Men to the back

Liza Treyger: undeterred tour de force

If I was going to invent a cocktail made with one part immigrant guilt work ethic, one part refusal to tolerate female comedians who pontificate about what kind of jokes a woman should tell, and one part deep disdain for white men struggling to get it together, garnished with a twist of pussy jokes and served over ice cubes of I don’t give a shit, I’d call it the Liza Treyger.

Recently listed in Rolling Stone’s “10 Comedians You Need to Know,” Treyger is officially a stand-up veteran. She accidently stumbled into comedy nine years ago when she attended an open mic at the invitation of a friend, not knowing what to expect. After watching a few comedians go up she thought, “If they can do it, I can totally do it.” She put her name on the list and bombed. Undeterred, she went home, wrote some jokes, and came back the next week to try again. Treyger hasn’t stopped since.

Her style is heavy on the vocal fry, and on the surface her jokes seem to be about being a single, good-time-party-girl. But stick with her for several bits and it becomes obvious that deeper themes of feminism and male fragility are the core of her act.

Her debut comedy album, Glittercheese, is a good introduction, but the material she will be performing in two separate shows at BWCF is all new, even as gender issues remain at the forefront of her writing.

“Guys who come to see me perform are getting more and more defensive and acting like they are victims. I’ve had issues with people trying to start fights with me afterwards … I’m obviously saying something right if they’re getting so upset.”

In comedy, gender is no uncommon subject—both in bits and in the politics of that world. Treyger recently used Twitter to clap back at comedian Iliza Schlesinger, who in an interview with Deadline said, “ … I’m banging my head against the wall because women want to be treated as equals, and we want feminism to be a thing, but it’s really difficult when every woman makes the same point about her vagina, over and over. I think I’m the only woman out there that has a joke about World War II in my set … That’s why women like Tina Fey do well. It’s smart, and men can laugh at it, too.”

Treyger responded with a series of tweets, including “Men stopped women from talking [about] our bodies cause they didn’t like it and now we get to and it’s a treat. Dirty comic forever!!!!!! Pussy puss” and “also, we’re all working hard. you’re not working harder than anybody else.”

She admitted she usually doesn’t fight and was on pain pills after getting her wisdom teeth out, but still stands by her response.

Mentioning Joan Rivers and Judy Gould, Treyger recognizes how hard female comedians have had to fight for legitimacy. Treyger believes the experiences of women are really damn funny, and she isn’t worried about writing jokes with men in mind.

“It’s insane to tell any standup comedian what to say. We all have a unique thing and something to add.”