Comedy and Gender Balance During Who's Talking Month: Up Next, We Have a Very Funny Lady Taking the Stage…
Deena “Fireball” Baikowitz
Every comic knows exactly what five minutes, seven minutes, or ten minutes feels like. Pros can time their jokes to the second. As an experienced speaker and also a new comic, my experience, instinct, and the ubiquitous flashing light tell me when I have 30 or 60 seconds left on my stage time, and now every adult and child around the world knows exactly what 20 seconds feels like as they wash their hands multiple times a day. It’s great training for a comedy career!
I entered the world of standup comedy when I performed at my first open mic on June 11, 2018. Since then, I have taken comedy classes and workshops and have performed at dozens of open mics. In February of this year, I decided I was ready to perform in my first bar show. Then, the pandemic stole center stage. Stuck at home, I embraced virtual mics as a way to stay creative, inspired, and connected to my comedy community. When I decided to create Fireball Friday, a comedy show to raise money for critical COVID-19 response causes, I asked 30-year veteran of the comedy industry Jim Mendrinos for advice, and he offered to co-produce the show. Jim is a male ally who understands and respects that it matters to women and people of color to get equal billing.
Jim came up with the idea to host a panel on “Comedy Post COVID-19” during the Festival to help newer comics adapt to the current reality and plan for the future. Jim chose the topics and selected his panelists for their experience and knowledge on these topics. With Jim serving as our expert moderator, we had an equal number of men and women on the virtual stage.
The Tallies
Serving on this panel was a delightful and insightful experience. It felt like being in the green room, or at a club after hours, or at a dinner party in a conversation among industry veterans and close friends. Five of the participants have known each other and worked together for many years.
As we were talking, it seemed to me that the women held more stage time than the men, and Jim had the same reaction. So, when I watched the video afterwards and used the GA Tally app to time who was talking, the results were surprising. The math didn’t match our perception of the event. It turns out the men spoke a total of 14 minutes more than the women!
The Breakdown
Video replay gave us the benefit of calculating each segment of talk time. The women talked in shorter segments: most of their talk times ranged from 30 seconds to two and a half minutes at a time.
The men talked in longer segments: most of their talk times ranged from 45 seconds to three and a half minutes. One of the male panelists talked for over seven minutes at a time, and, at one point, all four men talked together for a seven-minute stretch. It turns out this happens with Supreme Court hearings too!
This was a refreshing change from the classic boring corporate panels where one speaker after another drones on for 10-15 minutes while the audience checks their phones every three minutes. The 30- to 45-second segments were nuggets of powerful advice and engaging commentary, and they were funny, of course. Panelists reinforced and referenced each other’s material but did not repeat it, and even the interruptions were graceful, substantive, and often hilarious. It was a true triple threat of education, inspiration, and entertainment.
So, dear GenderAvengers, while women may be getting more time on the comedy stage, there is still work to do to get them equal talk time in a group of their peers (or likely any group for that matter). Let’s make some noise and show our love and respect for fierce, fabulous, funny women.
Thanks for being a great audience!
Deena “Fireball” Baikowitz comes from four generations of tiny, feisty career women. She is a business and career coach, marketing and branding consultant, and corporate speaker. She is also a comedian and an entertainment producer.