A few months ago one of my favorite up-and-coming young comedians and three-time WICF performer, Josh Gondelman, opened for comedy legend Steven Wright at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, MA. I had the opportunity to do a short interview with them after the show, and a longer telephone interview with Steven Wright just yesterday.
I’ve heard the expression “Never meet your idols” and that’s sometimes true (I’m looking at you, unnamed New Yorker cartoonist) but in this case I couldn’t have been happier to have made the four-plus hour drive to Northampton and back. As I headed home at 1 am in the driving rain, all I could do was pump a fist in the air and say, “Worth it!” Both Steven and Josh couldn’t have been kinder or more generous with their time.
I love a lot of styles of stand up, but Wright’s concise, absurdist jokes are most in line with — and have been a huge influence on — my own style. I started out by asking him about his comedy voice:
Steven: I have no rules, this section, that section, I like Andrew Dice Clay, Robert Schimmel, both filthy comedians, and really smart, especially Schimmel. If it’s funny it’s funny. I don’t go for categories.
The late and great Robert Schimmel’s graphic, hilarious, and instructive (gentle, gentlemen) stories about his first sexual encounter. (NSFW)
Michelle:And your voice finds you, right? It’s just what comes out of you.
Steven: I’m just narrating my brain.
Michelle:Josh, how would you describe your style?
Josh: I'd call it "friendly."
Michelle:As a young comedian, how is your style evolving?
Josh: I'm working on moving from being a short joke writer to being able to nest jokes inside longer stories and sustain an audience's attention that way. I'm trying to be able to talk about my whole life in a funny way, too, and not just present things that seem like obvious jokes.
I missed New England. It’s in me. New England is part of the fabric of me and I wanted to go home.
Michelle:What was it like opening for Steven Wright?
Josh: It was really fun! The crowd was great, and the Calvin Theater was beautiful. Steven was really nice, and it was amazing to sit backstage and watch him perform.
Michelle:Is opening a show a different beast from headlining?
Josh: Opening and closing a show have different benefits and challenges, for sure. When you open, you've got to get a crowd ready to hear jokes, plus they've never heard of you, so you have to prove you're competent. Closing a show, people are there to see -you-, so there's less to prove up front, but the responsibility of sending people home happy is more on you.
Michelle:So what is it like to close for Josh?
Steven: I was happy that he allowed me to do that and the audience liked both of us so it was good.
Michelle:You still live in Boston, right?
Steven: I grew up in Burlington, went to Boston, went to New York City, LA, New York City, and then back to Boston.
Michelle:What made you come back to Boston?
Steven: I missed New England. It’s in me. New England is part of the fabric of me and I wanted to go home.
Michelle: What are your other favorite places that you’ve lived?
Steven: New York City. That’s the best. Have fun there, Josh. There’s nothing like New York City.
Michelle: What do you love about it?
Steven: The energy, the stimulation, all different people. Food, music, art, there’s just a huge spectrum, and the energy’s incredible.
Michelle:Do you think that’s the place for young comedians to go?
Steven: For me I started in Boston. I like that I started not in LA or New York, so I could develop without people watching me and getting in side of me, and then I went, so I think it’s good to start somewhere else and then go to these places.
Michelle: Do you feel like Boston is a good place to start? Is it a welcoming atmosphere?
Steven: It was when I was in the clubs.
Michelle:What were some of the clubs you were at?
Steven: Comedy Connection (now defunct) was in a different place and Ding Ho Comedy Club was in Inman Square. Those were the two clubs and then there were other places that had one thing a night.
Michelle: Josh, how did you find Boston as a city to start out doing comedy?
If the audience isn't there for comedy, they're not obligated to listen to you. Maybe they just want to drink beer and watch football. Comedy isn't the center of everyone's universe.
Josh: Boston was a great place to start out. There was a great mix of really accomplished headliners like Tony V and Lenny Clarke to learn from, as well as a crop of guys like Joe List and Myq Kaplan who were starting to come into their own. There's a lot of good stage time, and a really supportive and loyal community of comedians.
Michelle:How is New York different? Any tips for comedians moving there?
Josh: New York is so vast. There are so many shows, and so many comedians, and it's taken me a little while to figure out what places I like to hang out at and like to perform at. I'd say if you move, be prepared to work really hard all the time, because people here have a really intense and inspiring work ethic for both writing and getting onstage. Also, I'm still pretty new, so if anyone has tips for me, I'll take those!
Michelle:Who are some of your comedy influences? Who are some female comedians you admire?
Josh: So many influences! I'm a big hometown booster, so I love to see people like Bill Burr and Shane Mauss and Joe Wong who came out of the Boston scene. In terms of female comedians, I think that Wendy Liebman's joke writing is pretty perfect. And Kelly MacFarland is just such a dynamic and engaging performer onstage. Gah! So many! I love how Tig Notaro can work so quietly and really draw the crowd in to her. Maria Bamford has such a singular comedic voice, which is a thing I really try to strive for.
Michelle:Do you write everyday? What are some of your techniques?
Josh: I do write every day. Sometimes travel makes it difficult, but I try to at least tweak some old jokes or make notes for something I want to work on. It helps me to write for different projects, so if I'm burned out on jokes, I'll write an essay or a sketch, and then I'll come back to standup stuff.
Michelle:What have been your biggest challenges in stand up?
Josh: It's always frustrating to have an idea that you think is funny that you just can't get audiences on board with. Translating my actual thoughts and feelings into jokes is challenging, but really exciting when I can get it right.
Michelle:Which have been your best experiences?
Josh: I always love to do shows with people I like as friends and admire as comedians. When I recorded my CD ("Everything's the Best" out now on Rooftop Comedy Productions and available on iTunes), I had some of my best friends and favorite people on the shows with me. Shawn Donovan, Sean Sullivan, Myq Kaplan, Dan Boulger, Erin Judge, and Gaby Dunn. It was really nice to have people that I really like and enjoy around on a night that was kind of important for me. My parents and sister came too, and they're not comedians, but they are terrific.
Michelle: You ran an open mic night on Boston for a long time. What is your advice to comedians trying to perform for less than rapt audiences at open mics?
Josh: Don't be too self-deprecating if it's not going well. Just learn how to be onstage and feel comfortable. If the audience isn't there for comedy, they're not obligated to listen to you. Maybe they just want to drink beer and watch football. Comedy isn't the center of everyone's universe.
I continued my interview with Steven Wright more recently by telephone:
Michelle: I went to call you and I realized I had no idea when a good time to call you would be. What is a typical day like for you?
Steven: Reading and exercising and just writing something I write stuff down all the time the notebooks are all mixed together with serious thoughts, funny thoughts, play the guitar, hang out with my friends and then a joke jumps out and and I write it down.
Michelle: Have you ever had a regular office job?
Paula Poundstone. I started with her. I went to see her a couple of weeks ago at the Wilbur and I was stunned. She's a genius. She's absolutely amazing.
Steven: I had jobs in college. I got lucky. I started doing comedy in '79 I was painting dorms, MIT COOP bookstore, then when I started making a little bit of money I just started making a living doing comedy. Back then there were a bunch of clubs in Boston you could make a living just performing in Boston. I don't mean a good living — you could just barely pay your rent. I got lucky. Wen you're in your early twenties and you can pay rent, that's really something.
Michelle: I was really heartened when you took an interest in the Women in Comedy Festival.
Steven: I like to see people at an early stage of comedy. I know hard it is and I like to see someone figuring it out. I respect people who put themselves on the line like that. It's like watching someone walk a tightrope. It's not just new people. I went to see Don Gavin a couple of weeks ago and he's been doing it for 30 years. I like seeing people do it, especially because I do it myself. It's like seeing another baseball team.
Michelle: Who are some female comedians you like?
Steven: Paula Poundstone. I started with her. I went to see her a couple of weeks ago at the Wilbur and I was stunned. She's a genius. She's absolutely amazing. She was talking to some people in the audience and she did almost 30 minutes off the top of her head that was the same level of her act. She was amazing.
Carol Leifer, Elaine Boosler is an amazing comedian. Wendy Liebman is great too.
Michelle: You don't go out to clubs to work out new material. How do you do you develop your new jokes?
Steven: When I'm out touring, I just slide it in. The clubs I haven't done a while. When I'd put together a five-minute set for TV even that was material I was familiar with and would assemble it into a set. I'd go to the clubs to assemble the it.
Michelle: I don't know why it's so weird that I'm talking to Steven Wright and you sound just like Steven Wright. That shouldn't be weird but it is.
Steven: [Laughing (yes, people, I made Steven Wright laugh)] I've gotten versions of that before. Somehow people think that how I talk on stage is something I'm putting on. What happened was that when I started out, I was so afraid of being on stage even though I talk like this it was more of a monotone, it came out afraid in the beginning and then what I do now is a version of that, but it's just how it comes out. I don't think I'm going on stage now I have to talk like this [monotone].
Michelle: But you do have a slightly modified version of your speech on stage. Right now you're more animated than on stage.
Steven: That's true. But it's not something I think about, "now I'm going on stage, I have talk a certain way", it just come out.
Michelle: You've said in the past that your comedy comes organically from your thoughts and conversations, rather than sitting down to write, how do you keep track of and develop your thoughts into jokes?
Steven: It all comes down to kidding around but only some of it's jokes. Kidding around with your friends, but sometimes a joke will pop out. You just have to have a sense of humor.
You mentioned Monty Python. I really loved them too. They were surreal, like a Dali painting.
Michelle: Were you always like that? Always kidding around?
Steven: I was funny with my friends in junior high, but my one or two friends. I wasn't trying to get a whole class of 30 to turn around and laugh. But I wanted to just kid around and I was funny at doing that. I realized I wanted to do stand up by watching Johnny Carson. I loved Johnny Carson, and then the people who would come on, this was around 1970, people like David Brenner, Bill Cosby, Robert Klein, and of course George Carlin, and I thought, this is fascinating! These people are just standing there saying this stuff on stage, and that's when I realized you could do that and I started to want to do it.
Carlin is tops. When I met him I couldn't believe I was talking to him. He wrote more than any other comedian ever. And he was so nice and so supportive.
Michelle: He seemed like he was really passionate about comedy and about what he thought was right and wrong, and that he wasn't a jealous person. He wanted to see others succeed.
Steven: Yes, he did. He was amazing.
There was a radio show in Boston when I was a kid that would play comedy albums. Every week on the show the guy would play two comedy albums and that's where I first heard Woody Allen. To me he's the greatest. You mentioned Monty Python. I really loved them too. They were surreal, like a Dali painting.
Michelle: You’re also an artist. How long have you been dong art?
Steven: I was drawing since second or third grade, I switched to abstract stuff in my early twenties. When you draw something real you really notice the details in things and then later in comedy is based on noticing things in the world, that's were the comedy in the world. If there was a wine bottle on a table next to a glass, you want to make it as real as possible, there's a shape between the bottle and the glass. It took my along time that there was a shape in between. Really noticing things because you're really trying to draw them accurately.
Two ideas that have a common denominator that aren't usually connected.
Michelle: I love that quote!
Steven: With painting, it just hits me I need to paint. Usually it's just one painting, but last summer I did a bunch. (You can see some of Steven Wright's work on his website here.) I love the abstract stuff because it doesn't have to make any sense. It's in your gut and comedy is complete logic. It's another way of creating where there's no logic. I barely even know what it is. It's just a feeling.
Michelle: Now that's the technology is so accessible, have you thought of doing more of your own films or is stand up really where your heart is?
Steven: I want to do more of everything. Comedy is thinking. You can't stop your brain. I've mostly been doing stand up but I want to do more of everything.
Michelle: (Amen to that. We all want more of everything from the mind of Steven Wright. )
Thank you so much Steven, this has truly been an honor.
Steven: Thank you and congratulations on the festival. I'll definitely try to get something this weekend.
Steven Wright and Rowan Atkinson in a scene from Wright’s 1988 HBO film “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings." The film was co-written by Steven Wright. Clearly.
-Josh Gondelman on RooftopComedy.com "Why I Quit Teaching."
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You may see Steven at the Women in Comedy Festival watching the WICF performers out there - putting themselves on the line and walking that comedy tightrope.
Michelle Barbera is Co-Creator and Co-Producer of the Women in comedy Festival. She has been performing, producing, writing, and directing comedy for over a decade. She lives in the Boston area with her husband, daughter, cat, and various species of unwanted ants.
I once accidentally insulted Myq Kaplan while he was working the door at a show above the Hong Kong in Harvard Square. This was a major moment in my life. I'm fairly certain it didn't even register as a blip on his radar.
Myq Kaplan is awesome.
He also performed on Conan last month, so I can safely assume that A. Conan O'Brien thinks Myq Kaplan is awesome, too, and B. I'm in pretty good company.
Myq Kaplan Talks Chuck Norris, Veganism, and WWJD on Conan
Make sure you're in Cambridge for WICF 2012 when Myq Kaplan and Micah Sherman host the stand-up comedy showcase on March 24, at 7 PM in the ImprovBoston mainstage theater. Co-Producer Michelle Barbera, Selena Coppock, Leah Dubie, Gaby Dunn, Chris Flmeing, Meghan Hanley and The Lucas Bros perform.
UPDATE: Since we published this post, The New York Times has one-upped us and published "A Stand-Up Joke Is Born," chronicling Myq's comedic creative process (with a bonus mention of WICF stalwart Josh Gondelman). We know when we're beat, so we're happily directing you to the Times article. Congratulations, Myq!
Looking for something horrifically entertaining to do tonight? We recommend WICF alum Matt Kona's show "Comics Coming Up ... From The Grave" — check it out at Grandma's Basement!
It may or may not be Jess Sutich's last show in Boston. We'll leave you in suspense — find out tonight at: 9 pm at Grandma's Basement inside the Howard Johnson 1271 Boylston St. Boston, MA $5 Matt Kona hosts: Benny Bosh, Jess Sutich, Sean Wilkinson, Nick Chambers, Rob Crean, Robbie Goodwin, Tom Dunlap and Shaun Connolly
Having arrived at Laugh's Comedy Spot (laughscomedy.com) an hour and a half early, I nervously drank about ten glasses of water while sitting in the back of the room. One of the bartenders, Aaron, sat next to me and asked what my napkin had done to me to deserve being shredded into confetti. I told him that I was anxious about hosting because the headliner, Jackie Kashian, was really awesome and funny and I didn't want to do poorly as an MC. He laughed and reminded me that Jackie was super nice, and told me I should stop being a scaredy cat and act like a grown up adult, which I am.
Jackie Kashian, WICF 2010 Headliner
Both shows went really well. Jackie, who has had a Comedy Central half hour special, has been doing stand up for 22 years. She's one of the strongest headliners I've had the pleasure to work with. She's likeable, funny and smart, with very engaging, interesting stories replete with ample punchlines. A past headliner of the Women in Comedy Festival, she was nice enough to give me a little interview in between shows. Jackie started in comedy in Wisconsin, and moved to Minneapolis after completing college. Six years later, she did the Aspen Comedy Festival and then moved to L.A.
About moving to L.A., Jackie said, “Whenever you move to a new town, you have to prove you're funny again and you can't be too cocky about it; that was the downfall of several comics I met who moved there after me. They were like, "I'm huge in Chicago." Yeah, but there's 10,000 comics. You gotta reintroduce. If you're super funny it helps. It'll be easier.”
Jackie said her favorite up and coming comics/best kept secrets in comedy are Erin Foley, Aparna Nancherla, Mary Mack, and Dave Ross. Her all time favorites are Maria Bamford and Dana Gould. She tried to name every comedian in the world but we had to move on. Earnestly and sweetly, she said she felt bad because she knew she was forgetting people.
I asked her if she had any advice for new comedians. Jackie said that the best advice she ever got is posted on her website (jackiekashian.com), and came from Vanda Michaels:
1. Never compare yourself
2. Be yourself
3. Take risks
4. Don't go for the obvious
5. Be patient a. With your creativity, and b. With your career
6. Have fun
Jackie thoughtfully added, “The most important part is the have fun part because I know people who keep doing it and they're angry and I'm like, stop doing it, there's other work, there's easier work ... It's comedy. It's so supposed to be fun."
Jackie has been hosting a popular podcast called "The Dork Forest" for six years. The premise is that Jackie and her guests talk about all things dorky and anything they may feel nerdy about. It's based on a hilarious joke she does about the dork forest:
“Now everyone's like, 'I have a tree in the dork forest.' Then they'd tell me that they knit. And I'd be like, 'I don't think of knitting as a dorkdom' but it is, because everything is, whatever weird - 'Oh, you collect sneakers? Okay.'”
One of the many things I love about Jackie is that she appeals to alternative comedy crowds, but also to a mainstream audience. Most comedians seem to be one or the other. She can work vegan coffee shops in Portland, and also comedy clubs on the road. About this concept, Jackie said, “About four years ago I was worried about it, but then I kinda embraced it ... I would describe myself as the golden retriever of stand-up comedy because basically any room is on board. For a while I was worried about it. I called Maria (Bamford) and I said, "Does that make me a hack?" And she said, "No, it just means for some reason that you're accessible.'” Jackie said she wasn't trying to appeal to any specific niche. She was just trying to talk about what she found funny in an honest, real way. This effort is clear in her act, which is comprised of intelligent, sincere, truthful and hysterical anecdotes. “So I don't know how I'm doing it, but stand-up comedy, as you keep doing it, you find what you want to talk about and you find out how to talk about the normal stuff that everyone talks about. Like I talk about being married, oh my god that's been addressed. But part of it is my discovery of it, which makes it my own angle.”
Jackie Kashian is an amazing headliner with smart, punchy, tight stories and a likeable delivery. She was a delight to chat with and an inspiration to work with.
Jackie is headlining the Laughing Skull in Atlanta, October 6th-9th. For more information about upcoming dates, check out jackiekashian.com.
Barbara Holm is a stand-up comedian from Seattle, Washington. She has performed at Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Women in Comedy Festival, and Bumbershoot Festival. She has been described as clever, creative and unique.
After watching ten hours of stand up in three days at a festival, a normal human might be tired or ready to go live in the real world. Luckily, I’m not programmed that way. Instead, I found myself weaving quickly through hundreds of festival-goers enjoying the last days of warmth before 10 months of rain. Ignoring the sun-kissed populace, I made my way into a dark indoor theater. I snagged a front row seat in what was about to be another sold out comedy show.
Bumbershoot, Seattle’s Labor Day weekend performance arts festival, is in its 40th year. I saw a lot of amazing stand up, including but not limited to Hari Kondabolu, Amy Schumer, Anthony Jeselnik, Andy Haynes, Rory Scovel, and Baron Vaughn. On the local stage (which was booked by Seattle’s People’s Republic of Komedy) my favorites were Rylee Newton, Ian Karmel and Mike Drucker.
Amy Schumer was wonderful in the festival. Her writing is so tight; she had a punchline in practically every single sentence. Relying on garden path sentences and misdirection, she established herself as a clever one-liner comic, without being obvious about telegraphing in which direction the punchline would go. She is a very witty joke writer with cheerful, confident delivery.
After the show I just happened to run into Amy, completely on purpose. I was shy and awkward, but she was nice, sincere and even let me ask her a few questions about comedy! Amy has been doing stand up for seven years, which is impressive considering she has a super funny Comedy Central Presents and has performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She placed fourth on Last Comic Standing when she was only three years in. I asked her if she was scared on that show and she said, “No, I knew I just had to have fun with it and enjoy every minute of it.” It was such a positive message that I am going to try to apply it to my own approach for work.
Video of Amy Schumer taking on a heckler. For more videos, see her website www.amyschumer.com.
Amy grew up on Long Island and began her comedy career in New York City. I’m always interested in how people feel about starting out in such a large, competitive scene. Amy articulately and sweetly explained, “I equate it to learning how to surf. If you learn how to surf on the short board, you can surf on anything. If you learn on a long board, you can only surf on that.” And New York City is definitely the shortest of the comedy surf boards.
A question I love asking headliners is whether they have any advice for new comedians, and they almost always say some form of the same thing — so it must be true. “Stage time,” Amy said confidently. “That’s it. There’s no shortcut.”
Amy Schumer was hilarious and smart on stage, establishing herself as one of the stronger comedians on the festival. She was extraordinarily friendly, funny and earnest in conversation and overall delightfully inspirational for me.
Amy’s album Cutting (which is great!) was released in April of this year. She has a recurring role on the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. For more information, go to www.amyschumer.com.
Barbara Holm is a stand-up comedian from Seattle, Washington. She has performed at Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Women in Comedy Festival, and Bumbershoot Festival. She has been described as clever, creative and unique.
I’ve always liked being a girl. I was raised to think that being a girl meant I could do anything I set my mind to. I could be smart, funny, athletic, strong, caring, or any other wonderful adjective you could think of. I never felt that being a girl made me in any way weaker than a guy. That is, I never felt that way until I moved to New York and started doing stand-up comedy.
The first time I went to an open mic, I felt it. I looked around the room and immediately knew I was the odd girl out, and by "odd girl out," I mean "one of the only girl comics in the room, and for that matter, the only girl in the room wearing a cute skirt, dangling earrings, smoky eye shadow and her hair in carefully styled curls." Every insecurity I had about trying stand up for the first time was amplified by the fact that I clearly did not fit in. When I was finally called to the stage, I did terribly. I went up without a notebook, without a tape recorder and without a clue. I was unprepared for what the spotlight would feel like or how unnerving it would be standing in front of 40 jaded comics who were waiting for me to get off stage so they could have their time. Even the mic stand terrified me. An inanimate object intimidated me because I had no idea how it worked. I completely blanked on my material and as I sat back down I realized that even if I hadn’t blanked the crowd wouldn’t have liked it because my ideas were just too … girly.
I had never before felt as though my girlishness was a weakness. If anything it was an edge. When I had done improv and sketch comedy in Boston, I knew that even though I was probably never the funniest person in a room, my point of view was important because it was a girl’s. But in the New York stand-up scene I felt like a freak. A super girly freak. Everyone else seemed cool and cynical and brooding and I was spastic and hopeful and upbeat. Even my brightly covered spiral bound notebook clashed against everyone else’s sleek, black, little moleskins.
Somehow, this feeling of not fitting in made me want to pursue stand up even more. I have this weird thing where if you tell me I can't accomplish something, I become determined to prove you wrong. My drive quadruples if you tell me the reason I can’t accomplish it is because I’m a girl. In fact, it’s no longer a challenge, but a game. The truth was, I really liked doing stand up. As terrifying and uncomfortable as all those open mics were, I felt like I was unlocking a new creative side of me. The only thing that really upset me about stand up was “the girl issue.” For the first time in my life, people were calling me “pretty” to my face, and for the first time in my life, it was the last thing I wanted to hear. I would get off stage and the host would say, “Isn’t she pretty?”, and all I could think was, “Yeah, but was I funny?” I felt like no one took me seriously because of how I looked and it frustrated me to no end.
Because I had just moved to New York and because I had just started stand-up comedy, I didn’t have the same support system of female comics to turn to that I did in Boston. I didn’t know who to talk to about the problem without sounding like a whiner baby. So, I did the classy thing and I googled every established female comic’s name I could think of, hoping for some insight into how they dealt with the issue. Finally, I came across an interview with Julie Klausner in which she gave some advice:
Q: With all of the recent talk of women comedy writers on late night TV, what advice would you give to women who aren't mousy, who take pride in the way they dress and are decidedly feminine, yet are also funny as hell and deserve a chance to work alongside their schlubby comedy peers?
A: Just advice that anybody who isn't crazy or stupid would give–don't let anybody make you feel so bad it gets in your way, and do the work you love. If it's a matter of figuring out which of your friends make you feel awful, by all means get rid of the ones that do. But if you want to succeed, make sure your work is so good that it speaks for itself, so you could come into the office wearing a pink tutu, ala The Rock in The Tooth Fairy, and your colleagues will be like, "Yay! You are here! Who gives a shit that you are crazy!"
Something finally clicked in my head. The other comics weren't cold to me because I was a girl. They were cold because I was new, inexperienced, and wasn't working a fraction as hard as the rest of them. I didn’t go to a lot of mics or shows and I had yet to kill on stage. I hadn’t paid my dues yet. Suddenly the whole weight of "I'm a girly girl and that's why they hate me" was gone. I realized that I had mistakenly displaced a lot of my anxiety about being new to comedy on my gender. I didn’t need to worry about what people thought about what I was wearing; it didn’t matter what I was wearing. I needed to worry about my comedy.
So, I applied myself. I started going to three mics a week, then five, then seven, now I aim for at least eight. I tried my best to be humble at all times. I told myself to never get mad at the audience for not laughing. I attempted to look at every mic as a privilege and not an onus. I didn't bother people I barely knew before the mics when they were writing. Somehow during this transition period I managed to write my first good joke. I know it was a good joke because it's the first joke I've ever written that will always get a laugh. And because as soon as I wrote that joke, other comics started to talk to me like I was one of them. I was no longer the silly new girl who was interloping into their world; I was the silly new comic who was working hard and who also happened to be a girl.
Meghan O'Keefe: A girl, her stage, and a mic
I'm not saying sexism in comedy doesn't persist. It does. It's ugly and horrible and still exists in small, but loud, corners of the New York comedy scene. There still is an unmistakable boys’ club vibe at most open mics and stand-up comedy shows. However, I've also been told by bookers and producers that it's somehow easier for women in comedy. How? Because we're in demand. In my own personal experience — and this is limited to Boston and New York — the really talented and smart men who are in comedy today (i.e. the ones that matter) are all really rooting for women in comedy to succeed. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard male comics gush about how Maria Bamford is their favorite stand up (male or female) working today. I've heard guys quote Brooke Van Poppelen and Jessi Klein material to help make a conversational point. Don't even get me started on how much they all adore Kristen Schaal, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey. And those are just the big names. There are dozens upon dozens of strong, smart, talented female comics who are making their way up the stand-up comedy ladder in New York who boast male comics as their best friends and most ardent supporters.
I guess what it's taken a long time for me to say is that if I'm doing poorly, I never want to blame it on being a girl. There's no problem with me being a super girly comedian because there's nothing wrong with being super girly. If I'm not getting the laughs or spots I want, I have to examine why my comedy isn't working — not my gender. There will be people who don’t like me only because I’m a girl. Some of them will be bookers and producers and other such gatekeepers of the comedy world. But I don’t think I can convince a sexist to book me by whining about his (or her) sexism. I think the only way to conquer that is to be the funniest person I can be. The phrase for it that I keep hearing and reading is you have to be "undeniably funny." You know, so good at it that no one can deny your talent no matter what you look like, what you sound like or what you talk about onstage. It’s an idea that doesn’t just apply to female comics, but every comic.
I know that because I am still ridiculously new I still haven’t seen every side to this issue. I’m sure down the road many of my opinions on this topic will change, but I hope my attitude doesn’t. At this point, I don’t see how being bitter about sexism is going to help me be funnier. I think focusing on my comedy is the only thing that’s going to help me become funnier, so that’s what I’m going to do.
Meghan O'Keefe is a comedian in NYC. She blogs at megsokay.tumblr.com — check it out to find out when and where to catch her, live!
For our inaugural edition of "Five Easy Question With...", we interviewed stand-up comedian and 2009 WICF performer Bethany Van Delft about comedy, fashion, and really bad TV.
1.) Bethany, you are also a fashion model. How does that lifestyle affect how you do stand up?
Some times I have the urge to walk to the edge of the stage and strike a pose in the middle of my set. Other than that, it's pretty compatible.
2.) Would you rather get a hour long stand up special with a cable network or win a lifetime supply of the most fashionable clothes ever made?
I'd rather have the hour long cable special, which would hopefully be very wicked successful, so that I'd become very extremely rich and able to buy a lifetime supply of the most fashionable clothes ever made.
3.) If you could go back in time to when you started doing stand up comedy, what advice would you give yourself?
Stop what you're doing immediately, go to law school! But if I didn't listen and decided to pursue stand up comedy anyway, I'd say, "Behave like you are fearless on stage and one day you will be."
4.) What's one of your guiltiest pleasures?
Horrible, brain-rotting reality TV. And guilt.
5.) What are your plans for the next year? Where can fans see you perform, and what new projects are you excited about?
I plan on being on TV next year, hopefully the industry won't give me a hard time about it. In the meantime and also, I will be on Comedy Central Mobile's "Funaticos" sometime in early 2010, and I will be at my favorite Boston comedy clubs, The Comedy Studio, Mottley's and Tommy's Comedy Lounge. And, fingers crossed, I'll be in the WICF ;-) Check out my calendar at www.bethanyvandelft.com.
Boston Magazine interviewed Women in Comedy Festival 2012 comedian Lillian DeVane! See her THIS weekend at the festival:
Barbara Holm is a stand-up comedian from Seattle, Washington. She has performed at Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Women in Comedy Festival, and Bumbershoot Festival. She has been described as clever, creative and unique.
