Jaye McBride was recently passed at Broadway Comedy Club, making her the first transgender comedian to be passed into the regular rotation of a major Manhattan comedy club. Although transgender comics perform at several New York City comedy clubs, none in Manhattan has ever invited a transgender comic to be part of their regular roster. Getting passed into a New York City club is an essential professional milestone and goal for all NYC comics.
Broadway Comedy Club owner Al Martin who had invited McBride to audition. The founders of YAAAS! Fest, NYC’s biggest LGBTQ Comedy Competition, first approached Martin earlier this year, recommended McBride for an audition, which he found intriguing. Martin noted “Our crowd was comprised of fifty-percent New Yorkers and fifty- percent tourists. Both groups loved her. She killed and that’s my criteria when judging comics. I ask myself ‘is this comic incredibly funny?’. Jaye absolutely is. So I immediately passed her into the club.”
“I’m very excited to be part of the Broadway Comedy Club lineup but also to be an example to other trans kids to show them that there is a place for us in the world,” McBride said. “I’m not exactly Jackie Robinson, I mean for starters I tell more dick jokes and throw like a girl but I think it’s a huge deal that this club believes in me. I can’t wait to show them that they made the right call.”
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