The Carolina Theatre's upcoming comedy show Queer Queens of Qomedy offers a rare opportunity to gaze upon lesbian comedic royalty. The performance showcases four lauded comedians, combining all of the flash connoted by the title with solid comedy chops.
The Queer Queens are Vickie Shaw, Jennie McNulty, Michele Balan and producer Poppy Champlin, who hosts the show and selected the other three comedians to perform with her.
"I definitely am the head honcho," Champlin said. "And I have control issues that I'm in therapy for and I'm working on that."
However, Champlin has undoubtedly earned her central role. She has established herself as an influential force in lesbian comedy with performances on HBO and Logo, a TV network specifically targeting the LGBT community. Yet what makes Queer Queens of Qomedy especially noteworthy is that all four performers are equally accomplished and worthy of headlining.
"We're all really hitting our stride in our careers, so it's a really powerhouse kind of show," Champlin said.
The show not only gains its strength from the success of its individual performers, but also from the synthesis of all four comedians' work.
"All of us have decent careers, and so bringing them together for one show is going to be amazing. You can't miss it, that's for sure," Balan said.
Each Queen lends her unique comedy style to the performance, creating a colorfully varied whole. One of four finalists on NBC's Last Comic Standing in 2006, Balan brings what she calls a "brash New York touch" to the quartet. McNulty is a professional women's tackle football player and has performed internationally. Describing herself as "playfully sarcastic," McNulty has also had a recurring part in the show Starting Over. Distinguished by her southern humor, which she delivers in a Texas drawl, Shaw has appeared on Logo and was in the award-winning film Laughing Matters. More!. Her comedy style makes her especially popular in the South, which is significant in light of the upcoming Durham show.
"[Southerners] love me because I am one of them. We are the same. It's true. When I do stuff in the North, they love it because it's not the norm. They love listening to me talk, and then they laugh at what I say," Shaw said. "In the South, they don't get caught up so much in how I say it, but that I'm saying the same things that they say and that they laugh at. They love me. Everyone loves me."
Despite each comedian's visible differences, Champlin chose all of the performers because they each possess a universally appealing sense of humor.
"Starting in the clubs in the straight world, you have to get everybody-the men, the women, the straights, the gays-you have to get everybody, and everybody's got to get you," Champlin said. "So it takes a lot of time to develop material that you know that everybody will get. So that's kind of the way that I have chosen these comedians, is that everybody is going to get us no matter where we go."
Champlin's emphasis on her experience as a lesbian comedian performing for audiences of various sexualities raises the question of how a show advertised as an all-lesbian comedy performance truly differs from the work of straight comedians.
"We are all gay, but the thing is that we really do think of ourselves as comedians first.... We're really comedians who happen to be gay, so you're not going to find that all jokes are about being gay. There's tons of great material," Champlin said.
Shaw mirrors Champlin's sentiment, believing that comedy is not defined by one's sexuality, but rather by one's unique human experience.
"Comedy is very intimate and it comes from our internal soul," Shaw said. "And so because we are all different humans, our comedy is all completely different and not the same, just like straight men's comedy is all different."
Queer Queens of Qomedy is not only significant because it promises a riotously good time, but also because it uses comedy as a tool to transcend sexuality and gender differences. So no matter what your orientation, the show will be sure to leave you laughing.
The Queer Queens of Qomedy will visit the Carolina Theatre on Saturday, Nov. 3. Tickets are $25.
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