When you grow up in Haysville Kansas, with a cast of dysfunctional family members, what do you do with your life? For Melissa it was an easy choice: she became a comedian.

Melissa started her comedy career while attending The University of Kansas. She wrote jokes for the morning radio show at Q104 in Kansas City, MO. After graduating with a degree in journalism Melissa headed for Hollywood to seek her fame and fortune. Her first big break came from the world famous Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard. She got a job as a waitress. Over the next six months Melissa would watch other comedians and write jokes for them and watch them get laughs with her material. Something was wrong with this picture. At the encouragement of those same comics, Melissa did her first open mic night and hasn't looked back since.

Melissa is a regular at the Laugh Factory, the Improv, and has performed at the Comedy Store in Hollywood and La Jolla. She has recently taken her act on the road, having performed at the Laugh Factory in Hawaii, Stanford and Sons in Kansas City and the Funny Bones across the Midwest and Texas. Melissa was a semi-finalist in the San Francisco Comedy Competition, and has also used her act as a blueprint for her one woman show, "What's the Point?" Melissa was a finalist at 15 Minutes of Fem, a prestigious action Showcase solely for women.