7 Things I, A Female Standup Comedian, Hear All The Time That Are Borderline Offensive

"I usually don't like woman comics, but you were funny!"

"WoMeN aReN't FuNnY" is a phrase I see plastered all over the comment section of female comedians' standup videos across the web. Now, I'm not saying that all women are funny. They're not. I'm saying that if someone is funny or not has nothing to do with their gender.

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Here are some things that people have said to me throughout my time doing standup comedy:

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1. "We usually don't like the women comics, but you were funny!"

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What's crazy about this is that two women said this to me! I have seen plenty of unfunny men throughout my years as a standup, but somehow none of these men were performing as representation for their entire gender. The thing with standup is that sometimes I do bomb. Everyone bombs, it's part of the art. People have this prejudice that all women are bad stand-ups, which means every time I walk out on stage people are expecting me not to be funny.

2. "I went in the room to watch you bomb, but then you were actually pretty good."

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A male comic said this to me after a set I did during my first year of comedy. He only watched my set because he expected me to bomb. Maybe this wasn't because I am female, but I love proving people wrong anyway so this one didn't bother me as much.

3. "This is why men get paid more than women."

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This was a comment left by someone going by the name of JokeKing69 or something like that on one of my YouTube videos. They ended up deleting their comment after a few friends of mine chastised them in the comment section. I mean was it my best set? No. Was that a necessary internet comment? Also, no.

4. "Good shit! I like your style of comedy."

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That was just a nice compliment that I wanted to include to show that not every thing that every one says to me is bad.

5. "You were funny, you were funny, you are beautiful."

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So, here's why this was not great: This man said, "You were funny," to each of the male comics standing beside me. Then when he gets to me, I am expecting him to tell me that I am funny as well because hey, I had a good set that night! Instead he tells me I'm beautiful, which I guess is a nice compliment in general, but wasn't I funny too?! Tell me I'm funny, please. It's the whole reason I got into this business. I already know I'm beautiful.

6. "You are too smart for your body."

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This was a woman who approached me after a show where my jokes seemed to fly right over the audience members' heads. She was implying that if I were uglier, or possibly a man, my punchlines would have hit harder. I don't think this is true, I just sucked that night.

7. And "I like your material because you didn't talk about dating or sex. Why do female comedians always have to be so dirty and raunchy?"

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I don't know. Why do you come to a comedy club if you only want to see PG jokes? Go watch a Pixar movie if that's what you want. I talk about things in my life that I find interesting, and that's what most comedians are doing. I do not purposely avoid certain topics. I think lots of dirty jokes are funny. I love raunchy humor. Female comedians can keep talking about whatever the hell they want. Feel free to continue liking my comedy without putting other women down in the process. Women are funny, but humor is subjective.

Thank you, and good night!

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