Knoch grad helps serve up laughs on The Tonight Show
Members of the Knoch High School class of 2010 who were watching “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” Monday night might have straightened up on the couch and asked “Hey, isn't that ...?”
And it was. Their classmate Katie Fissore formerly of Saxonburg, had a noticeable role on the show's anniversary special as the “Jimmy Fallon Water Girl.”
Actually, for Fissore it was the second time she's been on “The Tonight Show.” She appeared alongside Fallon for 2018's “12 Days of Christmas Sweaters” segment.
And the New York City-based actor and writer said she owes it all to her day job as a birthday party clown and the 2-minute trailer she made for her non-existent movie.
Fissore said, “My dad said ever since I could remember that I wanted to be an actress, but I didn't think it was a possibility that I might have a chance for TV and film acting until the musicals.”
“In 'Guys and Dolls,' I was Adelaide. In 'Bye Bye Birdie' I was Rosie Alvarez,” she said she said of Knoch High School productions.
Jen Bronder, who teaches theater and English at Knoch, directed Fissore in four musicals and three plays.
“The first thing she did was 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,'” said Bronder. “She tried out as a freshman and got the role of Alice, one of the seven brides.”
“She'd never done a show but her stage presence and talent were there right from the start,” said Bronder.
“She had positive energy, comic timing and was incredibly hardworking,” Bronder said. “She took all the theater classes. She was incredibly dedicated to learning her craft.”
After graduating from Knoch in 2010, Fissore moved to New York City and enrolled in the New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, graduating in 2012.
Her father, Tom Fissore of Butler, a maintenance supervisor at ATI Metals, said, “She always wanted to do something with acting ever since I can remember.
“So her mother and I let her pursue her dreams,” he said. “She went to this conservatory, and I had some doubts because the building it was in held more people than the town of Saxonburg, where we lived at the time.
“But the dean there made a great presentation. He said anyone who got bad grades or screwed up was going home. Anyone who didn't have passion or dedication, it was better to weed them out now,” he said.
His daughter had both. She graduated from the two-year school. She studied sketch writing with the Uptight Citizens Brigade, a comedy group.
“Amy Poehler and other 'Saturday Night Live' performers started there,” she said. She currently studies acting with Jay Goldenberg, an actor and dialogue coach.
Fissore was in an off-Broadway play called “Buzz” in 2013.
“And I've done a few Discovery ID Channel shows playing a victim that got killed,” she said. “There was one in 2012 and one in 2014. They are filmed in one day from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. It's a long, crappy day.”
And she worked the usual day jobs while she worked to perfect her acting and writing skills.
Her father said, “We are not in a position to help her financially. She is living in one of the most expensive places in the world, and she's paying her bills.”Her mother, Karen Fissore, a registered nurse at Kathryn A. Ryan, D.O. & Associated in Saxonburg, said, “When she was at the conservatory, she always stayed in the dorms to get free housing, and she got jobs at a diner or a gym to get food.”Katie Fissore said she's been a waitress, the old standby of actresses, but right now she's a clown. Seriously.“I'm a clown hired for children's parties out on Long Island. I do between seven to 15 parties a week, all for children,” she said.She doesn't go the full-clown route.“I just go by Katie. I don't wear face paint, just a clown costume bow tie and rainbow socks. I do balloon tricks, magic tricks and hand out candy,” she said.“The company — Clowns.com — is filled with aspiring artists,” she said.“Actors, musicians, singers, someone in my school did it for six years, which is a long time.“It's good for artists. You are working Saturdays and Sundays. We work from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and it leaves our weeks free to work on our art and go on auditions,” said Fissore.She said, “This Saturday I had seven parties, and I had four on Sunday. You are there 60 minutes to two hours, and then it is on to the next party.“And you've got to be on; people don't care that you had a party before. People think their party is the only one,” she said.
“The job has made me a better actor, made me funnier, made my impov stronger,” Fissore said. “Kids won't give you a sympathy laugh. It has really improved my comedy.”Her clown work is what got her two appearances on “The Tonight Show” and may help her land a role on a television pilot or series.“I met Jimmy Fallon when he hired Clowns.com to provide clowns for the cast and crew's children's Breakfast with Santa,” she said. “He and his wife (Nancy Juvonen) watched me perform.”“Jimmy Fallon kept asking me 'Are you an actress? You are funny.' He repeated to me that I was really funny,” she said.“His wife started out as an actress, but she owned a production company and asked me to submit something,” Fissore said.“So I had made this movie trailer about my life,” she said. “In the entertainment industry you have to make an acting reel. Mine was pretty awful.”“So I thought, 'How can I get people to know who I am in under two minutes and understand my writing and acting style?'”The answer was “Welcome to Happy Hour,” which she described as “a two-minute trailer for a movie that doesn't exist yet.”Fissore wrote the semi-autobiographical minimovie and plays Kate, a 26-year-old small-town girl, struggling to tackle adulthood in New York City.She submitted the tape to Juvonen's production company and the next day, she said, “They (NBC) asked me to be on the show and to talk about future aspirations.”Her first stint on “The Tonight Show” ran from Dec. 10 to Dec. 20.“Jimmy Fallon gives away an ugly sweater to audience member, and I was his assistant.“I interact with Jimmy Fallon. It's small talk, 'I'm ready, Jimmy,'” she said.Her latest appearance Monday night was for Fallon's fifth anniversary with the show.
“It was a Larry Sanders style show,” Fissore said. “It was all scripted. I'm like the Fiji water lady. I'm interacting with all these celebrities, Tina Fey and Ben Stiller. It's pretty comical.”Speaking of Fallon and Juvonen, Fissore said, “I feel like they are like my aunt and uncle. They love that I am from a small town and that I have all these sisters.” (She has four.)Her mother said of her “Tonight Show” appearances, “It was crazy. My husband and I growing up, the only show was the 'Tonight Show.'”Fissore said her Tonight Show appearances “have been the biggest thing I've done. This has been the biggest break of my career.”“NBC has done a lot for me,” she said. “I met with the head of the casting department who really liked 'Welcome to Happy Hour' and encouraged me to keep writing. They talked about setting me up with better representation.”And bigger things could be on the horizon.Fissore said, “NBC has brought me in for pilot season at the networks, auditions for pilots they want me in as an actress.”“A sitcom actress would be my ideal spot now,” she said.Her former teacher Bronder said her pupil has kept in touch with her. Bronder said she visits New York City every year to take in Broadway shows and has dinner with Fissore.“She is a genuine, open-hearted person,” said Bronder.“I knew sooner or later someone would see her talents and give her the break she's deserved for a very long time,” she said.
