Ladies’ Night Comedy is a female-focused sketch and stand-up comedy group composed of eight members. It focuses mainly on writing and performing stand-up routines.
IU senior Mary McGinnis said the comedy group is the only group at IU that both focuses on stand-up comedy and offers a space specifically for women and underrepresented voices. The male-dominated comedy scene often puts extra pressure on women in their presentation and material, McGinnis said.
McGinnis has been a part of the group since her freshman year. She was initially hesitant about going into comedy, but he said she felt Ladies’ Night gave her the confidence and support to perform stand-up.
“Our brand is more like a space for underrepresented voices within comedy,” McGinnis said. “Not necessarily just women specifically, but there’s so many groups that are underrepresented in comedy, and we want to give them a platform to speak out. It’s a really intimidating thing to get into, especially in a male-dominated field.”
Senior Carson Henley said she feels more assured in the female-only comedy group than if she would participate in a co-ed group. She defined Ladies’ Night as more nurturing.
“I think it’s easier for me to be more confident with my ideas and my jokes in that space where nobody is looking at me and judging me on any level based on how attractive I am or desirability politics,” Henley said.
Senior Abbey Kern said she agreed that the inclusive group gives its members support in and outside of comedy.
“I find women to be funnier in general,” Kern said. “As soon as I saw that Ladies’ Night was a thing, I wanted to join that one because I think that a female group is really empowering and we’re the only ones who do stand-up.”
Henley, McGinnis and Kern said they are happy the group is supportive of their performances and that they have become close friends during the process.
“We’re taking each other as seriously as we want to be taken,” Henley said. “It feels good to make a stranger laugh, but it feels great to make a friend laugh.”
McGinnis said the group has taken a temporary hiatus from performing out of safety and has chosen to focus on workshops to practice writing stand-up routines together.
“It’s not just that it is a group of women, but that it’s nice women and an uplifting place where nobody’s going to be like ‘that sucks,’” Henley said. “If the joke doesn’t land, we workshop and make it funny.”
McGinnis said the group is considering the possibility of performing in an open-air venue later in the semester. It will have a virtual callout meeting March 22 and 23 on Zoom.
