--- title: How Comedians Are Turning #MeToo Into Laughs description: Drawing laughter from dark places, these women at Edinburgh Fringe believe shows about abuse have to be more than just entertaining. canonical: https://time.com/5374320/comedy-edinburgh-me-too/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-22T17:24:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:10.585Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Meet the Women Turning #MeToo Into Comedy og:description: They want their shows to be more than just entertaining og:url: https://time.com/5374320/comedy-edinburgh-me-too/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4cf7679e3fc9193/69893856929fadec18bf15e4/main-promo-image-cropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: LoveSongsAlissaCooper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Women Turning #MeToo Into Comedy twitter:description: They want their shows to be more than just entertaining twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4cf7679e3fc9193/69893856929fadec18bf15e4/main-promo-image-cropped.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Comedians Are Turning #MeToo Into Laughs > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jbtW5SvJ.m3u8) (5:02)  _Published 2017-12-06. For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing all of us to stop accepting the unacceptable, the Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year._  by [Ciara Nugent/Edinburgh](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent/Edinburgh Aug 22, 2018 5:24 PM UTC  Poet and comedian Alissa Anne Jeun Yi debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her show Love Songs Poet and comedian Alissa Anne Jeun Yi debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her show Love Songs Katt Webster  by [Ciara Nugent/Edinburgh](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent/Edinburgh Aug 22, 2018 5:24 PM UTC In a dark theater in Edinburgh, Scotland, an audience sits back to enjoy an hour of live comedy. A performer takes the mic and the jokes start rolling in. On politics, love, awkward interactions, and then: sexual abuse. Tension floods the crowded room. Palms sweat. Friends and family avert their eyes. But then a laugh comes, and then another, as the comedian manages to navigate a path through one of the most delicate subjects in society today. That scene has been repeated hundreds of times this August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as dozens of shows at the world’s largest arts festival tackle abusive relationships and consent on stage. In a year where sexual abuse and harassment have been discussed almost daily in newspapers,[ on television](http://www.vulture.com/2018/05/2018-is-the-summer-of-metoo-tv.html), in boardrooms and in the halls of government, the final frontier for the Me Too movement might just be comedy. “People are really ready to talk about this stuff online, on social media,” says L.A.-based comic Natalie Palamides. “But most of us haven’t had a chance to really get into it face to face. That’s what a live show can do.”  L.A.-based comedian Natalie Palamides took her show Nate to Edinburgh in August 2018 Nick Rasmussen In her show _Nate_, Palamides assumes an aggressive, heavy-drinking male alter ego, complete with Sharpie’d-on chest hair, thick mustache and lumberjack plaid. As Nate confides in the crowd about his troubles with women and demonstrates his drinking prowess, the show builds to a tense confrontation with issues of consent. Without giving too many spoilers, Nate’s actions at a pivotal moment force the audience to examine the limits between good and bad behaviour, with Palamides challenging them to speak up. As well as comedy, Edinburgh is staging some serious dramas tackling the Me Too movement, including _The Empty Chair_, a play set at a Hollywood after-party, and Dressed, which recounts its writer’s assault at gunpoint. But comedy, Palamides says, has the benefit of diffusing the tension around a normally taboo subject. “The laughter comes in acknowledging the confusion about it,” she says. Nate, who initially comes across as a damning indictment of toxic masculinity, is revealed as “a loveable idiot—someone who really tries to understand feminism and issues of consent but fails miserably,” she says. “If we can point that out, we can talk about it. And the more we can talk about it, the more we’ll be able to keep each other safe.” For Kiri Pritchard-McLean, a British comedian performing a sell-out run of her show _Victim, Complex_, the world of comedy is uniquely suited to having difficult conversations. “That’s the thrilling thing about it, you can have them quicker and in a far more accessible way.” In her case, that means telling the story of being “gas-lit” by her ex-boyfriend. (The term gaslighting comes from the 1938 British play _Gas Light_ (and 1944 film starring Ingrid Bergman), in which a husband manipulates his wife to believe she is going insane.) An abusive relationship may not be the most obvious material for comedy, but Pritchard-McLean is not afraid of approaching sensitive subjects. Her most recent show was about child grooming and she has a podcast, _All Killa No Filla_, about serial killers. “You’re never laughing at the victim.You laugh at the incompetent police or the awful murder,” she says. “There’s plenty of power figures to punch up at. You never need to punch down.”  Kiri Pritchard-McLean tackles an abusive relationship in her sell-out show Victim, Complex Kayla Wren She adds that telling her story through comedy, as someone who is “smart and loud and obnoxious,” is key to rethinking the trope of the “perfect and submissive victim.” She says society struggles to imagine victims of abuse ever being powerful in other parts of their lives. “Because of who I am, because I’m a comedian and I get up on stage, no one believed it would ever happen to me.” After performing, Pritchard McLean often receives “a barrage” of messages from people who have had similar experiences, thanking her for speaking out or looking for advice. But Pritchard-McLean doubts the ability of the Me Too movement to create lasting social change. “I think all that has changed is that people will listen to women for a year,” she says. “But you still have people in positions of power who we know are really bad guys. It hasn’t changed.” Alissa Anne Jeun Yi, whose debut show _Love Songs_ focuses on her own sexual assault, was also hesitant about adding her voice to the Me Too movement. “I found the whole thing upsetting,” she says. “I worried at first that it would just be too painful for people like me.” But in late 2017 she decided that telling her own story through comedy was a way to speak out in her own way. “Most of my friends actually found out what happened through the show,” she says. “By writing this show I can control it all. I know the story and I’ve decided to structure it in this way to make it empowering for myself.” _Love Songs_ is a mix of comedy and spoken word, charting Jeun Yi’s experience with sexuality, as well as assault. She reads old letters to boys, some funny, some sad, and shares how stereotypes of Asian women as meek and submissive and a lack of sex education in school affected her first sexual experiences. The tension between the light-hearted tone and the seriousness of some of the subject is an opportunity may unnerve some audiences. “But I’d say the best shows are bittersweet,”Jeun Yi says. “Shows that manage those contrasts between laughter and sadness, that make you reel back and feel the highs and the lows more intensely.”  Alissa Anne Jeun Yi Harry Elletson While their shows draw laughter from some dark places, Palamides, Jeun Yi and Pritchard-McLean all agree that comedy about abuse has to be more than just entertaining. Like [_Nanette_](http://time.com/5313575/hannah-gadsby-nanette-metoo/), Hannah Gadsby’s hugely successful Netflix special on her own experiences of homophobia and sexual assault, these shows end in a call to action. Palamides pressures her audience to challenge bad behavior, while Jeun Yi holds a collection for Rights of Women, a U.K.-based charity providing legal guidance for women who have experienced sexual assault. Pritchard-McLean says her shows on grooming and abuse have pushed some fans to reach out for help and many more to start volunteering. “I’m deliberately not going to give you a happy ending,” says Pritchard McLean. “If you feel moved, get off your ass and do something.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We can't all be ****. We can't all be asking for it. I am here to give you permission to be angry. This reality might not have to be our reality anymore. I felt this crushing sense of powerlessness. This is the time to take my power back. Here's my story. Uber promises. Investigation into sexual harrassment. Fox News cutting its ties with Bill O'Reilley. I felt it was my duty for the women who are silent to be brave. It's okay to stand up for yourself. Taylor Swift appearing in court today. Harvey Weinstein, the New York- People forget a lot that there's a human behind this. Someone who was very hurt and wronged. [ MUSIC ] [ CROSSTALK ] I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter. I never thought things could change for me. [ MUSIC ] Honestly, I was furious. I have had a man grope me in front of multiple collegues and I was tired of wondering if it was something I wore, I was tired of wondering if it was a vibe I was giving off and when I talked to other women they were furious too >> I felt that if I can speak out, may be if I just stand up then someone else would stand up with me >> There wasn't a place For us to report these experiences. But I sure did talk about it a lot over the years. The least I could do was actually tell my own story and validate theirs for them in a way, just as I was hoping someone much bigger than me would help validate my story. And I knew that other women Would continue to apple for jobs there and that made me feel really uncomfortable. I was afraid of the retaliation, I know the power of patriarchy. I know what men can do when their angry. They did everything that they could to prevent me from raising my concerns further. They asked me if there were other girls, maybe that he has done this too and can I go get them. I had to show them that I wasn't lying And it's like they took me for a joke. And if they couldn't stop us from talking, well, they were gonna stop everybody from listening to us. People digging into my Instagram and pulling up sexy photos as if they kind of discredited me. Well, I've seen you in committee. You're really tough. Why didn't you just hit him? Why did you let it go on for so long? I was a smart young woman that had gone to college, that knew how to fight, and I still was manipulated and conned. I felt ashamed that I hadn't spoken out sooner, not having the strength earlier on to make it stop. The feeling of being humiliated as a woman And there's a point you think is it my fault? For so long I went around harboring this ridiculous belief that because I was a non white woman in my 20s, it was expected that I would have to be treated this way. We don't have to just live like this. Few things could change from my daughter I never thought things could change from me. I'm here to give you permission to be angry, people are afraid specially women where conditioned since birth to be polite. To be nice, to be kind, to be liked to not make waves. ****. We can't all be crazy, we can't all be ****, we can't all be asking for it. And I'm telling you that all the people who stand up, all the people who speak out you are teaching people how to treat and you should not be shamed for that. The shame is not ours to hold, the shame is on perpetrator. Me Too can be a conversation starter or it can be the whole conversation. It took away the power from the predator. And placed the power on the victim. And maybe, just maybe we would be able to get a glimpse at the magnitude of this problem. The amount of people sharing the stories with me is so intense. People that were complete strangers reached out to tell very personal stories. It's What they did with this and they did a lot and not only in France in Hong kong japanese. The most months >> I feel like the day that I spoke up and I said you are a sexual harasser I changed >> some of the. Things in the night. [ FOREIGN ]. It's an honor to be the person that hey I spoke up about this. I took on the risk. And I was very humbled and I was very proud. I'm very glad now that the story has been heard. It's a direct response to that arrogance and that show of power and [ UNKNOWN ]. A sense, we won't be silenced. 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