He wants you to help with this new film. Would you who would be like the actor, the actress that you like, all right, I got you.
SPEAKER_00:I love Sarah Borellis, who she does more Broadway, um, but she's more musician too. She sings and writes songs, but she also acts. She was in the sitcom Girls Five Ever. It didn't last very, I think it was like two seasons. It was a really funny one. And so I I really am drawn toward her style and her taste and types. Well, when we do pitch decks, because you know, as a screenwriter, I do have to create pitch decks and whatnot. And so you do have to present your actors who you would think for the roles and the main characters and whatnot. And I uh who would I? I mean, would I say no to anybody? Not really, not unless no divas, though. I cannot handle a diva. But yeah, that's a tricky question. Cause I I don't get starstruck per se. When I was a flight attendant, we would have a lot of famous people on our flights and whatnot. And when you realize they're just humans like us, I don't know. As long as they're talented and they're humble, that's yeah, I can work with them.
SPEAKER_01:You never got starstruck? Not I think you did at the WHR role thing when you met me. I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00:You know what? True. Yes, I I was not worthy. No. No, I I can't say I I have I am. Have you ever lost your words when you've seen a famous person?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Absolutely. It was D.L. Hugley. I can remember the day. It was a Saturday night, and we went, I went with the early show with my sister, and he did crowd work. He asked me what I did. I said, comedian. He said, Well, I want you to come do some time for me the next because his feature couldn't make it to the next show. I go in there, I tell this story all the time. I go in there, I meet him, and this is a guy, like I studied a lot of comedians, right? And the way they carry themselves on the stage and outside of the performing realm. And he's one of the ones I'm like, yo, I gotta get like him. Yeah. And with comedians, we they're we're very vulgar, as you see on my Instagram, my YouTube, but he cussed me out for being starstruck. Yeah, that's how they roll. It is what it is. It's just a rite of passage. They just cussed you. He cussed me like, MF or MF or no, uh, you gotta pay attention. I'm like, how much time can you do? I ain't gonna ask you again. I'm like, I'm starstruck, I'm nervous, you know, you done put me on the spot to do time. I ain't done these jokes. I'm trying to make sure these jokes are funny, and yeah, but after it, he tapped me up, told me he'll see me on the other side. I was like, all right, I'm cool. That's the one time that I I got starstruck. And I think from that point on, I'm not starstruck no more. That was the first and the last damn time I have gotten starstrucked because I'm like, well, he said he's just a normal person, just like what you said.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I had a really cool interaction with Phoebe Cent on the airplane. Yeah. We we were going to Dublin. At the time it was Continental. He flew Continental a lot. So I had seen him through the Newark airport, and he came on board with his entourage. Bunch of guys, really kind, you know, very like polite and whatnot. So, anyhow, we had to divert to Gander because there was some sort of mechanical thing. Gander's in Canada, so you take off, and then that's like where you go before you have to fly over the ocean. So we have to wake everyone up for this landing, but then it's all fine. We land, then we clear to go again. So we're on our way back to Dublin. And I was like, Oh, I gotta talk to him. I like really want to talk to him. So he he was pretty quiet, slept mostly, but then he was gonna go to the bathroom. So I was like, okay, so when he comes out, I'll just say hi or which not. And I didn't really plan on what I was gonna say. I just wanted to so he comes out, and I'm in the first class galley, the little kitchen, and he comes out and I was like, Hey, Curtis. And he goes, Yeah. And I was trying to find something that would be that common denominator. Well, about two years prior to that, I was robbed and shot of my purse. And so I have the nine millimeter bullet still in my leg. And so I said, Hey Curtis, I've been shot too. And he goes, Yo, we made it. So cool. But he he said it without like thinking or a pause, you know. He just he was just the coolest guy. Yeah. So Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He's uh he's doing the film and the series and stuff like that. So I is that something that you inspire for? Like you want to get like the film and the series? Because now it's getting so many streaming platforms. Now you see like YouTube originals, yeah, voodoo, of course, Netflix, Hulu, Max. Now you got Tubi, which is pretty good one. The great one for us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's great, it's a it's an open, it it makes it an even playing field for us. So is that something that you're inspired to have your your content on?
SPEAKER_00:I would, of course. Yeah. I would like to reach a bigger audience. So right now I'm doing a lot of theater pieces and I have my YouTube channel with my shorts on them. I'm also putting some of the shorts through the festival circuit, which is a great way to meet other filmmakers. But yeah, I think the end game that I'm working towards is getting it in either theaters or streaming. Um now, from what I understand, it's not a big paycheck. And it's hard to not want to strive to be like for the money, because that kind of like yuckies the artist, artistic like experience, you know, but there is a business to it. So I think I would say like for me, success is just doing the thing. I'm I'm doing the thing and hopefully it works towards reaching a bigger audience. And if that's the way, great. But but if not, I still have my little, you know, my vaults of things that I do to like share with people. But yeah, that would be great, you know. Um, but we'll see. The this business is so finicky. You don't know what hits or misses or uh one hit wonder people type things. So yeah, it's it's not something I'm completely putting all my focus on. I'm focusing it on like telling good stories, you know.
SPEAKER_01:There you go. There you go. I respect that. Personally, I use this like phrase passion project. I'm not getting paid for, I'm just doing it for the love of the game. Like the podcast, the comedy. Like, though I have aspirations for a Netflix special, and yeah, like though I have that aspiration one day to the post the trailer of me doing a Netflix special or whatever special, it's just for the love of the game. And I feel like once you have the love, the passion for it, like everything else will follow. Like you're doing the things, and I think like success isn't me. I know that success isn't measured by like how many dollars you have, but it's how many people can connect through what you put out there on on in the world, right? Because it's your digital footprint. And obviously I connected because I had to watch, not had to, but I had to like take notes because I'm like, I gotta I don't want her to think that I'm BSing around when I did it. So yeah, I got I was like, this is cool. I'm probably end up going back and watching Frizzy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, cool. I um, you know, it's it's funny because I never, I mean, my gosh, four years ago is it 2025? Four years ago, I I it was just too big to fathom I'd be doing what I'm doing. And I, you know, you have imposter syndrome a little bit in the beginning, but what I found is if you put out there what you want to do, my goal is to do this, and then just keeping that in your focus and not worrying about distractions, but also finding the other people whose goal is also that, and then it's an ecosystem, right? I help them, they help me, we get towards the goal together because I don't find art to be a competition or any one person ego-centric type things. It's a team. And so I'm certainly I've found kind of everyone on the same level as me, and then we're all striving towards this. So shooting a feature, I've been able to find other people who were all drawn towards this and we're doing it together. And that's really it's really powerful because yeah, who knew, right? It would it would come to this, and it makes me excited for what's to come. Like, wow, if I never imagined this ever would happen and I was able to accomplish these things with the help of my village. Imagine, like, if it's compounding where we're going, you know. But as a stand-up comedian, do you find that you're very like solo or do you have a team to empower you?
SPEAKER_01:My team is my mom and my sister and my mentor, James Cooper. That's my team. I don't run with uh a lot of other comedians at all because in the comedy world is very competitive. And some people feel like they should be in a position that you're in, but those same people that feel like they're not putting in the same work or the the term that I use, they have that microwave mentality. They want it real quick and they don't want to put the work in. Everybody's eating Thanksgiving dinner, and like if you got the the the turkey, the saz, the dressing, the the stuff and the desserts, it tastes so much better, like hot, out of the out of the oven on the stove. Then the next day you're warming up in the microwave, it's 30 seconds, but it took you, I don't know, hours just to get this one meal correct for somebody that's gonna probably gobble it down in 10 minutes. So, but people won't feel like they can take that those hours and put it onto a quick 30 seconds. I'm like, yo, I'm cool, or it's just it's one of those things.
SPEAKER_00:That's a really good metaphor.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I and so as a writer, I am constantly revising. So I I write something, I share it with my writing group or my friends, they give me notes, apply the notes or whatnot, think it over and redo it. But I didn't realize until recently. So you're you present your work and your feedback is the audience, and then you revise and then adjust for the next night that you do it. What a vulnerable That's painful. I can't imagine if I had been some and like, you know, made the movie and then got all that like response that, but and you're getting the response in real time. So ouch, that can be, I mean, it could be great. It could really be a success, but you are working, that is a ringer of a thing to do, D. And do you find there's a lot of opportunity out here to do your work? It's like exercises, right?
SPEAKER_01:Like, yeah, yeah. It's like just open mics. It's it's yeah, open mics is like the gym. It's just like you just gotta put the work in, and you just gotta post. Because that's that's that's that's how we get like in order for us to get the clubs and festivals, you gotta post. Like the one thing, it's two things they always ask for. It's like a YouTube video. The YouTube video can't be the video can't be any older than six months to a year, and they always ask you for your social media. Like they want to see you post, they want to see your followers. So like they want to see like their real time, and we can't edit those videos. Like, you you can edit, cut, you know, stuff like we can't edit because they want to actually in real time how much like laughs per minute they're getting, how's it connecting to the crowd, his stage presence, his time and his breath control? Like they want to see like how's the material flowing. Like, I can't put a laugh track if I'm submitting into something. I can't do a laugh track at all.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, if I put a laugh track in there, I I wouldn't even feel right doing that. Because I'm like, no, that ain't real time. I've seen comedians do laugh tracks on their stuff, but I'm like, yo, you I can hear I can hear a robot right now just laughing. This is the same laugh they had on Family Matter. So it's it is what it is.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I love that show. Yeah, that's a lot of pressure for you. Yeah. It's okay. Yeah. Well, yeah, I guess if you build a tolerance to that pressure, but to film and then to make sure I mean you're doing technical stuff and performance and material and oof, that's but yeah, you do what you love. So and that that laughter, what a reward when you when it lands.
SPEAKER_01:Man, we can be in front of eight hundred people killing it, and then we can get in front of eighty people with the same material and then dying on that stage.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I guess you'll never do stand-up. I guess you don't want to come on.
SPEAKER_00:I I don't see it happening. But who knows? The life I live, yeah, 10 years time, albeit no. I can't. Well, I'm more towards the drama. Those punchy jokes, I have a dark humor as well. So it's yeah, I don't know if it's meant for stage.
SPEAKER_01:So it I one, I appreciate you coming on doing the interview.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_01:I know when we were supposed to do it, I forgot we were getting home repairs done in the house, which is hell. But I do appreciate your time and your patience.
SPEAKER_00:Of course. Yeah, no, I'm I'm flexible, so it's fine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Hey, man. If they want people want to see your work or get in contact with you for any other interviews or view of your work, how can they see you?
SPEAKER_00:I am on Instagram. It's Kendra and then two two. I used to play basketball in high school. That was my jersey number, and just kind of stuck ever since. So yeah, that's where I am on Instagram. And I'm on Facebook at Kendra Luca. So two major places, I suppose. I'm not on Twitter anymore. Well, I still call it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, what's the other O X or whatever? Yeah. But yeah, that's right. And then oh, on YouTube, Luca Round is the name of my channel. So that was the name of our teen name when we were doing the 48s. But yeah, yeah, I'm always posting on there my latest like projects and works that I'm you know I'm trying to do. And I follow you on there, of course. You are so much material. You're constantly on there, you have to be like social media manager even.
SPEAKER_01:I hate it. Because as soon as we finish this interview, I'm gonna probably post a screenshot of us talking. So yeah, man. Stop unfortunately. But if you guys want to see the podcast, no ID Podcast, no ID on all social media platforms. No ID Podcasts on all social media platforms. You can Google No ID Podcast and see episodes. This episode, any episodes prior. Follow me on Instagram at no ID Podcast and at comedianRome on Instagram. Or YouTube is ComedianRome Davis, ex Comedian Rome, TikTok comedian Rome. And if you follow me, I do follow back. Um and I do interact sometimes. I do try and like a story as creepy as it sounds, but I gotta let y'all know that I'm still reachable. You know what I'm saying? Kendra, I do appreciate you giving me your time and everything.
SPEAKER_00:And thank you. Yes, well, hopefully I'll see you sooner than a year for this next go round.
SPEAKER_02:For sure. Have a good one.
SPEAKER_00:You two have a Merry Christmas.
SPEAKER_02:Merry Christmas.
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