0:10  
Like these first ladies, they just got more and more like like, like chatty. More and more chiming in, like leaning into the frame, spitting out their ideas. Just like why are you talking? Right? You weren't elected. Shut up.

0:34  
Famous comedian Bill Burr seems to really make his audience laugh with this joke. He's pretty blunt making fun of females. It makes me wonder if women in the audience were laughing too. I'd like to think of how a female comedian might respond to a joke like this.

0:54  
Let everyone know that I'm the alpha in the room. You better shut up and listen, anyone who does that I put them on blast. Like right away talk about how much of an idiot they are. I'll talk about them on stage until they either leave or they cry.

1:06  
25 year old Allie Banks is a Toronto stand up comedian. She's mastered the art of a good comeback as a female comic.

1:15  
At this point in my career, I don't even think about it. I just have a come back, brain just does the work for me.

1:22  
Allie's use of comedic rebuttals isn't something she learned how to do overnight. Knowing how to become funny on stage is hard. She hustled for two years performing at open mic events around the city.

1:36  
I tried a couple of shows I was so nervous. I'm so bad. I didn't make anyone laugh at all and then I did go through a breakup. You know, I was with this person for a very long time, but I was thinking I was gonna spend the rest of my life with him. And then, you know, cut my hair, moved out, cried on my friend's floor for like a week and a half and then I was like, fuck this shit. Tired of feeling awful. I'm gonna I'm gonna try comedy again. I don't know what came over me and like I was just as bad as the third show. The first show and the second show I did. I went to this awful place. All comedians in Toronto know this place is called the Office Pub. They have this horrible open mic. There's always like 20 people on the list. It's comedians that don't know what they're doing. I didn't know what I was doing either. So I did that show every single Monday for like, six months, until I got one laugh. I got another laugh and then I realized that there's other open mics that aren't as terrible.

2:32  
The Danger Room is a comedy club on Queen Street West. Well known for its heckling audiences, who are predominantly men. Allie's first time in the Danger Room, it changed everything for her. It was an experience that gave her that layer of tough skin needed to succeed in the comedy industry.

2:51  
I was dating someone new at the time, very excited. I'm starting my comedian career and we were looking for a thing to do like date night, on Sunday night. I was like, you want to go to a comedy show? And he was like, as long as you're not going on stage, we're going just to enjoy it. And I was like, Yeah, yeah, of course. 

3:08  
For comedians, it's a hard stage to get on to. There's a better chance of performing, if you're on good terms with the hosts of the show.

3:16  
I really wanted to get on that stage, so I went, you know, kind of lured my date in and, like, we're gonna just enjoy the show.

3:24  
Being the extrovert that she is, Allie made a good impression on the hosts that night, especially the one wearing the fur coat.

3:33  
I saw this guy in like a fur coat and I like went up to another guy and started making fun of him. I'm like, what is this guy doing wearing roadkill? Like, there anyways, turns out, I  I was bad mouthing the host. So the host was the guy in the fur coat and I was talking to his co host. So then the co host is like, hey, Dan, come over here. And then the guy Morgan, he nudges me though I was just talking to him. He's like, by the way, that's the host. I'm also the host. And then Dan comes over and he's like, are you a comedian? And I just got all timidly look up and I'm like I'm trying to be. And he's like, cool, you want to go on my stage? And I was like, Yeah, I do. 

4:07  
It was almost time for Allie's comedic spotlight to shine when something unexpected happened.

4:16  
You know, I was so nervous to go on this fucking stage. Like, first time having like an actual audience that was packed. There was like maybe 30 people in there and it's very small venue. It's all men, there's no women and my date actually ends up leaving two minutes before I go onstage.

4:33  
Her date ditching gave Allie an opportunity to use a funny comeback that won over the all male audience that night.

4:43  
And so it's a heckler room, right. So I went on stage and I told a Tinder joke. This guy heckled me. He's like, Hey, didn't your date stay for everyone else's act but then left for yours? And then my comeback was yeah, but I also just told a Tinder joke so it would have been a weird way for him to find out where not exclusive, right. And everyone laughed at that, like I was on such a high. It was an amazing show. As a woman, you have to go on stage and you have to prove herself immediately.

5:08  
She continued proving herself to audiences by using comebacks. Despite the judgments she faced for being a female comic, Allie went back to the danger room every week after that.

5:20  
Being a roomful of men, me being the only woman there, you know how they would introduce me? They would say, Next up, we have a woman. We don't like it, you won't like her, but we have to do it to be all inclusive.

5:38  
How terrifying it must have been to perform after being introduced like that in an audience full of men. Although, even when performing at other venues, Allie deals with men disregarding her talent like this. They even objectify her on stage when it comes to her appearance.

5:58  
I've had a guy a drunken man, come up to me one time on stage while I was telling a joke, super drunk out of his mind. He's like, I love your legs. Your legs are amazing. Also, forget about comedy. You're too pretty to do comedy, you should be my wife. Oh, it's tough, like a guy more than once it's like, I'll be on stage in the middle of a joke and then somebody's like, show us your breasts. For a while, I went on stage wearing like, I dressed as a boy, like very boyish, like baggy clothes, t shirts and no makeup. And it really didn't make that much of a difference. And so yeah, no, I still had guys coming up to me being like, you know, girls can't be funny. I'm never on stage relaxed. Let me put it that way. Like I'm always waiting for that to happen. And I don't think guys have to feel that way. Guys will be on stage and they'll be doing their thing that come off feeling great.

6:55  
Not all audiences assume the worst when a female comedian steps on stage. Allie Banks is an example of this. With her natural sense of confidence and perseverance, she's achieving major breakthroughs as a female comic.

7:11  
Here's the thing I'm trying to break that stigma that women are pretty little cute things that are there for you to watch and play with. Like, we have brains.

7:19  
These days, you can find Allie hosting and performing in eight different shows a week. She's making a name for herself, and uses her influence to build a stronger presence of women in the Toronto comedy scene.

7:34  
There's actually a whole bunch of shows throughout the city that give priority to women. For me personally, women always have priority on my show, because for every 10 guys that show up to an open mic, one woman does maybe. I have a reputation now. I've had male comics come up to me who might have never met, and they are like you're Allie Banks and you're amazing. Right? And that's like the greatest feeling.

8:00  
The joke about first ladys told by Bill Burr may have gotten laughs in an arena filled with supportive men. I wonder if he was an Allie's shoes how long would he survive performing somewhere like the Danger Room, but with an all female audience.