Sunday, July 5, 2009

Letter from the Editor- 101st Posting: Wisecrack Goes Meta



How about that?  100 posts.  Bust out the Boone's Farm, this calls for a toast.

Conversations about gender and humor happen all the time. Especially if you're a comedienne. Doubly so, if you're a feminist comedienne. Scholars like Regina Barreca and the late Nancy A. Walker have published many books on the subject; these conversations aren't anything new.  We'd just like to bring them beyond the bus ride after improv rehearsal, into the public sphere... the one in your laptop.  

Have we done it? Well, we haven't exactly gone viral. But we do have a steady stream of regular visitors and a healthy core of writers, campus liaisons, and allies.  We've sniffed out our own and discovered that at least half a dozen people hold degrees in comedy and gender studies.  And through hours of dedicated "web research," we've stumbled upon the likes of Marina Franklin, Amy Andersen, Garfunkel and Oates, and many, many other incredibly talented comedians. 

Perhaps most importantly, we've created a space to reclaim feminism in the context of comedy... or is it comedy in the context of feminism? (Cue mind explosions.) Either way, we've created a space where the marriage of feminism and comedy can simultaneously be taken seriously and thoroughly enjoyed. We hope to continue dispelling myths of feminism along the way, as well as encouraging greater intelligence, truth, awareness and intentionality in Comedy At Large. (That's right. It's our sneaky little agenda: World Comedy Domination via open letters to Lourne Michaels.)

We're slowly learning from our mistakes- no more blue text on a black background, I promise. As we mature, we hope to make the space more interactive and inclusive. If you have ideas, feedback, complaints or props, please consider this a solicitation (either respond in comments, or email wisecrackzine AT gmail DOT com). Lastly, we're disappointed by the lack of hate mail we've received. We take it as a sign that we're not saying juicy enough things. We'll try to step it up.

In the words of Lily Tomlin, "We're all in this together, by ourselves."

To the next 100 posts...   

Thanks for reading.  

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