Hi, my name is Ren Q. Dawe, and I'm the co-founder and primary organizer of the Colorado Queer Comedy Festival. After moving to Colorado in 2018 and surviving the pandemic shortly thereafter, I revived my comedy dreams and stepped into the Denver comedy scene. After getting a few gigs and meeting more than a few wonderful people, I started to hear more and more LGBTQ+ comedians expressing their feelings of tokenism being their only avenue to book bigger gigs, feeling disallowed to explore content outside their designated demographical trope, and struggling to gain entry into the “big leagues” of statewide festivals and clubs.

 

Despite these hurdles, LGBTQ+ performers have pressed on in bars, clubs, open mics, and pallet shows in defiance of unfair treatment and selection. Promoting queer stories isn’t just beneficial for our community–it’s a critical tool in our work in educating allies on inclusivity. I truly believe that performance art is activism, that humor is one of the most powerful tools we have against bigotry, and that laughter can unite us when our country is hellbent on dividing us. It is much easier to learn to laugh together than it is to persist fighting one another.

 

That’s when I approached Dr. Bruce Parker, Deputy Director of Rocky Mountain Equality, who had enthusiastically sponsored “Queer Circus”—a variety show showcasing queer comedians, dancers, actors, poets, and musicians—during Boulder County Pride 2023. After selling out the house at the illustrious Junkyard Social Club, and hearing the community’s touching feedback on how the event promoted queer joy in a whole new way, we avidly started to discuss the idea of a statewide event focused on comedy for queers and by queers (queer jokes for queer folks, if you will). And so the Colorado Queer Comedy Festival was born.The need for this kind of event is clear and evident. Humor brings us together, risible storytelling helps us transmute pain into ecstasy.  Queer joy is a direct act of resistance, and comedy allows us the opportunity for dialogue that other platforms fail at achieving—in the words of John Cleese: “laughter is a force of democracy.” Queer comedy is direct action. 

 

CQCF knows that good jokes save lives, and RMEQ knows that the time of silencing and ridiculing of our community is over. Join us this year, and hopefully many more to come, as we bring the best and the brightest LGBTQIA+ comedians into the spotlight. All are welcome.