Welcome to WICF’s Weekend Write-Up: The First Go ’Round!

It’s been a great week over here at the Women in Comedy Festival blog: We’ve put out a call for writers (contact editor@womenincomedyfestival.com if you’re interested!) and we’re looking for feedback from you, our lovely readers (email info@womenincomedyfestival.com for suggestions for next year’s fest!) as we’re gearing up to open submissions for the 2011 festival next month! I’d also like to thank Kristin Cook, Associate Producer at Sesame Workshop, for giving me the opportunity to write what I humbly consider to be the perfect blog post: an interview with a charming lady who has an awesome job, accompanied by videos of Grover, Isaiah Mustafa and a Mad Men parody. (It also contained a True Blood parody, but I’m not including that in the list of what makes this the Best Post Ever as I don’t watch that show — I’m basically boycotting vampires, except for Annalise, which, full disclosure, I proofed. Also, I’m in love with the author.)


For a little light Friday fare, I’ve got the first of what I hope will be many website and show suggestions for you:

Website* of the Week

dooce www.dooce.com
Heather Armstrong’s influence on the Web has been such that she’s even coined her own, eponymous term for getting fired due to writing about one’s job on one’s blog (“dooced” even has its own entry in PC Magazine’s encyclopedia). More than being merely influential, Heather is funny. This sarcastic, at times sardonic, former Mormon and current HGTV- and mommy-blogger has range and wit in spades. She also often commands that her kids or her dogs cook her a hot dog, so she is truly a woman after my own heart. Start reading her blog from the beginning — when you’ve got days and days to kill (say, after surgery, or while your freshly-unemployed free time is as-yet-otherwise filled).
(*Thank you, Wired, for going to a single word, all-lowercase form for this term.)

Show to See

Gorefest VIII: Cirque Du Slaughte, at ImprovBoston, Cambridge, MA
In the eighth incarnation of the consistently sold-out show, ImprovBoston’s Director of Programming Don Schuerman brings the circus to the audience, complete with a contortionist, conjoined bearded-lady twins, and somebody named Ramaloke The Mysterious. The show is always funny, always deliciously inappropriate, and always a huge mess — don’t wear anything you wouldn’t want to have to try and wash food coloring out of. And maybe don’t make dinner plans for after the show.

WICF asked first-time Gorefest cast member Deana Tolliver, ImprovBoston’s Associate Managing Director and Director of Training and Sales, about her experiences in the show. Deana told us, “One of the veterans gave me her list of tips last night. They included: Bring your own towels, get some earplugs to protect you from the cannons, you can never have enough baby wipes, just accept that you will be covered in blood, don't even try to fix your hair between shows (it just hardens to a clump) and remember to clean yourself up as best you can before leaving the theater — you don't want to be walking home at 1 a.m. covered in blood. I can't wait.”

When asked about the opportunities for women in comedy in the show, Deana responded, “The women in this show are fantastic, this year has some of my favorite female roles I have seen anywhere. All of them are dark and hilarious: a desperate mother, conjoined twins, a magician's assistant, a mute contortionist, a lion tamer, plus an amazing duo of dancers. The amount of amazingly talented women working in the Boston area is impressive, and Gorefest put together an incredible line up.”

http://www.improvboston.com/gorefest for tickets,
Runs W/Th/F/Sa/Su 10/21-10/31
$22 adults/$19 students and seniors
Shows nightly at 8 p.m., also at 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.