THIS IS A POSTER FOR AN ACTUAL COMEDY SHOW
So this needs to be discussed. A comic friend of mine posted this photo on Twitter. A lot of females complain about how unsupportive the comedy community can be and this poster speaks volumes.
Imagine being a 24-year old girl driving by yourself out to Covina on a Sunday night for a little bit of stage time. You’re nervous, excited, don’t know what to expect but are eager to try out some new jokes. As you enter the club the first thing you see is this poster nailed above the door. What a belly-drop.
And it’s not really offensive. Most female comics worth their salt are immune to ‘dick’ jokes. What this poster does is far worse. It’s unwelcoming and simply cruel. It sets an overtly sexist tone for the evening that I guarantee will be in the back of a female comics mind as she waits to go on. It’s like a vegetarian invited to a swanky dinner party and upon arriving seeing a pigs head impaled on a stake in the front yard.
This is a girl who knows at around 1AM she’ll be leaving this club alone and walking through a dark parking lot to a clunky car she prays doesn’t break down on the long drive home. The courage for a girl to go thru with this evening in the first place is nerve-wracking enough, all this sign does is add to her fear. I just think it’s a shitty thing for a club to do, especially on a night when they’re inviting female comics to perform on the show.
And I know nothing about this show, the organizers, the promoters, the audience. For all I know it’s a supportive environment and they made the mistake of going for an ‘edgy’ poster and failed. It happens.
Before you think this little rant means I’m a champion for women’s causes you should know not 5 months ago I was blocked (and rightly so) by a very funny female on Twitter because I responded to a tweet of hers with a sexist, offensive remark that, at the time, I thought was soooo clever. See, everyone fucks up now and then. The difference between a reactionary tweet in the spur of the moment and a poster that was drawn, printed, uploaded onto their website is massive. You’d think at least SOMEONE along the chain would have seen it and suggested it wasn’t a good idea. I hope enough eyes are drawn to this poster that people realize the huge gulf between ‘edgy’ and ‘cruel’.
(Postscript Amendment) - I don’t think any of the comics on poster knew about it’s content before/or even after show. So if you’re angered by the drawing please don’t take it out on them.