“I am writing in response to last week's Back Stage West with Johanna Stein and Joy Gohring on the cover. I am sad to see these two women resort to pretty damn near nudity in order to get attention. Granted, standup comedy is still a bastion of men. The club owners don't/won't book women comics very often, or if they do, will almost never have a woman middle act and a woman headliner on the same night, which is, of course, the standard bill for men.

Women comics, even in this supposedly enlightened age, still have a hard time being taken seriously. If a woman has a terrific act and is hysterically funny, her success at getting booked is still very much linked to how she looks. No one gives a damn how good-looking a male comic is; the issue is whether he is funny or not. A comic's "funny quotient," not gender, should always be the issue, but it's not.

Your cover comics, Stein and Gohring, are reinforcing the stereotype, while hurting other women who may not have C-cups available for display. It is nice to get good gigs, i.e. the Aspen [comedy] festival. God knows I personally want to see more funny women getting stage, screen, and TV time, because nothing makes me laugh harder than a really funny woman. But please, Ms. Stein and Ms. Gohring, find another way to get that sitcom.”

Jan Bartlett

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Senior staff writer Jamie Painter responds:

“Before you lambaste these two women for shedding their clothes, you should perhaps go see their act, which pushes the envelope of what some people might call good taste, but what others, including myself and the producers of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, find funny. I can't speak for Gohring and Stein, but I surely don't think the point of them posing for this photo was to suggest that they are willing to take off their clothes to get a job. They just don't give a damn about conventional wisdom or political correctness, as is evident from that cover photo.

If Ben Stiller were on Back Stage West's cover wearing nothing but his birthday suit and a wool cap, would you have accused him of the same offense? Probably not. But because our cover subjects happen to be young female performers, you assume they are cheapening themselves in order to further their careers. Gohring and Stein, indeed, hit buttons with their style of comedy, but I disagree with your contention that they rely solely on sex appeal to gain notice. If that were the case, they would not have been invited to perform in Aspen, and they would not have made it on to Back Stage West's cover.”

 

 

 

Copyright © 2011   Johanna Stein