We recently connected with Mistress K and have shared our conversation below.
Mistress , appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
As a female in the male dominated field of comedy, there wasn’t enough spots in these comedy show line ups for women and certainly not for such a niche comedian such as myself. Having seen that most of the major comedy clubs cater to predominately all male comedy show line ups, I wanted that to change. I knew that if I couldn’t join them, I had to beat them at their own game. I knew that instead of complaining about there not being enough opportunities for myself and my craft, I devised a plan to create comedy shows and now drag shows with diverse lineups. I also knew that I wanted to give back to my community and empower those voices I valued and thought were hilarious. Thus, I created The Future Is Female Comedy Show (FIF Comedy Show) a feminist comedy show that celebrates and highlights womxn, queer, and BIPOC voices within the community. It’s an all inclusive show with talented up and coming comedians. I wanted to challenge the status quo and show hollywood and the community that diversity sells and WOMXN are indeed funny.
Since, starting FIF I have produced over 300+ shows since our first show Nov 2019, during the pandemic. In addition, to just the normal comedy show, I have produced a Comedy Competition that gave out $700 to comedians, started a charity called Auntie Flows Dive where donated over $1k in feminine hygiene products to local womxn’s center, booked corporate gigs for major retail brands, worked with other 20+ venues, produced multiple city tours, participated in multiple comedy festivals, and international shows in the UK via zoom. However, I am most proud of the community of FIF Alumni I have created. I know that my company is succeeding because of the fans who consistently come out show after show and sold out shows. I also know that I have been succeeding because of the amazing opportunities that I have been granted and continue to book for myself and the FIF Community.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
For as long as I can remember I was told that I was funny. However, no one tells you how to make “funny” a career or a paying gig. However, I got my first taste of the limelight when I started selling sex toys in people’s living rooms. Essentially, it was a tupperware party, yet the products were adult novelties. I got so good at selling these products due to my humor and making jokes about how to use the products and making my customers comfortable talking about sex. I got so immersed into the lifestyle of sexuality and sexual educator, I found myself becoming a dominatrix. Hence, the birth of Mistress K, my alter ego, a super woman if you will, who spoke her mind and exuded confidence. After a while, I found myself in my head creating jokes for the work I was doing. I can’t make up the things that I have done for money while Domme out. I found myself telling these stories to my friends, who encouraged me to say them on stage. SO I did. I began performing on all the major clubs and found that my lifestyle and humor could transcend even the most vanilla audiences. I like to unravel societal norms, challenge boundaries, and break down barriers by telling jokes on what I know…my life experiences.
I’m the most proud of my hustle and work ethic. I work hard for all the opportunities that I have been granted me. The best thing about my job is having total strangers come up to me and say that they are comfortable being themselves because I am uniquely and unapologetically me.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I started FIF Comedy Show during a pandemic. An entertainment business in a time where people weren’t allowed to congregate together for fear of disease. I learned how to make money, through eCommerce of FIF merch, and had to create alternative ways to get people together to laugh. The pandemic wasn’t the best time to start an entertainment business just based off of finances. However, for me that’s exactly what I did. I spent my days of unemployment getting together with other artists through zoom, across the global. I started producing shows on zoom where we would get anywhere from 50-300 people on a live. Building a community of laughter in a time of necessity and a place for belonging. Then when the world began to open back up I found creative and safe ways to keep my talent and my audiences safe.
The pandemic for a lot of people was the worst time, but for me it was the best. It gave me the time and energy to focus on my career and craft. I had more time for writing and had online writing groups. I also had time to learn new business systems to create online shows and comedy content to grow my audience and fan base. If it weren’t for this time in history I don’t think I would be as far ahead as I am in my career and I wouldn’t have created the FIF platform I have created.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
As an artist, you would think you would get booked based off your talent. Yet, in Hollywood it is still a town, where you need to network and know people to be in certain rooms and on certain shows. I learned that major comedy clubs could careless if you are funny, they aren’t selling comedy, they are selling food and beverages. All these clubs care about is butts in the seats, quantity, not quality. As someone who prides themselves on being talented, hard working and goal orientated it really bothers me that clubs book social media influencers to fill rooms, rather than put on talented individuals. This is the never ending stress that I go through as a producer to ensure that my venues are happy and making money. I know they could careless about the quality of a show, they just see numbers. Comedy is a business, a business that no one explains to you, until you are in it. I’ve learned so much in the few short years I have been producing FIF Comedy Shows. I have also learned that venues will try to give me unfavorable deals compared to my male counterparts running worst quality shows. It can be very frustrating, but I learned to do my research and educate myself from all angles before agreeing to business terms.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fifcomedyshow.com
- Instagram: @mistresskcomedy @fifcomedyshow
- Facebook: @fifcomedyshow
- Twitter: @fifcomedy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0RGGVYuPfrDARpz3RoFIEQ
Image Credits
Mistress K