Karen Williams

Karen Williams burst onto the San Francisco Bay Area comedy circuit in the early 1980s. As the country’s first openly lesbian Black comic to use specifically lesbian material, Karen’s humor was unlike any other. A feminist and LGBTQ+ rights activist, Williams became known for her quick repartee and insightful commentary. But while her popularity as a performer grew, off-stage she was a single mom, struggling to raise her children. In 1988, Karen founded the HaHa Institute, dedicated to helping others find healing through humor. Award-winning director Andrea Meyerson brings Karen Williams' story to the screen, covering her hard-fought battle to break into male-dominated comedy clubs and the joy that has guided her through it all. Rarely-seen vintage performance footage woven together with interviews from family members and industry colleagues—including Kate Clinton, Marga Gomez, and Diane Amos, as well as Karen herself—reveal the life of this amazingly creative and prolific woman.

Craving laughs? Karen Williams brings her irreverent humor to a sold-out audience at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, Calif. A pioneer in lesbian stand-up comedy, Williams talks about dating younger woman, the bygone days of tireless sex and more. The laughs continue with stories from a lesbian sex workshop, troublesome airline travel, the conundrums of Internet dating and other exploits. It's a sidesplitting hour of delicious humor.

Four women who are lesbian comedians perform and, offstage, talk about their lives: parents and childhood, coming out, becoming comics, the arc of their careers, and its rewards. Marga Gómez is Cuban-Puerto Rican, from New York City. She mines cultural differences, her hobby horse, and National Coming Out Day. Kate Clinton, lapsed Catholic, gets laughs there and from the comedy of the sex act. Karen Williams, African-American from Berkeley, talks about aging and about the need to tell her story. Suzanne Westenhoefer inherits her grandfather's humor, and she jokes about Martha Stewart and airport security. Each is serious about the power of humor to reveal what's at her core.