“I try to book according to who I believe is the best talent and keep giving advice to the people that aren’t there yet about what they can do to possibly work their way closer to that goal,” Perrio says. He listens for clean comedy with no graphic sexual references and for audience reactions when he scouts talent. For him, headliners, openers and open mic lineups are a reflection of talent. Open mic lineups are typically arranged with known talent at the beginning, the best talent in prime spots, typically fifth in line and so on, with comedians who are just starting out closing the shows, he says. Despite her TV credentials, bookers would often put Davis at the end of open mic lineups, which she says are the most treach- erous times. She advises women to not go to open mics alone and to ration their alcohol intake, especially after 11 p.m. At The Comedy Arena, open mics are straightforward. Comedians come in, write their name on a list and perform in that or- der. Daniel monitors open mics. If a comic makes vulgar jokes on subjects such as child abuse or rape, their set is immediately ter- minated. Crowd work is not allowed. “If you have, for example, predators that are open like comics, they can literally be ev- erywhere,” Daniel says. “Because they’re not being hired, they’re just showing up at a public place … but unfortunately, in D/FW, we have way more open mic comics than we do headliners or Hollywood headliners.” He urges comedians to maintain open communication with venue owners and management. “I’ll listen to anybody if they have a prob- lem. I want to hear it and I’ll try to help you solve it,” Daniel says. The combination of corporate-inspired policies, presence and communication has al- lowed Daniel to maintain The Comedy Are- na’s safety and keep an orderly environment. As a booker, Perrio has no control over club policies, but he places emphasis on communication. “I would implore [people with safety concerns] to communicate that to the man- agement at the club, or the person running the venue, if it’s at a non-club,” Perrio says. He’s never experienced anything that he “explicitly considers unsafe.” Goldapp has seen improvement in com- edy. She believes the #Metoo movement has propelled a shift across many industries. As more people continue to bring these issues to light, comedy is having to adjust. “Over the course of 20 years, it’s really gotten better, it’s gotten safer, but it’s still imperfect,” Goldapp says. La’Tasha Duran’s comedic experience also crosses state lines. Her career began in Houston in the early 2000s. She spent five years in Los Angeles before making North Texas her home. Alternative comedy spaces had allowed her to hone her craft. In Los An- geles and Houston, she had performed at bars, garages and speakeasies. D/FW was a different beast. “This comedy scene down here in D/FW is so close and so tight that these people can still survive, even though they are blatantly rude to people of color,” Duran says. “Even though we offer so much to the world, they’re still blatantly rude and it’s unaccept- able. But my comeback to that is to boycott, so that’s what I do. I just don’t go.” As a Black female comedian in the South, Duran has endured rampant racism. She is selective about where she performs and seeks out Black and Hispanic comedy spaces. She’s a regular at comedy duo Chuckle and Flo’s Look Cinemas stand-up events. Snookie’s, a Black-owned comedy club, has been fair in Duran’s experience. Comics are given the freedom to express their artistry. The opportunity is invaluable. Still, she’ll take a shot at any crowd. “Once you hear me, once you see me, once I get your attention for three minutes, you laughed, or you smiled at me, or maybe you were curious looking upon me, but you didn’t hate me ... you just enjoyed me for the time that I was out there, which you proba- bly wouldn’t give me the time of day before, but you loved me for five minutes,” Duran says. “That’s my reward, I guess it’s my way of coping.” Ellis stresses the importance of diversity. Her career has taken her from D/FW to Aus- tin and now Los Angeles. “It’s really important to be somewhere where there are strong female voices and male voices and non-binary voices and trans voices. The world is varied, and I think the comedy scene should reflect that, but that’s not the case,” Ellis says. When Ellis moved to Austin in January 2017, she noted how Austin women were flourishing in comedy. Maggie Maye had performed on Conan in 2015. The Austin Chronicle voted Vanessa Gonzalez 2017’s best stand-up comic. In 2019, Lashonda Lester’s posthumous comedy album Shonedee Superstar won critical acclaim. Dallas’ female comedians were abundant, but most weren’t able to sustain comedy full-time and TV credits were rare. The change of scenery gave Ellis access to rooms where she could grow with respect- ful constructive criticism. Davis and Duran agree that change won’t be propelled by comedians, owners or book- ers. It’s up to the audience to hold venues ac- countable. “The audience is the control room,” Duran says. “The audience needs to speak up and say, ‘Hey, there needs to be more women on your show,’ ‘Hey, there needs to be more color on your show. This is my first time coming to your show. It’s been mostly white people.’ The audience doesn’t say anything; they just allow these people to do whatever they want.” Goldapp suggests all comedians request venue’s policies and procedures on discrimi- nation and harassment. If there aren’t any, she advises comedians to not perform there. “If a place doesn’t have policies and pro- cedures in place, then they’re not doing even the basic, the bare minimum, to protect women,” she says. She stresses the need for fellow institu- tions to implement safeguarding policies and action plans to address sexism. She rec- ommends anonymous reporting systems. Vaughan won’t return to comedy until there is a consistently safe environment that holds its staff and talent accountable, but even that’s too much to ask, she says. “I can just hear comedians mocking that want for a literally physically safe space. I can hear it now,” Vaughan says. 15 We bring sophistication with a twist to the metaphysical and holistic markets with products, classes and services. We have locations in Dallas, Carrollton & Frisco. 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