In 2011, comic Marc Maron named her one of his five top comedians to watch, calling her a "brassy gal ... who could play a one-nighter at a bowling alley or a 1,000-seat theater and just nail it."[2] In 2018, entertainment website Thrillist named her one of the best undiscovered comedians in America.[3]
Her debut album, Sparkly Parts, was released April 17, 2020, on Stand Up! Records, debuting at No. 1 on both the Amazon and iTunes comedy charts.[4][5]
Preston grew up in Fargo, North Dakota and graduated from West Fargo High School in 1996.[6] She is related to television accordionist and bandleader Lawrence Welk, a topic she has joked about in her standup.[7] She moved to Minneapolis in the late 1990s, where she earned a theater degree from the University of Minnesota.[8] In 2014, she moved to Los Angeles to concentrate on her standup and acting career.[9]
Preston began performing standup shortly after college.[9] Her comedy is often autobiographical,[10] and includes topics such as her Upper Midwest accent and Fargo upbringing.[8] A lifelong fan of pop group New Kids on the Block, Preston will sometimes read aloud onstage from a series of novels published in the early 1990s in which the group has adventures in the mode of the Hardy Boys.[1]
She was the 2011 winner of the Best of the Midwest competition at Gilda's Laughfest in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[11] She was a finalist in the 2012 Great American Comedy Festival competition held in Norfolk, Nebraska, hometown of Johnny Carson.[12] In 2011, she was named one of the top 100 creative people in Minneapolis by City Pages.[13]
Preston and comic Andy Erikson (a fellow Minnesota transplant) co-host a weekly comedy showcase, Punchline Punchout, at the Hollywood Improv in Los Angeles; similar to a game show in format, the showcase gives comics 10 minutes to come up with punchlines on a given topic.[14]
Because of the coronavirus quarantine, Preston livestreamed a comedy set from her home in lieu of a traditional record-release show for Sparkly Parts.[15]
Reviewer Richard Lanoie, writing on The Serious Comedy Site, called Sparkly Parts "a hoot to listen to" with "no weak moments."[10]
Preston starred in the 2019 short film The Poacher, which screened at the 2020 Los Angeles Short Film Festival,[16] Culver City Film Festival,[17] and Yucca Valley Film Festival.[18]
