Chicks Aren't Funny: Q&A with funny feminist heroine Sarah Haskins

Posted at 2:15 PM Jul 06, 2009

By Andrea Grimes

Confession: I've been sitting on this interview with funny lady Sarah Haskins of Target: Women fame for three weeks because I did not want to go back and listen to me squealing "OH MY GOD I LOVE YOUR WORK SO MUCH" over and over again. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I've edited out the stupider things I had to say and put the questions in a relatively coherent order. I was honestly so starstruck by getting to interview this woman, I could barely keep it together.

Sarah spoke to me live (and early, for her) from her old bedroom in her parents' house in Chicago, where she was in town from Los Angeles to make the laughs happen, improv-style. She said her mom and sister were hanging around, so I immediately asked ...

Heartless Doll: Do you come from a family of wacky, crazy people?

Sarah Haskins: Not intentionally. I think they're funny people. But I don't think I stand out.

How did you start off in comedy?

I started doing improv in college. It was something I had like, two seconds' exposure to in high school, and I thought it was really fun. So when I got to school, they have like little improv shows for the incoming freshmen, and I auditioned for that and that's how I got my start.

Do you still perform now?

Yeah, that's why I'm in Chicago. I'm doing shows at the Just For Laughs festival. (Ed note: photos!)

Why do you think improv appeals to you?

I think because part of me just likes playing imaginary games. It's very much a team performance and it can get so silly. I guess because I'm a writer, too, you're a little bit writing on your feet as you're going.

Have you ever tried or wanted to try stand-up?

I'd think about it, but I'm kind of terrified. It seems, well, a) it's super-brave. And I also, I don't know if I'd be good with joke writing. I really respect what they do.

Do you think that being a woman affects your comedy at all?

I think the great thing about comedy is that everyone's perspective is brought to bear. It certainly does.

Do you consider it an advantage?

That's a good question. Interestingly, it can be sort of an advantage and a disadvantage on the business side of the world, because there are fewer women, relatively. It might be easier to get noticed, but maybe you have to prove you're funny a little bit more. On stage, that's another reason I like improv; you can play women, you can play men. You can play all different kinds of characters. You can play a pirate. I'm one of those people, you don't have to be "wife, mother, girlfriend" on stage. I think that ... so, yes. It does, but I think a lot of women doing improv and comedy don't want to be solely contained or defined by it.

Do you feel like feminists are perceived as being humorless?

It's a perception in the larger culture. But we're looking to change that.

Can you talk a little bit about your transition from doing improv and performing to where you are now as a writer and a screenwriter?

Well, in Chicago, where I'm from, there's Second City and I knew that was a little bit of an SNL theater and I knew a lot of great people had gone through that theater. I came back [after college] and worked there and took classes, and took classes at Improv Olympics, which is now called IO. I took the classes and just did like, a ton of shows. I was doing improv. I was doing a lot of sketch comedy. Starting ensembles, I was always working on something I was very passionate about. Then I toured with Second City for two years, and then I got the job at Current.

For Target: Women, do you just watch TV like 80 hours a day?

No, thank god. There's a great team behind Target: Women. It has grown, more and more. There's the producer/editor, Dylan Osborne. Jeff our production coordinator and our two PA's, Jason and Zach. We record a lot of media generally for InfoMania, so what the PA's do and what we do, we can scroll through. Skip through it and just watch the commercials. A lot of time, other people if they're watching shows and they see a ridiculous commercial, will send me an e-mail that says "Get this!"

How does it feel to be a feminist Internet hero?

It feels good. A lot of people have responded to what I'm doing. It's nice.

Do you get recognized on the street?

I got recognized last night, but I was at a comedy theater.

Have you experienced any backlash from Internet trolls from Target: Women or any of your work?

Yeah, I'm kind of terrified of those things. The Internet can be a very vicious place. But most places where my stuff is posted, even if they're critical, they're within reason. If they're saying something and making a point, it's not just an all-out attack, like "Why should
she live?" It's been posted on a couple sites where people were saying some mean things. And so it taught me to not read the comments. You read something negative and you really want to respond to it. But you can't go to that level.


(Here it just starts getting silly ...)