No Women Featured in NY Comedy Festival! No Joke!

starkserious · Post by **starkserious** » October 14th, 2009, 2:35 am

I was dumbfounded when I read this....http://digg.com/comedy/No_Women_Feature ... y_Festival

Jastroch · Post by **Jastroch** » October 14th, 2009, 3:06 am

"The New York Comedy Festival ad features ten men and no women."

So, let me ask you this, since it begs the question. Is anyone for affirmative action when it comes to comedy booking? Should there be a female quota in every troupe, stand up show or TV writing staff?

PyroDan · Post by **PyroDan** » October 14th, 2009, 3:34 am

Decent article, but a lot of whine and no cheese. They hit it on the head with Fey & Poehlers' assesment that the work needs to be by women to be truly successful. You can't expect a bunch of swinging dicks to write much more than a stereotype for you.
I've known lots of great female comedians, and improvisors been on stage with them, and enjoyed it.

Oh, and I enjoy sex with women too, and when they are funny, they are hotter.

Jessica · Post by **Jessica** » October 14th, 2009, 9:01 am

Jastroch wrote: So, let me ask you this, since it begs the question. Is anyone for affirmative action when it comes to comedy booking? Should there be a female quota in every troupe, stand up show or TV writing staff?

I against rules for such things for sure. But I think it is a good thing to pay attention to. Like if you are looking for a new troupe mate and you are an all male troupe, then I think it is good to have the discussion about gender. Then maybe look to women first when filling in that extra roll. But in creative endeavors, I think is is not a good idea to make hard and fast rules.

Asaf · Post by **Asaf** » October 14th, 2009, 10:37 pm

Festivals are the ultimate opportunity for cross-promotion. In booking a comedy festival, you want to appeal to as many different sensibilities as possible and to not have ANY women on there is a mistake in that regards.

It is not as if there aren't hundreds of talented female comics out there to choose from. Look at who we have here in town alone: Kerri Lendo, Ruby Collins, Randa Briggs, et al.

Jastroch · Post by **Jastroch** » October 14th, 2009, 10:52 pm

Right. As near as I can tell from this article, there are no women featured on the ad. Meaning there are no huge female headlining acts.

I don't think anyone seriously argues that women aren't funny anymore. But to scream gender discrimination everytime women seem to be under represented, especially in this case seems to be a little overboard.

Asaf · Post by **Asaf** » October 14th, 2009, 11:35 pm

Actually, I went to the website for the festival and was having trouble finding any female performers associated with the event.

Jastroch · Post by **Jastroch** » October 15th, 2009, 12:02 am

I went there too. Amongst the six headliners they have listed, I see no women, but there are also sketch and stand up showcases where they have no performers listed.

sara farr · Post by **sara farr** » October 15th, 2009, 2:46 am

Didn't you hear?

A) Women have their OWN festival now and didn't apply to one that would have mostly men. The were worried they'd get f'd by improboners.

B) That festival is gay.

C) Comedy is out of fashion.

<wink>

PyroDan · Post by **PyroDan** » October 15th, 2009, 3:16 am

Somehow, I don't think point A and point B go together.

Somehow, I think I would rather be the token guy act at an all woman comedy fest, then the headliner of an all male revue. Helllooooo odds!

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » October 15th, 2009, 2:13 pm

PyroDan wrote:Somehow, I don't think point A and point B go together.

Somehow, I think I would rather be the token guy act at an all woman comedy fest, then the headliner of an all male revue. Helllooooo odds!

Okay, somebody have sex with PyroDan before this gets out of hand.

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell · October 15th, 2009, 7:23 pm

i don't think there should need to be enforced guidelines for gender representation, but i think a festival environment should strive for as much of ANY kind of diversity as it can get its hands on, to showcase a variety of voices. and female voices and perspectives are woefully underheard and underrepresented in the world of comedy more often than not...which is both institutional and to be entirely fair somewhat self imposed. so it's a good thing to be aware and mindful of...on both ends.

PyroDan · Post by **PyroDan** » October 15th, 2009, 11:24 pm

Boy i'm just making a bad impression on here aren't I?

I guess I have an Improboner.

Oh I'm lonely [whimper]

nadine · Post by **nadine** » October 16th, 2009, 2:47 pm

the_reverend wrote:i don't think there should need to be enforced guidelines for gender representation, but i think a festival environment should strive for as much of ANY kind of diversity as it can get its hands on, to showcase a variety of voices.

This.

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » October 17th, 2009, 11:44 am

nadine wrote:
the_reverend wrote:i don't think there should need to be enforced guidelines for gender representation, but i think a festival environment should strive for as much of ANY kind of diversity as it can get its hands on, to showcase a variety of voices.
This.

Agreed.