'Funny Females' show makes serious statement

SUSAN ALEXANDER

Susan Alexander, creator and host of "5 Funny Females," is too young to remember a time when the glass ceiling in stand-up comedy was incredibly low. In her five years in comedy, she has not faced the same challenges that Phyllis Diller or Lily Tomlin faced decades ago or even the problems Janeane Garofalo once described about the club scene in the '80s, when bookers would turn away female comics, saying, "We had a woman here last month and she did terrible."

According to Alexander, the ceiling may be cracked but there are still challenges. "If you have a showcase of 15 people, 15 comics, you have two women," she says. "If you get three or four, that's just too many."

When Alexander started her comedy career in San Francisco, she saw a void for a regular show featuring female comics. That's why she created the "5 Funny Females" show, which comes to the Midway Café tomorrow with Jessica Sutich, Maria Ciampa, Bethany Van Delft, and Chantal Carrere. She's not necessarily concerned with breaking up any boys' club in comedy: She just wants to show off her fellow female comics.

"I don't think it's just male dominated; there's a chance for women," says Alexander. "I think if you're funny, you're funny. This is just a way to get more booking, and this is how I get more paid gigs out there and help other female comics do the same thing."

Ciampa played to a standing-room-only crowd at the Midway Café in November, when Alexander first brought the show to Boston. And while there are still more men on the bill at most gigs she plays, that is not a big part of her motivation for playing a showcase like this.

"I do them because they're fun, the audience has a good time, and I can do lots of different stuff and know it will be received OK," says Ciampa. "Yes, there is a lower chance I will get that 'women suck' heckle, so I enjoy it for that reason, too."

Alexander kept "5 Funny Females" going when she moved from San Francisco to New York in 2005. She is now looking for a venue for a regular show and planning more dates to follow up on last year's successful tour. In each city, Alexander looks for a few local comics to mix with one or two out-of-town acts, trying to find varying voices and styles for each show. "I don't want to have to hear the same story," she says. "I want something a little more entertaining from different points of view. So I think that's why it caught on."

Four of the five comics on tomorrow's bill are based in Boston, including the energetic Carrere, a transplant from San Francisco. Ciampa has seen all of them and confirms the variety of the lineup. "There's a mix of low-key, hyper, gay, straight, brainy, and not-so-brainy humor," she says.

There are plenty of archetypes in the litany of female comedians, and Alexander is happy if her show helps up-and-coming comics chip away at any preconceived notions.

"I think you can be who you are," she says. "Just get up there and do your thing."

Around town

Julius Sharpe is at the Comedy Studio tonight with Taylor Connelly, Ellen Moschetto, Lamont Price, and more. Colin Quinn plays the Comedy Connection tonight and tomorrow. American-born Israeli comedian Yisrael Campbell headlines "It's Not in Heaven," a benefit for the New Israel Fund at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline.