Stephanie Howard
A dry, conversational comic who owns her resemblance to Kevin Bacon.
1 special · 2002
Get an email when there's a new special. You'll need a Google account.
Stephanie Howard steps on stage with a casual, unhurried energy. She does not let the audience sit and wonder who she reminds them of. Instead, she points out her strong resemblance to Kevin Bacon right away. With the tension broken, she settles into a steady rhythm, at one point describing herself to the crowd as a “couple-breaker-upper” with complete sincerity. She delivers punchlines with a slight shrug, as if she is just remembering the details of the story for the first time.
Specials
-
Premium Blend: Wanda Sykes (S6E9) with Wanda Sykes, Tony Camin & 2 more
Wanda Sykes hosts a 2002 Comedy Central showcase featuring Ron White.
Comedy Central · 25 min
On stage
Howard was part of a core group of comics who built the modern queer standup scene. Years before LGBTQ comedy had dedicated mainstream platforms, she was performing on early television showcases like Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and Logo’s Wisecrack. In 2005, she was a featured comic at Outlaugh, an event billed as the country’s first queer comedy festival. She spent those years doing the ground-level work of claiming space for gay comics when the industry mostly ignored them.
She handles her own flaws with a light touch. When she tells her coming-out story, she bypasses the expected sentimentality. She treats her past as a sequence of mildly ridiculous events she is still trying to sort out. She does not ask for sympathy. She just invites the room to look at the awkward moments of her romantic history, leaning into the quiet beats when the crowd realizes she is entirely comfortable being the problem.
At a glance
- Topics