FBLA EXCLUSIVE: Sara Mattison is Very Attractive...to Operator Error

What does the 2003 small engine plane crashing into a Fairfax area apartment and last week's drunk driver plowing into the Improv Olympic West have in common? Writer and comedian Sara Mattison. Mattison's apartment was ground zero - incinerated in 2003 by a plane crashing into it. Later it was confirmed that the pilot had cocaine in his system. Mattison, a long time performer at IO West, original cast member of the hysterical Big News Show, got on with her life, only to have a drunk driver last week drive into (appropriately) the front bar of, what you could safely call her 'second home'. FBLA caught up with Mattison for a little sit down: FBLA: What's up with high people running into places you frequent? SM: I guess I'm where the party's at. FBLA: Uhm, is this all the evidence you need to believe you're cursed? SM: That and Beth Lapides confirming it during an Uncab comedy workshop this past winter. I took it to work out (or at least ignite) some new ideas for material and by week four of revealing personally tragic stories- what I find funny- she stated with all seriousness that maybe I had a "curse" and needed to go get it removed. I decided it was probably best to remove myself from that workshop instead. The only curse I had was dropping $300 on the workshop to hear that. We all strive to be original with our material so if having a curse is my thing, then dammit I'm keeping it! I like to think it makes my material steal-proof. I mean what comedian wants to steal another comedian's curse? FBLA: Are your friends scared? SM: Mostly amused. It's a lot funnier in their circle on the outside looking in, plus with me it's usually a case of "close, but no cigar"- in this instance not on the premises during the car crash at IO, and thankfully the same goes for the plane crash at my apartment, because as the coroner who handed me a bag of my charred childhood diaries (the only personal items recovered from my premises) said to me at the time while I stood in the lobby of the L.A. coroner's office, "You're lucky you weren't there, or you'd be here." It's a great day when you get to leave the coroner after a visit. Most don't. And even better with similarly dark-humored friends by your side to laugh about it on the ride home. FBLA: What are the odds? Have you worked them out? Because we tried and our eyes glazed over after 'astronomical' was decided. SM: I was never great at math but they're up there. It's like possessing a great psychic power I suppose, but one you can't use for your own personal gain. I don't do well in Vegas and I've never won the lottery, so my "luck" doesn't come into play in that department, but I have survived being hit by a car while riding my bike as a teen, a night club shooting in NY (the bullets breezed through the Bridge and Tunnel crowd down on the dance floor, missing us "club kids" hanging out with drag queens up in the balcony, 2 bomb threats while living in London- one on my tube stop and one by my flat, a plane crashing into my former apartment in the Fairfax district and a drunk driver who totaled my car parked outside my office, minutes after I had decided to stay late to finish up some work rather than head home and find myself starting it up as she careened around the corner. Now as I'm on a break from performing at the IO and an SUV takes it out. Odds are I've got a few more of my nine lives left. That and the powers-that-be just get a real kick out of messing with me. Either way, my life is never boring. FBLA: Where will you be next (so we can have a heads up)? SM: Can't say, I like to keep people guessing, but most likely Facebook. Besides getting poked and winked at what harm can happen to me there? Here's Sara on Facebook. The latest from the the IO West is that it's closed until at least the 7th of July. If there are any updates - we'll post them.

Fishbowl

FBLA EXCLUSIVE: Sara Mattison is Very Attractive...to Operator Error

Tina Dupuy

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Tina Dupuy