will be overturned—a watershed moment for abortion rights. The stakes of Leiby’s show were suddenly raised. Not only has she taken on the task of making abortion funny—at which she succeeds—but now she’s also trying to make audiences laugh at the humdrum realities of abortion during a historical moment when the subject feels red-hot and radioactive.
Of course, abortion is so much more than a medical procedure, and “Oh God” is funniest when Leiby zigs and zags around women’s reproductive issues, riffing on everything from America’s woefully insufficient sex-ed classes to the ridiculous array of contraceptive options available to women. “Where is male birth control, by the way?” Leiby wonders aloud at one point, sincerely overcome with curiosity. It’s a question so obvious and baffling that it sent the crowd into roars.
Standup comedy is often considered a space where nothing is taboo, but it’s long been devoid of discussions of women’s reproductive experiences. That’s why Ali Wong’s breakout special, “,” from 2016, felt so transgressive. A heavily pregnant woman is commonplace in real life, but, onstage, Wong’s presence felt jarring.
“Oh God” is the sort of highly personal show that can’t be tidily connected to the national discussion about abortion and the looming repeal of Roe v. Wade. Nobody understands this better than Leiby, and it doesn’t seem as if she’s tinkered with her performance to respond to the headlines that happen to coincide with her run at Cherry Lane. But there is one bit of the show that’s newly startling and prescient in the context of current news.
For a comedian anything CAN be funny; for some audiences not so much.
Can Abortion be funny? No What is funny though, are people getting canceled left and right for actual jokes, but you praise a woman telling jokes about killing helpless babies. That's so dark and edgy of you.
People need to start dialing this shit back, on both sides. Society is as divisive, as is.
only if you have the talent.
I can't wait to buy tickets, find a babysitter, make dinner reservations and spoil my wife with a show about.....abortion? Hard pass.