- Title: USA: Female comics shine in new television special
- Date: 15th June 2012
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS - LOS ANGELES) (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMEDIENNE CHRISTINA PAZSITZKY, SAYING: "You know, I'm glad that Chelsea gives comediennes opportunities to be showcased that normally wouldn't be, I'm forever grateful to her for that. And I think the female comic is evolving, and it's got a lot more to go, but girls like Chelsea Handler and Kathy Griffin, and Lisa Lampinelli are paving the way for this next generation so, you know what I mean, one day there won't be such a thing as female comics or male comics, we'll all just be comics. And that's my dream, to just one day, 'I'm not a female comic, I'm just a comic,' so we'll see."
- Embargoed: 30th June 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVAE9HJO20V06Q5KP21B9831FNFZ
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- Story Text: The TV Guide Network is launching a new series that highlights female stand-up comics, "Stand Up in Stilettos," which is set to make its debut on U.S. cable television this month.
Hosted by actress Kate Flannery of the U.S. sitcom "The Office," "Stand Up in Stilettos" will include 10 original half-hour episodes featuring familiar faces and rising stars on the comedy circuit today, with each show including three stand-up comediennes whose acts feature material for, by and about women. The lineup includes comics Carol Leifer, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Christina Pazsitzky, and Gina Yashere, among others.
"There's so many fearless comediennes, but a lot of people don't know them or haven't seen them because they haven't been in movies or TV because so it's just really about time," says comic actress Kate Flannery. "Women are so smart and so funny and it's kind of not really about being a woman, it's just about being funny. They just happen to be women. It's just kind of a coincidence."
For veteran comic and writer Carol Leifer, who worked on the long-running television series "Seinfeld" and "Saturday Night Live," much has changed since the days in which she was starting out in the business.
"When I started out, there were so few female comics, that when they would put together a lineup for a show, it was pretty much like, 'OK, we'll have the monkey act,. then the singer, then the woman,' you know," says Carol Leifer. We were really that much of a minority, but there are so many women comics now, and so many different voices, it's really fantastic. It's not the minority thing that it used to be."
Christina Pazsitzky credits the rise of a handful of female comics in recent years with the receding notion that stand up comedy is solely a gentlemen's club.
I think the female comic is evolving, and it's got a lot more to go, but girls like Chelsea Handler and Kathy Griffin, and Lisa Lampinelli are paving the way for this next generation," says Patzsitzky, who regularly appears on "Chelsea Lately" with Chelsea Handler.
Patzsitzky is hopeful that the days of labeling a female comic any differently than a male comic will be soon a thing of the past.
"One day there won't be such a thing as female comics or male comics, we'll all just be comics. And that's my dream, to just one day, 'I'm not a female comic, I'm just a comic,' so we'll see," she adds.
"Stand Up in Stilettos" will debut Saturday, June 16. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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