We recently connected with Zoe Rogers and have shared our conversation below.

Zoe , appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Starting Boulder Comedy Festival has been a hugely meaningful project for me. When I started in comedy a decade ago, it felt like there was only one woman on a show and very little diversity. That was just the deal, and if you asked about it or suggested that it could have more diversity and women, people pushed back and acted like you were a trouble maker. It was so glaringly obvious to me that women and diversity were under represented. I wanted to flip that concept and have a show that featured women and diversity, so I started a show call Token Straight White Dude. None of the venues wanted to be any part of it because they thought it was divisive. I didn’t feel that diversity was divisive, but I really wanted a show with different voices. I started the show in a friends back yard and we had solid audiences every month. It was mostly people who said they had stopped going to comedy because they felt like they weren’t represented in any of it. I was also producing a weekly Sunday show in an Irish Pub and it was around that time I started thinking about doing a festival based in diversity and highlighting women in comedy. When I moved to Colorado I was able to work with venues that supported me and said they would love to host the festival. I reached out to comics and they said yes. Our first year was 2021 and it was awesome. Everyone needed to laugh and I loved seeing people hearing all these different perspectives and connect with them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started doing stand up comedy eleven years ago, it was when my younger son was almost 2 and a friend suggested I do a comedy class. It was the first thing I had done for myself in years. I had two kids at home and all the classes I had done up to that point involved bubbles and kids music, so the idea of doing something adult and creative for me was so foreign. Honestly, at that point in my life I didn’t know if anyone cared what I had to say. I felt overwhelmed and hadn’t had an adult conversation in years. I stayed the course and did the class and loved creating,feeling heard and laughing with people. I don’t remember who said it, but there’s a quote “laughter is the sound of people realizing they’re not alone” and that resonated with me. I love real, vulnerable comedy. Something where you talk about what makes you feel weird, insecure or anxious and realize you’re not alone. I started producing shows and then teaching stand up comedy. In 2021 we launched Boulder Comedy Festival and it was this awesome moment to see audiences come out to support women and diversity in comedy.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

For me, comedy has been a really healing thing and has helped me be happier and connect with people. I like making comedy accessible to people, wether it’s through teaching or producing shows. I think part of it is feeling heard. I think everyone needs that. I feel like it’s important for people to get that “funny” isn’t associated with just one particular race, gender or even style. When I started doing comedy I kept hearing “you don’t look like a comic” and I think a lot of that was a result of all straight, white make line ups . I like that there is more diversity in shows now, because that way people understand that there is no one “type” of person that is funny. Like so many things, it’s important to have representation in comedy. People seeing someone who represents them onstage makes them feel represented and heard. Diversity and comedy that lifts up instead of punching down creates a better energy in the world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me it’s rewarding to see comedy bring people together in a time when people can feel so disconnected. By the time a comic gets offstage they’ve gotten real with an audience about some vulnerable parts of their life. As a society we walk around assuming that other people are more put together than we are. I love seeing comics get onstage and air out weird details about their life. I like seeing comics tackle subjects like depression, anxiety or other topics that tend to be isolating and then through comedy show that those are shared struggles and they are not alone. Watching audiences laugh at topics you wouldn’t think are necessarily funny helps breakdown walls.

As a teacher the most rewarding thing is watching students write real, personal material about their own lives and have it connect with audiences. They feel empowered and heard. Seeing people come up and talk to them about a particular joke they liked that resonated with them is so cool.

Watching people genuinely connect through laughter is awesome. It creates an incredible energy that’s so nice to be part of. I love seeing someone write and perform a joke about something really vulnerable and be able to laugh about it with audiences. There has to be something medicinal in that.

Contact Info:

• Website: BoulderComedyFestival.com
• Instagram: Boulder_Comedy_Festival
• Facebook: Boulder Comedy Festival
• Twitter: @BoulderFestival
• Other: For information on stand up comedy classes check out HighroadComedy.com or email [email protected]

Image Credits
Matt Misisco, Melissa Leavenworth

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