Catching the comedy bug

Women of Comedy at M.V. Film Center.

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I like to think of comedy as its own universe filled with black holes. If you’re a comedian, it’s very easy to get sucked into one — never to be seen again. Even a part-time career in comedy can change your life, reshuffle your relationships, and leave you standing in the carb aisle of the grocery store, contemplating whether you can afford to buy English muffins AND bread. But if you catch the comedy bug, it’s all worth it.

On Thursday, Oct. 17, my husband and I hit the sixth annual Women In Film Festival for an evening of live standup comedy called “Women of Comedy,” hosted by Cape Cod funny girl Adrienne Baumann. The list of standups included Kristy Kielbasinksi, Laura Michelle Canty-Samuel (stage name Laura Michelle), and Kindra Landsburg.

Adrienne Baumann emceed the evening, and had a number of funny bits, including one about how hairy she is as a Greek woman. “I got a Brazilian once, and on me, the bikini line starts here,” she said, pointing halfway down her leg. “She tore off the first side of hair, and we laid it on the floor and used it as a putting green.”

Canty-Samuel, who lives in Vineyard Haven part-time, was up first, and from the moment she came onstage, her energy and spark were palpable. Canty-Samuel’s background includes performing in Catch a Rising Star, She Devil Comedy Festival, and the Broad Humor film festival, among others. She has written for Sesame Studios, Nickelodeon, and the 2018 CBS Sketch Comedy Showcase. Currently a writer for Disney XD, and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater with the Foundation, she is also a member of the all-female comedy group Comedy Derailed.

Comedy has always been a part of her life: “It’s because of my grandmother, who was always a very funny woman. We lived in a small row house. I shared a room with her, and she told me stories of her youth — tough stories about growing up in the South, and racism — but she was always able to find the humor in it. Even when a story was unpleasant, she was always able to follow it up with something about the human condition that was hilarious. She planted comedy in me — to take everyday experiences and shine a light on them that will make people laugh.”

Canty-Samuel’s set included a variety of topics, including her kids. “I love my kids, but I don’t think I’m getting a good return on my investment,” she told the audience. “I mean, how many macaroni necklaces can one woman have? I only have one neck — may have two chins, but only one neck!”

She also seamlessly included topics around diversity and inclusion, race, voting, and slavery. She’s a top-notch physical comedian as well, showcasing hilarious dance moves she did while embarrassing her daughter in Target. One of her bits included teasing the Steamship Authority and folks on the Island who are mad at the population explosion here: “The reason why there are so many people here is that they can’t leave!”

Kristy Kielbasinski, who was up next, was a semifinalist in both the Boston Comedy Festival and the Funniest Person in Massachusetts competition, and has been featured on WCVB’s “Chronicle.”

“I’ve been a stay-at-home mom since 2010,” Kielbasinski said. “I started doing comedy in 2019 as a hobby. Once you get your first laugh, that’s it.”

Kielbasinski noted that getting started as a woman in comedy hasn’t always been easy. “Especially if you’re a married woman,” she said. “There is a small set of women to begin with, and married women who are 40, even less, so it took time to get comfortable enough to get up in front of 40 mostly white men (often the predominant audience members) to talk about kids. Do they relate?”

But she pointed out that there are a lot of positives about doing standup, as well. “There’s validation. When you cook and clean all day, and your kids come home, they are like, ‘Ew.’ My oldest son saw me perform once, and said, ‘You’re funny onstage, but at home you’re so lame.’”

Kielbasinski’s set started out with a bang: “My husband told me he wasn’t going to come tonight.” Kielbasinksi came over to the Island from Grafton. “‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘I’m not coming if you’re only going to perform for a few minutes.’ I said to him, ‘I can relate,’” (good-naturedly) alluding to his performance in bed.

Her set also included bits about going to weddings at her age, and how local politics is far nastier than the presidential election, as Kielbasinski ran for (and won) a spot on the Grafton school committee: “They really did try to get me canceled. It was crazy. They started with saying I shouldn’t be on because I am a comic. I responded to that by saying comedians are truthtellers.”

Her sons weren’t off-limits either. “My 13-year-old just got his first cell phone,” she said. “My first cell phone was a flip phone. I put my parents in [her contact list] as ‘Mom,’ and ‘Dad.’ My son put his dad in as ‘Father figure’ and me as ‘Uber driver.’ But that’s OK; I got him back. I put him in my phone as ‘First mistake.’”

Kindra Landsburg was the last comic, and though she joked about just finishing a large iced coffee, it seemed as though she truly had, based on her boundless energy. Landsburg is a rising comedian in Boston. She has been featured in the Women in Comedy Festival, the Rogue Island Comedy Festival, and the Boston Comedy Festival.

Landsburg has been doing standup for 10 years. Though she can’t specifically remember the first time getting up onstage, she does remember the amount of work involved: “It’s demanding. You have to do it at least a few times a week to get better. I have always been a public speaker, so getting onstage isn’t a big deal. But I do remember feeling like I have to do really good — going over everything all day — consuming my whole day just for like a five-minute set.”

Landburg’s set included topics around age, her love for balding men, and the joy of bra removal. “A guy asked me if taking off my bra at the end of the day was better than sex. I had to say yes. It feels amazing 100 percent of the time to take your bra off, and sex … well … not always.” To which the women in the audience laughed uproariously.

She also had a bit — complete with physical accompaniment — about naked beaches. She told a story about her mom and her sisters going on vacation together, and how weird it felt to be on a nude beach with her mom. She went on to tell us — in great detail — about an old(er) naked man who was trying to pound his beach umbrella into the sand: “I’m looking at him, and then I look at my mom, and she’s looking at him! And I’m like, ‘Mom!”

Baumann ended the evening by singing a rousing song in German, honoring an audience member who was from Germany. It was a fun night, and as people were leaving I could still hear them laughing. Missed it? Well, according to Richard Paradise, founder and executive director of Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, “our diverse audience (younger adults and older) loved the talents of these four women comics with their comedy inspired by home and life experiences they could relate to. We look forward to welcoming them back in the near future for more laughs and smiles.”