Stand-Up Comedy En Femme

[Alice_2014_B]

I've never done stand-up comedy, save for a few talent shows in grade-school.
However, I have been wanting to take a leap in an open-mic night at a local comedy club.
Then I thought about doing it in girl-mode. Obviously I would not be the first.
I was just wondering about everyone's thoughts on this.
I've gotten opinions from people already; 3/4 said it would be really cool.

:)

[Charla McBee]

If you can put together a good routine about gender it will probably be hilarious. People are going to be weirded out either way, you'll have to quickly disarm them with your humor. A lot of great comedians are really strange or awkward for whatever reason but if they have good jokes the crowd accepts them.

[JaytoJillian]

Violet Gray is a member here who does stand-up en femme in the Baltimore area. You should reach out.

[Eryn]

If I did that the temptation would be too great to mimic Eddy Izzard!

Things are pretty tough on cis-female comics and I think that it would be a considerable challenge to do a straight stand-up act en femme without making being TG the punch line of many of the jokes.

[jjjjohanne]

There is another stand up comedian on here. His name is Rye Silverman. I could not find him on the forum for some reason. But I found pictures of him by searching for his name using Google image search. He started out going public with his dressing while doing comedy and used a CD sketch. Then later, when he wanted to do different material, he said he started his show with, "Yeah, I'm wearing a dress... " and then went on with his show. He kind of just got that out of the way and did his non-CD related sketch. He presents male while dress at least some of the time. That was how he did his show.

Here is an act on YouTube with him telling jokes in a dress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rapOAUg4gLU

[Marcelle]

Hi Alice,

If you are ready to do so "en femme" I say go for it.

Hugs

Isha

[Donnagirl]

Wow... Go for it.... Eddy Izzard needs some competition.

[Alice_2014_B]

Thanks everyone.
I would start with something like that, "Look, a guy in a skirt/dress, check it out."
It would also be something to revert back to if I got stuck in my material.
I would not make fun of CDing or TG's, unless I was making fun of myself directly and solely.
I love cross-dressing, being funny, and speaking in front of groups.

[Brianna_H]

If you've got the inspiration and guts to do this, I say go for it. You only live once. Please let us know how it goes. Would love to see your act. I think there is a lot of room for funny, accepting humor regarding transgender issues and gender itself. Rock it, girl!

[sometimes_miss]

Wow... Go for it.... Eddy Izzard needs some competition.

Eddy seems to have backed off of it (performing in drag) on numerous occasions; I suppose though like women, sometimes he dresses up, and sometimes dresses down. I don't know why, I didn't see any comments as to why he changed his presentation.

[flatlander_48]

What I've noticed from listening to gays and lesbians doing stand up is that it is part of their routine; in varying degrees, of course. The thing is, our sexuality is a significant part of our lives (although clearly among MANY other parts). Because of this, our perspective on very common things is often a bit different from the general populace. Our perceptions then are the root of our humor.

I think it is similar for crossdressers. It's a different set of perceptions and viewpoints that are often unknown to the outside world.

[Amanda L.]

If you are confident to dress and present as a woman then you will be confident in front of a mic. I remember going to a Les Girls revue. The hostess was so funny and had great comebacks for the heckler in the audience. One I remember was " mate you couldn't do this, there's not enough lipstick for your big mouth"
There used to be a parody about the Living next door to Alice song. When they sung the chorus it was followed by "Alice, Alice who the f$&k is Alice?" you could use it as an intro, might get the audience engaged.
Good luck and let us know how you go
Amanda

[CynthiaD]

Comedy is tough. I do a lot of public speaking, but never en femme, and usually serious. But hey. If you've got it in your soul, then do it!

A couple of tips: don't let them know you're scared. (If you're not scared, you're not taking it seriously enough, and you'll most likely flop.) Fear is energy, use it!
Don't ever say "Oh, I'm so nervous."

Good luck.

[reb.femme]

Violet Gray is a member here who does stand-up en femme in the Baltimore area. You should reach out.

Beat me to it Jillian. I have a link on my web to her vlogs, which are brilliant by the way. I particularly like the one about the differences between male and female toilets.....bacon being one of those!

Rebecca

[rachellegsep]

Also check out another girl from here - Jessica Who

[Nadya]

You can do it! I'm sure you'll be fair to CD/TG people. I think that it's ok to poke a little fun at ourselves since it shows we can be pretty mature about it. I remember listening to John Pinette a little while ago where he talked about his leading role in Hairspray and having to crossdress. It was funny to hear how he realized how hard it was to be a woman and how long it took to make themselves pretty. Haha.

[Nadine Spirit]

If you want to, go for it.

Did anyone else notice that once Jessica Who moved to Hollywood to pursue her acting/comedy she disappeared? No sign of her since. Her blog is gone, vlogs are gone, almost any mention of her at all anymore.

How about Eddie Izzard, whom I adore btw, once he pursued his acting more, his cding has taken a back seat.

My take? While we are accpeted somewhat more than before, writers still don't really know what to do with us in Hollywood and thus if you want to get work you present a more mainstream image.

[abby054]

Also check out another girl from here - Jessica Who

Jessica Who has several youtube videos. She is a talented comedienne.

[Paula_Femme]

Many people here have referenced Eddie Izzard - and rightly so! - but the secret to his success, IMHO, was that his CD-ing doesn't define his act, even if most people who're asked about him will say, "Oh yeah, the crossdressing comic!!!"

I was lucky enough to see him in London during the tour in which he "came out;" he walked out onto the black-draped stage in a LBD, hose, heels, nails, make-up, stepped into the spotlight on the mic and just went straight into his act, to the somewhat stunned surprise of the audience!!! Within about 5mins everyone was wiping away the tears as Eddie got into his routine, and we just ignored the fact the he was a, "bloke in a dress."

At the start of the second act he walked into the spotlight again, leaned into the mic, waited half a beat, and then with a flourish asked us, "Oh, d'you like the outfit?" Needless to say, at that point the whole audience blew the roof off the theater cheering and clapping; it was quite the experience!

If anyone is interested, this is an amazing +2hr interview with Izzard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKzWM236IWo) on Kevin Pollaks show, in which he discusses coming out in such a public way, amongst other things - fast forward to the 00:17:30 point, which is when Eddie joins Pollak at the table.

[NicoleScott]

I think it's great that you want to present your material in girl-mode.
But if the shtick is crossdressing, it may wear thin on the audience quickly.
Good comedy is about good material and a good presentation.
Gimmicks have a short life.
Go for it, and good luck.

[Dora]

I would have so much fun being crossdressed and being a comedian, I like to make people laugh and the crossdressing gives me more confidence

[Beverley Sims]

I do it regularly, I poke fun at myself when I am trying on clothes and have an SA close by.
Keep them amused and fascinated.
At parties I feed on the audience.
When behind a microphone on stage I keep them guessing, drab or drag. :)