The stand-up comedian Jes Tom has a go-to pronoun joke: “I like when people call me ‘they.’ It makes me feel less lonely.” Tom is part of a small but growing group of comedians that doesn’t exclusively identify with the gender labels of “male” and “female,” and before the pandemic were regularly performing stand-up sets around New York City.
Over several months, we spoke with five of these comedians about the joys and frustrations of explaining their gender onstage and the entertainment industry’s newfound interest in nonbinary performers.
They also talked about the challenges of working in a field embroiled in a continuing discussion about what is and isn’t off limits in comedy.