Thread by @zoecoombsmarr

A THREAD:
1) I love standup. I did my first set at 15 (school concert), got up in a pub at 19 (open mic). And I stopped doing standup at 26 after a gig in Sydney when the act before me went into full rape “riff” that ended with him literally pointing in a young woman’s face-

2) in the front row, saying “have you been raped?! No? Are you sure?! What about when you were 12 & your dad was holding you down and fucking you?!” I was the only woman on a bill of 10 men and this is the guy I had to follow. There was no way I could be funny on that stage-

3) where it felt like every issue I had with that industry had just crystalised. THESE are the men we have to share the stage with. THIS is the room every female comic works each night. The kind of room that’ll give a standing o to a known sex offender just for stepping onstage.

4) I quit standup cos I couldn’t see how I could be funny on that stage. I beat myself up for YEARS about that gig because I wasn’t able to be funny after that guy. A few weeks later I saw him ‘riffing’ onstage again. 6 years on & I’m only just starting to get back up as myself.

5) I quit stand up as myself not because this was a particularly traumatic experience (although it was), but because it was the final straw. That was the worst I’d seen (onstage) but it wasn’t new or unexpected. Nor is CK return. It’s just fucking depressing. WE CAN DO BETTER.

6) This CK crap is a slap in all our faces. I know SO MANY hilarious women who quit because they can’t take it anymore, or have their careers end because they’re labelled difficult. Or worse. I found a way to stay in there in disguise but only just. I’m LUCKY.

7) I managed to channel that rage. But you know what? We shouldn’t have to channel rage, we shouldn’t have to ‘find a way’, not when that guy gets to walk onstage to a standing ovation. I want to see real change in this industry. I want to see men held accountable the way women-

8) who have to work alongside them are. I want to see male comics asked about sexual assault and harassment in EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEW they do while trying to promote their funny comedy shows like every female comic has for the last year, & then tell me “funny’s funny” after that.

9) I want to see funny women & femme & trans and nonbinary comics getting on stages that are safe & warm & give them standing ovations just for being there. & I want to see a world in which I won’t get ridiculed or blackballed or nitpicked for suggesting safety is something-

10) we deserve in comedy & for being a sincere unfunny killjoy and publishing this thread. 😘