1e. Women in Comedy

While travel may be limited, and your vacation plans have most likely been soiled, Michelle Buteau makes it possible to forget the turmoil of 2020, and escape to a comedy Utopia. Well, a comedy Buteaupoia. Buteau’s recent Netflix special couldn’t have come at a better time. When the world needed high-energy positivity and kindness, the…

Amber Ruffin continues to be one of the strongest black voices in late night TV in America (in addition to being the only black woman on a major show’s writing staff). Here she is telling her story about an encounter with the police, while skipping no less, on her first day back from Boom Chicago.  …

Oh to be young and in love. Or as we say in 2020, ‘Oh to be young and desperately confused about every small aspect of life including the random re-surfacing of childhood traumas.’ While the sound of being ‘in your 20s’ has long-since suggested a bright-eyed air of curiosity, new beginnings, and potential, the 25 year-old Taylor Tomlinson reminds everyone why this period of our lives is only seemingly responsibility-free. Being in your 20s means you still suck too much for anyone to expect much from you. In her 1-hour Netflix special, appropriately titled ‘Quarter-Life Crisis’, Tomlinson offers her refreshing perspective on a time period riddled with humiliation and mistakes. From delving into what can be brought to the table as a 25 year-old, (What am I able to bring to a potluck dinner? Dry napkins) to realizing how absurd the events of…

Trixie Mattel, winner of RuPaul Drag Race Allstars season three, comedy queen and singer-song writer, stars in her own new Netflix Documentary, Moving Parts, and it is a must-see. Trixie lets the world see the ups and downs of maintaining a career as an iconic drag queen from channeling her abusive past into an armor…

During quarantine most people are looking for two things, entertainment and exercise. Look no further as Leslie Jones provides an abundant amount of both. The former SNL cast member recently premiered her first Netflix stand-up special, Time Machine, that is hilarious and super high energy (3 full minutes are dedicated to an all out solo dance…

More often than not I find myself admiring or studying new comedy but when I watched Fortune Feimster’s (yes, that’s her real name) new Netflix stand-up special, Sweet & Salty, I was cracking up like I was a little kid again. Feimster is nostalgic, genuine and positive. Her special is a break from all the…

If you’re not already obsessed with the Amazon Prime Series ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’, you’re in luck! You still have a month to binge the first two seasons before the third comes out on December 6! I’m jealous. ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ is about a late 1950’s housewife who trades in her domestic lifestyle to…

I met Boom Chicago’s newest cast member, Stacey Smith, about a year ago when we brought her in to give the then cast a workshop in musical improv comedy. At the time, the cast and I were in a brutal show process. We were meeting every day from 11:00am to about 3:00am to write and rehearse a new show, perform and stay late for notes nearly every day. The last thing we wanted to do was a musical improv workshop (or anything requiring the least bit of extra energy). I can only imagine what Stacey was thinking when she laid eyes on us. Nevertheless she persisted. And, really, she didn’t even skip a beat. We were immediately swept up in the Stacejam (title of her one woman improvised musical that will blow your mind). Within minutes we were all cracking up and belting out hilarity at…

Jen Kirkman is in her forties with no children and right where she wants to be. Kirkman was a long time writer and round table guest on Chelsea Lately, and well known for being a five-time narrator of Comedy Central’s Drunk History. She is also a writer of Golden Globe and Emmy winning Amazon Prime…

Liza Treyger is #nofilter. We’ve all done stupid stuff in our 20’s and Treyger is not above it. Her hilarious stories are very relatable or, at the very least, they make you feel better about your own shitty decisions. “Liza was featured on the prestigious Variety’s 2017 TOP 10 COMICS TO WATCH list and was…