We were lucky to catch up with Vivian Burgett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Vivian, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

About a year into my comedy journey, I started hosting an open mic. It was a stereotypical dirty open mic in a dive bar–anybody could show up and perform on it whether they were good or bad or had showered in the last 5 days. I had fun hosting, but about a month in, I realized that I was frequently one of two or three female comedians there and we were extremely outnumbered by men. To top it off, a female comedian friend confided in me that she didn’t like stopping by my mic because she felt like the men didn’t want to even try to relate to her material and a lot of them would talk over her when she performed. This made me livid and out of that was born Fem Feedback: a feedback mic for female and/or trans comedians.

I’ve been hosting Fem Feedback for over a year now and it’s been a resounding success. I decided to make it a feedback mic, which meant that every show there would be a more experienced female and/or trans comedian watching everyone’s sets and giving them feedback. I never thought the feedback element would be as successful as it was–it gave a chance for newer comics to meet veterans on the scene who weren’t frequenting dirty open mics anymore and it created an environment where women complimented other women and fostered the growth of fellow non-male comedians. To summarize, the vibes are great!

I soon realized it was also very popular among audience members–so many of whom avoided traditional comedy shows because they didn’t want to be made the butt of a joke because they were female or trans. Not only did they not worry about being made fun of at this show, but the comedy at Fem Feedback spoke to issues that resonated with them that may have gone over the heads of the average man.

Hosting this show is what has kept me going in comedy–it’s often my light at the end of the tunnel of a really bad week of work and crappy open mics. I’ve learned from stories that fellow comics have told and laughed until I cried at least a couple times. When I started doing comedy, it was never my plan to host an all female and/or trans mic like this, it was just the result of me finally tuning in to the problems around me and doing what I could to solve them.

Vivian, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a stand-up comedian, so I perform in comedy shows and open mics all over the state. Comedy can incorporate a lot of different elements–I’ve done podcasts, Tiktoks, and I even hosted a short-lived comedy bingo night.

Comedy is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a teenager, but finally worked up the courage to do it when I was 30 and generally discontent with where I was in life. I took a class in comedy and started performing at open mics around town. The first open mic I performed at was in a different state so that way if it didn’t go well, I would never have to see anyone who was there ever again. But it actually went pretty well and I got such a rush from performing that I kept with it.

Doing comedy finally gave me a direction in life that I was missing for most of my adulthood; I cannot imagine my life without it at this point. For me it’s more than just making people laugh at any cost–I want my jokes to pack a punch, to make people think about them afterward and maybe see things in a different light than they did before. Watching comedy has definitely expanded my mind and I strive for my comedy to do the same for others.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Comedy isn’t about making as many people as possible laugh no matter what. It’s about being authentic to yourself and cultivating your audience. Sometimes 90% of a crowd doesn’t care for me, but that other 10% may love my comedy and really relate to it and those are the people I’m performing for. It takes a while to learn this and this is definitely something I learned from more experienced comics… even though it felt like they were just trying to make me feel better about not having a good set. It’s more important to me to be authentic than to make everyone in the audience laugh.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I don’t have any specific stories that I can share, but resilience in comedy is bombing one night and then going out the next night to try it all over again. It’s working an 8 hour shift and then driving an hour away to perform for 5 minutes in some town you’ve otherwise never heard of.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: vivianburgettcomedy

Image Credits

Heather Sejnow