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...

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 cult favorite Connie and Carla, where he starred opposite Toni Collette and Nia Vardalos as the loveable drag queen "N' Cream." Alec had the distinction of playing network television's very first gay Asian series regular character on the CBS sitcom Some of My Best Friends. His Wisecrack! comedy special on the gay MTV network LOGO premiered in 2005 and has been a network favorite, playing in heavy rotation ever since. For promoting visibility on behalf of gay causes and issues, Alec received the GLAAD award in 2005. Alec's career began on Broadway where he starred in the Tony Award winning play M. Butterfly. He played the role of "Song Liling," Chinese transvestite spy, opposite Tony Randall for nearly a year before starring in the National Touring Company production. Other Broadway credits include Timon of Athens and A Little Hotel on the Side, both with the National Actor's Theater. Off Broadway Alec appeared in the New York Shakespeare Festival/ Public Theater productions of Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters, directed by Michael Greif, and Chay Yew's A Language of Their Own. Theatergoers in LA have enjoyed the Mark Taper Forum productions of three of Alec's solo shows; I Remember Mapa, Drama! and Mapa Mia! I Remember Mapa won the LA Weekly award for Best Solo Performance and has since played to sold out houses in Seattle, New York, Toronto and San Francisco.

As an activist, Alec has worked tirelessly performing on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Asian Pacific Aids Intervention Team, Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS), Lambda Legal, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation. For his community service, Alec received the award for continued excellence from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the Rand Schrader award for Distinguished Achievement from the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Alec's column "Minority Retort" appears monthly in The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian news magazine. Alec is married to his partner of five years Jamison Hebert.

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....