There’s even been some celebrity engagement. I did a costume of Justin Long in Dodgeball, and he left a clever emoji in the comment section. I’m also a big fan of Justin Long’s podcast, Life is Short with Justin Long, and the “shorties” in the podcast’s Facebook group have cheered me on as I tried to recreate some of Long’s more iconic characters. I portrayed the O.J. Simpson prosecutor and author, Marcia Clark, and she reposted the costume on her wall (where someone made a hurtful comment about my eyebrows, which are admittedly very distinctive). Fran Drescher’s nephew, Lyle, another comedian with roots in the Philly scene, texted her my Nanny costume, and she said it was really cute.

Humor has always been my coping skill. I’m a goofball. With so much uncertainty in the world right now, it’s really exciting that I am able to add some levity to people’s days. A lot of people were putting up their Christmas decorations as a way to spread some cheer, and I thought, “I don’t have any Christmas stuff, but what if I made every day Halloween?” I’m a comedian, so brightening people’s days by being a goof is all I’ve ever wanted to do. A lot of my friends in both the Philly and Minneapolis comedy scenes have been supportive of the project. My family has been really into it too, and I like to send my costumes to our group text before I post them online, so they know they saw it first.

For my 100th costume, I did a live Zoom show, where I created the costume in real-time, while viewers called in with guesses about what the costume would be. It was a lot of fun and gave me the fix I used to get from doing stand up for a crowd. Viewers were also able to donate to my Venmo. Even with all of the gigs I lost when the pandemic hit, that live show let me pay my rent this month. Many open mics and shows have moved to an online format, and it has actually been pretty fun to get to watch comedy from my bed, couch, or toilet. Navigating the online format was challenging, but my friends Joshua Machiz, Jordan Berger, and Johnny Hart volunteered to be my production team, so I only had to worry about the artistic elements of the show.

I’m thinking of doing a live show every 50 costumes since it doesn’t look like I’ll be performing on stage for a packed house any time soon. I figure I can donate a portion of the proceeds to a different non-profit every month, and hopefully, my little 'quarantween' community can make a real difference that way.