WICF Spotlight: Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting at ImprovBoston

Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting at
ImprovBoston tonight

One of my favorite finds from last year’s Women In Comedy Festival was the sketch duo Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting. They were strange, aggressively offensive, and most importantly, funny. They are part of the Festival again this year, at ImprovBoston tonight. I spoke with Leah Ruddick and Katie Hartman by e-mail – not sure who answered what question.

How did you get involved with the Women In Comedy Festival?

Our very good friends (and hilarious stand-ups) Selena Coppock and Carolyn Castiglia participated in the festival it’s inaugural year and spoke very highly of it. We had never performed in Boston before, so we applied, got in and tried not to murder each other on the 5 hour bus ride.

What were your thoughts on last year’s edition?

We had a great time performing last year! It’s always fun to perform outside of NYC and the Boston audience didn’t throw anything at us! What a pleasure! It was also kind of awesome literally running smack into Maria Bamford in the tiny bathroom at ImprovBoston.

Have you performed at other festivals that include other comic artforms – stand-up, sketch, improv, and storytelling?

Yes! We’ve traveled all over for various festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Ladies Are Funny Festival in Austin, SketchFest NYC, Los Angeles Comedy Festival, Capital Fringe in DC and AYE Arts and Music Festival in Cincinnati. Randomly. we also performed at the National Roller Derby Tournament, which is perhaps the highlight of our career. The only disappointment was that nobody body checked us.



How did the two of you come together as Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting?

We met doing theatre at Sarah Lawrence College, where we acted in a lot of very earnest girl dramas together. Then we realized it was more fun to make fun of that kind of theater than to actually do it. We started doing sketch comedy in a larger group as soon as we graduated and through that we formed the duo that is Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting.

How did you come up with the name?

It was the name of our prayer circle. Just kidding. Kind of. ”Skinny Bitch Meeting” was an inside joke with a few friends and Jesus found his way in there somehow, as He tends to do. Obviously our mothers are thrilled with the name (no they aren’t) and obviously we are masters in marketing (no we’re not), ‘cause newspapers LOVE to print the words “bitch” and “Jesus” next to each other. BRILLIANT.

How would you describe what SBJM does?

We’re a little weird, absurd, dark and dirty. We tend towards more theatrical, character-based stuff because that’s what our background is, and generally that’s the kind of thing that makes us laugh. Some other ways to describe what we do? “Mama’s Crack fix” and “Fun Ass”.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at the Festival?

Oh, everyone! We love anything Kurt and Kristen does. Leibya Rogers is a genius with tofu nipples. Amy Albert as Delilah Dix makes our private parts feel gross in the best way possible. Doppleganger is hands down one of the best improv troupes in NYC. Ben Lerman is a uke wizard! Leah Dubie rocks it every time! We could go on.

Why should people come to see your show?

Because if they don’t we will hunt them down and eat their children. If they don’t have children then we will seduce their wives. If they aren’t married to women we’ll leave them alone.

Women In Comedy Festival - Full Tilt Comedy: Sketch: 10PM, $20. Mainstage. With Skinny Bitch Jesus Meeting, OBV, and Harry Roasts America. ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge, Ma, 02139. 617-576-1253