Yes it is and that point isn't mine. Simply as I can put this, I disagree w/ her (and your own?) presupposition that women are/traditionally have been frightened by the ratio of women to men at comedy shows which is the reason(or among the more forceful reasons) why there seem so few women comics and audience members…

Doesn't she? What is this article about if not to emphasis and underscore her participation in combating the fact that women are a minority at best and second-class at worst in the Chicago standup community?

Such are the hazards of commenting on the internet. Were we discussing this in person over beers I agree it would conclude much quicker.

It doesn't bother me, I just consider it an misfire. I do think it's slightly garish to pat yourself on the back in your own fortnightly public memoir but far from bothered.

It matters when people suppose that a particular obstacle is more worthwhile to combat than the others. Ms. Esposito could have just as easily made a point and written an article about the predominancy of white males in the industry, how that is effecting non-white male performers including yet not limited to women,…

I'm aware of what this is and familiar w/ Ms. Esposito's writing, but stating the obvious fact that it isn't journalism doesn't add weight to your opinion or hers neither does it void questions or contrary notions. I'm not bothered in the least, by her or her intentions, or even so a lesser extent the article itself,…

Perhaps, but I just don't see myself as anomalous in the sense that my favorite thing about comedy is the shared physical response—laughter—over and pertaining to an idiosyncratic life event or observation made universal and that is something I don't feel is bound by physical characteristics but rather informed by…

A fair point, but one that cuts both ways. All that I've read thus far leads to be assume that there is something amiss in the windy city, which is odd because I was under the impression that it had such a wonderful and intelligent culture of comedy regarding women since Megan Mulaley, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler…

Yeah, neither do I. But neither do I think that that specific fact merits an article about that when she could have speculated or given an educated guess as to why so few women had up to that point attempted standup. Am I to assume reading this that the dozens of women that showed up and continue to do so were only…

Of course but is that more of an obstacle than race? sexual preference? What about some combination? Do we say that yes, Mario Cantone is gay, but he still had a easier time becoming a comic because he's a white male? And further more, did Ms. Esposito not say that one of, if not her most beloved aspect of her…

Well you'll notice that in that off-the-cuff list I didn't name any female comics and that my antecedent is that the jokes and notions expressed by the aforementioned comics is really what generates and maintains my affection for the art. Were standup comedy characterized by the kinds jokes and observations espoused…

I don't disagree, but you see how this itself is somewhat segregating: by that sentiment black gay jewish female comedians have it the toughest, yet we hear nowhere near the cry for equal representation that one might for women. Statistical representation by itself is not bias or discouragement and there's nothing…

So long as the notions and jokes of people like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Louie C.K., Patrice O'Neal, Redd Foxx, Dylan Moran, Dick Gregory, Doug Stanhope, Jim Norton or Mitch Hedberg were expressed I wouldn't care a bit from whose mouth they fell.

No, I am not a woman and as such cannot in the strictest sense understand, but women do not have a monopoly on marginalizaton and to say that a person cannot know the psychological fantods and fatigue from domination—male or otherwise—is I submit incorrect. Further, as I said below just a moment ago, while I might…

Of course that's true and you're right to point that out, I'm simply saying that my own appreciation and dare I say love for comedy and comedians is not conditional of their race or sex or height or any other such thing, and that my own desire to get up on stage and try to make others laugh was not born or ignited…

But she doesn't HAVE to. Especially since and if it's absurd. And teaching cannot replace experience asking to teach a class seems to nullify the first part of that sentence. I do agree that she's done more than most to combat the inequality and that she should take pride in that fact. But it has yet to be said that…

Let me be unambiguous: we are in agreement about the basic idea, but as entertaining as I find Ms. Esposito's section and thoughts I feel as though the point is too easy to merit discussion. Female comics have been around as long as male comics, there is no altering that. And if women are being paid less or treated…

And that is the depressing point, truly. And it is a shame that stupid people holding that opinion can express it as loudly or louder than people that do not. But one I think that would have be much more worthier of discussion, especially from someone as knowledgable about the industry, than the blaring of…

Fair enough, but what I'm asking, her and you and well, really anyone w/ an asshole and an opinion, is what is the purpose in saying "pointing this out is clearly absurd, so allow me to point this out." or saying things like "you can't teach a class on standup because there is no substitute for stage time" directly…

Well said. Though the backslapping—and this is obviously just my opinion—does grate me a little. Maybe female comedians/comediennes (if we must have two different spellings of/for the same profession) do in fact have a harder time in the standup universe, perhaps there is some sort of chauvinistic subjugation going on…