first time drunk blogging!!!!

this is exciting and i think it will be the start to a new depressing trend. i just wanted to say that... i just got in a really serious battle with a moth... where i ran around my room naked trying to end its life with a flip flop. but i've done it. it's over. and now i'm sitting in my bed blogging (obviously) and pondering life, mortality, relationships, happiness, disease, history (specifically roman), the universe, the internet, teflon poisoning, war, etc... oh boy.

silent films about college hook up culture, insecurity, objectification, sexuality and self love are hillarious!

This is a silent film that I made with the help of my friend Mikiech (who's an awesome film maker!) for a Vaudeville themed fundraiser called "Music for Moderns." The benifit was at and for the Museum of Radio and Electriciy in Bellingham. The space was awesome and absolutely fabulous. I showed this video along with a stand up set that to be honest I don't remember that well... But it was such a blast!

I don't know what it means as a female comedIENNE-ess-tress (as I like to identify) that one of my favorite things I've done is silent... Seeing as my goal is to combat the silencing of women. There's probably something deep to be said there. like about irony. and like satire. and like theory. idk.

Who's that Hott Mess Shitting the Show up?

I was part of a travelling feminist variety act of comedy, music and communist propaganda called "The Hott Mess Shit Show." And a hott mess shit show it was... After a rigorous quarter at Western Washington University we hopped in the hott mess mobile and took our shit show on the road for Spring Break.





I will definitely never forget this tour. It was just wild. We had ladies crying in our arms saying thank you, we got educated by a very deep and sensitive white boy named Leviticus Appleton who plays the guitar and sings softly about how we shouldn't seek to "fuck patriarchy" but rather to "love people,"we jumped in the ocean, drank hella Slurpee's, had breakdowns and cried as well as laughed hysterically for hours upon end, we got high (a lot), we processed our lives and talked about learning to live in our own skin.

Of course the show and the tour was specifically about being women and letting go of what we're supposed to be or not be. The music of the Femme Uke playfully comments on being sexually active women among other things, Janette Casolary engaged the audience and loosened them up by inviting them to ribbon dance with her, Valerie Brogden amazed by playing songs on her ukulele, tap dancing and singing, and I offered various comedic characters and acts designed reduce sexism and the silencing of women to pure absurdity and idiocy. For example "the Patriarch" criticizes everything we do in the show by claiming it's not true art. Then "the Patriarch" finds feminism and uses his knowledge of "feminist theory" to condescend even further. However, by the end of the show "the Patriach" gets in touch with his feelings and learns to listen, deconstruct his privilege and actively become a good ally to women, Queers, people of color, and disAbled communities. This character has a mustache that would not stay on so often I had to hold it up with my finger. It was silly. Then of course there was my talk show "Clitalk" with my co host Alfredo the vag puppet. For this audience members could be interviewed about their sexuality. This was especially fun in Oakland when my good and drunk friend Riley was there to ham it up with her explanations of how she goes about hooking up with guys that she doesn't want to really but also she does...

Anyway, I struggle with how explicit to be about how being a woman shapes how I see and do comedy and music. This show was very straight forward but also quite silly. I like remembering this show because it reminds me... that fuck it, I have to let go and be myself. Maybe I wont always fit in the "boys club" but I know who I am... or I'm learning. Sometimes I don't want to feel like I'm a spectacle or be seen as my gender but sometimes I just want to laugh and make a spectacle out of everything. Sometimes I just want to be that hott mess shit in the show. Sometimes not. I just want to be the one who decides. I want to create some room for people to be themselves and not be boxed in. As bell hooks put it, "I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else's whim or someone else's ignorance."

Not sure how I got on that rant but the truth is there is a disparity of representation in comedy and music. Women and girls don't have a lot of spaces or role models to push them to create and express themselves. And when they do they're often boxed in or categorized as creating something in a genre called female which is less universal or human or important. I'm learning that you sort of just have to put yourself out there anyway. It can be hard, but if you do it you may just meet other rad people doing the same thing. And maybe you'll go on a wild tour with them. And maybe you'll tell other people to do it to. And maybe we all will be able to breathe easier.

So basically, if the hott mess shit show had a motto it might be...

I hope you dance.

My First Comedy Show!

I know what you're thinking: "Jessica, clearly you have done a lot of comedy shows over the past year. You are a liar and a cheat. This is not your first show! Slut!!!!" Let me explain myself... over the past year I have performed with other bands, burlesque acts, literary readings, variety shows, and even a condom fashion show. Okay, a year ago I did another comedy show with a couple bands and local comedian Shannon Day (who I heard about through a crappy guy I hooked up with through craigslist casual encounters. He's 32 but "will always be 24 at heart." He calls pizza "zahhh". I'm sure it was the patriarchy that made me stoop so low in my youth for a bit of male attention and validation. Grrroooosssss. I'm starting a riot.)
BUT THE POINT IS: On July 9th I'm performing with a bunch of other rad stand up comedians (including but not limited to Elissa Ball and Solomon Georgio) for the first time. It sort of feels like my first comedy show. It is the start to me networking with peers and developing a community around stand up comedy! I'm excited to be pushed and inspired by other comics and to play off of their energy. Yayy!!!
That's July 9th at 1012 high street at 8pm.

The Sexual Education Presentation With Nancy and Devlin!

I woke up to a text this morning from my dear friend Janette: "I cant stop thinking about our sex ed. We should gather all the photos see if anyone got video and write a press release this summer." What Janette is referring to is a sketch comedy act we did for Western Washington University's "Condom Fashion Show" as put on by the Sexual Awareness Center. This is funny to me because Janette had never done comedy before this night but something was driving her to do it. Although she remembers differently it was her idea to brave the stage with me on this night. She was so nervous we had to down a beer beforehand which is really NOT LIKE JANETTE. However when we stepped on the stage she totally hammed it up and I had the funnest time doing this sketch with her and it sort of got me stoked on making people laugh again. I think she caught the comedy bug. Poor girl.

The show was absolutely a blast! The crowd had awesome energy thanks to a drag performance of Spice Up Your Life and an excellent rendition of Paparrazzi. Our sketch was two older women who used to be quite wild and free lovin in their younger days but are now a monogamous lesbian couple who bicker a little but are still madly in love. Their life is now about going around to schools and universities to give students an inclusive, informative and holistic sexual education presentation. I think we called it "Making Safe, Inclusive, Respectful, Communicative Sex Romantic, Sexy, Freaky and Fun with Nancy and Devlin."

We started off the show with Janette stepping on the stage and singing back to me offstage,

"Come to my window"

And then of course me stepping out and singing back to her

"Crawl inside, wait by the light of the moon."

"Come to my window."

"I'll be home soon. Hi I'm Nancy."

"And I'm Devlin!"

and so on and so forth.

Aside from making the crowd laugh which is sort of the main point in my book, being able to say a bunch of stuff about sex in that environment as a woman and as a Queer woman felt AWESOME. I've been thinking for a long time about how to tell jokes about consent and the lack of awareness of it while keeping it funny but also real. I had a bit of a moment where I realized this was more than possible. We had a competition to see who could put condoms on the fastest and called a guy and a girl to the stage. While I was listing off the rules the guy grabs the condom and his provided dildo and starts opening the wrapper. At this point I grabbed the condom away from him and said something to the affect of, "I didn't say go! It's called consent mister, try it!" The audience rolled with laughter in this way that I feel that the lack of visability of sexual assault and consent issues was like kinetic energy just waiting for somebody to say something to release the angst some. That's why I love comedy. It's so releiving when you feel you really get to laugh WITH a bunch of people over something that's been bothering you.

I also like that Janette disqualified both contestants because they didn't check the expiration date and opened it with their teeth! She was like, "No, I'm sorry, get off the stage now thank you." That was just really funny to me.

So I suppose if anyone like wants to sign us to an agency that will help us make thousands of dollars of University money to do our hillarious yet very well thought out sex training let me know. Or also we would probably just do our training for anyone anyway. High Schools? Unitarian Churches? Bachlorette parties? Bar mitzvahs?

Just Do It.

I have found that I have this passion and it is comedy. I love it. However, it is the most frightening thing. Yikes. But well, there comes a time when you say "[your name], it is time to follow your dreams." I've been making excuses for a while now to not really persue this funny business... but now I have this blog so it's real. I hope Ellen reads this.