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Flipping the Ratio: Inside Boston's Women in Comedy Festival

by | March 20th, 2013

My improv team had a good set on that snowy night in February. The three of us were happy. After the show we celebrated with friends at a nearby bar. I attempted to get the bartender’s attention when a man approached me: “you were on that team, right?” he asked. I told him I was. “You guys were so good! At first I was like, ugh three girls, great” he said, enunciating that last word with palpable sarcasm, “but then you guys killed it.”

If you’re a woman or a regular, non-woman-hating man in the comedy community, you’re probably cringing in sympathy. When a man gets on stage, we assume he’s funny until he proves otherwise. One misguided attempt at flattery reminded me that women are often denied that luxury.

Women are just people in comedy. We are just comedians. If forced to fear sexism or expected to represent ‘all women’, however, the stage becomes an inequitable place for performers. The Women In Comedy Festival, which includes men, but maintains a majority of female performers, reverses the gender ratio to provide comedians a fair and supportive space.

“There’s no guarantee you’re going to have to deal with sexism at every single show you do, but there’s a fear… and there’s sort of a guarantee,” said Lane Moore, Comedian and Writer for the Onion, who also sat on the Board of Advisers for last year’s festival. “When I do any show – a sketch show, an improv show, a stand up show – I’m pretty much the only girl on the bill.”

At this year’s Fifth Annual Women In Comedy Festival, held throughout Boston and Cambridge Massachusetts from March 21-March 24, Moore has nothing to worry about. Neither do I. We will be among almost three hundred women performing. READ MORE

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