Girls are funny. This is no longer a debatable issue. We used to concede, yeah, a few girls are funny. Phyllis Diller, Valerie Harper, the indomitable Beatrice Arthur. But nowadays they’re funny all the time, from Tina Fey to Amy Poehler and the stunningly down-and-dirty Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer of the TV series “Broad City” who, I’m thrilled to report, are just as foul-mouthed and dirtily behaved as any funny boys.
You know how nowadays there are more girls than boys in both medical school and law school? Maybe pretty soon we’ll be documenting the stone-cold fact that there are more girls on the comedy circuit than boys.
So let us rest our case.
For the second year in a row, a lineup of comediennes will appear in a show called “Broad Humor,” last year presented to an adoring crowd at A Gallery, this year featuring five funny females at Featherstone.
Four out of five of the jokettes are Island-based, at least seasonally. The famous, funny, and flirty sisters Lynne and Brooke Adams, with homes in Chilmark, have recently premiered their locally grown sitcom, “All Downhill From Here,” a mockumentary about two sisters, Kate and Elizabeth, who are strikingly similar to Lynne and Brooke. Movie star Brooke (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Days of Heaven,” and many more bigtime flicks), in the character of Elizabeth, introduces the Adams ladies’ new web series with the premise that Kate, played by actress, writer, and producer Lynne, thinks she’s dying. As far as Elizabeth is concerned, it’s a big hypochondriacal delusion: Kate is depressed, that’s all, and the dying part gets her a heap of the attention she craves. In the first episode, Elizabeth explains, “This documentary will be about her final days. If that doesn’t cheer her up, I don’t know what will.” Tune in at alldownhillfromhere.tv/series/home.
Also on the lineup is the incandescent Jenny Allen, humorist, playwright, monologuist, and writer for the New Yorker, the New York Times, Vogue, and Esquire, among others. Last year at A Gallery, she read her iconic story “Can I Have Your Errands?” about a lost list found in a supermarket cart that includes items such as “take in Lexus; derm—refill; gin and vodka.” The narrator bemoans her own fate in return, “My errands blow, they really do!” and she gives some examples: “Laundromat; dump; find job.”
Katie Fabel, based in New York, has been lured to the Vineyard specifically to perform in this event. This pretty young actress with a silken mop of blond hair has performed in over 35 shows on and off-Broadway, the West End, and regionally. She’s English, so she’s got all that toffy theater stuff in her background, but now she’s clearly rooted in the U.S., touring all over, including starring as “token white chick” in Latino-based National Improv League. She also has a wide repertoire of original comic songs, and she wrote and produced several hilarious webisodes on funnyordie.com.
And then there’s Gwyn McAllister of New York and Oak Bluffs, who’s written a few thousand articles for this very newspaper, in which her natural wit shines through. But now that she’s based in New York, an edgier side has started to reveal itself, like Edgar Allen Poe’s demonic heartbeats pulsing through the floor. Log on to her blog “Pick Your Poison: Poems for Poetry Haters — and Haters in General,” and you’ll find such titles as “TV Killed Chrystal Meth,” “Seasonal Aggressive Disorder,” and “Generation Selfie.” Here are some sample lines from her lyrical musings: “I love New York /Because everyone smokes /You can walk into a playground with a cigarette /No one cares /A mom might even ask you to hold her baby for a minute /while she digs through her bag /Which means that you have to do that maneuver where you /have the cigarette dangling from one side of your mouth.” This new ragged-edged poetry makes you slap your hands over your mouth, yet you giggle through your fingers.
This flashy, funny, femme event will take place at Featherstone, under their fabulous fulsome tent, on Friday, July 15, at 8 pm. There will be a cash bar serving beer and wine. After the show, these talented ladies should be stood to drinks because, in this highly fraught and unfunny day and age, we need to reward everyone who makes us laugh.
“Broad Humor”: Friday, July 15, at 8 pm, Featherstone Center for the Arts, Oak Bluffs. Tickets are $15 or $10 with Island Club Card. For more information, visit featherstoneart.org.