As Whitney Cummings takes the stage she also takes off her shirt for the camera.
Co-creator of the show “2 Broke Girls” Cummings brought laughs all around Williams Auditorium as the 2021 Ferris Homecoming Comedian as part of her “Touch Me” tour. But as she entered the stage she made sure that the audience wouldn’t forget her show.
Unbuttoning her shirt and turning around so her butt was on display for the crowd is one of the ways Cummings stands out from her
“Alright, hot take, I’m more confident being a woman,” Whitney said. “Because I think in comedy, the bigger thing to me at this point is someone going to have similar premises, am I going to say something that the comedian has already said? I think if you’re a woman in a male dominated field as a comedian you have experiences that they’ve never had so I don’t have to worry about seeming original I don’t have to worry about oh, did someone else already do this joke. I’m going out here like, even if they don’t like me because I’m a girl at least I’m not going to have said anything they’ve heard from most comics, because my point of view is going to be a little bit different.”
Cummings wanted to take a contrary action as a women in comedy. When misfortunes of her happened, like having her naked photos being blackmailed to her, she decided to turn the tables and make it part of her skits. Cummings wants her confidence to be shown.
“I think if you if you bang your head long enough in a wall you’ll eventually be like ‘let me try this direction,'” Cummings said. “I also just sabotaged myself enough and had enough bad performances because I was like I am a woman and they don’t like me and they’re not gonna respect me. It just didn’t work. I was like let me try the confidence thing and everyone was like, we like that, you’re not putting your gross insecure shit on us.”
Cummings said that no 20 year old, no matter their gender, just has the confidence to make jokes at their own expense. She learned to build hers up through trying out new jokes and not letting the thoughts that she has to be extra good now that people pay for tickets.
Ferris television and digital media production junior Cheyenne Brown thought the show was fantastic. It was very funny and she thought it was a really good way to take a break from homework and classes.
“I was really happy it returned to in person because it felt much more personal than the zoom session one that was done last year,” Brown said. “I really liked how she did a Q&A at the end of the show, it was enjoyable and nice to get advice from her. I went because I have watched some of her specials online and I figured it’d be a really good way to spend a Wednesday night.”
Brown went up to the stage during the Q&A portion to ask Cummings about what it was like as a women going into traditionally male dominated fields like television and production. It gave Brown confidence about her future.
“She mentioned that I shouldn’t think of it as a disadvantage, and that if anything me going into that field is an advantage because the demographic is changing in terms of how many women actually work in TV and film,” Brown said. “It was personally one of my biggest worries going into this field is that I wouldn’t get the jobs or leadership opportunities a man would because I’m a woman working in a male dominated career field. But her being someone who has actually worked in that field and was successful in it, it was very inspiring to get her insight on the topic.”
Ferris music and entertainment business major and president of the Ferris Homecoming Committee Madison MacDowell said in Ferris’ announcement on their website that they felt like Whitney has the sense of humor that would fit well on a college campus.
“In the past few years, Ferris has brought mainly male comedians, and as great as those men were, I’m excited to showcase an amazing female comedian,” MacDowell said.
To read about the opening act, Brandon Stahle, go to page 2.