St. Pete Female Comedians' Voices Dominate At "Big Girl Pants" Show

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Tampa Bay comedy clubs traditionally feature mostly white male comedians on open mic nights with language that can be salty. Female comedians Lauren Dufault and Sierra Laico want to shake things up, and bring fresh views to the clubs.

"We need new voices, we need new perspectives," Dufault told a Patch reporter. "We need people to understand and realize that if they've ever had that thought of like, 'Hey, I want to do comedy,' it's available to you."

Dufault has been active in stand-up comedy performances for the past four years in Tampa Bay, Fort Myers and Denver. She has created a monthly show that gives women the opportunity a chance at the microphone in a less intimidating environment without jokes that denigrate women.

The show is called "Big Girl Pants," currently hosted at Spitfire Comedy House in St. Petersburg.

"I think a lot of veteran comedians — it's such a male dominated industry — that there's all these social rules you have to follow and things like that, which is completely not true," DuFault said. "We need a space for women and people of color, and people that are like the outliers in the social construct to be in the forefront now, and I want my show to be a part of that."

"Big Girl Pants" is a game created by DuFault that invites male comedians to participate in the show and be tested on knowledge about women. The more correct answers they get, the more stage time they'll receive for a stand-up bit. There is a winner and a loser. There is always a female headliner and there's always a female opener.

Thursday night's opener is Laico, whose stage last name is Layko. The headliner is Tampa comedian Aniria Turney.

Layko said she enjoys the vibe at "Big Girl Pants" because it can get awkward at other comedy shows when she is the only female performing to a mostly male audience who is more likely to laugh at obscene jokes compared to original material.

“Oh, yeah. It’s a lot harder, some scenes are better than others with that, like, I know Miami has a lot more women in it," Layko said. "The Tampa Bay scene, it’s still very male-dominated. As most of the time, I’ll be the only girl at a mic and yeah, I face a lot of people objectifying me and things like that. So, it’s been rough, but I have found a good community of other female comedians and we help each other out.”

"Big Girl Pants" performs every third Thursday of the month at 8 p.m., Spitfire Comedy House, 1920 First Ave. S., St. Petersburg. For more information and tickets, click here.

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