“Laugh inducing, thought-provoking…” -Comedy Cake

Kelli Dunham. Stand-up comic.

RN. Author. Storyteller. Ex-Nun.

Photo credit Lauren Dukes

Are you wondering how on earth did all that come together on a resume? Yeah. That’s a reasonable reaction. Check out Kelli’s story here.

Kelli is a 2015 White House Champions of Change nominee (under the Obama administration!) and was named to the Velvet Park Magazine’s 25 Significant LGBT Leaders in 2016 as well as to the Campus Pride Hotlist.

Kelli was recently featured in an extensive interview on Ms Magazine website about the radical power of personal storytelling and in Backstage Magazine’s feature From Nun to Nurse to Stand Up Comedy.

You may have seen Kelli on Showtime and the Discovery Channel and nationwide at colleges, prides, fundraisers, the Moth Mainstage and even the occasional livestock auction. Kelli is also an RN and the author of seven books of humorous non-fiction, including two children’s books being used by Sonlight conservative homeschooling association in their science curriculum. Kelli’s fifth book, Freak of Nurture, a collection of humorous essays published by Topside Press caused award-winning author Barbara Carellas to give Kelli the moniker “the David Sedaris of the genderqueer dyke world.” You may have also seen Kelli’s unique humorously concerned voice in articles on Refinery29, Time.com, The New Republic, Thought Catalog and Autostraddle, the NPR Health Blog, Them.us, LadyScience and HuffPost Personal.

Kelli is considered an expert on the intersections of art, grief and community-based caregiving and presents nationwide to healthcare providers about LGBT issues, LGBT health, gender and health, using humor to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue and the transformative power of first-person storytelling.  Kelli is the co-founder and co-curator of the award-winning and stunningly popular LGBT storytelling series Queer Memoir as well as Organ Recital, the storytelling festival and series about bodies, health and healthcare.

Kelli keynoting the 2019 Butch Voices Conference

Kelli has released four comedy CDs: “I am NOT a 12 Year Old Boy” “Almost Pretty,” “Why Is the Fat One Always Angry” and “Full of Bad Ideas” all which are on regular rotation on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s Rawdog Comedy Station as well as a limited release special Gender Envy in 2018. Kelli’s comedy album “Not the Gym Teacher” dropped February 2020.