Hillel at OU and the LGBT Center will host “Comedy Show with Bravo’s Julie Goldman” as a part of the Performing Arts and Concert Series.
For some comedians, being a woman or a lesbian or Jewish is a punchline. Julie Goldman is all three, but she’s no joke.
Goldman, a prolific comedian and actress who currently stars in Bravo’s The People’s Couch and Logo’s new series Gay Skit Happens, will perform a free comedy show Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Baker Theatre.
Goldman has appeared on shows such as The Mindy Project, Faking It and Bones. In her stand-up, she bases much of her comedy on being a Jewish lesbian.
“She’s a lesbian, she’s a woman, she’s Jewish, she is hysterically funny about all of those things and more. She just felt like a great fit,” Lauren Goldberg, assistant director of Hillel, said.
LGBT Center Director delfin bautista said there is a fine line between humor and being crude, but when jokes about a community are made by someone in the community, the jokes are acceptable.
“Looking at what Julie has done, it is using humor to raise awareness and to push people and challenge folks to think about things in a different way,” bautista, who uses they/them pronouns and the lowercase spelling of their name, said.
Goldberg said Hillel interns have wanted to bring a comedian to OU for years, and partnering with the Performing Arts and Concert Series was a perfect opportunity to do so.
“There’s a long Jewish history that is closely tied to comedy and we kicked around a lot of different ideas, but there’s nothing that quite comes close to bringing in a professional,” Goldberg said.
bautista said they have talked with Goldberg and Rabbi Danielle Leshaw, executive director of Hillel, about how Jewish students are a minority on campus and religious affiliation needs to be thought of in addition to race, gender and sexual orientation.
“Not that we’re trying to tokenize ‘Oh look how diverse we are, we just brought a Jewish lesbian to campus’ but I think it’s important to ensure that we’re lifting up that voice and that ... voice is lifted up,” bautista said.
In a stand-up routine, diversity in material is needed as well, Chase Montavon, a senior studying communication studies and who is opening for Goldman, said. Montavon said he won’t tailor his 5-minute set to who he is opening for, so the audience gets a wider range of comedy.
Montavon said most comedians are Jewish, but Jewish lesbians are a “really niche” group, so Goldman’s perspective will be interesting to showcase.
bautista noted that the LGBT Center usually focuses on intense topics surrounding the struggles LGBT people face, but the comedy show is an opportunity to address these topics in a lighthearted manner.
“Yes, it’s important to talk about trans discrimination and things that are happening to LGBT folk on campus and around the world but we also need to create space to re-energize through laughter and camaraderie,” bautista said.
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