Experiencing a Strictly PC Comedy Open Mic

comedy nest

What I Learned From Experiencing a Strictly PC Comedy Open Mic

If you’ve never been to an open mic that bans material involving misogyny, transphobia, racism, homophobia, or body shaming, I’m here to tell you what it’s like.

If there was any city to host a strictly PC Open Mic, Seattle would be the one to do it. Seattle is known for liberal social politics, so it’s no wonder that a female focused politically correct open mic aptly named The Comedy Womb would pop up right in the middle of the city.

The Comedy Womb was founded by Danielle Gregoire in April of 2013 and took place in the Grotto of the Rendezvous. A few times a week, Gregoire would host, produce, and run a show where at least 50% of the audience was female. Comics would show up with their best PC material for a 3 minutes spot. The Comedy Womb grew larger and larger and eventually presented Cameron Esposito as a headliner for one of their larger shows. In June of 2015, Gregoire handed the torch off to a group of comics and it became what is now known as The Comedy Nest. The Comedy Nest continues the tradition of providing what they describe as a supportive and safe environment for open micers.

Pictured: Danielle Gregoire at The Comedy Womb in Seattle.

Pictured: Danielle Gregoire at The Comedy Womb in Seattle.

Although it was a female-centric open mic, it wasn’t a place where women were invited to go on a soapbox rant or talk about how horrible men are. The room hosted comics who presented material you would hear at any open mic – minus homophobia, misogyny, transphobia, racism, etc. This didn’t mean that you couldn’t be raunchy; it just meant that your material couldn’t target minorities. Personally, I don’t mind blue or offensive material. What was most important for me was that there was a place where females could perform in a room filled with other women. It can be frightening to be the only or one of the only females at an open mic. The intimidation isn’t necessarily caused by fellow male comics; more often it comes from what’s called a “stereotype threat.” A stereotype threat is when the ability of an individual is hindered by the looming thoughts of the stereotype that pertains to them. Telling jokes in front of a group of people is already hard, and that difficulty becomes magnified when you’re also consciously fighting the “women aren’t funny” stereotype that constantly lingers in your head.

Pictured: A Poster for Cameron Esposito’s show at The Comedy Womb.

Pictured: A Poster for Cameron Esposito’s show at The Comedy Womb.

Examples of stereotype threat have been researched and recorded in numerous studies. In 2003, a University of Mannheim study by Johannes Keller and Dirk Dauenheimer tested a group of 15-year-old girls on their math skills. Half of the girls were told that girls usually do worse on the test than boys. The other half were not told this. After the test was taken, the results showed that the girls that were informed of the gender differences in test scores beforehand performed considerably worse than the girls that were not given this information. Another example of stereotype threat was shown in a 2008 study in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology by Kelly Danaher and Christian S. Crandall in which female high-school math test scores (AP Calculus) were examined. The study was performed to find out how the “boys are better at math than girls” stereotype affected females. Some students were asked to report their gender before the test and some were asked to report it after the test. This study found that when females were asked to report their gender before the test, they did 33% worse. Because the reminder that they were female was at the forefront of their mind before a task, their performance suffered.

Recently, a male open micer told me he didn’t find female comedians funny. It was disappointing, but I can’t help but appreciate honesty. He mentioned some of the more popular female comics and said he just couldn’t see why they were funny. He joked, “Women expect us to pay for dinner and all that and now they also want us to laugh at their jokes?” I don’t think he meant to be insulting and we had a friendly conversation about why there are so few women in comedy, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t shake my confidence for later open mics.

Performing at The Comedy Womb was so valuable to me. When I find myself having my own pity-party about being female at an open mic, thinking back to the Womb’s encouraging setting gives me a boost of energy and reminds me to keep having fun with it. Of course that doesn’t mean every open mic should have the same politically correct policies. As someone who believes humor can be found in anything, there has to be places where comics can tell off-color jokes. Clean or crude, funny is funny.  Having a diverse set of open mic rooms in a city supports and celebrates all the different types of comedians that are out there. It’s great to have a place where PC comics and socially disadvantaged groups don’t have to worry about an uneasy environment and it’s wonderful to have rooms where more vulgar comics can experiment with their risque material. In this Diamond Age of Comedy, there can be room for everyone.

The next time you’re in the Seattle area, stop by The Comedy Nest any Tuesday night in the Grotto of the Rendezvous! It might surprise you.

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Sarah Jacobs

Originally from Seattle, Sarah Jacobs is a Los Angeles-based writer and stand up open-micer trying to figure out how to keep the bombings to a minimum. She is usually found at coffee shops writing and listening to Doom Metal.
Sarah Jacobs
Sarah Jacobs
Originally from Seattle, Sarah Jacobs is a Los Angeles-based writer and stand up open-micer trying to figure out how to keep the bombings to a minimum. She is usually found at coffee shops writing and listening to Doom Metal.