As the power dynamics of the comedy world shift towards balance, inclusivity and creativity, LGBTQ+ comedians are taking the country by storm.
Their sexuality isn’t necessarily the focal point of their sets, but for LGBTQ comedians, stand-up is an opportunity for their voices to be heard.
Though the industry still has a long way to go, the past few years have seen an extraordinary range of stories across the spectrum of queer experiences.
Joel Kim Booster
Joel Kim Booster is an LA-based comedian and writer. Joel’s TV and film credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, BoJack Horseman, Big Mouth, and American Dad. He has appeared on Conan, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Netflix’s The Fix, and Comedy Central’s The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail.
“Gay people and Asian people are really, really underrepresented in comedy and just in pop culture in general, so both those communities are so thirsty to see anything that’s speaking directly to them.”
Joel Kim Booster
Fortune Feimster
She first became known as a writer and panelist on E’s hit show Chelsea Lately, and then starred as a series regular on The Mindy Project for Hulu and Champions for NBC. She has gone on to have many guest appearances on TV shows including Claws, 2 Broke Girls, Workaholics, Glee, Dear White People, and Tales of the City, as well as recurring roles on Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q and CBS’s Life In Pieces.
She’s had memorable roles in the movies Office Christmas Party, Social Animals, and Father of the Year. She also recently voiced the role of Evelyn on The Simpsons, she’s the voice of Brenda on Bless the Harts for Fox, and she voices Ava on Summer Camp Island for the Cartoon Network.
“I think if I had had a platform like that to watch when I was young where you see people like you, I think I probably would have come out sooner. Once a mirror is being held up to you, you can see yourself better.”
Fortune Feimster
Chanty Marostica
Chanty Marostica, formerly known as Chantel Marostica, is a Canadian stand-up comedian who won SiriusXM Canada’s Top Comic competition in 2018 and received a Juno Award nomination for Comedy Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019 for The Chanty Show.
On September 20th, they came out to their parents as transgender. That same night, they started a series of hour-long solo shows at JFL42 (the Toronto edition of Just For Laughs), effectively becoming the first trans comedian to ever do so.
Bowen Yang
Bowen Yang is a comedian, writer, and actor based in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently a featured player on Saturday Night Live, where he wrote for one season before moving on-screen. He can next be seen recurring on Comedy Central’s upcoming Awkwafina. Bowen is the co-host of the popular podcast “Las Culturistas” which he co-hosts with Matt Rogers and which has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Splitsider and Time Out New York. TV credits include Broad City, High Maintenance, and Jon Glaser Loves Gear.
The addition of comedian Bowen Yang to the cast of Saturday Night Live is a triumph being celebrated by two minority communities that have been historically underrepresented on the long-running sketch comedy show. Though the show is embarking on its 45th season on the air, Bowen joins the cast as the first Chinese-American performer in history and one of only three openly gay male cast members ever.
Matteo Lane
Matteo Lane is a New York-based comedian whose stand-up special can be seen on Netflix’s The Comedy Lineup. He has performed stand up on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Comedy Central’s Adam Devine’s House Party, This Week at the Comedy Cellar and The Comedy Jam, as well as HBO’s Crashing.
“I’m just saying this is the first time ever that gay, queer, male comedians are sort of on the spotlight that straight comedians are being seen in. So it’s all kind of just new. It’s all new and discovered and all new territory. I think it’s exciting.”
Matteo Lane
Jaboukie Young-White
Jaboukie Young-White is a comedian originally from Chicago who is currently a Correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Named one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” at the Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, White has performed stand up twice on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and recently debuted his half-hour on “Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents.” White can be seen in the last season of HBO’s “Crashing,” the Sony feature “Rough Night,” the Netflix feature “Set It Up,” and in the feature “Someone Great” also on Netflix. Previously, White was a staff writer on Netflix’s “American Vandal” and “Big Mouth.”
In late 2017, Young-White came out as queer during his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; he later clarified that he identifies as gay, in his second appearance on the program in late 2018.
