Chicks Aren't Funny: Funny women of the world, start talking

Posted at 11:52 AM Jan 11, 2010

By Andrea Grimes

photo by Brian Harkin // www.brianharkin.com

This is me, the first time I ever bombed hard at a gig.

​The hand-wringing and speculation about the lack of female comics and comedy writers has gone on long enough. Instead of hemming and hawing about why there aren't many female comedy writers, in late-night or otherwise, and in lieu of pondering and speculating and worrying, let's do what needs to be done. We can sit around and bitch and study about why women are the extreme minority voice in comedy, or we as women can step up and start talking.

Funny women of the world: get off your asses and start saying, doing and writing funny things in public, in front of people.

I'm fucking sick of it. I'm sick of being one of five women at a 50-comic open mic. I'm tired of taking improv classes with one other woman. I'm fucking tired of being introduced as "your female comic for the evening" or "lady comic Andrea Grimes." Women of the world: if you are funny, it is time to show it.

Because it boils down to this: there are so few women in comedy because so few women do comedy. We can wonder about why (heck, that's what my master's thesis is about), but in the meantime, let's just solve the damned problem by getting more women on-stage, on blogs and in writers' rooms making jokes.

What's your excuse? I know I had a ton of them before I bit the bullet and decided to become a comic.


Too busy? We're all busy. Intimidated? We're all intimidated. What if you're not funny? Don't worry, you won't be. No one is at first. That's why there's improv and stand-up classes, and open mics and books about comedy. Famous comedians making the big bucks have been working for decades to get where they are. Everyone sucks at first. The sooner you start, the sooner you will stop sucking.

For whatever reason (and again, wondering why is a great way to avoid actually fixing the problem), it simply seems logical to men to be on stage or in a writers' room, telling others what to laugh at. Comedy is a career men have. Comedy is a career men think about having. Comedy is not a career that is often on women's minds, even when they are funny. It seems to just be a door that is closed, or worse, invisible, to them.

That door is not closed. That door is not invisible. That door is wide fucking open to you, women, and I encourage you to walk through it.

Here are some places to start: take an improv or a sketch comedy class. Use your Google-fu to search "comedy theater" or similar in your city. Where I live, in Austin, you can take classes at The New Movement Theater or Coldtowne Theater. Chicago has Second City, and Los Angeles and New York have UCB theaters, among a veritable ton of other places to learn. If improv isn't your thing, do a stand-up comedy open mic. Buy The Comedy Bible and write something down about your mom or your dog or some shit. The comedy club in your town (or the nearest one of size) will have a weekly open mic. Bring as many of your friends as possible to pad the room so that if your jokes bomb, they won't bomb very hard, and keep coming week after week.

You will not be held back because you are a woman. Not now. You will eventually have to deal with some sexism and misogyny and idiocy, especially once you start working the road. But beginner comics tend to band together and support each other, and there is nothing but more room for more comics. And the good experienced comics, the ones who are about community and not competition, will befriend you and help you rise up. You will stand out as a woman. You will have new and interesting things to say because you are a woman. Say those things, and say them loud. The more women we have giving comedy a try, the more women we'll have sticking around and rising in the ranks. I think this could be about sheer numbers.

If you've been thinking about doing or writing comedy but haven't got the guts up to do it yet, make 2010 the year. Remember this: the longer you put it off, the longer you are putting off becoming really amazing at it. More than anything, comedy is about practice and commitment, and I know women are as good at both of those things as guys are.

No more excuses, ladies.