Tomorrow night October 15th is the kick-off for the first ever Hysterical Festival, celebrating fierce female humor in New York City!

The Festival runs October 15-18 at Comix Comedy Club, The Zipper Theater, The Tank @ DCTV & Tribeca Film Center, and will include work by cutting-edge stand-up comedians, world-renowned burlesque performers, award-winning improv and sketch groups, seasoned solo performers, writers and filmmakers, as well as a panel discussion co-sponsored by New York Women in Film and Television as part of our aim enrich and expand our local community of female humorists.

The fabulous events include: Laughing Liberally (with former Take Part blogger Katie Halper!), Kick Off Show, Word! (Funny writers), Haters Ball, Sister Solo (solo shows), The Baby Mamas of Comedy, The Ambiguously Brown Comedy Hour, Hysterical Femmes, The Kissing Booth, Freaks & Geeks, Family Hour with Auntie Sara, Girls Gone Gay, Nice Jewish Girls Gone Hysterical, Funny Bones Burlesque, shows with festival headliner Maria Bamford and so much more! Oh and my show Stripped Stories will be presenting a special all lady line-up as part of the Hysterical Festival tomorrow night, October 15th 9:30pm at Comix 353 West 14th Street. (If you want discount tickets to my show message me.)

If you live in NYC you must come to one if not all of these awesome shows, festival executive director Desiree Burch and her team of talented gals have worked so hard to make these events possible ( I had coffee with Ms. Burch just over a year ago where she dreamed of an all-female festival and now boom! It’s a reality! Yeah for making it happen!) For a full calendar of events visit http://thehystericalfestival.com/festcal_wed.html.
And takepart and visit http://thehystericalfestival.com to support women in comedy!

Dear Hamilton Nolan & Gawker:

I want to thank you for your post supporting Christopher Hitchens’ claim that women aren’t funny. I also I want to apologize for not writing sooner, but between getting my bikini line waxed, shopping, trying, in vain to be funny, and dealing with PMS, I had no time– and was in no shape–to write anything. But I want to thank you for having the testosterone-drenched you know whats to say what nobody else, besides Christopher Hitchens and lots of men, will say: women comics Suck! And Christopher Hitchens Rocks! Responding to the unfunny and boring and (I know this is redundant) female-written Vanity Fair article Who Says Women Aren’t Funny, you write

The problem they [female comics] have is they often talk about things that women can relate to–relationships with men, babies, periods, shopping, love. As a man, I can’t relate to all that. That puts women comics at a distinct disadvantage when trying to win over me and my fellow men. This is obvious day, right here.

Read the rest of this entry »

You know you’ve heard it (thanks Jerry Lewis!). Maybe you even thought it. But please, please don’t believe it when you hear: “women aren’t funny.”

Sure, there are some unfunny females lurking about, as there are also plenty of unfunny males out there too. But for some reason when the unfunny comic has a nice pair of breasts, she is suddenly a representation for her entire gender. When the male comic is unfunny, he’s just well, unfunny. When a female comic talks about female things (ie: childbirth, periods, food, fat, dating, sex, slut-hood) it’s cliche but when a guy talks about male things (their penis, sex, their penis, sports, their penis, issues with girlfriends, their penis) it’s apparently universally hilarious.

But this isn’t a post pouting about sexism in the entertainment industry. Nor is this a post about how I, as a strong and hilarious comic am living proof that females are indeed funny (yes that was a shameless “pat-on-the-back”).

This is a post about a group of fantastic females who aren’t complaining but rather celebrating being a funny female. Introducing “The Hysterical Festival.”

The Hysterical Festival is the brainchild of comedian/producer Desiree Burch and a series of Sunday afternoon mimosas. Hanging out with a group of female comedians sharing stories, eating junk food and getting bombed in the early afternoon, the idea came to her: what if this camaraderie could lead to a comedy revolution? What if the community that formed so naturally amongst these dynamic funny women could change the face of comedy…forever? It might look something like empowerment with a sense of humor. Sexy. Dangerous. Hysterical.

Read the rest of this entry »