Comedy queens at King’s Head

The King’s Head Pub was crowded with people lining-up for Women’s Comedy Night: a fundraiser for Sarasvati Productions. The line curled up the stairs, and there was a wait list to get a ticket at the door. All the seats were taken, so some people had to lean against the bar top and the walls.

One of the feature performers, Ashley Burdett, said the comedy scene seems to be getting bigger and bigger, with more women performing.

She said she’s seen shows before where the women to men ratio in a group of ten was 1:9.

“To know we can sustain a full show with 10 women that are equally great and have different points of view is so exciting,” she said.

But she said there are still people who say women aren’t funny.

“I say, then come to a women’s com- edy night and tell me you didn’t laugh once,” she said.

During her performance, howls of laughter came from the audience and it filled the room.

Someone shouted at Burdett, “you’re beautiful,” and Burdett said “thank you” in return.

A woman in the audience, Jill Cousins, 44, said comedy nights are sometimes funnier to her when there

are female performers because she can relate a little better to their jokes.
She said she asked her guy friends to come.

“They were like, ‘Nah, no, no, that’s not for me,’” she said.

Cousins said she might consider performing at a comedy open mic, after watching the women
perform tonight.

Melanie Dahling, another feature performer, said she’s talked to women in the city before who say they feel un- comfortable at comedy nights because they want to try it, but don’t feel safe.

She said it’s nice to have people on stage who reflect every perspective and to say it’s a feminist show.

But Dahling said it’s important to have an event like this fundraiser to normalize female stand-up.

“It kind of drives me crazy sometimes when the moment something is female-based everybody goes ‘Oh, this is for the ladies,’ because really, I grew up watching male-driven comedies and I was never in there saying this isn’t for me,” said Dahling.

The fundraiser helps support Sarasvati productions for their theatre season. The all-female comedy act made both men and women laugh, which some people believe could be a step in the right direction for Winnipeg’s comedy scene.