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Searching for Laughter in the Lesbian World (Part 1)

We’re all familiar with the stereotype of the dour, serious lesbian: she’s an ardent feminist, she cares little for capitalism, and she’s more interested in having a chip on her shoulder than finding any aspect of life funny.

We also know that much of this stereotype is untrue – lesbians like to laugh at the world as much as anyone else. Perhaps more so.

But just what do lesbian and bisexual women laugh at?

It may sound like a strange question, but comedy is such a powerful tool for social change – witness Ellen DeGeneres’s range of influence and subtle transformation from a popular lesbian comedian to an advocate for marriage equality – that we think it’s important to find out.

So we set out on a quasi-scientific (read: not at all) study of the things that make lesbians, as a population, crack up.

We thought it best to enlist help from authorities on the matter, so we gathered some of today’s hottest lesbian comedians – Kate Clinton, Sandra Valls, Julie Goldman, Erin Foley, Bridget McManus, Kate McKinnon, Page Hurwitz and Jennie McNulty – and asked what sorts of things lesbians seem to find funny (and decidedly unfunny).

Note: additional comics were queried but did not respond by publication date.

Question No. 1: What kinds of topics or jokes do lesbian audiences always seem to respond to? What gets the most laughter?

Almost all of our experts agreed that lesbian-specific jokes work wonders on a crowd of like-minded (and potentially tipsy) crowds. Lesbians, lesbian sex and “celesbian” gossip were the top answers from our comedians.

Apparently, we love laughing at ourselves.

“Anytime I joke about lesbian sex blunders, the lesbian crowd goes wild. Apparently we find lock jaw and defective strap-ons hilarious!” says Sanda Valls.

Kate McKinnon finds success touching on similar topics. “When I’m with a lesbian audience, I like to tell jokes about the ridiculousness of how lesbians act in relationships – how we always rush in, how we seem to seek out women who are straight or have substance abuse problems, and how we never really break up.”

Kate Clinton says there’s a specific person lesbians find funny, at least right now. “In this political season, almost anything that draws blood from Sarah Palin [gets big laughs from a lesbian audience]. But in general, they like anything about our lesbian lives – dating, sex, sexy dating, family – gay and straight, lesbo-celebs, gossip, bodily fluids and smart politics.”

Kate Clinton (left) and Kate McKinnon

Julie Goldman says, “this is a somewhat hard question to answer, but from my experience – I think lesbians, when together as a group like any group, I think – enjoy hearing the in-jokes of our community and stuff geared to Queer life and Lesbian life – sex, relationships etc.”

“I think any audience responds to pointing out the humor in simple everyday things,” says Jennie McNulty. “You have to be careful not to be predictable or obvious, but if it’s something we all go through it’s more likely to elicit a laugh.”

Comedians making fun of themselves is also a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

Jennie McNulty (left) and Bridget McManus

“Whenever I make fun of myself the audience is usually on my side and will laugh heartily,” says Bridget McManus. “I wish I could go back in time to when I was 12 years old and tipping the scale at 200 lbs. I would whisper in my own ear, ‘Don’t worry Bridget, it will all be OK. One day, hundreds of lesbians will laugh at you.’ Then I’d tell myself to hide my diary because my sister Audrey was reading it to her friends.”

Erin Foley insists that “lesbians love jokes about lesbians.” But, “they also love jokes about pumpkins, dragons and fly-fishing. Hands down, lesbians laugh the hardest at obscure references to Plato’s Cave.”

Erin Foley (left) and Page Hurwitz

Page Hurwitz can’t resist a snarky answer. “Luckily, we’re one big monolithic group and we all like the same things,” she says. “Purportedly, lesbians seem to respond to jokes about “wacky” sex and super duper wacky sex toys. I mean, those things are just plain crazy! Who can figure out any of it? It’s insane, I tell ya! Lezzies practically fall out of their wigs and jazzies for that stuff.”

“But really,” she continues, “I wouldn’t know what lesbians think is funny. In my experience they mostly just sit with their arms folded.”

Queer women, it is clear, love self-deprecating humor.

Questions No. 2: What never gets laughs with a lesbian audience?

There are clearly topics that gay women just don’t seem to enjoy hearing about, according to our experts. Queer women have a politically correct streak that’s easily aroused, a few body issues (especially male body issues), and few hot-button controversial topics they just don’t like to hear jokes about.

“Gay ladies, bi ladies and ladies who lunch do not like to hear jokes about small hands, lack of communication between partners, male reproductive glands, lizards, Dead Sea scrolls and when bad things happen to nice cats,” summarizes Foley.

McKinnon seconds the cat comment: “I think lesbos will laugh at anything that’s funny, as long as it doesn’t involve hurting cats.”

“I watch so much stand-up that I end up learning what not to say from other comics,” McManus reveals. “The big joke “no-nos” are about abuse, abortion and/or poop. Poop is never funny… or is it?”

The “politically correct” issue surfaces in more than a few answers.

“I think sometimes, lesbians can get a little ‘politically correct,'” says McNulty. “So, yeah, there are things that will make them cross their arms and stare at you (and that varies from crowd to crowd). But, I don’t really judge my material by whether or not it’s PC,’ just if it’s funny – funny, but not mean-spirited. I’m not a big fan of cheap shots; they’re lame and not creative. Not because I’m worried about offending anyone – I just like to feel good about what I’ve written from a creative and professional perspective.”

Julie Goldman has encountered her own share of lesbian political correctness. “What they don’t like I think is dependent on age and demographics,” says Goldman, “but across the board, I have found when lezzies are together, as a group, it can get pretty PC. I think lesbians can be slightly sensitive and precious about certain things. That is a huge generalization but I don’t know how else to explain it.”

Julie Goldman

Hurwitz is more succinct, saying, “all lesbians throughout the universe hate sarcasm.”

Sandra Valls had quite a bit to say on taboo topics.

Sandra Valls

Male anatomy may be a blacklisted topic for a lot of lesbian comics, but Valls isn’t afraid to go there:
I love performing for my girls! We love to laugh! You can’t please everybody. I talk about whatever I feel is funny and if people don’t like it, they’re free to leave the club or turn off the TV. I’m not changing my jokes. I mean there are always some uptight lesbians who hate anything having to do with the penis. I don’t get it. I remember this one show where I was joking about how I sometimes have penis envy and this woman in the audience starts making choking noises and yelling, “Ugh! Gross! Disgusting!” She was really loud and exaggerated. I ignored it at first but she kept on and on. It was so ridiculous! So I stopped my jokes, looked right at her and I said something like, “What’s your f–king problem? If you don’t like it, get the f–k out!” I can’t stand it!’ The rest of the audience clapped and laughed even harder. Oh and some lesbians hate it when I talk about how much I hate cats. Whatever. F–k it. I hate cats and that’s that.”
Finally, Clinton thinks a confident comedian can pull off any joke, no matter how high it may rate on the lesbian disapproval scale: “If you deliver a line with confidence and conviction, I think they’ll go with anything, even if they disagree.”

Look for Part 2 later this month, in which our experts discuss whether to change material for a straight audience, and the topics they personally find to be the funniest.

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