By Jay KT
Felicia Madison is onstage talking about getting older, and the joke is that she is not slowing down.
She calls her newest project “Queenager,” a collection of material about aging, marriage, motherhood, menopause, empty nesting, and trying to figure out what the hell comes next. On November 12, she will perform it at West Side Comedy Club during the New York Comedy Festival.
It is a fitting title for a comedian whose career began in March 2015, long after the age when most people are told they should have everything figured out.
Madison jokes that she has reached the age where no one asks her for a “fun fact” about herself anymore. But becoming a stand-up comedian later in life is certainly one. Another? She was an All-State softball player in high school.
Comedy, however, was never part of the original plan.
Looking for Something That’s Truly Hers
Madison graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Biological Basis of Behavior and a minor in Marketing. Then came marriage, raising children, and all the things we’re “supposed” to do.
“I was looking for a creative outlet and a way to rediscover a part of myself outside of being a wife and mother.”
Her father had shown her that reinvention could happen at any age. He did not graduate from high school, served in the Navy, worked incredibly hard to build a life for himself and his family, and later found a passion of his own.
“Watching him taught me both that hard work matters and that there’s no expiration date on discovering what you love.”
For Madison, that discovery was comedy.
Making Every Lived Experience a Material
What began as a creative outlet quickly became a career. Madison fell in love with performing, writing, producing, and helping other comedians develop their voices.
Today, she is the Creative Director of West Side Comedy Club in New York City, where she runs and teaches comedy classes and develops talent. She has also released her first comedy special, “Better Than Sex,” available on Apple TV, Amazon, and YouTube.
She has performed alongside Jessica Kirson, Rachel Feinstein, Zarna Garg, T.J. Miller, and Jordan Carlos.
But Madison’s work is not only about getting older. It is about what can happen when a person stops treating age as a deadline.
“Funny doesn’t have an expiration date.”
The “Queenager” Has More to Say
Madison’s comedy draws directly from the life she has lived.
Her ideal audience includes women navigating marriage, motherhood, aging, menopause, empty nesting, and figuring out what comes next. Yet the more specific she becomes, the more universal the material becomes.
“I don’t want to tell people how to age gracefully. I want to laugh about how ridiculous the whole thing can be.”
That approach is at the center of “Queenager.” Rather than treating later life as a closing chapter, Madison finds comedy in the uncertainty of what comes after the roles that once defined you.
“We’re still working, dating, having sex, reinventing ourselves, making mistakes, and figuring out what we want to be when we grow up.”
She Is Still Getting Started
Madison knows what it means to enter an industry where age can feel like a barrier.
“Everyone seems to be looking for the next young, hot thing, and they’re definitely not talking about temperature.”
Instead of seeing her late start as something to overcome, she has made it part of her voice. She has decades of life experience to write about, knows who she is, and has the grit to keep going.
Her philosophy of life is straightforward as well: “Stay on your own mat.”
For Madison, that means concentrating on her own work, getting better, and moving forward instead of measuring her career against someone else’s opportunities or followers.
She is continuing to perform, produce her own work, expand her comedy school, develop television projects, and look toward a larger tour for “Queenager.”
“In five years, I hope to be doing exactly what I’m doing now, just on a much bigger scale.”
For someone who started comedy over a decade ago, Madison has no interest in slowing down.
“I feel like I’m finally hitting my stride.”
To know more about Felicia Madison and her work, visit https://www.feliciamadison.com/ or follow her socials on Instagram and Facebook.
