Being a Female Comic in Louis C.K.’s World<br />“I just won’t try to get a spot at that club tonight — he’s there.”<br />“I just won’t perform at that club ever — he runs it.”<br />“I just won’t get on that TV show — he books it.”<br />For me, all of those “I just won’ts” now look like a lifetime of “I didn’ts.” So many missed opportunities.<br />But I’d say almost every female comic could name a comedy club she can’t walk into, a booker<br />she can’t email or an agent she can’t pursue because of the presence of a problematic guy.<br />We exchanged cordial hellos backstage and I remember thinking, “I hope it’s a misunderstanding, I hope you’re not that guy people say you are.”<br />Standup comedy is hard on its women.<br />You get that performing time in at open mics, where you have to line up during the day for a spot<br />that night, at open mics that run until 1 or 2 a.m., at shows where you have to talk two, or 10, friends into coming just so that you can have a chance to perform.<br />But were there a couple of great female writers who didn’t even try to get a job on<br />that show because they’d heard weird stuff about the guy who did the hiring?
