Lesbians are Funny. What?
By Sarah Terez-Rosenblum
Writer/comic Kelly Beeman and the women of Gayco know their way around gay-themed comedy. A not-for-profit theatre, Gayco has been bringing the LGBTQ fun since 1996. This year, Gayco presents Breast in Show, an original lesbian sketch piece.
Overcoming her fear of public spelling, Beeman spoke via e-mail with Our Town about the show adding, “You can make fun of my spelling if you want. I'm from Virginia.” Don’t worry, she’s been edited.
Our Town Why a lesbian comedy show?
Kelly Beeman [At] Gayco our audience and most of our ensemble is gay [but] we find in some gay and lesbian shows, the lesbian material gets overshadowed by the big crazy gay material.
OT What’s the line between laughing at and with a minority group?
KB I always think its fine to laugh at yourself. And it’s always fine to laugh at someone when they are being ignorant (looking at you Fox News). For me, its like how I can make fun of my family, but you better not.
OT What writing the show like?
OT You’ve been active in comedy for a while. Is being spontaneously funny instinctive or learned?
OT What are some of your comedic influences?
OT What sort of audiences is the show attracting?
OT What can audiences expect from the show?
"Breast in Show" runs through April 10 at the Apollo Theater Studio Space.To purchase tickets visit Gayco.com.
Center Stage Chicago(Breast In Show):
One of the GayCo comedy group’s slogans for their work is that “gay is never the punchline.” Having sat through a lot of terrible comedy where gay is all there is to the punchline, I appreciate this philosophy on aesthetic as much as political grounds. “Breast in Show” is an all female revue which allows the writer/actresses to present the concerns of gay women exclusively. The result is a show that is targeted at a niche audience of gay women as well. Funny, however, is funny, and this is definitely a show broad enough to be enjoyed by everyone, and will in fact, be most illuminating to a general audience.
While the show begins with a series of tired old “punchline-blackout” sketches that serve mostly as padding for the one hour running time, things get good later on. A series of sharp pieces reveal this show is best when it revels in its pitch black dark side. Standout sketches include Dora the Explorer trying to get health insurance, a woman realizing her girlfriend is a racist, and a divorced lesbian mother trying in vain to get food stamps for a child she is raising that is not hers biologically.
A general theme emerges of good people being powerless in the face of impersonal evil. And that’s funny stuff.
There are a couple of lighter bits as well, such as a group of straight housewives enjoying Ellen DeGeneres as a “safe” homosexual and a musical number about a group of lesbian “she-wolves” carousing.
Chicago Stage Review (Breast In Show):
From burgeoning love between two techno-data analysts, to a righteous poetic slam of lesbo-centric articulation, to the perfect girlfriend that’s a “little bit racist,” to an interpretation of the All-American dyke darling ELLEN that de-homogenizes her squeaky clean mega-marketing appeal (Thank you GayCo Goddesses for hilariously illustrating the milquetoast mediocrity of America’s token lesbian!); the women of GayCo take on the joys of homo-stereotyping with endearing enthusiasm and a fearless dedication to fun.
Breast In Show marks GayCo’s second-only all-women sketch comedy review in 16 years. It also dispels the notion that gay men are funny, while lesbians are depressing; something that a Chicago director actually told me over twenty years ago. Well, these 21st century lesbians are the sultry stylists of silly situations who prove that estrogen is the turbo-injected fuel for mad-capped mayhem.
Kelly Beeman, Kathy Betts, Judy Fabjance, Michelle Marquardt, Kelly Yacono, and Arianna Wheat make up this crazy coven of comedy mavens. Each brings their own unique deviation on the slanted scenarios of sketch comedy. From cartoon characters in search of health insurance to “She Wolves in Heat,” they bring both writing and performance chops that deserve to be showcased more often. Marquardt’s hysterical facial expressions alone are a show unto themselves.
Opening night was a little frantic. The crowd could have been warmer and the show could have been tighter, but it is obvious that this is a production that will only get better with each performance. Sunday nights are not known to be a peak night for sketch comedy but that will change as this animated and undaunted cast fine-tunes their material. They are there for a purpose and that purpose is laughter. They are already on the mark and will only gain momentum, so gather up your friends and help these vivacious GayCo vixens make Sunday the new Friday. - Two words; tampon nunchucks!
3 STARS
(“Breast In Show” runs Sundays @ 7 through April 10 at the Apollo Theater Studio, 2540 North Lincoln Ave. 773-935-6100)
Chicago Stage Style (Scream if You Love Christmas):
It's really not as loud as the title suggests, which is all to the favor of GayCo’s latest holiday spoof, “Scream If You Love Christmas.” Yes, there’s plenty of tom—and tina—foolery. The phrase “Santa’s Coming” gets a new meaning from a dab of whipped cream. The “Dickensian Down-Low” raps about closet cases who turn gay at night only to miraculously return to straightness in the daylight. A country-western duet expounds “Red Country, Blue Christmas.” A bossy personal shopper to the rich doubles as a Nativity pageant show director and puts audience members through their paces as he rehearses a very fabulous birth of Christ. The “Lesbian Christmas” number is an inventory of politically correct replacements for all the alleged oppression and discrimination that has masqueraded as Christmas joy. A scene tackles “the white-elephant circle of regifting.”
It’s naughty, not nice—lots of spice, not much sugar. A “second coming” with two gay parents serving as surrogates for the new Christ (named “Andrew”) founders on their high-maintenance demands. A very dysfunctional Frosty the Snowman returns to revisit a former child believer, only to be thrown out of her home by a protective Yukon Cornelius. In a brilliant cameo a gay version of George Bailey thinks that no one at a gay bar sees him because he hasn’t been born yet—but it’s really because he just turned 40. A shopper trying to return “civil unions” discovers that it’s not worth an upgrade to “gay marriage.” The clever finale is a medley of Christmas chestnuts roasted to boiling.
But it’s the quieter moments that make this hour-long revue as therapeutic as it satirical. Two lesbians try to create Christmas traditions even though they’ve only been together for two weeks. Homer Marrs delivers a bracing condemnation of stores that put up Christmas decorations before Halloween—and reads the hilariously nuanced response he got from our local Macy’s. The death of a lesbian’s beloved cat threatens to destroy the Christmas cheer until a feline miracle changes everything.
The most developed sketch (except that, sadly, the scene can have no resolution) involves a gay son who’s trying to come out to his mother at Christmas, only to discover she’s more concerned about the fate of his meth-addicted brother who she’s enabled all his life. Denial can do damage in more than one direction. Not all the scenes live up to their premise or finish with the snap that skewers. But Katie Watson’s very game sextet are on top of their stereotypes (well, sometimes beneath them too). You don’t have to scream to find this funny and, just as often, terribly true.
GayCo presents "Scream If You Love Christmas" through December 30, 2010 at Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway Chicago. Performances are Thursdays at 8:00 pm. $15 tickets can be purchased at the door or online at www.TheAnnoyance.com. For more information on this show, please visit the Theatre In Chicago Scream if You Love Christmas page.
Metromix Top Holiday shows (Scream if You Love Christmas):
There’s snow on the ground, the office smells like gingerbread and everywhere you look is awash in red and green—it must be Christmas week. And whether you’ve got visions of sugarplums dancing in your head or you find the entire season ho-ho-horrible, we’ve got six comedy shows to chase away your winter of discontent—or help you keep on celebrating.
“Scream if You Love Christmas”
Whether the season makes you shriek for joy or howl in pain, local LGBT troupe GayCo has a sketch for you. The ensemble’s second original revue includes such songs as the politically-themed “Red Country, Blue Christmas” and a humorously R-rated “Dickensian Downlow,” along with sketches about the awkwardness of not having a gift for the person you just started dating, the frustration of spending Christmas with your birth family while your significant other is far away and more. Dec. 23, 30. $15: theannoyance.com
Horror Society (Breast In Show):
In the enjoyable improvised sensation “Breast in Show”, GayCo’s talented female division find some very real humor and poignancy in casual monologues about cleavage and cancer – and reveal the horrors of an Ellen DeGeneres gone wild in a particularly adventurous segment. Like an opening of an 80’s themed slasher, one of the bits also explores the ‘killing effects’ of a child’s game of hide and seek gone bad. And when a “boo!” makes momma turn up her heels in a death stance, you’ve not only got some good shock comedy, but perhaps a missed opportunity from early day John Carpenter, as well!
Chicago Reader (Audacity of Nope):
Despite its title, GayCo's latest LGBT-themed sketch comedy revue never really takes President Obama to task for dillydallying on gay rights. But then, Sean Cusick's production isn't strong on topical material in general. The bit about giving a pair of pigs swine flu is too obvious, for example, and Vincent Kracht's impression of the perpetually unhinged Glenn Beck is entirely too hinged. The show is at its best when it sticks to the everyday 'mo on the street: a gay guy who can't stomach details of his lesbian roommate's love life, two grooms in Iowa finding surprising levels of tolerance at a church potluck. Even when the material misses, though, an appealing cast manages to salvage a chuckle or two. Standouts are Kathy Betts and Jim Bennett--zany and brainy, respectively. --Zac Thompson
TimeOut Chicago (Audacity of Nope):
Credit Prop 8 rage, empty campaign promises or just an extended absence (the company’s last show was 2007’s iHOLE), for the particularly sharp talons on The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme (which opened last night at Strawdog in Lakeview), the latest sketch comedy revue from queer jokesters GayCo.
In the opening sketch, for example, the fuss over gay marriage is brought front and center as a male couple in the Hawkeye state frets over the doldrums of domestic life. “I want the free rings, but not the baggage they bring,” one groom laments. The solution? Marry in Iowa for wedded bliss, but cross back over the Illinois border for bachelorhood.
In other sketches, Gayco points fun at gender reassignment surgery and its impact in the workplace, Anderson Cooper’s unwillingness to come out and the Daley Machine. It also takes swipes at FOX news and its claim to be fair and balanced as three news anchors wonder if Obama is turning our nation socialist, black and gay. Is this even a parody, you may wonder. It’s a thin line at best. But the show is funny mostly because GayCo has never had trouble making fun of the LGBTQA (LMNOP) community and all its foibles. In the best sketch of the evening, the infinite number of speeches given at gay rallies gets spoofed. “We’re here to represent the super cougar sub dom lesbian community!” one woman shouts through the megaphone as anxious protesters wait in vain to hit the streets.
While the show is unabashedly queer (but still straight accessible), educational and entertaining, it’s also not perfect. Audacity aims to spoof the broken promises made by president Obama, but is missing the man himself. Racial diversity has never been a GayCo strong suit. That’s not entirely their fault of course, out improvisers of color are probably lacking. But without one, the satire is limited.
Ultimately, fences are mended in Audacity. A finale finds a same-sex couple bonding with a group of Iowa women over ham balls. Who would’ve guessed that big, meaty balls would ultimately bring straight women and gay men together? No comment
Windy City Times (Audacity of Nope):
Audacity of Nope; Snow White and the Drag Queen
Gay theater for its people, by its people and of its people. That's how some casual theatergoers might write off GayCo Productions' new comedy revue The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme and MidTangent Productions' Snow White and the Drag Queen Who Stole X-mas.
But why ghettoize shows that both have abundant talent and irreverent humor? Whether or not you belong to the LGTBQ community, both shows succeed with plenty of universal wit and performance panache.
Under Sean Cusick's astute direction, GayCo's The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme serves up plenty of prescriptive laughs for those unhappy with the speed of gay rights legislation or annoyed by Chicago parking, the H1N1 virus and culturally backward Fox News commentators.
But GayCo doesn't stint on critical ribbing for its own people, and it more than dishes out laugh-out-loud humor on the shallowness and rampant political correctness that can sometimes thrive within the LGTBQ community.
The whole cast is great, but Andy Eninger particularly stands out as a gay brunching guy who hypocritically freaks out when his straight roommate ( Kathy Betts ) finds happiness. Jim Bennett is another bright spot, particularly when he sticks it to those in master/slave relationships as a submissive who also has a prominent City of Chicago job.
Chicagoist (Audacity of Nope):
With Maine's rejection of same-sex marriage, the postponement of a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the continued federal inaction on legislation like Don't Ask Don't Tell, recent headlines facing the LGBT movement have been a bit of a Debbie Downer. It all leaves us gays in need of a good laugh and a stiff drink.
GayCo, Chicago's home for gay and lesbian sketch comedy, delivers the latter with its new show, The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme, which runs through Dec. 5 at Strawdog Theater. Directed by Sean Cusick and written by the performers themselves, the show has enlivened recent events facing the LGBT community with licks of laughter and plenty of satire leaving practically no stone unturned. There's Iowan church ladies singing about ham balls and marriage equality, Anderson Cooper crying into his coffee at the CNN news desk, martians asking a lesbian couple to demonstrate procreation and even right-wing "environmentalists" arguing the LGBT movement is responsible for natural disasters. It all wouldn't be so funny if it weren't so true to life.
And of course, owing back to its title, the show does take on Barack Obama, whose "fierce advocacy" is embodied by GayCo founding member Andy Eninger's surprisingly accurate portrayal. This was among the show's many highlights, in addition to a gay rights rally piece where the list of co-sponsoring sub-sub-subcommunity organizations is practically never-ending and the butch post-op sub-furry former lesbians demand their right to speak.
The Audacity of Nope is certainly worth checking out - the music is fun, the comedy is fresh and the writing doesn't pander. It's like a gay SNL. Except that it's actually funny, really funny. And hey, as for that drink, you can just head down the street after the show and choose from a wide variety of gay-rific nightspots. Sounds like a pretty solid date night to us.
The Urban Coaster (Audacity of Nope):
There is an adage that drama is easy and comedy is hard. I laughed pretty hard at GayCo Productions “The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme.”
I grew up watching improvisational theater at places like Second City and Improv Olympics. This kind of comedy calls for some ripped from the headlines subject matter and GayCo hits the nail on the head.
A few days before the premiere, Maine had shot down a gay marriage law and this troop added that into the mix in a hilarious mélange of skits. The premise is that this comedy is gay-themed but they go beyond that.
There are no sacred cows here. In fact, there are some assassin livestock in a riff on H1N1. It comes on the heels of skydiving lesbians trying to land in Iowa. I about fell off of my seat with the denouement of that skit.
This troop skewers everyone. Glen Beck is put on the rotisserie spit in a brilliant Bob Fosse-inspired dance number. I now know that Dick Cheney is a hologram sent by the French and that Anderson Cooper can’t understand his emotions over the “hiney” virus.
These actors have a rapid fire take-no-prisoners approach to comedy. My favorite sketch of the evening was a café confrontation between a gay man and his favorite gal pal.
She discovers that she is either bi or a lesbian and Miss Thing is furious with her. It teeters on edgy drama and then lowers the boom with a line about mastering Power Point and a sudden change in appetite.
In my opinion, the best comedy looks to the self and reveals. GayCo lets loose on how every minority has the tendency to talk things to death instead of taking real action. Everyone wants to be heard at the expense of the greater good and in the process there is comic gold.
Take the time to check out “The Audacity of Nope.” You will believe in aliens and be exposed to ham balls in case you don’t make it to Iowa. It is truly hilarious and not for children.
“The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme” plays Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm through December 12 at the Strawdog Theater, which is located at 3829 N Broadway St, Chicago. For tickets call 1-800-838-3006. It’s perfect holiday entertainment!
Chicago Stage Review (Audacity of Nope):
Years ago a Chicago director told me that the general rule of thumb in theater is, gay men are funny and lesbians are depressing. Over the years, that notion has fluctuated back and forth. Depending on whom you’re watching, reading or talking to the LGBT community generates the entire range of emotion. This is true partly because we’re human and so our experiences are universal and partly because we’ve gone mainstream and so looking into a window on our lives is less a trip to the zoo for straight America and more a look in the mirror.
With this homo-homogenization has come a watering down of our art. Much of the bite and fight that used to be reflective of our social struggles has been replaced with complacently average expression, tame depictions and safe clichés. That is why when you experience something from LGBT artists that has an edge; it is refreshing and inspiring. That is why GayCo’s The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme is more than just an extremely entertaining sketch comedy show, rather it is a brilliantly subversive reminder that we’re not Ward and June Cleaver, we still have a long way to go and we can still have fun getting there.
But please don’t let the initial social analysis scare you off. The Audacity of Nope is a certified laugh riot! I’ll spare you the details so as not to ruin the scene, but when the phrase ‘tittie mountain avalanche’ was uttered I almost choked on the laughs. This phrase has become my new mantra and might very well end up being the name of the next pet that I acquire. I envision myself calling the dog from across the apartment, “Tittie Mountain Avalanche! Get off the sofa!”
Not shying away from depictions of the less mainstream aspects of the LGBT community, one scene shows an adoring slave reflecting on the love he has for his brutally domineering master. His tone of voice mimics that of a happy housewife in a Lifetime Channel take on the domestic bliss of dominance and submission.
GayCo’s cleverness ranges from political, to personal to irreverently absurd. Climatologists from Brigham Young University blame catastrophic climate change on homosexuality, sighting that in 2005 the success of “Brokeback Mountain” brought about Hurricane Katrina. One groom comforts the second thoughts of his intended husband-to-be by explaining that after the wedding “If you don’t want to be married anymore you can just cross the border into Illinois.” Hungry space aliens abduct a couple and try to force them to have sex in order to procreate more ‘earth meat’ but the lesbian couple they chose informs the aliens that they only have sex on their birthdays.
GayCo started in 1996 when The Second City Outreach Program began its first Gay/Lesbian workshop series. Since that time it has taken The Second City training and forged a body of work that continues delight audiences and take risks. While many of today’s Second City productions play it safe and tone it down for the tourists, GayCo plows full steam ahead into the world of impertinently challenging and insanely hysterical comedy.
“One man’s hate crime is another man’s pep talk.” is not just a hilarious line from one of the show’s funniest sketches, it is also the truth of GayCo’s genius. Without sermonizing or grandstanding, they remind us that we need to continue fighting the good fight and they accomplish this with impressive wit, contagious camp and explosive humor.
Gather your friends and rush to catch this side-splitting treat. Regardless of your sexual orientation, if you like to laugh The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme is not to be missed!
3 ½ STARS
Chicago Tribune (Sketchfest 2010):
KB Well, there's Judy Fabjance, one of Gayco’s founders, an amazing, smart improviser and writer, great at taking issues from her life and writing about them. Kathy Betts is a fellow nerd. Her Ellen impression is great. Kelly Yacono is the "actress" of the bunch, drama as well as comedy. She has an amazing singing voice. Michelle Marquardt is one of the best improvisers in the bunch and a great dancer. Arianna Wheat is the newest to Gayco and has a great future ahead. Her spoken word poem scene is amazing and something you don't normally see in sketch comedy.
KB You can hone it through education and practice [but] it’s something you’re born with. People who find that talent later in life had it all along; they just needed someone to help them find it. Just like those late life lesbians!
KB I consider myself a writer first and a performer second, so Tina Fey is one of my influences. Mary Scruggs who recently passed away was my writing teacher and really inspired me. I simply adore Claudia Wallace. She's a Second City Main stage Alum and doesn't know it yet but I’m stalking her. My sisters influence me. We quote a lot of "Simpsons," "SNL" and "Seinfeld." If I say a line of my own and they laugh and ask where it’s from, I know it’s funny.
KB When we originally workshopped the show at Second City's DeMatt Theater it was hard to get a lot of women out. The show was at ten-thirty p.m. and lesbians in committed relationships are in bed by eight forty seven. [Now] we’re getting a good amount of women [and] a fair share of men.
KB We have a super goofy closer, a song for geeks, a couple of smart social and political scenes, poetry, dancing, singing, boobs; it's all there.
Centerstage Show Review; Reviewer: Rory Leahy
Breast in Show -Review. By Venus Zarris
December 2010 Review by Lawrence Bommer
Holiday comedy shows
Santa brings a bag of laughs to these holiday-themed stand-up and sketch shows
By Julia Borcherts
The Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway
Theater Review: Aftermath/Breast in Show. By Brian Kirst
The amazing thing about the world of horror is how it is relevant in even theatrical projects non-related to the worlds of scare.
The Audacity of Nope, or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme
When: Thursdays-Saturdays. Continues through Dec. 5 2009
Phone: 800-838-3006
Price: $20
gayco.com
On the Scene: Gayco at Strawdog Theatre
Posted in Comedy, Gay & Lesbian by Jason Heidemann on November 10th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Windy City Times
By Scott C. Morgan
The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme
Playwrights: The Ensemble
GayCo's The Audacity of Nope a Definite Yep
'Audacity of Nope' Rips Humor from the Headlines
Written by Francis Scudellari
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 20:18
By K.D. Hopkins
Fri 20 Nov, 2009
The Audacity of Nope or How I Fell for a Pansy Scheme - REVIEW
By Venus Zarris
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