Five fabulous comediennes kept the audience in stitches on July 14 at the Fourth Annual Ladies Who Laugh at NBC’s historic SNL studios. The sold-out event raised funds for the New York Women in Communications Foundation, and more than $1,800 was generated from raffle prizes, up from last year. NBC’s “Today” correspondent Sarah Haines emceed the program. The former NBC page added her own comedic asides to the show and recounted some of her hilarious experiences in New York after she had just moved here from Iowa.

 

Katerina Gkionis, one of the chief coordinators of the program said, “It is rewarding to see the comediennes in the SNL studios and to see everything come together. It was a fantastic experience; and they were all hilarious. I did not even know that Sarah Haines was so funny.”

Most of the comediennes grew up performing and told of their common experience of entertaining at an early age. Rachel Feinstein, whose father is a musician opened for his blues band and did impressions of her relatives. Bethany Van Delft has modeled and grew up watching Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, Freddie Prinze and Richard Pryor. Both Asie Mohtarez and Maysoon Zayid are of Middle Eastern descent and studied acting. Asie chose improvisation and writing as her career choice after not pursuing her parents’ dreams of becoming a doctor-lawyer. Maysoon pursued acting in comedic roles after college; she appeared in several movies and wrote a screenplay.

 

Each comedienne was thrilled to perform at the historic SNL Studios, while stressing that women were still fighting for their place amongst men in comedy. “You still see women with exceptional comedic talent not getting ahead, and it’s frustrating,” explained Desiree Burch, who shattered in her skid the restrains society has put on women's body image. “You have to create a forum for yourself. It may not be the traditional route. But there are plenty of voices out there.”

 

Throughout the evening, ladies laughed, yet the evening was also about camaraderie and relaxing after a successful year. Foundation Board President Joan Cear said, “It’s a time to be with other professional women and to take the time out of our busy lives to laugh and enjoy each other’s company. Each year it gets better and better.” Lois Burns, who returned this year with Holly Koenig, New York Women in Communications Director who had warmed up the crowed with her own jokes, summed it up: “I was impressed by the intimacy created by the performers; it was phenomenal event.”