As with many industries, the comedy industry is dominated by men. In this podcast, I explore how women are reclaiming their space in the comedy industry. Long-time improv performer Rayanne Langdon told me that she has seen how women are consistently getting treated differently on and off stage. Behind the stage, some men can behave inappropriately and make women uncomfortable (though Langdon says that it is getting a little better now that the industry is becoming less tolerant of this). On stage, men will claim more space and be louder, forcing some women acts to feel smaller and perform a notch lower than how they usually would. Sometimes, in improv, too, women somehow get pigeon held as a wife or a mother.
TikTok, a social media app where users can share comedy and entertainment videos, is sort of becoming a platform for young women to be more comfortable performing in front of their followers. Aisha Bachman is a 17-year-old with around 400,000 followers on the app. Prior to her online fame, pursuing a career in comedy or entertainment was something that didn’t even cross her mind.
Is TikTok good practice for aspiring performers, entertainers and comics? It just might be. Aisha says her followers tell her she has the potential to be a hilarious comedian and though the thought scares her, she’s happy that she has tapped into this other world she wouldn’t have known about if she hadn’t created her account.
Aisha Bachman (@arbacn) posts skits and comedy bits on her TikTok account.
The 17-year-old currently has over 500,000 followers on TikTok.
By: Khalida Rixzan Artist Ghanwa Shahnawaz takes listeners on a journey as she paints how her mental health journey intersects with her art. The material delves deep into Shahnawaz’s life […]
