Why you think women aren’t funny | Jodie Mitchell / John Travulva | TEDxLondon
When stand-up comedian Jodie Mitchell noticed audiences reacting differently to their Drag King persona, John Travulva, they realised just how gendered our perceptions of who is and isn’t funny are. As John they had the trust of the audience straight away, but as Jodie they would have to work harder to get laughs for the same material. This came to a head after a stand-up gig, where a menacing interaction with an audience member brought to life the frequent discrimination women, non-binary and trans-masculine comedians face.Jodie Mitchell, aka John Travulva, is a stand-up comedian, writer and Drag King. They’ve appeared on Comedy Central Live, Channel 4’s Jokes Only a Lesbian Can Tell, and award-winning BBC Radio 4 sketch show Time of The Week, which they were also a writer for. They were featured in The New York Times for their work on trans representation in Netflix’s Sex Education. Their debut stand-up show, Becoming John Travulva, sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and they’ve co-created numerous hit shows with their Off Broadway Award winning Drag King troupe "Pecs".This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
More from TED
- 4:59Feelings are What Makes us Human | Seola Yoon | TEDxIGBIS YouthIf you think about feelings you’ll think of simple words like ‘happy’ or ‘sad’, but feelings can be much more complex. Looking back on your experiences, your emotional responses may teach you something that you didn’t know! If you understand your common feelings better, you can handle problems and grow stronger, even when you fight with someone that you don’t like! Take a moment to hold onto your emotions. Hi! My name is Seola Yoon. I’m 11 years old and I’m from South Korea. I lived in Korea for 7 years and I moved to the Philippines for 3 and a half years then I came to Malaysia 10 months ago. My hobby is watching my favourite idol videos or live. I am afraid of going up to the stage even though I went to the stage many times, but if I see the audience clapping and smiling after finishing my speech I feel glad that I did a great job. I decided to join TEDx because I wanted to spread out all of my opinions and feelings to you to express my feelings through my speech. After you listen to my speech I hope you get inspired by it. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- 17:10How Universities Can Better Prepare Students for True Success | Vuthlarhi Shirindza | TEDxUCTDuring the COVID-19 pandemic millions of people globally were retrenched from their jobs and unable to transition to new fields of work that the world had adopted because of the inflexibility of their skillset. Our current higher education university system is not holistic in its approach and is focused on producing inflexible limited specialists for archaic occupations in a 21st century world. This talk provides a three-step framework for university curriculum reform that will hopefully set up students for true success. Vuthlarhi Shirindza is currently studying for a Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery (MBChB) at the University of Cape Town. In 2020, she obtained a Bachelor of Medical Science Honours (BMedSciHons) specialising in Medical Biochemistry (Cum Laude) at the University of Cape Town. She is a Klaus- Jürgen Bathe Leadership Scholar and a UCT Global Surgery Research, Advocacy and Implementation Fellow. Vuthlarhi is a Talloires Network Next Generation Leader, a cohort of 38 young leaders from 18 countries globally. She is the co-founder of an award-winning South African pet telehealth start-up called Chewi. She is driven to combine her passions for health, social justice and entrepreneurship to create innovative, sustainable solutions that enable healthcare for all, greater youth empowerment and effective nation building in Africa. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx