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Cameron Esposito, Janine Brito and other All Jane, No Dick All-Stars

The “women aren’t funny” debate is tired; just ask All Jane No Dick’s Artistic Director Stacey Hallal. Starting on October 17, the four day long festival sets out to prove just that, that the argument isn’t about if women are funny, it’s about just how funny they are. The fest, in its second year, is a self-indulgent labor of love, created by the comedy veteran, creator and producer of both the fest and Portland’s first ever non-profit comedy club, Curious Comedy Theater.

“I just pick all my favorite comedians,” joked Hallal. Lucky for us, she has exquisite tastes.

“I want to keep it very small,” said Hallal. “I want you to be able to see every comic be amazing and unique and it can’t be too big for that to happen. We keep it small, only women and tightly curated.” When asked about facing criticism of separating the women from men, Hallal said simply, “My personal preference is to present the best-I’m focusing on women until they’re equally represented.”

While last years inaugural weekend was already a who’s who of break out comedians, this year has found the fest in it’s stride, featuring THE list of who you should be watching out for, and who’s about to break out. Featuring national headliners and local performers, the All Jane No Dick schedule is concentrated awesomeness. Here are just a few of the highlights.

Cameron Esposito

I will never not include Cameron Esposito on a best of comedy post, so plan accordingly. If you’ve been living under an unfunny rock, and didn’t hear that Jay Leno called Cameron “the future of comedy,” then you’re hearing it from me. As one of last years stand-outs, and on the heels of representing queer women everywhere on national TV, Esposito returns to the fest this year as one of the headliners.

Esposito continues to take steps to completely eradicating the “women aren’t funny” argument. What gives me chills and makes me laugh while fighting the urge to sob openly while watching Esposito’s rise to success, is the overwhelming feeling that I am watching history being made. In an industry that is so ripe with talent, it is rare to be afforded an opportunity on a late night show. Even more rare is completely nailing a set, and what’s unheard of is Jay Leno himself saying “White men are on their way out! Lesbians rule!” Coming from an actual panel of experts, seems that statement might be prophetic.

Find her @CameronEsposito

Lauren Lapkus

Speaking of that unfunny rock, it was news to me that Orange is the New Black‘s Lauren Lapkus got her start in comedy. Not only that, she has a rich history in the business and the YouTube videos to prove it. Curious how I missed the memo, I asked Lauren about her history in the business. Turns out, she’s in it for the long haul.

“I think I decided I wanted to be a comedian when I was in elementary school,” Lapkus said. “I was obsessed with SNL-Chris Farley and Adam Sandler in particular. I also grew up loving cartoons like Ren & Stimpy, Doug, and so many sitcoms. I spent a lot of quality time with my parents, I swear, but somehow I have seen every episode of every sitcom ever. Golden Girls, Three’s Company, Diff’rent Strokes, Full House-I loved them all.”

With her success in acting, seems comedy would be a thing of the past. But that is not the case. In fact, Lapkus is just hitting her comedic stride. “This is my first time [at All Jane No Dick] and I’m super excited to be a part of it, ” Lapkus said. “I love doing festivals. It’s fun to go to a new city and perform for a completely new audience who might not otherwise get to see all these great performers. And I love that this festival is all women! I did the Ladies are Funny Festival (LAFF) in Austin a few years ago with my friend Laura Willcox (our duo is called LapCox), and we loved getting to see so many amazing female performers.”

Don’t worry, she is still managing to squeeze in shooting the second season of Orange is the New Black. Beyond that, she landed a recurring role on the new season of House of Lies on Showtime and shot a movie this summer with Adam Sandler called The Familymoon which will be out in May. With all that success, and a hectic schedule to match, comedy is still in her blood.

“I definitely plan to continue doing comedy and I try to be at UCB as much as I can in LA (and NYC when I’m in town). My improv shows are so important to me and a lot of times the they are the best part of my week! I love live shows for so many reasons, one being that you can’t think beyond the present moment. I love losing myself within a show-it’s freeing. My ultimate goal is to have a wide range of roles I am proud of and a bunch of exciting projects of my own creation.”

Find her @LaurenLapkus

Women Aren’t Funny

The fest will feature the Portland premiere of the documentary Women Aren’t Funny, produced and directed by headliner Bonnie McFarlane (Last Comic Standing). Along with her husband, Rich Vos, McFarlane addressed the stubbornly outmoded and seemingly common idea that women are inherently less funny than men. The result is a well-played romp through the minds of some of today’s funniest, and undoubtedly most sarcastic comics.

Find her @BonnieMcFarlane

Kyle Mizono

The comedy world is becoming wildly more accessible. It’s the reason we’re seeing more diverse comedy, podcasts making it their business to bring us what’s new, exciting and, obviously, funny. That is exactly how Kyle Mizono, a junior producer at The Super Serious Show, has made a name for herself. “I contacted the producers and they let me help out at the show every month,” Mizono said. “I eventually came to see them as sort of mentor figures-I refer to them as my ‘comedy parents.’ The Super Serious Show is like the hospital where they gave birth to me.”

As one of the most unique voices at this weekend’s festival, Mizono has found her niche in the mundane, an example being her hilarious series of photos of her holding dip. “I like to play around with different things,” Mizono said. “I enjoy performing at the monthly show in San Francisco called Talkies, where the concept is for comedians to experiment outside of regular stand-up. On some of the recent shows I’ve shared my Beanie Baby collection and made Halloween themed Jell-O using Slim Jims and Corn nuts. So Beanie Babies and Jell-O is my comedy at the moment.”

As an AJND first timer, Mizono is nervous. “I hope to goodness I don’t ruin it. Comedy festivals are such a blast and this one in particular looks pretty hot. I am looking forward to performing with so many talented women!” After the fest, you can find her performing along side Shaq on TruTV’s Upload with Shaquille O’Neal and in San Francisco for two nights of shows (Oct. 25-26) at Lost Weekend Video in the Mission District.

Find her @KyleMizono

Calise Hawkins

As someone who lists her comedy goal as “being able to pay her rent,” it seems Hawkins might be on the right track. With a resume that includes writing for MTV’s Girl Code and Nick Mom Night Out on Nick Jr., appearing on Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, she has created quite the story of success. With such an amazing background, its amazing that nerves almost got in the way. “I had many firsts,” Hawkins said. “I was just too nervous to follow through. I finally pulled the trigger when I met a comic, told him I always wanted to try standup, and he demanded I try his open mic. I just needed that little push.”

It’s that “little push” that led to some exciting moments that many comedians can only dream of. “The most exciting moment of my career had to be Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” Hawkins admits. “I was so nervous and Jeff Probst, who was a guest on the show that night, pulled me aside and gave me a pep talk. He told me a story about how he was asked to throw the first pitch at a big baseball game and all he worried about for two weeks was over throwing the catcher. Sure enough when the pressure was on, he overthrew the catcher. Jeff told me not to think about forgetting my jokes or screwing up my punchlines. He impressed upon me that I should only visualize a good outcome, and that I should breathe.”

Hawkins’ support of her peers is her biggest attribute. “I get excited to see the success of Amy Shumer‘s show and Nikki and Sara,” Hawkins said. “Some girls don’t realize that we need these shows to do well. If these shows do well the “girl comic” stock goes up. This seems to be an interesting time for women in comedy, I really hope it continues.”

Find her @CaliseHawkins

Whitney Streed

If you haven’t heard, Portland seems to be on the fast track to becoming the next comedy mecca and Whitney Streed has been called the glue that holds it all together. With a brutally honest approach to comedy, Streed was one of the breakout comics on last year’s AJND lineup and plans to do it again this year. “It’s such a great festival. Curious Comedy Theater is one of the reasons Portland comedy is so great right now, and it’s awesome to get to work with so many amazing performers from around the country. The positive energy of festivals is totally addicting to me, whether I’m on the stage or behind it. I am super excited for this year!”

“Portland is so awesome for comedy right now, for a whole host of different reasons,” Streed said. “There has been a strong, tight-knit comedy scene in town for decades, but in the past few years I think that a combination of things-amazingly talented and energized new people, the growth of the city as a whole, the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, global warming maybe?-it’s become a really good place to grow as a young comic. I’m just glad to get to be a part of it, both on the performing side and on the producing side.”

Describing herself as “a cross between Bill Hicks and a Laffy Taffy wrapper,” Streed has an excellent vantage point on the growing diversity within the industry. “The number of queer comics is going up, and it will keep going up as it becomes more and more acceptable to be open about who you are and who you love and how you live your life,” Streed said. “Comedy is a reflection of society, but like a reflection through a fun house mirror-some things seem bigger than normal, while others are shrunk down. Obviously there’s not a statistically proportionate number of women in comedy, but there is certainly no deficit in terms of talent, skill, creativity, originality. I say, don’t focus on the number gap-focus on the kind of amazing things coming from female comedians, queer comedians, trans* and genderqueer comedians. Lift it up. The more we highlight what is good, the more strength we give it, and the more it will grow.”

Speaking to the local scene, Streed produces a weekly showcase (The Weekly Recurring Humor Night!) that I’ve been running for tw0 and a half years. Other than that, they are working on doing more comedy outside of Portland-visiting LA at the end of the month. “My main goal is to just keep going!”

Find them @WhitneyStreed

Susan Rice

Susan is one of those comedians who both inspires and is inspired by the comedians she surrounds herself with. “I am honored to be in the festival this year with such amazing young women, Rice said. “I am not young or amazing but [I am] a survivor.” She has part of that right, except for the fact that she is beyond amazing, acting as a comedic powerhouse who has dazzled the Portland comedy scene for 30 years. “I knew I wanted to do stand up on March 16th 1983 at 9:45 p.m. at the Leaky Roof Tavern,” Rice remembers. “I had been a professional actress prior to my first comedy set and felt like I had just walked through the door and was home.”

Naming iconic comics Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Totie Fields as her inspiration, she recalls her mom tiptoeing down the hall to wake her to see Totie on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. “When I began in comedy it was the era of the Holy City Zoo and Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld on Letterman and Jay Leno. Then I met and worked with Paula Poundstone and knew what it was to be a genius and create your art. She was/is amazing.”

“At that time it was unheard of to have two women on the same bill,” recalls Rice. “We were the ‘freaks’ of the show, the draw on the bill. I remember famous female comics not allowing me on showcases in LA. We were considered to all be doing the same kind of material, menstrual cramp, tampon jokes or fat jokes. It was terrible because all the women I knew who were doing stand up never mentioned any of this crap.”

As for her goal, Rice said simply, “longevity.” “It’s a distance race with lots of curves and down hill and up hill climbs. Whether it’s a comedy club, or the Red Hat Society or Microsoft Corporate, I want to make ’em laugh.”

Find her @LaughLady1

Janine Brito

Janine Brito has been called quite a few names, best comedian with a message, one of the most daring in SF comedy and mean lesbian and cites her greatest comedic moment as touching bellies with Tracy Morgan. The only thing that could further your understanding of her comedy is knowing that she was born that way. Brito said, “As a kid, my Dad was a really funny guy and I remember wanting to be exactly 100% like him in every way (minus having a beard. Though as I get older that’s becoming more and more my reality. Damn you, genes.)” She also throws in that her comedy can easily be described as, “pussy jokes with a cartoonish lilt.”

As a comedian, she has found success as a writer and correspondent on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, which she said, takes up most of her time. In addition, she quips that she hopes to find time to get her reiki healing certification to become a therapist for cats.

Getting a straight answer out of her seems as difficult as actually performing reiki on a cat, but that’s what makes her so unique, her ability to deadpan the darndest things. It figures that she lists animals doing the darndest things and Maria Bamford saying the darndest things as what makes her laugh.

One thing she’s willing to get serious about is the underrepresentation of women in comedy. “I think an underrepresentation exists in all of the entertainment industry,” Brito said, “and I think it’s important to keep addressing that until the numbers match the general population better. Also, more types of voices makes things SO much better, just flip to a Golden Girls re-run to see! Do it! Now! I’m sure it’s on Lifetime. See? So great.”

As an AJND first timer, Brito is sure to be one of this years standouts. “I’m pumped,” Brito exclaims. “Comedy fests are the best because they’re like summer camp for comedians. I’m especially excited to experience and all-lady ones because I imagine there’ll be 300% more crafting and friendship bracelets.”

Find her @JanineBrito

Testing your willpower not to correct the seemingly incorrect spelling of Sara, the ladies behind Tegan and Sarah Improv are actually two funny ladies who just happen to have the best matched names since, well, you know. I immediately got to the bottom of the confusion.

“I’m going to throw caution to the wind and say they NEVER get confused for us, but part of my likes to think they get stopped on the street once in a while and asked if they aren’t that up-and-coming improv duo everyone/no one has heard about,” the duo said. “In all honesty, we love Tegan and Sara, the band-two very successful fellow Vancouverites who happen to share (almost) our same names. It’s all tongue-in- cheek. If we happen to be inspired to be two hot rock stars in a scene one time though, don’t hold it against us.”

Described as “surprisingly aggressive,” their unique perspective finds inspiration from the audience at the top (like many improv forms) and transforms those ideas in to a series of fast paced make-em-ups, with characters and relationships that can be as familiar as they are absurd.

As first timers to the fest, the ladies are excited to be amongst a group of talented ladies. “Festivals as a whole are such a great part of the comedy ecology, and a chance to see and play for and with people from around the world you have adored from afar,” they said. “For the host city, it’s also a great chance to be exposed to acts and formats the audience doesn’t have regular access to. AJND is a fantastic chance to do accomplish all of that, with the added benefit of connecting successful women in comedy from all over the continent. You will catch us with our jaws dropped in the audience all weekend for sure.”

Find them @TheSarah There’ll always be the argument that highlighting the women of comedy further divides the gap that we’re trying so hard to close. That mentioning a fabulous comedian who happens to be a woman makes it about gender when it’s not, but that is not at all the intention of AJND.

“I just keep coming back to the statistics, that women represent 17-19% of comedy industry,” Hallal said. “There are so many funny women, there is just no excuse for that. [With AJND] I concentrate on one goal, to raise the visibility of women. This is my dream, that I hope gets bigger with time. I would like to have a touring part of it, we would do the festival here, pull the stand out performers and take them on the road.”

Stacey Hallal

In the meantime, while you’re anxiously awaiting the impending wave of funny ladies to come to your town, gear up for AJND’s first ever podcast. Hallal is planning to gather content from the coming weekend, interviews and performances, for a first episode.

“I just hope that people come,” Hallal said. “We grew this year, and we took bigger risks. I’m so proud of everyone performing, and I feel bad for anyone who misses it. I just want everyone to know how good it will be, because if they knew, they’d be here.”

All Jane No Dick happens October 17-20 in Portland, Oregon. Visit alljanenodick.com for tickets and more information.

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