Laughing Matters

Meet the Cast:

Kate Clinton is one of America's brightest political comedians and was among the first to do stand-up comedy as an "out" lesbian. Her humor is plucked from the daily headlines and combines with her savvy send-ups of modern family relationships and illuminating perspectives on life as a gay...

Marga Gomez

Marga Gomez grew up in a showbiz family --her father was a Cuban comedian and emcee in New York, her mother a dancer. After her father's unfortunate discovery--Marga in bed with another girl--she moved to San Francisco.

Marga's stand-up career in San Francisco coincided with the comedy boom...

Suzanne Westenhoefer

As a child in Pennsylvania, Suzannne Westenhoefer always loved being the center of attention, so she naturally gravitated to acting school. After graduating from college, the pretty blonde moved to New York City and immediately found work--as a bartender. On a dare she entered a comedy contest at a...

Karen Williams

As a single lesbian mom living in Berkeley in the 1980s, Karen Williams started doing stand-up comedy "because it was something I could do that didn't cost anything." Known for her quick repartee, insightful commentary and audience rapport, Williams is a comic craftmaster, a gifted actor, a...

Vickie Shaw

Vickie has performed in almost every state in the US over the last five years and has headlined in various venues including: Michigan Womyn's Festival, National Women's Music Festival, Monterrey Beach Women's Festival; and the Dinah & Lina Shore Golf Tournament in Southern California and at...

Rene Hicks

Take a woman born and raised in SF, California under the strict, watchful eye of her dad, a Pentecostal preacher, who insists she goes to college to make something of herself. She earns a business degree and after graduation she passes the CPA exam and goes to work at one of the largest accounting firms in the world and settles into life as a Certified Public Accountant. Then one night, with some friends, she goes to a local comedy club and on a dare-sweetened by $100, she gets onstage to do an unrehearsed routine. Let the audience laugh uproariously and then less than a year later, let that spontaneous woman take a leave from number crunching and hit the road that leads to comedy success. This sounds like an idea for a new television sitcom, but this is the real life story of René Hicks. Such a drastic career switch didn't go over well at home. Her devout mother feared that church members, hearing that René was working in nightclubs, would think that she was a stripper! However, René was smitten by the world of comedy; she had to give it a go.

Now a comedy veteran, René has performed her intelligent and universally appealing humor in countless clubs across the US and internationally, resulting in her having been the first African-American woman ever nominated for an American Comedy Award for "Best Female Stand-Up". She has appeared on numerous television shows, including her own half hour special - "Comedy Central Presents...René Hicks". She has also appeared on Comedy Central's "The World Comedy Tour" and "Premium Blend", ABC's "Politically Incorrect", Showtime's "Full Frontal Comedy" and NBC's "Comedy Showcase" with Louie Anderson. She has also guest starred on ABC's "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" and appeared in "Low Down Dirty Shame" with Keenan Ivory Wayans. René is also enormously popular on the college campus circuit, having performed or lectured at over 600 colleges and universities throughout the US. She is a two-time recipient of the coveted National College Comedian of the Year Award.

Making the move from accounting to comedy was obviously a sound business decision for René, as being funny is her greatest asset. Her deep level of passion and commitment isn't limited to making people laugh. René has always taken time to give something back to the community, by volunteering with Special Olympics, Caring For Babies With Aids, Project Angel Food and various cancer organizations. "I know that God has blessed me with so much, that it's my duty to in turn give to others", she explains. God's blessings were never more evident than when René recently overcame a major health crisis--lung cancer. "I've never smoked, so I knew God was attempting to strengthen me for some greater purpose. So, I used my God given gift for creating laughter to help me heal." "I immediately realized that it couldn't just be a coincidence that 'humor' rhymed with 'tumor' and in comedy, comics look for words that sound funny and 'tumor' is a funny word." "Two tumors go walking into a bar...see you don't even need a punchline, it just sounds funny." Now it is my mission to be an example for others to enlist humor in aiding them in overcoming obstacles and upheavals in their own lives, whether they be of a life threatening nature or just life impeding.

Rene´ Hicks has successfully interwoven her comedy and her convictions into establishing herself as an internationally known comedian and lecturer, who is determined to use her talents to make a difference. She has often been categorized as "a comic with a social conscious". Most comics have comedy "acts", Rene´ has comedy "activism". Her goal is to always provide a quality entertainment that is not only hilarious, but helps lead to the break down of barriers that can contribute to cultural/social isolation and intolerance, with the end result being human solidarity - all people united in the recognition and strengthening of our common bonds. "There's so much 'politically correct' rhetoric about diversity and multiculturalism, with very little result of actually bringing people together on a lasting basis--I use my humor to try to accomplish that objective."

Wherever René's exploding career takes her, she will always feel at home on a stage, with a mic in hand. "I think stand-up is the only art form where you're really intimate with the audience; you get directly into someone's psyche. You know nothing about them, may have nothing in common with them, but still viscerally touch them. That's why I truly love doing comedy, because laughter brings people together." Whether she is making you laugh about the experiences we have in common or making you laugh about the differences, the message is the same--"We need a lot more laughter in this world and a lot less of the dumb crap that divides us."

Sabrina Matthews

Sabrina Matthews is an openly lesbian comic who relates the absurd in everyday life in a witty anecdotal style.

"Sabrina's brand of comedy is infectious," says afterellen.com, and she "regularly draws out big laughs from both gay and straight audiences."

Her hilarious half-hour comedy...

Elvira Kurt

A Second City Alumnus, Elvira has had many years of comedic success in the U.S. and Canada, most recently hosting, writing and producing 78 episodes of the Comedy Network's hit late night talk show, Popcultured with Elvira Kurt, a satirical take on the inane and excessive world of pop...

Bruce Vilanch

Bruce Vilanch is a two-faced fella: Bearded, he is one of the most sought-after comedy writers in Hollywood, winner of a bunch of Emmys and noted as the " Hollywood Square" just to the left of Whoopi. Shaved, he spent two years as Edna Turnblad, Baltimore housewife and superstar, on tour and on...

Andre Kelley

Taken from a crashed rocket ship in a Kansas cornfield, Andre was adopted and raised in a small town not far from his play-brother Clark Kent....

Actually, he's the corn-fed, beef-eating, milk-drinking, hay-bailing, thicker-than-Snicker, country-ass farm boy that Instinct magazine calls,...

Eddie Sarfaty

Comedian and writer Eddie Sarfaty has appeared on The Today Show, Nightline and on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. He is a regular at Caroline's and Gotham Comedy Club in New York and has performed at Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, New York's Toyota Comedy Festival and at festivals in...

Alec Mapa

Alec Mapa is a GLAAD award-winning actor, activist, playwright and journalist. He can currently be seen on the ABC show Desperate Housewives, where he recurs as Eva Longoria's best gay pal "Vern." Alec recently completed four seasons on the UPN comedy Half and Half. Moviegoers know Alec from the...

Scott Kennedy

The Hollywood Reporter calls Scott, "...one of the most successful gay stand-up comics to ever tour the world." Scott co-founded the Gay Comedy Jam, which toured to sold-out crowds in more than 150 cities across the US and Canada.

A native Texan, Scott is a favorite on CMT Countdown on...

Bob Smith

Born in Buffalo, Bob Smith has the distinction of being the first openly gay comedian to appear on The Tonight Show and also have his own HBO Comedy Half-hour. Other TV appearances include Politically Incorrect, The Late, Late Show, Entertainment Tonight, Tom Snyder and Comedy Central's Out There....