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The show I saw last night turned out to be a female comedienne with cerebral palsey. I think it was probably not billed as a stand-up comedian because she literally can't stand up by herself.
I knew very little about the show before going to it- I knew she was called Francesca Martinez and that it would be her speaking, but I didn't know about what. When she first walked out with a man in a suit escorting her, I thought that maybe it was going to be more Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Lily Tomlin style and this disabled girl was just one of her characters. But she actually has cerebral palsy. And she's actually very funny.
A lot of her comedy was self-deprecating, like "My mom always tells me I shouldn't talk on my cell phone because it'll fry your brain. But I tell her 'Mom, I'm already brain damaged. How much worse can it get?'" or "The trouble with having sex is that when I put the condom on my boyfriend, my hands shake so much that it's over before it begins." America took it pretty hard, too: "It's great to see people with mental disabilities in leadership roles. I mean, look at George W. Bush!"
She was using her disability as the source of comedy, which I hope was kind of empowering for her. But at the same time, I feel like it was really easy for the audience to see her as a novelty in a condescending sort of way. I don't know how I feel about that. But I guess that's her schtick and every comedian needs one.
It was great because it totally fits in with my senior theatre major project. And I'll have to tell that critic who wrote in a Vanity Fair article that "the only women who can be funny are either fat, lesbians, or Jewish" to add one more characteristic to his list: disabled.
I knew very little about the show before going to it- I knew she was called Francesca Martinez and that it would be her speaking, but I didn't know about what. When she first walked out with a man in a suit escorting her, I thought that maybe it was going to be more Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Lily Tomlin style and this disabled girl was just one of her characters. But she actually has cerebral palsy. And she's actually very funny.
A lot of her comedy was self-deprecating, like "My mom always tells me I shouldn't talk on my cell phone because it'll fry your brain. But I tell her 'Mom, I'm already brain damaged. How much worse can it get?'" or "The trouble with having sex is that when I put the condom on my boyfriend, my hands shake so much that it's over before it begins." America took it pretty hard, too: "It's great to see people with mental disabilities in leadership roles. I mean, look at George W. Bush!"
She was using her disability as the source of comedy, which I hope was kind of empowering for her. But at the same time, I feel like it was really easy for the audience to see her as a novelty in a condescending sort of way. I don't know how I feel about that. But I guess that's her schtick and every comedian needs one.
It was great because it totally fits in with my senior theatre major project. And I'll have to tell that critic who wrote in a Vanity Fair article that "the only women who can be funny are either fat, lesbians, or Jewish" to add one more characteristic to his list: disabled.