LAUGH OUT PROUD, San Diego’s only gay-produced comedy show for the LGBT community, returns Oct. 13, featuring Los Angeles-based standup comic and TV personality Renee Santos and a number of local comedians.
The show will be at Hillcrest’s Martinis Above Fourth from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Santos, who appears on Showtime’s new stand-up comedy special Pride Comedy Jam, is no stranger to the San Diego area having previously played at The La Jolla Improv.
She connects with the San Diego crowd, saying “I absolutely loved the energy of the San Diego crowd, surprisingly different than the response I’ve gotten in L.A. I love San Diego as a venue as it has the Southern California vibe without the sometimes chaotic and competitive energy of Los Angeles. It challenges me to write more eclectic material to reach out to a broader audience.”
For Santos – who also performs regularly in Los Angeles at the Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory and the Hollywood Improv – the change in city also means a change in material from when she plays to a non-gay crowd. Says Santos, “I tone down my gay material when I perform to a general audience. I don’t do this because I’m fearful of discrimination; I do this because I want to be an eclectic performer. As proud as I am to be a lesbian, I am so much more than just my sexuality and I have a whole lot to talk about.”
For Sean Wherley, one of the producers of the show along with Sarah Burford, and also a performer, comedy is an effective way of addressing social pressures. Says Wherley, “Comedy is a great way to discuss serious issues in an off-beat or light-hearted way.”
Although her comedy can encompass all genders and social demographics, Santos thinks it is extremely important to have entertainment geared to an LGBT audience. Says Santos, “It is critical to me. We have spent so much of our lives being a minority, having no visibility. When I was a little girl I remember reading a children’s story and wondering why there wasn’t a mama bear and another mama bear in some stories. It is important for our community to have the experience of not feeling different every once in a while. As much as I love and support communities outside of the LGBT world, sometimes I need to just turn on the TV and see my voice resonating in someone else’s words.”
Having done some TV, and with more likely to follow, Santos sees an under-represented LGBT community in the mediascape. Says Santos, “I have mixed feelings about this because I am so proud that we are beginning to appear more and more on mainstream television; but what bothers me is that the way we are shown does not always represent our truth.”
She believes lesbians are overly sexualized.
“Society already perceives two women together as hot. We are often objectified.”
Santos also regrets that, as she sees it, sensuality is denied for gay men as portrayed in the media.
“They are the ‘funny’ guys, the goof balls, you can’t take them seriously.”
TV needs to be more pro-active in representing gays and lesbians in a better light, according to Santos. A start for Santos would be in casting the characters.
“If we start actually casting gay and lesbian parts with gay and lesbian actors I believe a shift would begin,” she said. I also think festivals like Outfest and Gay network television continuing to show our truth will be the beginning to transcending mainstream TV. I read a statistic online, I can’t qualify its validity, but it said 19 percent of Logo’s audience is straight. I think that says a lot. Straight people are watching but they just aren’t doing a whole lot of talking yet.”
Raising awareness of the LGBT community generally, and not always having it associated with politics, is also something that Santos sees as important.
“People need to know, some of us are stay-at-home moms,” Santos says, adding that she values immensely the work of LGBT political activists and public servants.
“We are a spectrum of humanity; we don’t look like one thing. We are not separate from society; we are immersed but sometimes simply unseen.”
Wherley agrees, saying “As a minority group, it’s always necessary to raise awareness and remind the larger community that we’re here.”
Both see light at the end of the tunnel.
“The LGBT community is on its path to acceptance, we just can’t get comfortable because we’ve gotten a few rights back,” Santos told San Diego LGBT Weekly. “We have to be grateful for the societal progress, but continue to fight to be completely equal.”
Wherley also believes the fight is not yet over.
In addition to playing San Diego Oct.13, Santos will be at the Comedy Store in L.A. Oct. 21. She will also likely be doing some touring dates before the end of 2011 and comedy festivals nationwide for 2012.
The Oct. 13 Laugh Out Proud comedy show also features LGBT comedians Chet Sewell, Sarah Burford and Sean Wherley, and local allied comedian Mark Gonzalez. The 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. show, at Martinis Above Fourth in Hillcrest, is free to the general public.
For more details go to martinisabovefourth.com.
