Class Photo: Women in Comedy in New York City, 2016

The idea, simple enough: Gather as many women in New York City comedy together in one place for a class photo.

More than 200 showed up on a cold, rainy Saturday to Littlefield in Brooklyn.

The result, palpable.

women_in_comedy_2016_portraits_MindyTucker

Mindy Tucker, who’s tracked and photographed NYC comedians for the past decade, and whose work defines many of their Facebook profile photos, told The Comic’s Comic about the moment when she saw these hundreds of funny women, comedy avengers all assembled.

“I was overwhelmed,” Tucker told me. “I had not, in any way, thought about standing in front of everyone all together and what that would be like in the moment. And I teared up a little, to be honest, when I walked over to the risers and they were all filed in talking to each other and just excited about the day and ready to shoot. It is one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of.”

Jessica Delfino and Marianne Ways helped Tucker coordinate the shoot, leveraging a private Facebook group that Katie Compa and Selena Coppock had created.

My social media feeds Saturday provided a flurry of #womenincomedy2016 images, positive reinforcements of how many women are participating in the comedy scene today. They included not only stand-up comedians, but also bookers, producers, publicists, journalists, podcasters agents and managers.

Another 72 women sent in snapshots in absentia, while I can count easily dozens of stand-ups (mostly club veterans) who either couldn’t make it Saturday or probably weren’t part of the private Facebook group to begin with.

So conservatively, let’s say 300 women actively performing stand-up in New York City today. Definitely several hundred if you include women in improv and sketch groups, plus comedic storytellers. Figure a similar number of women performing in Los Angeles. Then another cohort in the various scenes across America. Perhaps 1,000 funny women working today, just in the United States.

Seems kinda funny weird, then, if someone books an all-male lineup or makes a big deal about introducing a women to said lineup. Right?

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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One thought on “Class Photo: Women in Comedy in New York City, 2016

  1. Does anyone have a list of the ladies featured in these photos? I’m doing research about women in comedy and would really appreciate it if anyone knows who some or all of these ladies are. Thanks!

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