Bayfield, Wis. (Nov. 11, 2025) – Danielle Thralow sees humor in just about everything. The Duluth, Minn.-based comic carries a notebook with her at all times, ready to jot down anything that makes her laugh – a snippet of overheard conversation, a quirky bit of clothing, or the way she sees how someone interacts with the world.
“It’s a little like panning for gold,” Thralow said in a recent telephone interview. “You write down 100 things, and maybe only one thing sticks.”
Thralow, who has performed at venues across the United States, earning awards such as Miami’s funniest and placing second in the Twin Cities funniest, is bringing her act to Bayfield Nov. 22 at Honest Dog Books Outback theater.
Thralow sees humor as a means to approach difficult and sometimes scary topics in a safe way.
“My ideal joke reveals something about myself, but it also helps the audience learn something about themselves,” she said. “My jokes can be really silly, or they can be darker and a little edgier.”
A transgender woman, Thralow says, sometimes it is the difficult moments that can inspire her. She tells a story about a hurtful encounter in a Florida restaurant.
“I wrote it down, but it took me three or four years of thinking about it before I figured out the joke,” she said.
Thralow said part of what first propelled her to the stage in 2014 after a brilliant entrepreneurial career was wanting to face her own fears.
“I can be a hermit, and comedy forces me to get out and interact with people,” she said. “The first eight years I was terrified every performance, but I kept moving forward. It can still be scary sometimes, but so far, everyone has accepted me, even when I perform in deeply conservative regions.”
Thralow says it’s easy to become cynical when looking at the problems we face, but she tries to approach those problems with a positive energy.
“My goal is to bring a different perspective,” she said. “That perspective offers humor and doesn’t leave me pessimistic about society.”
Thralow says she is never at a loss for material. “Humans behave in some very strange ways,” she said with a laugh.
As much as she is a student of human behavior, Thralow works hard at the craft of comedy.
“I never let up with the laughs,” she said. “In 30 minutes I may have 120 or more jokes – I want my audience to laugh from start to finish.”
Thralow is looking forward to performing in Bayfield, and said she thinks it will be a magical experience to perform in a bookstore.
“I’ll have an audience of people who like to read, right?” she said with a laugh. “What could be better?”
