Comedian Mona Shaikh is on a mission to bring laughter to a global audience with her weekly show Desi Girls Night Out. The show goes out live at 7.30pm PST (you will be able to catch up on shows once they’ve gone out, here!) every Friday featuring the best comedy talent from Desi women! Part of the proceeds from the shows goes to Domestic Violence Victims suffering due to COVID-19. Mona and the team are very proud to do comedy for a cause. We caught up with Mona to talk about Desi Girls Night Out, male comedy promoters in denial and how the global pandemic is making comedians push the boundaries…
Funny Women: First of all, we should ask how are you?
Mona Shaikh: I am good, keeping busy and sweatpants are getting tight
FW: Tell us about your online live show Desi Girls Night Out!
MS: We started Desi Girls Night Out last year to a sold-out room of 300 women showing up to watch an all South Asian female comedian line-up and it was incredible. We also got a huge feature in LA Times for it. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, we comedians cannot perform live so I said why not take our live show online since the demand is still there and it gives all my comedians a platform to still do what they love and help bring some laughter in these hard times. When our government is making us cry, comedians are here to make you laugh and spill the truth.
FW: Often when we talk to male comedy promoters about gender-balanced nights we’re told there aren’t enough women comedians out there. Something we know not to be true. Do you come up against the same issues when it comes to challenging comedy promoters about booking Desi acts?
MS: Ha! That’s the denial narrative male comedy promoters are stuck in because it’s an easy scapegoat. Luckily for us we no longer perform our shows at comedy clubs, we go to fantastic venues and produce our shows there. It’s just the comedians and their fans in a thriving environment full of great food, drinks, and laughter and, oh, we almost always end up having dance parties followed by our acts because our DJ/playlists are amazing which you will never find at a comedy club. Our shows are full-blown one-stop shop parties.
FW: Sounds amazing! When the Lockdown is over do you plan to continue with Desi Girls Night Out?
MS: Absolutely! We are currently working on a national tour to major cities in the US and possibly internationally as well. Besides Desi Girls we also have Arab Girls, Persian Girls, Armenian Girls, MuslimahComedy and Gay AF which will all be showcased. GAY AF is part of LA Pride 365 events.
FW: How do you think the current situation is going to affect live comedy?
MS: The current situation is forcing everyone regardless of comedy to think outside the box. This pandemic will teach us that things we thought were digitally impossible, will be made possible. Of course, you can never compare the live venue experience to a digital live show however it’s a great time to find your audience because they’re at home not distracted by a million and one things.
FW: Who are your favourite funny women?
MS: Hannah Gadsby – can’t wait to work with her, Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, Nikki Glaser, Ali Wong, Margaret Cho, who’s a big supporter of ours and has headlined our shows, Melissa Villasenor and Kate McKinnon – can’t get enough of her.
Desi Girls Night Out is streamed every Friday at 7.30pm PST. To find out all about the line-ups and shows visit www.minorityreportz.com
