In honor of Mae Martin's birthday, we wanted to share a list of some of our favorite queer comedians that you should be aware of if you want to keep your gay card. ;)
First, who is Mae Martin? Mae Martin is a Canadian-born comedian, actor, and screenwriter based in England. They wrote and starred in the Netflix comedy series Feel Good and won two Canadian Comedy Awards as part of the comedy troupe The Young and the Useless. They received a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for their work on Feel Good. You should check out Feel Good and also her stand up special which we believe is also on Netflix.
Wanda Sykes is a comedian known for her straightforward comedic style that often addresses social topics such as politics and lgbtq issues. She has made appearances on TV shows and voiced characters in animated movies. She came out publicly in 2008 and has been a passionate advocate for queer causes ever since. Check out her website - apparently she's going on tour this year!
Tig Notaro is a comedian, writer, and actor known for her deadpan comedy. She's got a few comedy specials out there. You can watch clips on YouTube, but Happy To Be Here is on Netflix and Hello Again is on Amazon Prime. Both are hilarious! As a Star Trek nerd, I was particularly happy to see her acting on Star Trek: Discovery.
Nicole Byer is a comedian, actor, TV host, podcaster, and author. She is the host of Netflix's baking show Nailed It. She is also the host of several podcasts including "Why won't you date me?", "Best Friends", and "Newcomers". Nailed It is very binge-worthy and we highly recommend it!
Margaret Cho is another favorite of ours. She is famous for her bold comedy that touches on NSFW topics, her immigrant parents, and issues like social justice, queer rights, and racial stereotypes. She has appeared in several TV shows, written two books (I'm the One That I Want and I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight), and has several comedy specials, one of which is "PsyCHO" which streams on Amazon Prime. You can view clips of her comedy on YouTube and she does tour fairly often. Check her out!
These are only a very small sampling of our favorite queer comedians. Who are your favorites? Where can we see them?