BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – On a chilly Thursday night in downtown Bellingham, people gathered indoors to watch local comedians for an evening of laughter.

The night began with a group of students from Western Washington University (WWU) who put on an “alternative-comedy” inspired variety show full of sketches, stand-up comedy and a music act. Following the variety show was a comedian who also got their start playing venues in Bellingham.

Andrea Entz, a graduate of Western Washington University and stand-up comedian based in Seattle was back in Bellingham for one night only. The purpose of the return to the city of her alma-mater was to say one last farewell before making the move to Los Angeles.

Originally from Buckley, WA, Entz found a passion for writing at a young age. Although her schools did not offer a theatre program, she found a way to perform by writing scripts and hosting school assemblies.

When Entz moved to Bellingham to attend WWU, she made the decision to study theatre. What she realized quickly was that the majority of those who studied theatre at WWU had previous experience either on stage or behind the scenes.  Entz found herself lacking in experience but plentiful in drive.

“So many people there had grown up in Seattle and were so ahead of me; they knew how to audition and knew all of the jargon,” Entz said.

Soon, Entz discovered that stand-up comedy was one of the few performance-based artforms that allows you to cast yourself. She began performing at open mics at the Underground Coffeehouse at WWU and was encouraged by the support of older classmates.

“I went and did my first open mic there,” said Entz. “An older student said, ‘You just made this really quiet coffeehouse laugh… you should go do the bars.”

Entz continued to perform around Bellingham before moving to Seattle after finishing her education at WWU. Over the last few years, Entz has been a frequent name in the comedy club scene in Seattle and Tacoma by performing at places like The Rendezvous, The Spanish Ballroom and Capitol Hill Comedy/Bar.

Aside from stand-up comedy, Entz has created a career in voice acting as well. She hired a professional voice acting coach and has built a “broadcast quality” recording booth in her home.

“I grew up constantly doing voices without realizing that is what I was doing,” Entz said.

During the pandemic, she continued to work on her voice acting and began to help others as well. Entz combined her different skills to start producing podcasts for people assisting with social media outreach.

“To me, podcasting is a very vulnerable act of putting your voice out for anyone to hear. It requires me [most of the time] to be coaching women on their right to share their voice,” Entz said. “I did not realize since I am a comedian and a voice actor, that comes super easily to me and it doesn’t come easily to everybody.”

This year, Entz is making the move to live in southern California. She has established connections in the area and mentioned that the WWU theatre department hosts meetups with alumni of the program to check in and give advice.

“To me, that’s where opportunities are,” Entz said. “And one of my professors there [WWU] is the one who really encouraged me to go.”

To learn more about Andrea Entz work as a comedian and voice actor, click here.