Winnipeg's outnumbered female comics go it alone, approach 2nd sellout show

Female comics may be outnumbered in Winnipeg, but they don't seem to need any help selling out a 250-seat showcase — all while competing with Grey Cup festivities.

Winnipeg expat Chantel Marostica's all-female comedy showcase, Empowherment, is closing in on a second sellout, billing only local talent.

"There's literally like five women doing standup right now in Winnipeg, and there's like 50 men," said the 32-year-old comedian, laughing. "I just tried to get any new woman that was on the scene to feature in something."

Marostica will host instead of headline this time around, while Dana Smith will do a full 20-minute set for the first time.

"I want it to just be a crazy packed show that people will say, 'Oh my God I saw everything. Oh there's so many women!' I definitely overbooked it," she said.

Newcomers Jessica Seburn, Anjali Sandhu and Cathi-Anne Cook are all getting short sets, and Winnipeg Comedy Festival artistic director Lara Rae is also on the bill.

Rounding out the show is sketch comedy from Bucko, the two female members of Hot Thespian Action, and improv from Outside Joke.

"You do your best seven minutes, then after that I want them to write another seven.… I want them to go as hard as the boys do," she said.

Marostica left the Winnipeg comedy scene for Toronto's one year ago and was struck by how much closer the city and nearby Montreal are coming to closing the long-standing gender gap in the industry.

"In Montreal, it's almost a 50-50 split. It's not quite there yet, but there's so many women. Winnipeg is really lacking," she said. "[But] even in Toronto we do gender-based shows … just getting all the women together. It's a safe, fun environment."

Safe means you won't hear a rape joke, you won't hear fat-shaming and you definitely won't hear homophobic crowd work.

The lack of women doing standup in Winnipeg is a divisive issue in the scene right now.

After The Uniter published a piece called Funny men, a lack of witty diversity pointing out the gender gap, a male comic posted the article to Facebook, and the author was criticized by a number of local comics.

Female and male comics sparred over how supportive the industry was, and male comics pointed to Marostica and Aisha Alfa — two female comics who recently moved to Toronto — as evidence of how supportive the scene is to women.

"If you point out anything that happens as a whole to people, single people get defensive. If you're like, 'The scene is not diverse,' people are like, 'Well I'm not a racist!'" said Marostica. "If somebody came up to me the day after Empowherment and said, 'That lineup wasn't diverse enough,' I wouldn't be like, 'Well, we had an Indian girl and a trans girl,' I'd be like, 'What can I do? What can I do to make aboriginal women and anyone else that doesn't feel represented come out on the scene and be doing it?'"

'5 minutes in front of a huge audience'

Newcomer Jessica Seburn said she's had nothing but support from the men she's worked with, but not seeing other female comics at shows is an obvious barrier to other women coming out.

"You go in there, and if you happen to see another female comedian that night, it's like, 'Wow! Hey!' We do have to ask ourselves, why is that?" said Seburn. "These comics do want more women to come out, but they're really quick to dismiss certain things."

She spent a year going to open mics and comedy showcases and just watching before she thought about doing it herself.

"As a spectator to comedy, I'd mostly just see men, and then when I'd see Chantel or Dana or any of the other women, that'd make me think, 'OK, there could be a spot for me,'" said Seburn.

Then she took an all-female comedy workshop and after a "comedy recital" on the last day, she was hooked.

Some women hear the word rape or some of the words that are used and they don't want to come out anymore.- Chantel Marostica

She said the all-female showcase is a way to fast-track the scene to having more female powerhouses.

"Maybe I'm not ready to do 10 to 20 minutes like those other guys are," she said. "[The showcase] is great for me. This is five minutes in front of a huge audience. I'm hoping that I'll prove myself and get into other showcases."

More women on stage means more women at open mics and a more diverse scene, which is what everyone wants, Seburn said.

Marostica agrees but said it needs to go further. Right now, the city's four biggest open mic nights are run by men, and she wants to see them making an effort to curb behaviour that keeps women from coming back.

"A rape joke may not be triggering to you, but some women hear the word rape or some of the words that are used and they don't want to come out anymore," she said. "If you see that happening, be like, 'Get the f--k out of here.' Intimidate those men off the scene, don't intimidate those women off the scene."

Booking women a balancing act

For Park Theatre talent buyer Kevin Mozdzen, it's been a balancing act.

Booking women and diverse shows is a priority, but if there aren't many women on the scene, there aren't many women to book.

It's just fairness, right? If someone's underrepresented, they should be represented,- Kevin Mozdzen, The Park Theatre

"The way [Marostica] runs that show really makes it easy to get a lot of women on the stage by opening it up to improv troupes and sketch groups. There's a lot more women involved in that scene than straight standup," he said. "It's something we're obviously very aware of and trying to do it and do it well without seeming like we're pandering or just trying to jump on something."

Mozdzen helped found and book Oddblock, a comedy street festival this summer, and drawing from a larger pool of comics, he helped book a lineup with a ton of women and a lot of diversity.

"I think it's just fairness, right? If someone's underrepresented, they should be represented," he said.

All female open mic planned Dec. 1

There is some progress — Jekyll and Hyde's is booking an all-female open mic on Dec. 1, and Smith is hosting.

Marostica hopes her show inspires at least a few women in the audience to consider getting on stage at that show or another one of the city's open mic nights.

"[Empowherment has] all up and comers and the women that are killing it in all forms of comedy to show that even if you're nervous about doing standup, you can take an improv course, you can do anything," she said. "[It's] just to get women interested in doing stand up and then know that there's going to be shows for you — paid shows. There's a place and a time."

In a few months, she'll be holding a weekend seminar for women on all aspects of getting into the business with sessions led by other women.

Friday night's show starts at 9 p.m. at The Park Theatre at 698 Osborne St.