The improv club is a comic institution: a place to watch funny people perform pre-written sketches and on-the-spot improvised scenes. It’s also traditionally a gender-imbalanced one.
But things are changing. With the incredible popularity of the Kristen Wiig blockbuster “Bridesmaids,” which earned more than $160 million at the box office, and screenwriter Mindy Kaling’s book “Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me?” currently at No. 6 on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction best sellers list, it is clear that the perception of female comedians is evolving.
“(I have) found it challenging to find strong female comedians who don’t use their sex as a crutch “¦ but what I mean is, many female improvisers rely too heavily on being a ditzy character, or an overtly sexy character, to get a reaction out of the audience rather than ground their improv in solid storytelling techniques,” said Ashley Opstad, artistic director of the Improv Space on Gayley Avenue and a member of the almost all-female comedy troupe Token Boy.
However, Opstad and a growing number of female improvisers are creating comedy that is not gender-specific.
Yannan Shi, producer of UCLA’s Lapu, the Coyote that Cares Theatre Company, said that the more women in improv, the smaller the gender stereotypes become.
A recent show by The Groundlings theater company featured both men and women playing silly teens, Christian camp moderators, socially awkward commercial actors and annoyed therapists.
Similarly, writer and comedian Katie Willert is notable for not tailoring her humor in a way that would be expected of a female comedian.
Willert stars in two different popular Web series at Cracked.com. She is one of a small but growing number of Cracked employees without a Y chromosome.
“I’m of the mind that you just be who you are. Like, I just happen to have boobs and a vagina. Even if I was a dude, I’d have the same humor,” Willert said.
She concedes that there are times when her gender is emphasized ““ but not by her coworkers.
“When the first online episode came out, I had shorter hair, a different style, and the comments on those videos were that I was shrill, a hag. “¦ Now, my look has changed,” Willert said.
“For the last episodes, about 95 percent of the comments were about my tits. I wasn’t trying to be sexy or something ““ I just happened to have a chest.”
Willert said that in a world where cutthroat behavior is so prevalent, the need for camaraderie among women is especially important.
Women should not feel the need to fight for one “girl” spot in an improv troupe, she said, adding that there’s plenty of room for women to collaborate and support each other.
For a growing number of people, it’s no longer a secret that comedy is not gender-specific. The Opstads, Willerts and Shis of the world ““ as well as the Wiigs and Kalings ““ are funny, funny people. They also just so happen to be female.