With my show 'God Is A Woman', I want to take my craft, my comedy, and my message to New York audiences.
by Luisa Omielan in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
If I can raise the stretch target, I can achieve more than just putting on a show. I can then get more gigs in, meet more people, promote the show better, spend more time writing, document this daily on camera and so much more! Once I get back to the UK, I can then dedicate time to harnessing the opportunities, creating more content, and doing more over here too. Smashing this glass ceiling in this way and taking everything to the next level would be a dream.
Hello!
My name is Luisa Omielan, I’m a comedian from London, UK and I have the best, most gorgeous audiences in the world!
Comedy is one of the most innovative, inclusive and rebellious art forms and I absolutely love it.
I have written and performed three critically acclaimed live shows: my first ‘What Would Beyoncé Do?!’ was called the 'stand-up hit of the decade' and you can watch it HERE. My second ‘Am I Right Ladies?!' you can watch HERE. A joke from that show about the thigh gap went viral with over 45 million views so far; see that HERE. My third show ‘Politics for B******’ was turned into a TV series for the BBC.
This year I was awarded the title of BAFTA's Breakthrough Brit (the first comedian to have got this acclaim) and I'm very lucky to have THE Richard Curtis as my mentor - it's love, actually.
In performing my material, I’ve built a following of the most wonderful, loyal and gorgeously diverse audience.
They have done so much for me, they’ve bought tickets to all my shows, bought and wore merchandise, given me advice, laughed with me, and shared my highs and lows. They were there at the filming of my BBC1 shows, they were there partying on stage with me at my Valentines shows, and they were there when my beautiful Mum passed away – they crowdfunded money to cover loss of earnings and the cost of her funeral. They’ve signed countless petitions to get my work on an international platform and sent thousands of tweets in support of me.
Don't just take my word for it - here is what the amazing Richard Curtis has to say:
So what next?
My shows are so much more than just stand-up comedy. For me, it's a platform to tackle and discuss really powerful subjects and issues. I'm not interested in you coming to a show and learning nothing about me, or about yourself. My shows are impactful; they were designed to hit you in the gut, and make you laugh, cry, then laugh again. I want to make sense of the world using comedy; tackling body image, mental health, cancer, death, life, love...all of it. That's what I live for.
I've been doing party-style shows for years and have been lucky enough to travel to Australia, and thanks to my Thigh Gap joke, I have gained followers from around the world.
However, in the UK, there is a glass ceiling and I want to smash through it and be part of something bigger; I want my shows to reach an international platform. I also want to record the whole journey - and include all of the highs and the lows.
What I would love to see on TV is more female-led stuff. I think it's great to see where successful people have come from, but it's interesting to see the journey of getting to that point - the successes as well as the failures. We are yet to see this from a female comedy perspective and it's something I'm really keen to share with you.
So, my plan is to go to the motherland of one-woman shows – NEW YORK CITY BABY! I’m going to document this bank-breaking, debt-inducing, ugly-cry-face, laugh-like-you've-never-laughed-before trip of a lifetime. I want to recreate what I’ve done in the UK in the US of A! Oh, and PS- I'm bringing my giant dog!
Help me take my show 'God Is A Woman' to NYC?
I’ve been offered a 4 week run at the SoHo Playhouse. This will be my first Off-Broadway run and I’m taking an amalgamation of my best work to showcase to American crowds.
This is where I need some help. I need to pay for flights, accommodation, PR, marketing, promo, venue hire, VISA, and dog biscuits. I’m also paying someone to film and edit the experience into daily videos – a bit like Love Island but with comedy, a Bernese Mountain Dog and a size 14 woman (I mean I'm an 18 in TopShop...but whatever)!
To do all of this, it's gonna cost the best part of £30K. Promoters have always said 'Luisa don't do it! It's too expensive. Do it when you're rich and famous!' But why should the rich and famous have all the fun!? With ticket sales and borrowing, I've worked out that I need to raise £15k. If you guys can help me raise that, it'll be a huge help.
If you know anybody in New York, send them to my show, tickets are available here. #godisawoman
If I’ve ever made you laugh, smile, cry, or even just think, and you appreciate what I do, please give what you can. It means I can live my dream whilst creating content for you guys. I've put together some rewards to say thank you and if you can't contribute at the moment financially, please contribute by sharing this campaign and shouting loud about it!
I know this idea is crazy, and I've been advised by very many professionals not to do such a ridiculous thing, but they were the same people who told me not to use music in my Beyoncé show, and to keep my clothes on in 'Am I Right' so what do they know?!
Besides, life is short, and my Mum died sooooooo.... let's do this!
Big Love,
Luisa.
xxx
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