Diversity In The Workplace

I work in stand up comedy, which generally speaking, strives for diversity as of late. In recent times, comedy clubs were placed on notice for not booking enough comedians of color and women as headliners. Most of them responded by taking a look in the mirror and making that change. It was a needed change, in my opinion. Lot of talented women were overlooked because of the old misogynistic argument that women are not funny. Let's not forget, however that in the 90s, women dominated comedy. Rosanne, Ellen and Bret Butler were the biggest stars of stand up comedy.

I also agree that shows with all white straight males can be problematic, especially on a showcase show with multiple comedians where probably half the audience is not male. I also happen to help book shows for myself and other venues and I always try to make the best show for the crowds, keeping in mind the various members of the audience and what will make them laugh. Diversity factors are gender and race but for me, another is POV (Point of view). Will the audience see different points of views and different styles of comedy. If I am doing a show for elderly people in Florida, I don't think diversity of race and gender is as important as POV. Just as doing a show for a college crowd will not benefit by having three older comedians of color, talking about grandkids, divorce and colonoscopies.

There is diversity in a line up based on race, gender and color and then there is diversity based on POV. For example, if you have five comedians on a show who are all of different races and different genders, but they are all talking about dating, thats not a diverse line up. It's gonna get boring for the crowd (unless the theme of the show is dating!) In theory, that's diverse but it really isn't. The experiences are all going to overlap, especially if they all live and grew up in the same one mile radius of each other.

In my opinion, you also have to consider factors like age, marital status, life experiences and what topics are addressed by the comedians. And style of comedy (Dark, story telling, one liners). For that reason, I rather have three "straight while males" on a show if one if 24 and single with one liners, one is gay and married with stories and the other is a divorced father then three comedians who are all 21 and single but black, female and transgender. Also, I'm not implying they all will talk about relationships or dating but thats just an easy example since a lot of comedians discuss this.

In Chicago and New York City and other big cities, diversity is a big issue for comedy line ups but in cities like Austin or Orlando, its never discussed or considered. Funny is funny. I understand that POV as well. This may need more discussion. #standup #diversity #funny #comedy
​