White Suits and Ties That Bind
This particular Women’s Day
I’ve been mulling.
Women.
My life.
Those white suits.
The suffragette suits.
It always strikes me as odd
That we have the virginal white
As the color of women’s rights.
But I’ll take it.
I’ll take every bit of every successful piece of the fight.
I remember when we were fighting
For the right to be on the front lines in war.
I had such mixed feeling about that one.
Of course.
Equal rights.
It goes without saying
But it just made me want to wear skirts.
And here I still am.
Watching the Handmaid’s Tale
For survival tips
In a dress.
My own fight has been
In the corner of the world
Known as comedy.
By the way - white is the unfunniest color.
If you ever see a comedian who is funny in white
Aida Rodriguez can pull it off -
Know that they have special skills.
My own fight has been as the creatrix of UnCabaret.
UnCab was conceived at the Women’s Building.
For an audience who couldn’t go to comedy clubs
Because, as they told me
They were women, and artists, and lesbians.
And if they went to comedy clubs
The comedians made fun of them.
I’ll make you a show I told them.
It will be unhomophobic, unxenophobic, unmisoyginsitic.
It will be UnCabaret.
Over the years part of our fight has been
To develop a more story based comedy.
One less focused on a punchline and more on the experience.
You could say one as interested in the forplay as the climax.
I mean we love our laughs.
It’s comedy.
And it became known as alt comedy.
Which I always thought was odd.
Like women being alt men.
But I’m not mad at it.
Not when there is so much to be actually mad at.
And maybe comedy that is conversational
Where the laughs come in waves.
Is alt.
But it has been almost 30 years
And every time I feel like
Well that’s done
The world tells me it’s not.
Sometimes I like to look at the list of insanely talented women
Who have lit up our stages
And in some ways that our stages lit up.
And so many men who love women too.
Thursday night March 14 we have a show at The Nimoy
And synchronistically it’s all women.
But for right now I’d love to celebrate the wondrous women we have loved.
Margaret Cho, Julia Sweeney, Laura Kightlinger, Jen Kirkman
Janeane Garofalo, Karen Kilgariff, Ali Wong, Sandra Bernhard
Maria Bamford, Jackie Kashian, Laurie Kilmartin, Laura Milligan
Tig Notaro, Stephanie Allyn, Rebecca Corry, Judy Gold
Kira Soltanovich, MaryLynn Raskub, Rachel Bloom, Julie Goldman
Roseanne Barr, Jamie Bridgers, Ellen Cleghorn, Joey Soloway
Erin Foley, Fortune Feimster, Cindy Caponera, Garfunkel and Oats
Stephanie Miller, Judy Toll, Lotus Weinstock, Kate Willett
Jennifer Coolidge, Merrill Markoe, Marga Gomez, Atsuko Okatsuka
Allee Willis, Kathy Griffin, Lauren Weedman, Sarah Silverman
Cameron Esposito, Aparna Nancherla…
Plus song birds like Phoebe Bridgers, Shelby Lynn,
Jill Sobule, Terra Naomi, LIsa Loeb etc etc.
We have been blessed by these goddesses and so many more.
I will do my best in this world as it is
To keep this UnCabaret space vibrant
With wise and new and adventurous voices.
With the challenging, unique and brave.
With woman and those who love women.
To keep the conversation about this now
Filled with the stories that unfold the future
By trying to find what’s funny about the past
By alchemizing the pain.
That is my manifesta.
And I’m so grateful for you have joined on this grand adventure.
So in this International Women’s Month
I invite you to tell me your stories of being a woman
Or loving women.
And so amazing hearing from you.
Some of the answers from FaceBook below.
Also some lively discussion on my Insta.
Love to hear yours here in comments
Or there on the socials.
And if you are in LA love to see you at the show!
Infinitely Yours,
Beth