All have been featured on Huffington Post’s “Top 18 Funny Women You Should Be Following on Twitter.”
Stelling, a stand up comedian with roots in Chicago, is taking the stage this weekend at the Comedy Attic. She has performed there twice in the past two years.
“If you don’t have a valentine, I can help you laugh at that,” Stelling tweeted to her 11,000 followers in reference to her upcoming show in Bloomington.
Stelling has been a guest on “Conan”, “The Pete Holmes Show” and “Chelsea Lately,” according to her website. She also “won the Internet” by competing with other comedians on the late-night Comedy Central show “@midnight,” hosted by Chris Hardwick.
Comedy Attic Owner Jared Thompson said holidays like New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day tend to draw larger crowds, but he tries to bring in the best show possible regardless of what weekend it is.
“Beth is someone who we know we can trust to put on a show that people are going to really enjoy,” Thompson said.
As a woman, Stelling is a rarity in the world of comedy. The industry is largely male-dominated — in fact, not one woman broke into Forbes’ Top Earning ?Comedians of 2013.
Thomspon said there’s no doubt that comedy is a “boys’ club,” but that ?Stelling is the perfect example of someone capable of changing that because of her high level of talent. He said watching her was akin to watching anyone else “at the top of their game,” such as Rory Skovel or ?Todd Barry.
Some comedians use the fact that they are a man or woman in their routines to try to fit into a niche, Thompson said.
“It’s rarer and rarer that somebody can just simply be funny without there being some sort of hook or angle,” he said.
Thompson praised Stelling for bypassing this trap and focusing on just being good at comedy.
“She’s just taking the 45 minutes she’s on stage and doing everything that she can to make sure that the show is great,” Thompson said. “To me, that’s the most feminist thing you can do.”
The Comedy Attic tries to bring in a diverse group of performers regardless of gender, race or sexual ?orientation, Thompson said.
“If you’re continually putting straight white males on stage over and over and over again then you’re going to run into audiences not knowing how to respond when you try something different,” he said. “So we try not to fall into those traps.”
Thompson said Stelling has a way of standing out among others who have visited the Comedy Attic. He said this is a definitive challenge as they continue to book the top 5 percent of comedians.
“You have to have things that you do better than most people,” Thompson said.
In Stelling’s case, he said, those things are clever timing and an impeccable use of silence.
However, these talents are lost on audiences that chatter or fail to pay attention during performances, Thompson said.
“That’s one of the things that makes (Stelling) a really great fit here in Bloomington, is that our audiences are not going to step on her, and that’s such a key, key part ... being able to feel comfortable to do what you do,” Thompson said.
Stelling’s past visits to Bloomington were in June 2013 and July 2014.
Thompson said the most noticeable change from one show to the next was an increase in confidence that made witnessing her perform an unforgettable ?experience.
“An audience is going to be way more captivated by somebody who has control of the stage than they are of someone who doesn’t know where they’re going to go next,” Thomson said. “She has the stage presence of someone who’s been doing comedy a lot longer than she has.”
“Valentine’s Day Weekend with Beth Stelling!” will debut Thursday at 8 p.m. and continue throughout the weekend with shows at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. both Friday and Saturday.
Thompson said he could see Stelling becoming the “next big thing” in comedy.
“We book almost exclusively people who, at any given second, could get a break,” Thompson said. “And she fits that role as good as or better than anybody else.”
