- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 2
- 2
-
Sparkle (1)
When my friend invited me to go with her to The Smoking Bra: Women and Comedy at the 92 Y Tribeca, I agreed to go without seeing what it was about. My friend usually finds interesting things to do, so I trusted that it would be worthy of my $12. Plus, it seemed better to go to something potentially funny after work than go home and cry over the futility of my “career” and then collapse with exhaustion. Right?
Anyway, Jenny Grose from Slate’s XX Factor introduced the comedians. Since I had no idea who was speaking, I had no expectations. I was just ready to hear some good feminist comedy. It began well, when Grose shared the legend of Bertha Doyle, the first woman comedian. She commemorated the call to women’s equality from Seneca Falls by bursting into her father’s tavern and farting on stage. There’s nothing like a good fart joke to start an evening of fun, I tell you.
The first speaker/presenter/funny-maker was writer and Second City alum Jenny Hagel. She talked about how uncool it is when women who have all the earmarks of feminist activists suddenly insist that they are not feminists, a la Lady Gaga. Then she presented an educational rap video she made, “This is What a Feminist Looks Like.” It is part of her Feminist Rapper Series. Watching is required:
Yeah, so I totally loved her.
The next lady to make me bust my gut was Megan Kellie. She spoke about her quest to find out why men find balls so hilarious. She also showed a video that she made investing this tricky subject. Unfortunately, I can’t find it to post. You’ll have to take my word for it. I totally loved her.
Next former Colbert Report executive producer Allison Silverman presented a funny slide show about why feminists are totally not funny. The crux of the presentation was a performance by Carolee Schneeman who once pulled a scroll out of her vagina onstage and read it. (Photo of this said event can be found at Artopia. I don’t think I should have to say that a photo of a woman pulling a scroll out of her vagina - a proudly unshaved snatch, I might happily add! - is not safe for many work situations, but I’m saying it anyway because it makes me laugh to write “a woman pulling a scroll out of her vagina,” but I digress.) Silverman then "pulled" a cell phone out of her vagina to tweet. So I totally loved her.
As if all this was not enough, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon writer Morgan Murphy strode awkwardly around the stage for a set. It culminated in a joke about iPhones, sexting, autofill, and pirates with cum in their eyes. Hilarious. I totally loved her.
I was pretty worn out by the end of the comedy section and considered leaving before the panel and Q&A hosted by Hanna Rosin, but I am super glad that I stuck around. After spending some time discussing the controversial Jezebel article about gender discrimination and The Daily Show, the panel went on to address a myriad of subjects. (Sample issues: working on a cruise ship; relying on Wikipedia for information; if Santa Claus were a woman; Oprah and her audience; being funny as teenagers; sexism in stand up; being called a dyke; bad hair cuts; Marfan syndrome and Osama bin Laden; the moment you chose to be a woman; and how writing staff tend to look like their host.) To watch and hear these impressive women bond onstage and riff off one another was the best thing ever. I was mad jealous, too. They were all awesome.
I believe that Rosin said that the presentation was recorded and will be available on Slate’s XX Factor, but I couldn’t find it as of this posting. I hope it does go up, though, and people check it out. It was a great night -- way better than going home and falling
