As a funny girl (in my own, and at times only my own, opinion), the idea behind the show Funny Girls particularly appealed to me when I first heard about it. Premiering tomorrow night (Tuesday, April 7) at 9pm/8c on Oxygen, it seems like some reality TV I might be able to get behind!
The new docu-series takes a look at the personal and professional lives of 6 comediennes in Los Angeles as they attempt to make it big in the world of stand-up comedy. They all have different career goals, comedy styles and lifestyles, but all have ambition, passion and big comedy dreams.
The first episode opens with a snippet of Stephanie, one of the comics, performing her act. (This part of her act focuses on how she wishes she could like casual sex. Here’s the alert I seem to have in all of my blog posts lately: There’s a lot of sex talk in this show. If you’re uncomfortable with that, you should skip this show. To be fair, though, it’s pretty funny sex talk, as far as sex talk goes. How many more times can I use the phrase “sex talk” here?) The show finds a good way to meld pieces from the comics’ acts with scenes from their personal lives, and I think this is going to be a fun show to follow. Every scene isn’t laugh-out-loud funny; this isn’t a sitcom. It definitely has its fair share of funny moments, though, and reminds us that show business isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying to make it in L.A.
Some highlights from the pilot episode:
- Stephanie and Nicole make a vision board. If you’ve ever sat around with your scrapbooky friends, you know that you’re to fill your vision board with inspirational pictures of things you want to make manifest in your life. Their vision boards are a bit, uh, phallic, in nature. Do they work? At first it seems as though they might, as Nicole gets a blind date with a guy named Bobby — but then we watch her weasel out of it. (It’s a good learning experience for those of us who are still unfamiliar with the art of getting out of an uncomfortable date without saying, “I don’t like you, and I’m leaving now.”)
- Yamaneika comes to L.A. from NYC. When fellow comic Calise tries to find her at the airport, Yamaneika tells her, “I’m a big black woman wearing a big blue dress.” The Last Comic Standing semifinalist is this blunt, and quite funny, throughout the entire episode. She’s looking for love, or at the very least, a hookup in Los Angeles, and isn’t shy about talking about it.. Yamaneika’s interaction with Josh, the driving instructor, is uncomfortable, inappropriate and downright hilarious.
- Ester, who runs a comedy show with her sister, sits down with comedian Bill Burr to try to get him to appear in the comedy show she and her sister have put together. She’s got lofty goals, and her ambition is evident every time we meet her. Later in the episode, we find out that Stephanie badly wants to be in the show, but she’s not in Ester’s good graces due to some alleged slut-shaming. Nonetheless, Stephanie, Nicole and Yamaneika wind up at Ester’s open mic night, and things do not go well for Stephanie. Not well at all. Nope, nope, nope. For someone who purports to not want “girl drama” with Ester, Stephanie definitely brings the drama.
So, for those of you keeping track at home, I’ve mentioned five comediennes: Stephanie, Nicole, Yamaneika, Calise and Ester. Though I haven’t gone into great detail about any of these women, we get a good idea of what all of their personalities are like, in this episode. There’s a sixth, named Scout, whom I don’t recall seeing in episode 1. (If she was there, and I missed her, I’m going to feel pretty bad. Sorry, Scout!) I’m definitely tuning in for episode 2 to see if we meet her, and to see how everything else plays out with the other comics. If you watch the show, let me know if you agree with my assessment that it’s DVR-worthy, in the comments section. Oh, and who’s your favorite? I like them all, but am particularly drawn to Nicole, probably because she’s smart, like me (in my own extremely humble opinion).
