With Their Rights in Peril, LGBTQ+ Comedians Are Using Humor to Dilute Fear

LGBTQ+ comedians are using humor to dilute fear

Esther Fallick wants her comedy to be an escape from the horrors. But that escape has a purpose: to make it easier to face these times for what they are. By poking fun at something that can feel so heavy, like the president pitting his administration against transgender people, Fallick wants to find ways to bring people together and laugh off the darkness creeping in on everyday life.“We could be having a little more fun as a community, as a cou…

With their rights in peril, LGBTQ+ comedians are using humor to dilute fear

Esther Fallick wants her comedy to be an escape from the horrors. But that escape has a purpose: to make it easier to face these times for what they are. By poking fun at something that can feel so heavy, like the president pitting his administration against transgender people, Fallick wants to find ways to bring people together and laugh off the darkness creeping in on everyday life. “We could be having a little more fun as a community, as a co…

By Doing Drag, I Am My Own Golem

It starts with the glitter emet. At the beginning of an eight-week drag competition I have somehow gotten myself into, we are given a simple prompt: “Show us who you are.” The rest of the vision slowly comes into focus. A punk-inspired drag golem, the letters of creation in glitter across my forehead, a battle jacket honoring queer and trans Jews, living and dead, from Harvey Milk to Leslie Feinberg to Sasha Velour to the trans refusenik Ella Ke…