By Samantha White
Maggie Faris was visiting her sister, a waitress at a local comedy club in St. Paul, Minn., when she thought this could be her up there, telling jokes. Soon enough, there she was, performing during an open mic night.
Four years later, in 2003, Faris received a career boost joining a list of notable competitors like Roseanne Barr when she won the women's portion of the Twin Cities Laff Off Competition and went on to become the first woman to win the overall contest. Faris will stop in Michigan on July 30 and 31 at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. "You can come out and laugh, giggle and have fun on your night off," she says.
In past years, stand-up comedy was a male-dominated industry, launching mega stars like Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock, but the genre's received an estrogen boost in the past few years with female TV comics, like the indelible Tina Fey, and successful stand-up comics such as Lisa Lampanelli and Sarah Silverman. Faris is on the cusp of such stardom, receiving accolades from Curve magazine as "one of the funniest lesbians in America" in 2008 and winning the "Silver Nail" and "Funniest Clip of the Year" awards at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2009.
Some of her influences include Lilly Tomlin, Gilda Radner, Kathleen Madigan and Ellen DeGeneres, but she also offers support to up-and-coming funny women. Faris says, "I do the best I can to try to encourage other female comedians and give them hints on how to be successful in this business."
Faris received callbacks to NBC's hit show "Last Comic Standing" two years in a row and still remains a fan of the show, especially since her friends are a part of it. "It's really good exposure," she says. "It makes people want to go out to see shows at comedy clubs. I see people getting like 15 new Facebook friends a day because of the show. It makes it more fun."
The comedian may be one of the "funniest lesbians" but she works diligently to make sure that her jokes are all-inclusive. "People work hard all week and my job is to tickle their brains," Faris says. "I'll tell a couple of gay jokes, but everybody is fair game. I want to appeal to the masses."
She does that with a blithesome comedy style that forces her audience to look – and laugh – at some of their perspectives and values. And she's been doing that for 11 years. Looks like she could do this afterall.
Maggie Faris
8 and 10:30 p.m. July 30-31
Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase
314 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor
http://www.aacomedy.com
