Humor with a feminine twist

Broad Comedy has wide appeal

0

 

 

If you’re going to talk about everything from tampons to the Taliban and expect to get a laugh out of it, you’re going to need a lot of balls — or broads.

 

Luckily all-woman comedy troupe Broad Comedy will be bringing plenty of both to town on Nov. 6, when they perform at the Boulder Theater. Politically tinged and musically inclined, Broad Comedy is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Katie Goodman and Soren Kisiel, who write all of the sketches and songs from their home in Bozeman, Mont.

With songs like “I’m Saving My Hymen for Jesus” and “Soccer Mom Ho,” the show covers topics ranging from the politically charged to the universally hilarious, focusing — naturally — on women’s issues.

“It’s life and the news and just being a woman traveling around the planet,” Goodman says. “We’ve written things about the Taliban, just everything,” Not everything is for every audience, however, Goodman says. The cast of Broads recently took the show to Vancouver, where their song “The Pro-Life and the Pro-Choice Should Be Friends” — a spoof on the song “The Farmer and Cowman Should Be Friends” — fell a bit flat.

“It was kind of dead silent,” Goodman says.

“Afterwards we were talking to people and they said, ‘Oh yeah, we don’t have that issue here. Everybody’s pro-choice here in the entire country!’ So we immediately took that out and put something else in.”

Even in the states, Goodman says she sometimes tweaks the lineup. And that’s practically a given if you want to get a laugh at both a Republican golf tournament fundraiser and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where, by the way, FringeReview named Broad Comedy one of the top 10 sketch acts.

 

And getting a laugh, after all, is Goodman’s primary objective, which is why she makes sure the politics don’t outweigh the satire — and fun.

“Making them laugh is number one because I feel that you need to have the audience laughing in order for them to have receptive, open ears,” she says. “We’re all so burnt out from all the shit that’s going on in the world; I think a really important part of our job is to inspire people, to make them feel re-energized about changing the world.”

Goodman says that though the show is steeped in political satire and feminist ethos, it also aims to be a good time for everyone, and is popular with the gentlemen in the audience as well.

“I’m not a male-bashy kind of person,” she says.

“You think I would be because I grew up in ’90s feminism, but I was always really uninterested in that. Part of it is, I just don’t hate men. I’m not angry at the patriarchy. I see problems, but I’m very, very interested in having us all work together.”

Helping to bring that positive message to audiences across the nation is an ever-changing group of performers. The home team, as Goodman calls it, is based in Bozeman, and a rotating crew of performers audition for city-specific performances. Actors don’t have to worry about a little thing like pregnancy getting in the way of performing, either.

“Everyone’s who’s had a baby in Broad Comedy has performed pregnant. We always have one part that we’ve written in,” Goodman says. “It’s one of the fun things about being an all-women’s show. We don’t kick people out when they’re pregnant. We just work around it, or rewrite or revise, and it becomes really funny, especially if the character is a cheerleader.”

Working with such a scattered crew isn’t always easy. Trying to coordinate a music rehearsal over Skype, she says, was pretty much a disaster because of the lag time between computers.

“I’m starting to do a solo show now too and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is so much easier!’” she says.

But with less than 700 miles to travel from Bozeman to Boulder, Goodman says Saturday’s show has been easier to plan than most, and the city promises a receptive crowd.

“I think Boulder’s going to be the perfect audience for us,” she says.

We couldn’t agree more. 

On the Bill

An Evening with Broad Comedy plays
at the Boulder Theater on Saturday, Nov. 6. Show starts at 8 p.m., with
a V.I.P. party at 6:15. Tickets range from $25 to $85, and sales
benefit Boulder Valley Women’s Health Clinic. For more information,
call 303-440- 9320 ext.11 or visit www.broadcomedy.com. 2032 14th St.,
Boulder, 303-786-7030.

 Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com