Funny And Nice

Giulia Rozzi, co-host of Stripped Stories

Stripped Stories fits the Girls In Comedy Festival’s schedule perfectly – it uses a selection of comic formats, like storytelling, music, and even an interactive game. It offers with a fundamental situation, seeking at the serious and silly sides of sex. And its co-host, Giulia Rozzi, is a Boston native.

“We are a show produced, created and hosted by two females,” says Rozzi. “We have a good mix of male and females on our show as effectively as a mix of male and female fans, so I feel we’ve carried out a fantastic job of creating a female operated show that celebrates both genders and all sexual orientations. We are a show that is empowering to girls and guys.”

Rozzi and her co-host Margot Leitman have been performing Stripped Stories in New York City, exactly where they are based, and sometimes taking the show on the road. It is an interactive show, and it is difficult to think of a subject a lot more universal.

“We enable audience members to laugh at their very own sexual misadventures through the brave guests who bare their souls on stage,” says Rozzi. “We open each show telling the audience that ‘this is a protected zone’ which means what is shared at the show stays at the show. Some men and women could assume due to the fact the show is about sex that implies it is just a bunch of vulgar sex stories, and sure sometimes the stories get dirty, but it’s also vulnerable, sentimental, and of course hilarious.”

And now, abruptly, two questions:

Who are you hunting forward to seeing at the Festival?

We’re excited to see/meet new comics and familiar faces.

Why ought to men and women come to see your show?

It really is fun, inspiring, touching, interactive, entertaining , constructive, and really various from your standard comedy show. (Also, men and women have been recognized to discover romance at our show, so you in no way know…)

Women In Comedy Festival – Stripped Stories: 11:3oPM, $ 16. Mainstage. Starring Giulia Rozzi and Margot Leitman, with Kurt Braunohler. ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139. 617-576-1253

The Boston Comedy Blog

Prepared, Set… Wife makes its live debut at the WICF tonight at IB

Tonight’s Ready, Set…Wife! show will be a treat for audiences at ImprovBoston, and also for the two performers on the show, Cathleen Carr and Robyn Okrant. Outside of the Ladies In Comedy Festival, RSW is a collaboration that does not frequently incorporate reside performance, considering that Carr lives in New York City and Okrant in Chicago. “We mainly weblog,” says Carr. “We have a weekly podcast where we interview fantastic, talented, creative women — from comediennes, to actresses, to authors — and we develop our own on the web video content material. WICF is the very first time we’re performing reside onstage together.”

The pair have known each other for years, and have been hunting for some way to place their talents together, and finally located it when Okrant was visiting New York promoting her book, Living Oprah. Both are married, and located fertile ground in the subject. “Doing an online project seemed excellent,” says Carr, “and we made the decision to base it in our own reality — we’re both contemporary wives who are totally clueless about how to juggle our independent feminist sides with the classic roles expected of a married woman.”

There are obstacles to being married and pursuing a career in comedy. There’s a social element, hanging out with other comics and creating connections that may well imply stage time or other opportunities. “I like to go residence now after shows,” says Carr. “I’m a nester and often I be concerned that by not going out as a lot and generating the scene, I will miss out on networking time. That is why I really dig social media and networking due to the fact I can engage with other comedians anytime, anywhere. I feel as everybody gets older, people don’t care as a lot about folks being married. Listen, at the end of the day, even comedians do not want to die alone.”

Carr and Okrant are putting together a tour for RSW, and tonight’s show will be a trial run of that. So what will the show appear like? “Well, there will be a bit of everything,” says Carr, “from an original digital short, to some standup/sketch, to a fabulous panel of celebrity comedians who will resolve all marital issues (the audience and our very own) reside onstage.”

For those who may possibly be pondering, Carr’s other project, Two Girls For Five Bucks, with Daiva Dupree, is alive and effectively and still performing in New York City.

And now, abruptly, 1 question:

Why should an individual come to see your show?

It will be the greatest Women’s Research class of your life.

Ladies In Comedy Festival – Prepared, Set… Wife: A Frank and Funny Discussion on Marriage with Robyn Okrant abd Cathleen Carr: 7PM, $ ten. Mainstage, ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139. 617-576-1253

The Boston Comedy Blog

Rachel Dratch performs at ImprovBoston tonight

The Girls In Comedy Festival announced earlier this week that Saturday Night Reside and Second City alum Rachel Dratch, a Lexington native, will be performing on tonight’s 7PM show at ImprovBoston, and also speaking on a panel tomorrow. The Festival had been attempting to get Dratch on the schedule just before they announced the complete slate of headliners, but it wound up coming a little late.

“Rachel Dratch has been on our brief-list of dream headliners since day one,” says WICF co-founder Michelle Barbera, “and we’d attempted getting in touch with her in a variety of methods to no avail. I ended up going on IMDB Pro (yes, there’s a cause for IMDB Pro’s existence, I now know) and identified her agency. I have to give massive props to her agency, and specifically to John and Scott, for taking my call in the initial location, and for working with me more than several months to see what was possible due to the fact they believed in our mission. When we finally got the call to confirm that Rachel was in, I felt like a seven-year-old at her Star-Wars-themed surprise birthday party. Times ten. I was very excited.”

Barbera notes it’s a rare likelihood to see Dratch in an intimate, 100-seat setting, and to see her on tomorrow’s panel at the Brattle with headliners Jen Kirkman, Morgan Murphy, Kristen Schaal, and Kurt Braunohler. “For audience members and performers alike to see Rachel Dratch perform and speak, live, proper right here in Boston, brings residence a sense of reality about the possibilities for ladies in comedy to grow to be household names and have a cultural impact,” she says.0” I don’t assume any person who gets to see Rachel at WICF will ever forget the expertise, and we think that she, along with our other headliners and performers, will inspire so numerous other folks to actually go for a excellent profession in comedy.”

The Boston Comedy Blog

Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting at ImprovBoston tonight

1 of my preferred finds from last year’s Girls In Comedy Festival was the sketch duo Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting. They were strange, aggressively offensive, and most importantly, funny. They are part of the Festival yet again this year, at ImprovBoston tonight. I spoke with Leah Ruddick and Katie Hartman by e-mail – not sure who answered what question.

How did you get involved with the Ladies In Comedy Festival?

Our very very good friends (and hilarious stand-ups) Selena Coppock and Carolyn Castiglia participated in the festival it is inaugural year and spoke very extremely of it. We had never performed in Boston prior to, so we applied, got in and tried not to murder each and every other on the five hour bus ride.

What were your thoughts on last year’s edition?

We had a excellent time performing final year! It’s usually enjoyable to carry out outside of NYC and the Boston audience didn’t throw anything at us! What a pleasure! It was also sort of brilliant literally running smack into Maria Bamford in the tiny bathroom at ImprovBoston.

Have you performed at other festivals that consist of other comic artforms – stand-up, sketch, improv, and storytelling?

Yes! We’ve traveled all over for different festivals such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Women Are Funny Festival in Austin, SketchFest NYC, Los Angeles Comedy Festival, Capital Fringe in DC and AYE Arts and Music Festival in Cincinnati. Randomly. we also performed at the National Roller Derby Tournament, which is possibly the highlight of our career. The only disappointment was that no one body checked us.

How did the two of you come collectively as Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting?

We met performing theatre at Sarah Lawrence College, where we acted in a lot of very earnest girl dramas together. Then we realized it was more fun to make entertaining of that variety of theater than to truly do it. We started out undertaking sketch comedy in a bigger group as soon as we graduated and through that we formed the duo that is Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting.

How did you come up with the name?

It was the name of our prayer circle. Just kidding. Kind of. ”Skinny Bitch Meeting” was an inside joke with a handful of buddies and Jesus discovered his way in there somehow, as He tends to do. Certainly our mothers are thrilled with the name (no they aren’t) and certainly we are masters in promoting (no we’re not), ‘cause newspapers Enjoy to print the words “bitch” and “Jesus” subsequent to each other. BRILLIANT.

How would you describe what SBJM does?

We’re a small weird, absurd, dark and dirty. We have a tendency towards much more theatrical, character-based stuff simply because that’s what our background is, and typically that is the sort of thing that can make us laugh. Some other methods to describe what we do? “Mama’s Crack fix” and “Fun Ass”.

Who are you seeking forward to seeing at the Festival?

Oh, every person! We adore anything Kurt and Kristen does. Leibya Rogers is a genius with tofu nipples. Amy Albert as Delilah Dix can make our private parts really feel gross in the very best way probable. Doppleganger is hands down one of the best improv troupes in NYC. Ben Lerman is a uke wizard! Leah Dubie rocks it every time! We could go on.

Why really should people come to see your show?

Simply because if they don’t we will hunt them down and eat their children. If they don’t have young children then we will seduce their wives. If they aren’t married to females we’ll leave them alone.

Ladies In Comedy Festival – Full Tilt Comedy: Sketch: 10PM, $ 20. Mainstage. With Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting, OBV, and Harry Roasts America. ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139. 617-576-1253

The Boston Comedy Weblog