By Shaun Eli Breidbart
Fewer than a third of stand-up comedians are women.
It's true at all levels, from aspiring comedians at open-mic nights to newer comics at comedy clubs to working professionals to big stars. Ophira Eisenberg has her own show on NPR. Carmen Lynch and Cory Kahaney have performed on both the Letterman and Colbert shows; Cory's also been on "America's Got Talent." Wendy Liebman was an AGT semi-finalist and performed on both Carson and Leno's "Tonight" shows and has had specials on HBO, Comedy Central and Showtime.
But I can count on just one thumb the number of female comedians who can fill Madison Square Garden.
Yes, Amy Schumer is my thumb. It was only recently that she broke the glass ceiling at MSG.
In the 1990s Elayne Boosler, after three award-winning Showtime specials, still couldn't get booked to headline comedy clubs. Club owners said that people wouldn't turn out to see women tell jokes. A friend ended up booking the two of them on nights the clubs were typically closed. He opened the show but it was she who sold out the rooms. Still, clubs continued to resist booking female headliners.
I'm a stand-up comedian. For the past 13 years I've been booking colleagues for shows at non-traditional venues- golf clubs, synagogues and other non-profits, for corporate events and at theaters in New York, New Jersey and across the country.
With few exceptions women asked for less money than their equivalently talented and experienced male counterparts.
That was then. The shows I book typically have three or four comedians. I try not to make these shows all men because I want diversity in viewpoint. It's easy enough to have a show that's all single, white, heterosexual male comedians in their forties. But I, and audiences, appreciate variety.
I spoke to two female comics who are best friends. I said that it must be great to travel and work together. They said they never did- it's a rare show that has more than one woman. Bookers fear it will be labeled 'a women's show' and not sell well. I booked them together and the show sold out. I now arrange all-female shows and they continue to sell out.
I'm a feminist. How could I not be? I'm half woman -- on my mother's side.
I book three shows a season at one theatre. Around Valentine's Day is our specialty show "Battle of the Sexes." It includes single and married women and men. Another show is Fabulously Funny Females. Every season I book five to six women there.
It's getting harder and harder to find female comedians for that venue's budget. This year two of them cancelled when they were offered corporate gigs. Comedians don't earn much money so I can't blame them for going where the money is. Cancellations are rare. That two of them found high-paying corporate gigs bodes well for female comedians.
Lately female comedians with major TV credits are asking for higher pay than their male counterparts.
Because they're in demand they're getting more money. I know it's bad for my bottom line to let the rest of them know. But what's fair is fair.
If women out-earn men because they're in greater demand, so be it. It doesn't quite make up for the fact that male basketball players earn millions while women don't. Or that male movie stars command higher pay than female movie stars. It doesn't even make up for the fact that there is still no female late night talk show host on any major TV network.
But it is a start.
Comedy audiences: vote with your feet! Want to see more female comedians? Go to their shows. And talk about it. Nothing gets me to re-book a comedian faster than hearing someone mention why they came to a sold-out show. Just don't talk back to us when we're on stage. Male or female, hecklers are not welcome.
Shaun Eli Breidbart is a comedian and the executive director of The Ivy League of Comedy which performs at theaters, including the Union County Performing Arts Center, the Stockton Performing Arts Center, Cape May Stage and the Levoy Theatre.
Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.