Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Femmes to the front
Chicago Reader: Any working stand-up comic will tell you that comedy is a hustler’s game. Like so many forms of art and performance, becoming successful requires endless nights onstage at open mikes to perfect the craft. This standard grind is an entirely different beast for women.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Comedy is an art form that is so dependent on the relationship between performer and audience, which is what makes it so scary––a successful comic needs the audience to trust in them and work with them, so the myth that “women aren’t funny” makes it really hard for women and queer people to break into the scene if audiences continue to be primed to expect cis male performers. This article makes a great point: it’s 2024, why are we still asking ourselves whether women are funny when the proof is right in front of us? This question is a thing of the past. Glitterus and similar ventures also show us that you can make a dark joke or comment on society without relying on tired and offensive stereotypes. It’s not that today’s audiences “can’t take a joke,” it’s that the same old cruel jokes being told simply aren’t funny. Solid comedy can walk the line between sardonic and uplifting instead of just tearing other people down due to facets of their identity.
What these women are doing with Glitterus is brave and it proves that we can make a change in an industry without having to wait for the industry to catch up with the times. Everyone deserves a chance to get up on that stage and follow their passion without fearing for their safety and I strongly encourage more people to be open to making that space for others. In my opinion, a lot of good would come from bars with comedy shows having a “Lady's Night” once a week that is more chill and relaxed for those who feel nervous to come in and be accepted. If we focus on changing the venues to be more welcoming places we can eventually have places where everyone regardless of gender or identity can feel respected the second they step onto the stage. To me, a confident comedic performer is always more entertaining than someone fearful of the audience and rejection.
As soon as I started reading this article I was reminded of an argument I had gotten into with an acquaintance of mine in high school. He loved comedy and even performed his own shows at school. While talking, we somehow had gotten on the topic of late night show hosts when I made a comment about the lack of female late night hosts and comedians– a lack that is so great it is almost like an absence. I was immediately met with all these explanations about how women “can’t be funny” and are “too sensitive”. I remember walking away from that conversation feeling defeated, so seeing this article was amazing. I love love love the idea of a comedy venue and show centered around women and queer comedians. Just as pointed out in the article, comedy spaces are usually scary, and sometimes dangerous, for women. The idea of Glitterus makes me feel so happy and provides a safe space for women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community to enjoy ACTUAL FUNNY comedy (none of those same, old, not funny, sexist jokes all the male comedians make). I will definitely swing by if I am ever in Chicago one day!
WOMEN IN COMEDY!!! MY FAVORITE THING!!! The comedy industry has always been something that has interested me. Since I was little I was weirdly obsessed with stand-up, and since I have known that SNL existed it has always been something I could see myself doing. (Not necessarily on-stage, but having my hand in one of those rooms or on that set would be really cool.) I have looked up to the trailblazers in comedy like Lucille Ball, or Tina Fey and how they continue to defy odds and reinvent the industry. This article brings forward female comedians and uplifts their voices, reminding audiences that “The scarcity complex doesn’t have to exist. All these women are hilarious.” I am surrounded by hilarious women every single day- the misconception that we aren’t funny is? Stale? Untrue? Offensive? All of those things. Let’s continue to give people the platform to share their funny art!
This is such an awesome idea - and simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking that it exists. Glitterus, as an organization, seems to be helpful in providing not only a job, but an authentic space for women & queer comics who haven’t previously been given that space in the ‘normal’ comic scene. I particularly appreciate the quote, “Why do we trust men with microphones?” said by Grace Filpatrick. Though the quote could be interpreted as somewhat humorous, I think there’s a dark truth behind the unconscious bias toward male-presenting public voices and at the same time, against female-presenting ones. Glitterus works against the grain to combat the product of that, not the causes. There is a somewhat trite example these days of such bias in a completely separate field - with a lack of female engineers working on car seats and seatbelts, and as a result, a disproportionate amount of assigned-female-at-birth folks are injured or killed in car accidents. While such an example is much more grim than that of the article, the common thread is the chronic underrepresentation of women in a variety of fields.
Post a Comment