Several years ago Mona Mae retired from her very serious career and decided it was time she pursued her dream of doing comedy. Her first forays into the comedy world were in queer spaces and she honed her voice and developed a one woman show for the Fringe. She then started performing at non-queer open mic nights. She was often the only queer performer and the other performers were almost always straight white men. They were pleasant to her, but Mona Mae was definitely NOT part of the in-group, and she felt isolated and unwelcome.

 

Then in Edinburgh she performed on the same night as an Asian woman and a non-binary person. The Asian woman smashed her set and Mona was pishing herself laughing all the way through it (she has a leaky bladder and wears Depends -other bladder control products are available). The straight white male comedians didn’t laugh at all and the mostly male white audience gave polite giggles at best. The non-binary comedian was good, but still honing their craft. The Asian woman and Mona Mae both found parts very funny and laughed out loud, while there were disrespectful tumbleweeds from the others. The 3 diverse comedians were excluded from the post-show male conversations and so these 3 ‘strange people’ huddled together telling each other, “Thank fuck you were here!”

 

That evening was a turning point for Mona, and she vowed that one day she would create a comedy night to platform and shine a spotlight on amazing diverse comedic talent. Being an old queer who wants to support the next generation, she also vowed to create opportunities to support new and developing talent from diverse backgrounds. The idea that would turn into Back of the Bus Nae Mair was formed that night. And over 4 years later, the dream has become reality.

 

As the initial social media drive began, Back of the Bus Nae Mair got a little bit of angry pushback from a straight white man, claiming the night was exclusionary and discriminatory. I think he was on his way to a Straight Pride parade and then on to the Reform Party Conference. I’m sure he wasn’t the only person to get their nose bent out of shape, and definitely won’t be the last. Whenever oppressed or marginalised people begin to organise, gain power, or become more visible, there is an inevitable push-back and concerted effort to maintain the status quo. Sadly we’ve seen a lot of that in recent years and people seem to have been given permission to say racist, sexist, transphobic , homophobic things all the while claiming reverse oppression. So it’s not surprising to get a bit of pushback for creating a supportive and welcoming space for diverse comedians who are often excluded from ‘majority’ spaces.

 

So for those who fear that our ED&I approach will exclude them, don’t worry as you are very welcome to buy a ticket and watch the diverse comics. And even better, we are going to have a token straight white well educated privilege cis-male as a token from time to time…just to prove we aren’t prejudiced against you. Oh, and there are many ways to be diverse. Some straight white cis-men might be immigrants, disabled, old, poor or working class. They will get platformed too. In fact, we might even have one of “them” in our very first show. So relax, don’t get your y-fronts in a twist and we will enjoy our own little radical space of intersectional support. You still have ALL your other comedy nights where you remain top dogs!