WICF Spotlight: Ready, Set… Wife! at ImprovBoston

Ready, Set... Wife makes its live
debut at the WICF tonight at IB

Tonight’s Ready, Set…Wife! show will be a treat for audiences at ImprovBoston, and also for the two performers on the show, Cathleen Carr and Robyn Okrant. Outside of the Women In Comedy Festival, RSW is a collaboration that doesn’t often include live performance, since Carr lives in New York City and Okrant in Chicago. “We mainly blog,” says Carr. “We have a weekly podcast where we interview great, talented, creative women -- from comediennes, to actresses, to authors -- and we create our own online video content. WICF is the first time we're performing live onstage together.”

The pair have known each other for years, and have been looking for some way to put their talents together, and finally found it when Okrant was visiting New York promoting her book, Living Oprah. Both are married, and found fertile ground in the subject. “Doing an online project seemed perfect,” says Carr, “and we decided to base it in our own reality -- we're both modern wives who are completely clueless about how to juggle our independent feminist sides with the traditional roles expected of a married woman.”

There are obstacles to being married and pursuing a career in comedy. There’s a social element, hanging out with other comics and making connections that might mean stage time or other opportunities. “I like to go home now after shows,” says Carr. “I’m a nester and sometimes I worry that by not going out as much and making the scene, I will miss out on networking time. That is why I really dig social media and networking because I can engage with other comedians anytime, anywhere. I think as everyone gets older, people don't care as much about folks being married. Listen, at the end of the day, even comedians don't want to die alone.”

Carr and Okrant are putting together a tour for RSW, and tonight’s show will be a trial run of that. So what will the show look like? “Well, there will be a bit of everything,” says Carr, “from an original digital short, to some standup/sketch, to a fabulous panel of celebrity comedians who will solve all marital issues (the audience and our own) live onstage.”

For those who may be wondering, Carr's other project, Two Girls For Five Bucks, with Daiva Dupree, is alive and well and still performing in New York City.

And now, abruptly, one question:

Why should someone come to see your show?

It will be the best Women's Studies class of your life.

Women In Comedy Festival - Ready, Set... Wife: A Frank and Funny Discussion on Marriage with Robyn Okrant abd Cathleen Carr: 7PM, $10. Mainstage, ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139. 617-576-1253