Boston’s WICF Young Comics Showcase Brings Some Really Young and Really Impressive Talent to the Stage

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It’s not often that a comic on a festival lineup has an intro that features the phrase “excited to be playing hooky from school.” But the Young Comics Showcase at Boston’s annual Women in Comedy Festival is the kind of rare place where that can happen.

Hosted by New York comic, rapper, and puppy enthusiast T-Spoon (aka Katie Haller), the showcase featured some of the festival’s youngest talent. Even despite their youthful appearance, these talented young women (and a few men!) demonstrated a commitment to craft, wide range of perspective, and – of course – huge talent that belies their years.

Haller kicked off the show with some of her most popular raps, including “Nothing But a Wee Thang,” “Dog Mom Anthem,” and “Me, Myself, and I” – the newest of her songs, about being an introvert in a loud world. After that, she focused her time and energy on bringing up the evening’s talent.

Highlights included New York-based Ashley Hamilton and her precarious dividing of attention between her set and the photographer toward the front that she just couldn’t ignore, 15-year old Maeve Press (the aforementioned hooky player) and her rebellion against being forced to cheerlead for boys at school, and Boston-based Zachary Brazão’s boundless approval from his mom (to a girl in the audience, he said “your mother’s probably just lukewarm about you!”). Comedy Knockout writer Hanna Dickinson still managed to be funny even while averting contact with her parents and grandfather in the audience, while Danny Beckman, the character creation of LA comic Alyssa Sabo, brought what can only be called “an excess of male energy” to the stage.

It’s encouraging to know that due to the structure of the festival, each of these young comics will have the chance to hold their own against older and more experienced comics from across the country in the days ahead. I have no doubt they’ll shine, or that we’ll be seeing them for many years to come.

The Women in Comedy Festival continues throughout Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, MA through Sunday.

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Amma Marfo

Amma Marfo is a writer, speaker, and podcaster based in Boston, MA. Her writing has appeared in Femsplain, The Good Men Project, Pacific Standard, and Talking Points Memo. Chances are good that as you're reading this, she's somewhere laughing.
Amma Marfo
Amma Marfo
Amma Marfo is a writer, speaker, and podcaster based in Boston, MA. Her writing has appeared in Femsplain, The Good Men Project, Pacific Standard, and Talking Points Memo. Chances are good that as you're reading this, she's somewhere laughing.