"I'm a girl's girl," says standup Janae Burris. Her brand of comedy makes her perfect pick for the upcoming Fempire Comedy Festival, being held Oct. 23-25 in Boulder and Louisville. Courtesy: Janae Burris
Eighth grade began for Janae Burris with a prayer: “Please God, let me open my mouth.”
Growing up a bashful kid in California, she spent her early years on the periphery — drawn to the spotlight, but never stepping into it. This, Burris decided, would be the year she broke out of her shell. The year she turned funny.
“I always thought I was funny, but I was pretty shy,” Burris says. “I would have a punch line in my head. Somebody would say something, and I’d have a funny retort, but I was too afraid to say it.”
Flash forward a few decades and Burris bears little resemblance to the girl who couldn’t muster the courage to land a joke. Now the 46-year-old comedian makes her living with a microphone, getting laughs from audiences on the stand-up circuit across the Front Range and beyond.
Burris and 20 other femme comedians will be in Boulder County Oct. 23-25 for Fempire Comedy Festival. We connected with the L.A. transplant to talk about her evolution and the Colorado comedy scene.
You describe yourself as a shy kid. How did you find the confidence to get out of your shell and start telling jokes for people?
My family loves comedy. We watched a lot of clean comedy together, like Sinbad. And also grew up very religious, and it's not appropriate for little girls to be cracking wise.
When I was in eighth grade, I made a decision: This is my year to be funny, and I wanted to be class clown or something. I wanted some recognition in the yearbook.
Did you get it?
No! But it did bring me out of my shell. I made friends who were similar to me, who liked to crack jokes and ditch class. You find your people eventually, and then you can be free to just be funny.
I teach stand up comedy to teen girls and nonbinary kids. I love empowering women with humor, because I feel like sometimes we need permission to be funny. I wasn't reprimanded for being funny with my friends. So that was my permission.
Black girls get punished for stuff like that — for being mouthy, funny, sassy. I saw other girls get in trouble, but I was very good about being quiet and making myself smaller. So I try to empower teens to do the opposite. Go ahead and be loud.
So I thought I was funny when I was young, but I didn't pursue stand up comedy until I was 28.
You get on stage for the first time at 28. What was that like?
I studied avant garde theater, so I was very snooty about my theater training. But that didn't land jobs in L.A., so I took a stand up comedy class for eight weeks.
The funny thing about taking a class is nobody has a reputation yet; other new comics were all starting in the same place. It turned out I was funny, and I felt energized by it. You do a showcase in front of your friends and family, and they're going to be supportive. Also, my ex was there and a guy I was talking to, so that was awkward.
The room was packed. I felt energized. I felt supported. I felt validated. Like, ‘OK, all the thoughts I had in my head thinking I was being funny, now I've said them out loud, and it actually got laughs from strangers, too.’ That feeds you for a while.
How would you describe your comedy style and your sense of humor to someone who's never seen you perform?
Very opinionated, very female and mom-focused, sort of theatrical style. I'm a theater girl, so a lot of shaking and wiggling and having fun.
I'm a girl's girl, and I let it be known in my comedy. I love performing for women. I love to tease audiences about their politics. If you can be confident and open minded with them, they'll go along for the ride.
My comedy's always been really personal; I consider it oversharing. That's my brand. You meet a stranger and they're like, ‘I love that bit about your ex's mental health.’ And it's like, ‘Oops, I shouldn't have said that.’
As someone who performs in all sorts of venues around the Front Range what makes Boulder Comedy Festival different? What keeps you coming back?
I think Zoe [Rogers, the producer] does a really great job of curating a diverse lineup — diverse talent, ages, experience, perspectives. She manages to find a lot of up and comers from around the country that maybe wouldn't have come out to Colorado just yet. But because she brought them to Boulder, I get to see them later on in Denver or in another city.
You have to curate your audiences, too. Zoe is doing a good job of bringing people back. She brings comics, and it's successful, and then Boulder goes, ‘OK, you've proven that. We'll come back.’ She finds the humor that Boulder can get into. They just don't like anybody. They don't let a lot slide. They're not gonna fake laugh.
ON STAGE: Fempire Comedy Festival. 7-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, Junkyard Social Club, 2525 Frontier Ave. Ste. A, Boulder | 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder | 7-9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, The Louisville Underground, 640 Main St. $28+
