"Diversity" in Comedy? That's a Laugh

Yesterday, Women In Comedy hosted a panel discussion at Comedy Sportz Theater (graciously donated by CsZ) to talk about the state of WOC in Chicago when it comes to pursuing careers in this industry.

The audience was small but mighty and the panel conversation flowed in a natural, open, and supportive manner. The room was filled with encouragement as women expressed some of their grievances and how those grievances are often received by indidivuals and institutions in the Chicago community of comedy.

The Panel Included:

Meg Indurti - Stand Up Comedian

Brandi Denise - Stand Up Comedian

Loreen Targos - Sketch Comedian/Stir Friday Night

Krystal Janigan - Sketch/Improv Comedian - Ebony Essence Jet

Allison Reese - Sketch/Improv Comedian - Bob Curry Fellow

Victoria Elena Nones - Moderator, Executive Director Women In Comedy

The discussion lasted about 2 hours and included questions from the community members present about how to be better allies.

Here are a handful of excerpts from the start of the conversation. If you would like to listen to the full audio of the conversation (some parts missing due to recording error), click here.

QUESTION: What is a unique experience or issue you repeatedly face in comedy that you discuss with your fellow friends of color, but leave out of the dialogue when speaking to the privileged majority members of the community?

Allison Reese: "I would definitely say a lot of those micro aggressive things that happen or those subliminal things that people do without realizing. I was also involved in a lot of sketch things where they were trying to be conscious of uhm, representation - there were a lot of women in the group, there were queer people, people of color, and then, Two people who were straight and white. But, what ended up happening was the show was written around the two people who were straight and white, and everybody else became auxilliary. I think people, uhm, don't really realize a lot of things that you do realize when you're often put in positions where you are othered."

Victoria Elena Nones: "And so, what made you feel, like, in situations like that that you couldn't sort of, speak up and say something about it, or did you speak up and say something about it?"

Allison Reese: "I didn't speak up and say something, cause it just felt like it was almost known within that cast.. [...] also I wasn't in a position to because it was sort of a student based thing where I wasn't in charge and I wasn't really in talks with the people who were in charge."

Victoria Elena Nones: "And so, you felt that being oppressed in that situation you didn't have a chance to say something because, what would happen if you did?"

Allison Reese: "It would just cause drama, cause a lot of times people don't want to listen. And that was, that was my fear of that."

Brandi Denise: "I have a couple of experiences. I speak my mind a lot. [...] a lot of places that probably won't book me or talk, [...] they won't deal with me. [...] Whenever I go to stand up shows, especially like open mics, not so much booked shows, and this is one of the reasons I don't go to open mics as much as I used to because in Chicago, most of the open mics are predominately white. [...] I'm fortunate that I work at the Laugh Factory, Comedy Bar, so I don't have to go to these open mics but when you first start stand up you have to kindof go through that, and it's extremely hard like just being, first of all the only black person there, and then like the only female there and then like, whenever they talk about the 'South Side' they point at you - like 'Oh, YOU know the South Side.' Things like that happen."

Allison Reese: [...] "People should know better and treat each other with respect and not put you in that position to begin with..."

Loreen Targos: "As women we're socialized to defer to men. Uphold the status quo. And, this is a non comedy example, but - applies in just how we're socialized to not say anything. I was buying a car, my ex was with me, and the guy who was selling the car [...] was a big (Chicago) Bears fan and my ex boyfriend was wearing a Packers hat. And the guy was like ' oh, you know what they say about that Packers guy. We don't call him Mike around here, we call him Michelle. And I was like 'oh, cause it's so funny to associate it with a woman right, that's like - the most insuting thing you could do!" [laughter] and the rest of the test drive was... [ laughter]. I needed to go in and speak up for myself, knowing that that was the consequence of my actions. I was the one that made the scene there. I should have just silently accepted that he wants to shit on women. [...] When you speak up, you need to be ready [...] I'm gonna be shunned from this club cause I speak my mind."

Meg Indurti: "You have to have every single piece of evidence supporting you [...] you suddenly become a lawyer just cause you express your opinion. [laughter] Now you have to know everything about everything. [...] I'm telling you my opinion, just respect it."

Loreen Targos: "But a white guy who goes into a club and makes sexist jokes, he doesn't need to worry about (he never worries) 'oh, no they're not going to ask ME here anymore..."

Brandi Denise: "One thing I've said to people is, you don't have the right to tell me how I feel [...] if enough people say it (to them) they might rethink 'maybe I shouldn't talk about rape'..."

Meg Indurti: "...You get labeled as the angry feminist [...] I've embraced the label because someone DOES need to do that."

Krsytal Janigan: " I was in a class, I was spoken over a lot [..] you're doing actions to make me feel like I'm less than [...] excluding me out [...] I even wrote a sketch, and then we got on stage [...] (the male in the group) overplayed it [...] the two people of color who are on stage, you just made it like we're not on stage. And a person of color wrote it."

Victoria Elena Nones: "Sure, so that sense of being invisible at times is there, and you're all nodding your heads, so this is something that you feel comfortable, you know, talking about in your small groups of friends, and as you're (all) talking about there are different reasons why you don't bring this up."

Allison Reese: "[...] Why people probably don't bring this up is because it's so institutionalized [...] White men are in power for the majority of places that we perform at.[...] recently small clusters of women have gotten together and we are not taking it. The time is changing now. [...] The thing that is happening is already hurtful, but then to bring it up and then not be supported or told that you're wrong or that you weren't being victimized or that this didn't happen that just makes it so much worse and then it puts you in your own head of like - what did I do wrong? [...] the onus is on you [...] for whatever reason it always seems to fall like our responsibility to make things right. [...] I'm so tired of like, going the length of a football field to reach you and then bring you all the way back to my end."

Brandi Denise: "Another thing I want to bring up [...] me and all my friends of different ethnicities will get together and we will walk out of the 'diversity' showcase and get together and go have lunch and talk about it (and say) 'did anybody notice that we were at a diversity showcase and nobody on the panel that was judging us was of any color?' [...] white people telling you if you're black enough or too black and it's like this is so weird - it's like how are YOU gonna tell ME how I need to act this is - I was born into this - this is what we are and there's different variations of us [...] I hate that in Chicago in order to get anywhere you've gotta go through this 'diversity' mainstream line - you can't just be good enough.[...] even in the diversity program they pick a certain calibur, a certain type of people of color. I've been told that I 'speak too black' sometimes."

Krystal Janigan: "I wanted to add to how you say all the auditors would be white - something I pointed out the other day - when we have these diversity things. You're gonna have the person who thought it up like 'oh, this is my dream!' but then they can't work alone - they need all the other people in power, so now, their dream has been shattered. [...] we think we're getting diversity but now we have to pick one for each [...] we need one angry black woman, then we need one white-ish black woman [laughter] then we need [...] so they just keep going and then when they have one of each they're like (beaming) 'that's diversity!'."

Here are some of the other questions answered by the panel in our audio segment:

In what ways do you think comedic writers can create better characters for women of color?

In what ways have you been compared to famous women of color and do you find it flattering or frustrating?

Staying silent out of the fear that you could possibly damage your reputation or career seems to be a big factor when it comes to issues of racism and sexism in the comedy community. Describe an experience in comedy where you were marginalized in a hurtful way, but you felt the need to stay silent about it. (You are welcome to keep the names of people and institutions anonymous if you are concerned about outing people or places).

What advice would you give women of color to make themselves and their opinions stand out?

What is the best way to address a situation where you are being othered or have any of you had a successful experience where you spoke up for yourself and it went well?

If you could shape an ideal world for your hypothetical daughter - what barriers and obstacles would you remove and what would the ideal future of performing in the comedy world look like for her?

Click Here to listen to the full audio of the panel (recorded on an iPhone - also some parts cut out due to recording error).

Women in Comedy is also collecting anonymous stories of racism. Click here to submit your story for our blog.

Are you passionate about women in the comedy community and their concerns for a better industry and safe work environment? Do you get excited when thinking about empowering, connecting with, and advocating for women and girls who want a career in comedy? Women In Comedy is looking for diverse leaders who want to be part of our non profit organization. Click here to nominate yourself or someone you know who would like to be on the Women In Comedy Rainbow committee.

Thank you again to Comedy Sportz and the women who donated their time to start having these important discussions publicly. Share with your friends and start having honest and heartfelt dialogue so that together, we can create change.