I wouldn’t describe myself as a feminist, but I think I’m qualified to talk about women – since I do bear the slightest resemblance of a female. Today is International Women’s Day and will bring together half the globe to celebrate women; mothers, world leaders, policymakers, and cultural icons, both modern and historical.
Last December, I did some joke writing for the first time since I was on stage in March of 2020. It was the Saturday before the world shutdown. And it was the first show all of my family came to see? Coincidence, I think not!
The show I was preparing for was a charity event hosted by my good friends at Wolf Pack Comedy Club from the University of Nevada Reno. They were booking an entirely female line-up for a winter show that raised money for SafeEmbrace, a non-profit organization that counsels, assists, and houses many women that are victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
Suddenly, I hear you all wonder how this column can possibly be funny. Stick with me.
It is rare when there are more than one (or no) female comics at a show for any comedy night. So, a night with a group of us is a great time. I thought it was inspiring and motivating that there were enough women comics to fill a complete show.
There is something to say about women my age doing stand-up comedy versus men my age doing it—girls kind of get treated like the “bro” of the community. Because we’re into the same things, we always get looks from male comics in green rooms that are like, “She like same thing I like. That mean she like me.” Which I’d just like to make clear is not usually the case. For me personally, I wanted to do stand-up comedy because I thought, why not economize on this constant loneliness and sprinkle some self-deprecating jokes on it, just to see what we get?
I was not familiar with the women who transformed comedy until I was much older, let alone women who transformed the entire world. I wish we learned more things about women in school.
Look at women’s health products for instance. Who invented hair conditioner? Who decided I needed sand in my face soap? And who decided I needed soap for my face separate from everywhere else soap? Well, I did some research on this specifically for this joke. It turns out, that a French guy and Egyptian guy invented that stuff.
Do you know who invented Kevlar? That lifesaving clothing accessory? A woman! Do you know who invented windshield wipers? Those things that make driving way safer? A woman! Do you know who invented Monopoly? That game designed to tell you how evil capitalism can be? A woman! But, then two guys took it from her and said, “actually capitalism is great because we can steal ideas from women and keep all of the money for ourselves.”
When I finished my set, I realized my fellow women comedians were laughing at the jokes louder than the audience was. The feeling of community women receives from sharing their experiences is what make’s International Women’s Day so great. For one day a year, we can tell everyone about what we think in our heads but don’t say out loud.
So, happy International Women’s Day to all and play a fun game of Monopoly with your friends to commemorate the day.
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